1875.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



i73 



with jK-isous wlio, upon lirarins of ourlarseapiark'S, 

 would sav ■■ "Oh, I would like to si'P your bfcs, but 

 1 am afraid they woulil stiii!.' nir." Yet, whciievcr 

 we have had the i;(><id luek of imlui-ins; any of these 

 tiiniil persons to jiay a visit lo our hees, we have al- 

 ways sueeeeded in eliauiiini; their opinion on this im- 

 ]iortant part of liee eulture, aial they invarialily left 

 with the impression that tamini; l)eeK was not, sueli a 

 hard matter after all. 



Some jiersons think that hees know their keeper, 

 and allow themselves to he handled hy him or her 

 with more faeilily than hy straufrers. This is a mis- 

 take. The life (d' a bee is" so short and there are so 

 many hees in a hive that tmless they he handled al- 

 most every day most of the hees do not seetheir own- 

 er at all. If a hive be plaeed in a nnieh frequented 

 plaee, however, tlie bees will be much tamer than if 

 they he in an out-of-the-way eorner. 



lint a hive id bees ean be tamed and handled at 

 anytime if the t bin;; is properly done. When bees are 

 scared hy blowing smoke at the entranee to the hive, 

 they till themselves with honey, and in this state they 

 will nut stimr norsel auLny, uidess pressed or injured. 



The best time to ojien a' liive is tbewarim-sl part of 

 tlie day, when most cd' the old bees are out in the 

 fields. Timid jjersons ean use a veil to eover their 

 faces. It is even a frood preeaution, in a larfje apiary, 

 to wear a veil all the time. The hands should be 

 naked, for sloves are uidiamly, and they will hardly 

 ever s;et stung if the bees are carefully and quietly 

 handled . — Wtstcrn AgricuUurM. 



New BKiilNNEIis should eommenee on a prudent 

 scale; that is, besrinwith a few swarms, and increase 

 the numln'rs as their knoivledije pro^-resses. It is 

 very risky business to invest capital larLrely in any 

 business of which they have a limited know led^-e, and 

 more so with ajnculture than most other industrious 

 pursuits. .Many persons, after reading and otherwise 

 obtainiuir knowledge of the large profits of practical 

 apiarians, are induced to embark in bee-keeping on a 

 large scale, with but little or no experience, and the 

 result is a failin-c, which I ends to bring discredit upon 

 tlie business. Knowledge inapiculture is largely in de- 

 mand, and is a much safer Ibundat.ion than capital. 



THE FARM AND DAIRY. 



The Dairy Interests at the Centennial. 



The American Dairyman's Association arc active in 

 their etVorts to secure a full representation of Ameri- 

 can dairy products, and they arc ably seconded by 

 the Vhilailclphia Produce Exchange, the only organ- 

 ized body in Philadelphia directly interested in dairy 

 products. At a recent meeting they adopted a series 

 of resolutions, and aiipointed a committee to carry 

 them into effect, of which Mr.. 1. 11. Hcall is Chairman. 

 In addressing tlie meeting, Mr. Keall presented some 

 facts and considerations which illustrated the vast 

 imi)ortance of the dairy interests of the United States. 

 Referring to tlie active preparations the dairymen of 

 the country arc making to participate in the Centen- 

 nial Exhibition, he said the dairymen of Ohio are 

 sliowing great enterprise in connection with tlie mat- 

 ter, in one section arranging for the manufacture of 

 a cheese to weigh 29,(1(10 pounds, at a cost of over 

 $1.S,0()(), and wc may expect fully as great efforts from 

 the dairvmen of New York Stale and the Northwest. 

 The world has come to recognize thegreatness of the 

 dairy industrv. It is estimated that we produce 

 1,0110,00(1,(100,0(1(1 ]iounds of butter, and 200,000,000 

 pouiwls of cheese annually in this country, and yet 

 leading thinkers upon the subject consider the trade 

 as yet in its infancy. Thmujli the American peojile 

 fuliy appreciate the excellency of liutter as an article 

 of food, they have little conceptiim of the superiority 

 of cheese as an excellent and cheap article of diet. 

