The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1876-04-27
AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

MANY a farmers boy goes into some
city, and struggles along until middle
life, with nothing to show for his labor
except that he has thoroughly learned
that a half starved lawyer is less to be
envied than we'll fed farmer.
No young man has talents, abilities,
or education beyond what may be used
ON model farm. To the educated
young farmer isopen an honorable career,
and promise of wealth more bright and
more sure than the future of any other
calling offers.
The herd of short horn cattle owned
by Mrs. +. Bryan, of Abingdon, ILL.,,
was sold there lately. The total amount
of the sales was $24, 205, an average of
$3.50 per head. The most remarkable
sales were the Second Mazurka of Hick-
DRY Grove, to j. w. Moore of Beverly,
ILL.,, for $l,l00; Poppy's Duke of Air
drie, to George w. Dunlap, of Abingdon,
ILL.,, for 1920.
The want of a due supply of slick and
of the alkalies which are required and
which are capable of rendering the slick
useful to growing crop, will result in
the imperfect development of wheat and
other grains; for they will lodge, and
their full development will thereby be
prevented. This may occur while all of
the other materials that are wanted may
be in abundance for the full demands of
the crop.
PROF. @. V. REILLY, the State entO-
molOgist of Missouri, in the course of a
lecture in st. Louis ON Insects" said
that the annual loss to farmers, caused
by insects, averaged 800, 100000; that
the chinch bug alone, during 1874, caused
a loss Of $50 000, 900 in the Western States,
of which $4,000, 900 were lost to Mis-
souri,. Prof. Reilly estimated the losses
by locusts (grasshOppers) during the last
three years at $50, 100000.
A CORRESPONDENT of the Department
of Agriculture, writing from Ingham
county, Michigan, says there is agrowing
conviction in that section, that good
farming, and only that, is profitable.
The breeding of fine sheep, cattle, and
farm horses is receiving increased atten-
ton, and unusual exertiOns are being
made to introduce the best labor-saving
machines and implements.
THE experiment of raising Angora
goats is being extensively tried in
some of the mountainous districts of
Arizona, and thus far with good success.
One raiser has several hundred on his
Ianche in Mohave county, and sends the
fleece to three different establishments
in the East, to be worked into fabrics,
and is very confident that raising these
animals is to be source of great future
wealth to the Territory.
The Newton IN. J.) Herald says that
parties are now travelling through New
Jersey swindling farmers by appointing
them agents for the sale of clothes lines.
The plan adopted is to induce the farmer
to sign his name in book, which the
swindler represents to be for reference
only, bat which proves to be an order
for two thousand feet of wire clothes line
at five cents per foot. In u few days
thereafter, swindler No. 2 comes and
presents bill for one hundred dollars,
signed by the farmer. The latter pro.
tests, but is finally induced to com
promise the matter rather than 60 to
court. Farmers should be on their
guard.
HUBER describes the process of swarm.
ing in minute detail. Toward the close
of the droning season, when numbers OF
the drones and some of the queens have
nearly attained maturity, he observed the
old queen rapidly passing over the combs
She created an agitation wherever she
went, which did not subside after her de.
parture, but communicated itself to all
the bees in the vicinity. Finally, the
whole swarm appeared to be in violent
state of excitement. and large numbers
issued from the hive, with the queen at
their head. During the agitation which
precedes swarming, the thermometer
rises from between ninety and ninety.
seven degrees to one hundred and four
degrees. "This heat is intolerable to
bees" says Huber; "when exposed to
it they rush impetuously to the outlets
of the hive and depart" Swarming is
occasioned by excessive heat, quite as
much as by an overstocked hive. The
initial cause of the queens agitation is
not known, but railways communicates
itself to the whole swarm, whatever its
cause may be.