The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1877-10-25
TOPICS FOR THE FARM.

American Bee Journal says: A cor s
respondent gives his opinion that S
the Italians are not better than the t
black or native bees. His opinion does s
not agree with most of those who have a
had them. l have charge of a few col Q
onies that are situated some miles from i
where 1 live. Not having time last fall t
to prepare them for wintering on their I
summer stands they were left to get
through as best they could. They are '
all Italians but two stocks. The last G
time 1 saw them all the Italians
were alive and in good condition, while I
the two black stocks were nearly all I
dead. The black stocks were fine ones !
in the fall and were well stocked with
bees and honey-in fact they were as
good as any stocks in the lot. Last sea-
son the Italians did much the better in
storing honey in boxes. Now, 1 claim
that the Italians are better in many very
important respects. 1t is well known
that they are not SO cross as the blacks,
and that fact alone should make them
more valuable than the natives. They
are easier to handle than the blacks in
any operation. I know from experience
that the Italians will gather enough to
live on through the winter, when the
blacks won't, even with the same chance
of doing SO; thus proving that they will
work upon flowers that the blacks pass
by or cannot gather honey from. Neither
is this all the claim they have yer the
black variety. They are much more
beautiful to look upon, and one can go
nearer the hives to watch them at work
than to the hives of the black bees.
Such harmless pets are much better to
have than the cross blacks that one can't
90 near without being stung. We never
found any more trouble in wintering
the Italians than the blacks-in fact, we
have no trouble at all, so far as the bees
are concerned.
Keep BOrax in the House.-"AH House
keeper" in the New York ADVOCATE, says:
Having long used borax for various do
nestle and hygienic purposes, l have
to regard it as a necessity. Housekeep-
| ers who do not use it have something
yet to learn concerning a very con-
venient and useful article. In the
laundry it is economical, as it saves both
labor and soap, and is really cheaper
than the latter. For blankets and other
large articles it is especially valuable,
and in all cases the use of a little borax
will save half the labor when articles
are mnch soiled, while it is not injurious
to clothes. 1t is efectual in driving
away red ants, cockroaches, etc., if
sprinkled around on pantry shelves, or
put in small quantities on paper and
placed in the runways of the insects.
Borax is also of great value for toilet
uses. For removing dandruf and
cleansing the hair it is unequaled. 1t is
also a good remedy for rough face and
chapped hands. Its application to
wounds, sores, bruises, sprains, ETC.,
proves very salutary, and is often the
only remedy required, eve in severe
cases. Indeed, borax is m of the best
remedies for many ailments in our
whole hygiene, and for that reason
t alone should be kept ready for use when
/ wanted. That prepared by Smith Bros.
is the best, and can be obtained of al
most any grocer or druggist. There are
l many other uses for borax which l need
: not specify, but those 1 have mentioned
4 are alone enough to satisfy any family
' of the value of the article, and to all
, such, as well as those who do not under
!, stand its properties, l repeat, ReeI
. Borar in the House.
= = The Origin of Prairies.-In a paper
in the American Naturalist, Prof. j. d
e Whitney, after showing the insuficiency
of the ordinary theories to explain why
prairies are not e~ncroached upon by Dor
$ dering woods, offers the following expla
nation of his own:
"Let Is turn at present to the geo
logical side of the investigation. Tit
n whole of New England and New York
y and a large part of Ohio and Indiana
n together with the whole of Michigan
/ and of Northern Wisconsin, constitute
!, a reign over which the northern drift
e phenomena have been displayed IN
grand scale. Consequently almost tn,
a whole of this area is covered with heav,
l. deposits of coarse gravel and boulde
materials. These deposits, if not at tn
surface are near it, and the finer ma
terial deposits on them, by alluvian an
other agencies, generally form only
thin covering for the coarse deposit
q beneath. But as we go south and ives
1, from the region indicated above, we fin
p the California miners would call il
l. deeply covered with loose materials, j
le is true, but we observe, also, that thes
20 are different in character from whatthe
y are to the north and east. We come t
lie the east where the drift agencies hav
le been very limited in their action. TIL
bulk of the superficial detritus hav
v been formed from the decomposition c
the underlying rock, and this detritu
n has been but little disturbed or move
y from its original position. If errati
7e deposits exist, they are usually deepl
re covered with finer materials derive
from close at hand. A great area exisr
in Wisconsin and Minnesota over whic
I; not a drift pebble has ever been fount
"a either at the surface or at any dept
y beneath it. The strata have becom
ie chemically disaggregated and dissolve
is by the %percolation of the rain throug
TX them, the calcareous matter has bee
as carried off in solution, and there is le
DO behind as a residuum the unselub
IL matter which the rock originally col
rs tanned, and which, consisting largely
silica and s~ilicate of alumina, forms b
a its aggregation a silicious and clayey d
' pOSlG OIL dln1OSI lmpdlpdDle HltneSS.
be is this fine material which makes up IL
of bulk of the prairie soil; and, as tt
writer conceives, it is the fineness whiC
is especially inimical to the growth
a trees. Exactly as we see the dessicate
lakes in the midst of the forests grad
us ally filling up with finely commute
Id materials and becoming covered with
growth of grasses or sedges, which
nix not afterward encroached upon by tree
lst no matter whether the ground becom
completely dry or whether it remail
to more or less swampy, so we have Il
Id prairies, which have certainly never
De- any time been o%verspread with forest
De- and which would always remain as thu
W are, provided the climate underwent ]
,er radical change, and they were not int
by fered with by man.. 1t is for the veg
N. table psychologist to say why this fin
dy ness of the soil is unfavorable to Il
tie growth of trees; it is for the geology
re- and physical g%eographer to set forth Il