 The English people cat 4'.^ pounds per capita to our 

 I'o pounds, and they arc probably the best informed 

 upon the relative values of food of any naticm in the 

 world. Too much stress cannot be laid upon the im- 

 portance of this article. If our people knew the value 

 of cheese, the demand would far exceed the present 

 production, great as it is, and it is most desirable, as 

 well for the interests of the coiisninins public, as for 

 the dairymen of the country, that efforts be made to 

 induce a freer use of this article. This can best be 

 accomplished by a display of the product. Buttoin- 

 duce a large coiisumption of any article, excellency 

 must be studied, and hence the dairyman must beeii- 

 couragcd tu raise tin slaiidavd <if hin pnnlnclioii. In- 

 deed, the future of dairy interest, both as regards 

 cheese and butter, depends ujion t he quality produced, 

 and there is certainly no better means of stimulating 

 ourdairymen lo excellence, than by such a display of 

 their products as the Centennial will atl'ord. The 

 dairymen themselves will derive vast henelit from 

 a proper display of their goods upon the occasion of 

 our hundredth year of existence as a (;overnineiit, 

 and we must encourage them all we ean. 



The most important feature of this matter is, that 

 two-thirds of all the cheese we make, and a consider- 

 able amount of tlie butter being exported, great ad- 

 vantages will result to tlie commerce in these articles 

 if a proper representation is made. Merchants and 

 consumers from abroad interested in cheese and liut- 

 ter will attend the Centennial, and we are directly in- 

 terest etl iti securing a proper cxhitiit of our advantages 



in producing and shipping. The export trade in 

 cheese from New York- is simply enormous. In one 

 week over 1(10, 0(KI boxes were sent from that city to 

 (ireat Hrilain, worth, at least, ?"iOO,(l(IO. 



Philailelphia has now every advanlage for ex|)ort- 

 ing goods. The American Steamshl|> Company has 

 given vast facilities, and when the manai^ers see the 

 neeessity of providlm; more ships, or anari;.dng to 

 aceommoilale all shippers who wish to furward iroods, 

 they will do so. " We arc," said Mr. Keall, " already 

 betier situated, geoi^rapliieally, than .New York for 

 obtaining goods, liciiig nearcrihe priKluciiig iKiinIs by 

 one hundred miles, and having the bi'st managed 

 railroad in the world (the Pennsylvania railroad), 

 conneetini: us with every point. Our organization has 

 already done much to advance the true interests of 

 the produce trade, but it has a larger and greater 

 work before it. She has proven lierself thus far capa- 

 ble of tilling the position for which she wasdcsigni'd, 

 and as the years go on, more and more important will 

 be her fuiielions. The work in hand is one that will 

 require much labor and skill, but though our num- 

 bers are not large, wc have many indefaligaMe work- 

 ers, while all may be relied u|ion to do their part. 

 The dairynu'ii of the country lo(^k tons for ineonragc- 

 nient in this matter, and we owe a duty to them, to 

 our city, and to the dairymen and dealers of ourgood 

 sister (ireat Britain and the Continent, which should 

 make us anxious to provide all possible aecommoda- 

 tioiis for all." 



Practical Hints. 



Floating on the great sea of the agricultural news- 

 paper are often many little hints, which if gathered 

 together, would make an extremely useful volume. 

 Here before us one gives an account of how he gets 

 rid of larsje rocks, which, as " boulders," lie arotind 

 his farm (but this proliably originated with us, as we 

 rceommended it both for boulders, stumjis, iVcc, fully 

 twenty-five years ago); he digs a hole below the 

 reach of the plow, alongside, and with a lever tum- 

 bles them ill and buries them. Where stone is abun- 

 dant, this is much better than blowing them to iiieecs 

 with [lowdcr and carting them away. Stumps may 

 be got rid of in the same way ; but here is one who 

 burns them out. He has a large tin funnel made so 

 as to lit over the largest of the stuniiis, and has an 

 opening at the bottom like the opening to a fiiruacc. 

 In this opening he builds a small tire, and the draught 

 through the furnace keeps the tire burning until the 

 whole stump is burned away. We should suppose by 

 this plan the stump would not burn below the line of 

 the draught, and that it would still leave all beneath 

 the surface of the ground, and thus would the plow 

 be as much impeded as if the stump was still there. 

 Yet there seems the rudiments of a cheap and easy 

 way of getting rid of stumps, and it is worth noting. 



