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California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



To Soften Old PnTTY. — A receut writer in 

 Tlie Garden says : After many trials, and with 

 a variety of differently shaped tools, with va- 

 rious successes, I at last accomplished my 

 end by the simple application of heat. My 

 first experiment was with a soldering iron, 

 when, to my great delight, I found the putty 

 became so soft that the broken glass could be 

 removed by the fingers, and the putty be easily 

 scraped away. All that is required is a block 

 of iron about two and a half ihches square, 

 flat at the bottom, drawn out for a handle, 

 with a wooden end like a soldering-iron. 

 When hot, not red, place this iron against the 

 putty, or Hat on the broken glass, if any, and 

 pass it slowly round the sides of the square. 

 The heat will so soften the putty that it will 

 come away from the wood without difficulty. 

 < m > 



Medical Peopekties of Eggs. — The white 

 of an egg has proved of late the most effica- 

 cious remedy for burns. Seven or eight suc- 

 cessive applications of this substance soothe 

 pain, and effectually exclude the burn from 

 the air. This simple remedy seems to be 

 preferable to collodion or even cotton. Ex- 

 traordinary stories are told of the healing pro- 

 perties of a new oil which is easily made from 

 the yelk of hen's eggs. The eggs are first 

 boiled hard, and the yelks are then removed, 

 crushed and placed over a fire, where they are 

 carefully stirred until the whole substance is 

 just on the pount of catching tire, when the 

 oil separates and may be poured oft'. One 

 yelk will yield nearly two teaspoonfuls of oil. 

 It is in general use among the colonists of 

 South Russia as a means of curing cuts, 

 bruises and scratches. 



mxt 





Nervous Cows. 



i? — 



J^O observing person can have the care of 

 y a herd of cows long without noting a 

 ^\ great difference in the character and 

 ^'-k (hsposition of the diflferent animals. In 

 eis fact, as Mrs. Partington observed about 

 folks, there is as much difference iu cows as 

 there is iu anybody, and the feminine peculi- 

 arities that we are apt to note in our own 

 kind, may many of them be detected among 

 the domestic animals. Some cows are so 

 phlegmatic and good uatured that a moderate 

 amount of ill-treatment does not seem to dis- 

 turb their eqanimity. Others are naturally 

 vicious, and will kick and hook without pro- 

 vocation, from "pure cussedness." There is 

 another class that, while not vicious, are so 

 nervous that they may easily be made to ap- 

 jjear ugly, and iu time become really so, in 

 consequence of rough handling or careless- 

 ness. It requires a considerate and good dis- 

 positioned man to manage such cows and get 

 along M-ith them. They must be humored, 

 spoken kindly to, and gently handled in milk- 

 ing. Swearing at them, or beating them, de- 

 moralizes them fearfully, and makes them 

 almost useless in a short time. It is often 

 among the very best milkers and butter mak- 

 ers that these nervous animals are found, and 

 we cannot afford to have their value thus im- 

 p.iired. No violence should be allowed among 

 the cows at any time, but if you have impa- 

 tient help, or are quick tempered yourself, 

 let some person who don't get mad so easily 

 milk the nervous cows. 



Ceeameky Averages. — The average number 

 of pounds of milk to a pound of butter and 

 to a pound of cheese at the Aville Creamery, 

 Ellington, N. Y., for 1873, was; For butter, 

 ;!S.U-'>ii 1I)S of milk to one pound of butter.aud 

 1J.U25 Bjs of milk to one of cheese. The net 

 value of a pound of milk was 1.4128 cents. 



i The habit of being always industriously 



1 f employed is a great safeguard through Ufe, as 



if well as essential to the cultivation of every 



4/ virtue. 



Most Practicable Bee Hives. 



,, T the Northeastern Bee Keepers' Associ- 

 i^ ation, held at Utica, New York, last 

 .Uw> February, Mr. R. Bacon gave his ex- 

 ^3° perience as follows: 



It is with hives very much as with mowing 

 machines; the farmer often viewing and re- 

 viewing the dift'erent machines is puzzled to 

 determine which is the best, yet, no doubt, 

 some are preferable to others. So it is with 

 hives. We see in market tall hives, short 

 hives, narrow hives, wide hives and box 

 hives, one story hives, two story hives, bar 

 hives, and many other hives, and men ready 

 to show you the good qualities of one hive 

 over the other, and when you have gone the 

 rounds, if you have had no practical experi- 

 ence in bee culture or have no judgment of 

 your own, you may be led to believe the 

 poorest hive the best. I would advise the 

 beginner in bee-keeping to use discretion in 

 this matter and take the middle ground. He 

 should choose hives containing frames of con- 

 venient size, and safe to handle, for general 

 use. They should not be complicated or 

 costly; they should be capable of construction 

 by any man who is handy \vith tools. The 

 bee-keeper who does not depend on his hives 

 for support may lay out money for costly and 

 fanciful hives; but the majority of bee-keep- 

 ers want a cheap, practical hive. I have 

 had rough, cheap hives, and elegant, costly 

 hives, and I have found tn every case, all 

 things being equal, bees have done full as 

 well iu my rough hives as in the more costly 

 onees. The wants of bees are few, and they 

 are not partial to fancy hives, and all varia- 

 tions from their wants are to benefit or gratify 

 the taste of man. Give the bees a proper 

 shaped hive, and sufficient amount of room in 

 the hive, and good care, and they will give 

 ample returns. Now, there has been much 

 said and written on what constitutes a proper 

 size and shaped hive. Some contend a hive 

 should be large. Others say twelve inches 

 square is the proper dimensions for a stand- 

 ard hive. Now, my experienca with large 

 hives has. been anything but satisfactory; they 

 neither give new swarms nor a large amount 

 of surplus honey. Of course I speak of 

 working these hives for box honey. I think 

 an extractor would show better results, bui 

 my experience in the other extreme of hive 

 has been no better. A hive twelve inches 

 square is too small for bees in any place. The 

 swarms from such hives will be small and 

 generally inferior compared witn swarms from 

 larger hives. There is but little room for 

 surplus bees, and therefore not a very large 

 amount of honey can be expected, and with 

 the best of care in two or three years, the 

 bees will be gone. Between these two ex- 

 tremes, I believe is found the correct medium. 

