CHAPTER II. 



SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. 



SECTION X-15EES, AND THE PrvOFlTABLE rUODUCTlON OF HONEY. 



S^^'IJE opening chapter was devoted to a general snr- 



VM> "^'CJ of farm-stock. This will be devoted to observ- 



'^ at ions Tipon bees, birds, bugs, insects, and worms ; 



■^■^f, dogs, cats, rabbits, rats, mice, moles ; camels as beasts 



of burden ; goats of Caslimere, their value as farm- 



'J stock ; fish-breeding, for domestic use or market ; ani- 



(,/^^j^ iiials yielding fur, and alpacas, and other small stock of the 



".-j^ farm. 



In the leading article of this chapter we shall notice what 

 may very appropriately be ranked as profitable stock iijjon 

 a farm, for the product of the hive often affords a consid- 

 ixA!^ -^P^ erable income, and it is nearly all clear profit. Birds, 

 ^^;^^> ' although tliey do not produce a direct income, are among 

 the greatest helps to tluit end, for tliey are great destroyers 

 of those pests, the bugs, insects, and worms, which we shall also introduce 

 into tliis chapter. Dogs, as an adjunct of tlic farm, and when only kept in 

 very limited numbers, arc not, pcrliaps, unprofitable stock ; but as they at 

 present exist, they are pests of the very worst kinds. Cats are a necessity, 

 for without them wc should be over-run witli rats and mice, and so we give 

 each a small space in tliis chapter. Rabbits, too, tliougli small, must have a 

 place ; and camels, though large enough to fill a chapter, like the rabbit, 

 must be contented witli a paragrapli. And the Ca.~hniere goat, the only one 

 of any value to farmers, is as yet so little diflfused among them, tliat we can 

 only afford space to give it a passing notice ; and the alpaca, an equally im- 

 portant domestic animal, avc must treat in tlio same short-hand way. 



Fisli-brcediiig is of vast importance to every farmer wlio litis the facility 

 for making a fish-pond, and therefore we have added it to this second chapter 

 of animals, domestic or wild, upon the farm. And finally, we add fur ani- 

 mals, merely to call the attention of those who own suitable locations, to the 

 fact that it is possible that such animals may be bred for their skins, to say 

 nothing of the value of their flesh. 



So much by way of intnxluction. Now let us take up our subjects, itcra 

 by item, each under its apjiropriate head. 



212. Bees.— History of their Introduction.— It is not quite certain whether 

 the honey-bee is indigcuous to America or not. Our opinion is that it is, 