Then we have another who had a long pale fence 

 wliicli it was necessary to remove. The posts had to 

 be dug out; but to save this a couple ol' oxen were 

 attached to a lever, which drew them out easily. 

 The lever in this case was simply a chain, and the 

 prop a short thick log of wood, inclined at an angle 

 towards the post to be lifted, and away from tlie 

 oxen. The chain or rope, wlicn attached to the bottom 

 of the post, pulls it out easily, when the oxen draw 

 the short block upright. There is a useful hint in this, 

 although as a general thing a man with a good lumber 

 log-lever will easily draw out any ordinary jiost. 



Another person has had trouble with the drawing 

 out of stajiles from barn-doors, and screws from 

 hinges. He drove pegs into the holes, and put the 

 irons in again; but they would soon come (nit, wooden 

 pegs and all. Then he used leather, which was better 

 than wooden pegs, but in time the latter got used to 

 the pressure, and let the stajilcs out. Then he tilled 

 tiic li(des tightly with cork, and put in the screws 

 and irons, and they have remained in perfect condi- 

 tion to this day. 



In connection with this matter of staples is another 

 hint from one who wanted a ring set into a piece of 

 stone. He ran lead into the hole about the ring, but 

 in time it got loose and worked out. Then he was 

 told to melt brimstone ami run it in the place of the 

 lead, which he did, and it has been sound and solid 

 ever since. There is nothing new in this; stone-cut- 

 ters generally use sulphur for cementing pieces to- 

 gether: but still the hint will be valuable to those for 

 whom the contributor intended it. 



And here is one more before us, which comjilctes a 

 very g<x>d chapter of little hints, from one day's read- 

 ing. It is in relation to garden-ilibbles. The con- 

 tributor has to use one often, and he had the iqiper 

 part of the handle of an old spade, as so many do, 

 for that purpose. He had it pc.inlcd with iron, which 

 w as an improvement ; but it still required some force 

 to press it into the ground, and it was by no means 

 easy work. At length he had the point of the dibble 

 made flat, like a wciIl'c, and then |Kiinted it with iron 

 as before, and found after that that dibbling was 

 comparatively easy work to what it had iK'en before. 

 He has " no blisters on his hands now," for which he 

 may well be thankful. 



It is such little things as these which make up the 

 valiu- of an agricultural paper quite as nuich as scieii- 

 titic discussions and learned opinions; anil we take 

 pleasure in gathering up these fragments, lest they 

 be lost. — (lertnantovn Telegraph. 



A Vast Estate in Kansas. 



MR. r.EOHliE (IHANT'h KAHM OK .'>7<i,(K)0 APKEfl — 



TiiorsANiis OP siiKKr Axn cows. 



Among the prominent visitors at the fair Is Mr. 

 (leorge tirani, of Victoria Colony, Kansas, the owner 

 of the largest farm In the world, with the exception, 

 perha|)s, of that of the Duke of Sutherland, whose 

 broad acres consist largely of hill and heather. Mr. 

 (Irani 's diiinain covers .'i7(»,0(M> acres in the heart of 

 Kansas, abmit '.i!HI miles west of Kansas City to Fort 

 Hays, the centre of the tract. His effort is to estab- 

 lish a nioilel farm, for which irreat credit Is due him, 

 as well as for bis successful efforts in iiitriHluelng Im- 

 jKirted stock, and showing the residts in crossing ini- 

 porfcd with native slock, and also the best methods 

 of sheltering and feeding cattle in winter. Mr. (irant 

 is goin;:back to Europe in about five weeks to arrange 

 lor the briiiL'ing out of more jieople and a large |ior- 

 tion of high-bred stuck, which he will exhiliit at the 

 Centennial, with the Intention ultimately of shipping 

 it to Victoria. Mr. (Iraiit slates that one herd of 

 eighty-one shorl-horns of the Boo' h strain sold live 

 weeks ago at the sale of the late Mr. Torr's pro[M'rty 

 in Eiiirland at an averaire jiriee from yountr to old of 

 ?:(,()00. They were of the same familythat he liasat 

 Victoria, and many of the animals were Unight for 

 America. 



