The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1889-03-14
OUR RURAL TOPICS,
Some Practical Suggestions for Our
Agricultural Readers
DO BEES PAY?

This is question that is frequently asked,
and can be answered in no better manner per-
haps than by saying that, so far as farmers are
concerned, they are not supposed to indulge in
bee keeping for the profit, but to the end of
securing supply of honey. In the first place,
all the investment required is sufficient for the
purchase of one colony, which, say, costs So. At
swarming time an additional hive will be re-
quired at, say, the same price, So, and then
there is So invested.
The original colony ought to produce about
so pounds of comb honey, which would be
worth about SO. This can be used by the
family, and you have left your two colonies,
and the expense for care, etc., has been little OF
nothing. After one colony is obtained the
most of the additional expense comes from the
necessity of hives to furnish homes for new
colonies. For convenience in securing the
honey the modern fashioned Hives with honey
sections are most desirable. In 1883 a Mis-
souri, man commenced the season with three
colonies of bees increased them to 81 and pro-
cured 2,400 pounds of extracted honey at q
total expense of $4950.-G Germantown Telegraph.
A LESSON IN ECONOMY.
The Mirror and Farmer very suggestively re-
of farming as it must be studied, the question
of valuable plant food plays an important
part. In no other way can so much be secured
at so slight expense as by saving and preserv-
ing the hen manure" A practical use of hen
manure proves its agricultural value. 1t may
be used upon any kind of crop with excellent
results, and greater degree of care in saving
it and reducing it to the best pulYerized condi-
ton, will result in increased crops
BREEDING FROM LAMB EWES.
From correspondence in Sheep and WooI we
should infer that our Scottish brethren are not
in the habit Of breeding from their eve lambs.
He says: In these days of keen competition,
if it is possible to raise crop of lambs off ewes
only one year old, instead of feeding them two
years for nothing only their wool, it must pay
much better" The writer expresses the belief
that they had become more precocious aud gen.
der earlier in the season. which would be point
gained for an earlier market. In this country
we are not aware that any effort is ever made
to prevent the breeding of eve lambs. Where
there are proper conveniences the earlier the
lambs can be dropped in the Spring the better,
as the early market is usually the most remu-
nerative; but lambs in late Winter require a
good degree of attention in order to secure a
profitable growth.
INSECTS AND AGRICULTURE.
Without considerable computation one has
but little idea of the real injury that agricul-
ture actually sustains each year from the raw
ages of destructive insects. Prof Lintner, of
New York, makes the statement that from
careful computations, based upon the census
returns, the agricultural products of the United
States show annual losses of $500, 1000 900.
asserting also that large proportion of it could
be prevented. This shows the necessity of a
fuller knowledge of ways and means for pre-
vention, of which ordinary farmers are de-
fcent.
HALF SKIM CHEESE.
The Orange County Farmer says: "The cheese
made from skinned milk is poor stuff, but it is
valuable food, for those who can eat it and can
not afford to buy better We do not object to
It's manufacture, because no one is ever swim
died by it. By no possible means can it be
sold for full cream cheese. The worst fraud in
the business is the half skim cheese. This is
almost invariably sold for full cream-at least
to the consumers, aud Just here is where it is
SO harmful; if this could be driven out of the
market the demand for cheese would very
greatly increase"
NOTES.
Are all the sheep and cattle all right /?
Look over the fioclzs and herds and see if every
animal seems to feel right. If not, try to find
out what is the matter.
"A single minute insect has been known to
devour in the first day of its life an amount of
food which would bear the same proportion to
its own weight that 800 pounds would bear to
the weight of human infant.
"A filthy coop is not found in the yard of a
good BREEDER for he we'll knows that it is detri-
mental to the wellbeing of his flock, as we'll as
source of disgust to visitors and of chagrin to
himself when called to show people through
his yards
No one who keeps close watch upon the
course ofagricultural discussion and instruction
can fail to note that the farmers institutes and
meetings of agricultural and horticultural
societies are conducted on higher plane of ex-
cellence year by year.
-Currants are one of the most profitable of
small-fruits From 1900 to 1000 quarts can
be raised on an acre, and field can be kept
fruting an indefinite number of years The
only insect enemy of particular danger is the
currant worm, easily kept in check by the use
of hellebore.
Go into your poultry-house at least once a
week and carefully look for any cracks or holes
in the walls. piece of wallpaper and some
paste will enable you to prevent the ingress of
cold, especially on very windy days, and it will
save you from wasting portion of your time
trying TO cure the roup or some other trouble
due to colds.
1t is great mistake to assume that pigs
do not require good treatment. They as well
repay warm and clean quarters with pure
water to drink, as any other animal. 1t is very
important to warm the milk up to the temporal
ture OF 30 to 100o, and to feed at least three
times day. If the feed is given but once a
day, the pigs are so hungry that they drink too
fast and indigestion results. 1t is best to feed
four or five times day.
Farmers who build with brick learn after
time that to keep the house well painted not
only makes it look better but adds to its dura-
bility. 1t is fully as necessary as the painting
of wood. Brick is very porous, and in our
alternating Winter weather, rainy one day and
freezing the next the brick fills with water,
and scales off as fast as frost expands it. The
painted house is also much warmer the paint
excluding air from the surface. Paint on a
wooden house saves much of its cost in the
lessened expense for fuel to keep it warm.
DR.. JekylI and Mr. Hyde.
Since that delightful author, Mr.. Stevenson,
has so suggestively written of DIR. Jekyll and
Mr. HYDE we find ourselves holding orr natures