 A hive sixteen inches long, twelve inches 

 wide and twelve inches deep, and frames to 

 fit, and have it so constructed that side boxes 

 or extractor can be used, if the season re- 

 qiiires it, comes nearer to what I think is the 

 hive for general use. The frames are of con- 

 venient size, and safe to handle for either ex- 

 tracting or other uses. I believe it is often 

 the case that localities cause very much con- 

 tention about the style of hive and the man- 

 agement of bees, and were we to consider from 

 each other's standpoint, and reason accord- 

 ingly, it would save many jangles in bee cul- 

 ture". My frames tit a sixteen-inch hive and 

 are not more thay fourteen inches long and 

 less than a foot deep. They hold the comb 

 perfectly and have no difficulty in breaking 

 down. 



sown then, it not only forms the best pastur- 

 age for the bees, but usually yields a good 

 crop of seed. It is one of our best honey- 

 producing plants. The proper quantity to 

 BOW to an acre is one peck, although some 

 prefer to sow two pecks. I raise it largely, 

 and succeed best by sowing only one peck to 

 the acre. The number of acres required for 

 thirty colonies of bees will be about four, if 

 it is a good season for secreting honey. I 

 have known one acre of buckwheat to furnish 

 food enough for bees so that HOO pounds of 

 honey and 85 bushels of grain were made 

 from it. This was, however, an unusu- 

 ally favorable season. Five acres are the 

 least that should be sown for the number of 

 colonies mentioned, as it is better to have 

 "too much than not enough." — Ex. 



Buckwheat fob Bee Pastceage. — The 

 right time to sow buckwheat for bee pastur- 

 age, in California, is from May to July. When 

 the soil cannot be irrigated, sow iu May. If 



The Profits of Farming. 



The farmer who resides within reach of a 

 good market, where everything he can pro- 

 duce will command a ready sale at fair prices, 

 and where nothing goes to waste, has a de- 

 cided advantage over the farmer who lives 

 farther from market and depends upon such 

 staple articles of produce as grain, stock, etc. 

 The perishable articles which he cannot hand- 

 die yield the largest profits. The advantages 

 of a good home market are well illustrated by 

 the following table, taken from the last vol- 

 ume of the Agi-iculturid Report, just issued. 

 It shows the average cash value of farm pro- 

 ducts per acre in each State and in the Terri- 

 tories: 



Average 

 value per i 

 States. acre. 



Maine $14 16 



NfW HampKliire 10 .W 



Vermont IT H7 



MassatliuKttB 31 10 ; 



Khoile Island 31 00 



Connecticut 33 '.tl 



New York 22 'H 



New Jersey 



Pennsylvania 20 80 



Delaware 13 24 



Marj;lanil 15 52 



Virginia 14 15 



North Carolina 11 38 



South Carolina . 10 45 



Rcor<;ia 11 IM 



Floriila 11 47 



Alabama 13 78 



Mississippi 15 61 



Louisiana 15 61 



27 90 I Indiana 13 51 



Illinois 11 13 



Wisconsin 14 18 



Minnesota 1138 



Iowa 8 49 



Missouri 11 99 



Kansas 8 92 



Nebraska ... ITS 



California 15 10 



Oregon 16 70 



Nevada 44 30 



The Territories 26 10 



The Eastern States, which are not half as 

 productive as those at the West, yield double 

 the returns, in cash, to the farmer; Nevada 

 and the Western Territories, not producing 

 the supply equal to home demand, pay the 

 farmer from two to five prices for all he can 

 raise, which makes his business profitjible. 

 the value of the laud must be determined, 

 therefore, not so much by its productive 

 qualities as by its market facilities. The far- 

 mer who can get as much money out of ten 

 acres of ground, with half the labor, as can 

 be obtained by his brother from twenty acres, 

 can afford to pay very much for his ten acres. 

 The saving of one-half the labor is not for 

 one year only, but it is a perpetual advautjige. 

 The farmer," therefore, who goes far away 

 from market, in order to get cheap lands, will 

 discover that the purchase price of lands 

 should not be considered so much as the 

 market facilities. — Rural jii'ioi. 



Cribbing in Hob.ses. — "Dr. Cook, of El- 

 mira, Ohio, wiites the Scientific American that 

 cribbing is caused, in the first instance, either 

 by the front teeth growing so close together as 

 to press and give pain, or by something get- 

 ting between them, acting as a wedge. The 

 horse feels relief by pulling with his teeth on 

 any hard subsbince like the side of a plank. 

 Dr. Cook saws between the teeth with a very 

 thiu saw, which removes the pressure and 

 cures a bad habit." 



The ghost of Noah Webster came to a 

 spiritual medium in Alabama, not long since, 

 and wrote on a slip of paper: 'It is tite times.' 

 Noah was right, but we were sorry to see he 

 has gone back on his dictionary. 



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