Mr. (iranl's colony has largely swelled this season 

 by immigrants, ami another Knglish company has 

 just bought 40, 0(K> acres adjoining the Victoria colo- 

 ny. One of the New York Cunthers has started with 

 ."i.OOd acres, and Mr. Dickinson, of St. Louis, has 

 bought two square miles, aial Is out there now mak- 

 ing arrangements for putting up a house. Mr.drant 

 says he is more than satisfied with the produce of his 

 crops this season. 



The rains have been abundant, but last year the 

 grasshoppers swept everything. One field of eighty 

 acres of Hinigarian grass on his farm has prtHlueed 

 770 tons of fodder and ."),11.") bushels of seed, giving a 

 profit of more t bail .lOO per cent, on the cost of putting 

 in the seed. He i>ut in :!00 acres of alfalfa, a kind of 

 fodder much used in California. The land will grow 

 three crops of this grass in a year, at the rate of six 

 tons to the acre, but it afi'eets a deep, dry soil. Mr. 

 (Jrant has increased his flock of sheep to 10,000, and 

 has 1,000 cows. In less than five years heexiH'cts to 

 increase his shecji to 100,000. His wik>1 alone this 

 season brought 811,700 in Boston, at :i:i cents per 

 I)ound. Sheep farming is evidently destincil to be a 

 profitable business in Kansas. — SI. Lviiis Ucpubliean. 



Gigantic Farming in Pennsylvania. 



.lames Younir.of Middletown, Uanphin county, Pa., 

 does farmiiii; on a gigantic scale. His sales of wheat 

 this fall and winter will aggregate S(;,(KK) ; hay, ?4,000. 

 The yield of corn on his [ilace this season exceeds 10,- 

 0(K) bushels. Last winter he fattened for market 212 

 head of cattle. He believes in steaming food for his 

 cattle, and for that purpose has erected in one of his 

 capacious barns a boiler (i'.j feel high, with a diame- 

 ter of two and one-sixth feet. It Is a twelve-horse 

 Iiower, and carries sixty pounds of steam. He finds 

 that he can use much of his produce, by steaming it, 

 that would go untouched in a raw or unprepared 

 state. He uses up all his corn stalks by steaming. 

 Prior to the use of steam, it took all the hay he could 

 priHluee to feed his cattle. Now he feeds more caltlc 

 than ever, and has laru'C quantities of hay lo sell. 

 Last year he sold two hundred tons. Mr. Y'ouiig Is 

 about putting in a ten-horse [mwer enirine to run his 

 threshers, finlder-cutters, etc., and believes it will be 

 a great saving. 



The butter .Mr. Y. manufactures Is of so su|)erior a 

 quality it never reaches the general market, and com- 

 maiid.s a hisrlier price than the best grades quoted. 

 His cows are |irineipally .\lderneys, and he has forty 

 of this breed as nearly alike us twin sisters — each one, 

 in addition to the other peculiarllies of the breed, 

 liavinir black bunds, a black tongue, and a long, 

 handsome. black-tii>|Kd tail. 



An Item for Farmers and Grain Dealers. 



Col. John Wallower, of Harrisburg, who deals ex- 

 tensively in grain, seeds, Ac, conceived the Idea 

 lately, (if erecting two immense kilns lodry new corn 

 in order to prepare it for market. Before carrying 

 out the intention, however, he thought he would first 

 experiment In the nialler of drying corn. ?'or this 

 puri>i)se the Colonel proeuriKl fnim a farmer near the 

 city thirty-nine imunds of corn, all fine, large ears. 

 He placed the corn in an open range at 11 o'clock a. 

 in. one day, and removed it at o'clock p. in. on the 

 next, the corn meanwhile having thoroughly dried. 

 I'lKUi weighing the same amount of corn after it was 

 shelled, the product was twenty-two iKiunds — a loss 

 of over forty-three i)er cent. Accoriling lo the same 

 ratio it would require !»!l <)-'22 pounds of ears lo make 

 fifty-six |x>unds of shelleil corn. The corn referred In 

 was in good condithm, and h.ad been eriblxMl fully a 

 week. By this experiment il will be seen that if the 

 farmer diiqioses of his corn in the fall the profit will 

 be eon.slderably greater than if he holds It over till 

 spring and submits lo the shrinkage. 



