310 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



thousand, reared in any stock. It is done by re- 

 moving: the drone comb, or any part of it, and 

 substituting worker combs instead. Without 

 these cells the bees cannot rear drones if they 

 would. It is now pretty well demonstrated, 

 that the eggs of a healthy queen are all alike, 

 and the sex of the future bee depends on the cell 

 in which it is deposited. If every drone we have 

 reared was a worker, it would not only support 

 itself, but would i)e likely to add to the common 

 stores. The advantages would be, in having just 

 enough. 



The size of the hive can be graduated to suit 

 the wants of any colony. If there are too many 

 combs to be properly protected from the moth, 

 a part may be taken away, and returned as needed. 



The loss of queens in most apiaries is a seri- 

 ous damage. Except within the first few days af- 

 ter its occurrence, there is no further means of 

 ascertaining this fact, short of several weeks ; by 

 which time it is often too late to save the stock. 

 But with the frames it can be ascertained at any 

 time; and after the young queen commences her 

 maternal duties, only a minute or two is required 

 to examine the brood combs ; any cells contain- 

 ing eggs or brood indicate her presence. If she 

 is lost, another can be provided in time to save 

 the stock. 



These are some, but not all the advantages 

 that I have found in the movable combs. Sup- 

 pose that I had recommended this movable comb 

 hive immediately on being satisfied that I could 

 make it profitable ; and then, as with many other 

 beautiful theories, failed in practice. 1 should 

 have been worse off", than to be accused of 

 "preaching what I did not practice." Prudence 

 should prevent any one from recommending an 

 improvement based on theory alone. ''Consist- 

 ency" dictates a different course. I have now 

 used these frames three summers, and know from 

 experience what I say respecting them. Having 

 found them beneficial for myself, I think they 

 might be so to others, and consider it a duty to 

 give the pul)lic all the knowledge I possess in 

 bee culture. I have, therefore, added an appen- 

 dix to my treatise, giving directions for making 

 and using these frames, an advertisement of 

 which is enclosed. 



"Norfolk" calls the "movable comb hive, un- 

 wieldly." 1 have seen some that I think are so. 

 But I apprehend this to be a matter of taste ; as 

 I make the hive, there will be no complaint in 

 this respect. The principal of the movable combs 

 is the point that I consider constitutes the ad- 

 vantage. 



In the controversy about the triangular guide, 

 I have but little interest, further than I should 

 be pleased to have all admit that it was public 

 property. Whoever succeeds in establishing a 

 claim, should give us something a little more re- 

 liable — something that would give us straight 

 combs with certainty ; because now a colony will 

 occasionally make their combs crooked, and are 

 of no value as movable combs, on that account. 



I have given what to me are valuable points in 

 the movable comb hive, and the reasons why they 

 are so. Now will "Norfolk," "Clark," or any one, 

 give us through the Farmer as minute an ac- 

 count of the "Union hive" — in what consists its 

 superiority ? It will hardly be satisfactory to say 

 it is better, without pointing out what particular 



makes it so. I am willing to adopt anything that 

 is shown superior to what I already possess. My 

 likes and dislikes are goverened by what appears 

 the utility of the thing. 



In criticisms on this subject, it is best to avoid 

 personalities. I shall consider I am not called 

 upon to answer anything of the kind. 



8t. Jolinsville, N. Y. M. Quinbt. 



For the New England Farmer. 



CATTLE AND HORS1ES EATINO BOARDS 

 AND BONES. 



A "Vermont Subscriber" asks "the reason why 

 his cattle eat old boards and bones ?" I presume 

 the reason is, because he has kept them too 

 close yarded, and has not let them get to the fresh 

 earth during the winter, so that they could have 

 the privilege to eat dirt, grass, shrubs, &c., as is 

 natural to cattle and horses. After cattle have 

 run out and grazed all summer, and then taken 

 them up to hay, dry fodder and close confinement, 

 they soon begin to hanker for a fresh bite of 

 grass, or to lick the ground, and if you let them 

 out, it is not uncommon for a creature to eat a 

 pint or even a quart of fresh earth at a time. 

 When I have been plowing in the spring I have 

 had oxen want to stop and lick a mellow looking 

 spot of earth that had been turned up by the pre- 

 vious furrow. I always let them stop and eat all 

 they want. Cattle and horses should be let to run 

 out on a field or pasture occasionally, during the 

 winter, to gnaw the ground and grass roots, and 

 if the snow covers the ground for a long time to- 

 gether, they should be supplied with a few shovels 

 ful of fresh earth from some clean place under 

 the barn, or from the roots of an old decayed 

 tree, if it can be had. I never knew cattle to 

 gnaw the fence or their cribs in the summer 

 when they run out, or even when they run at 

 large in the winter, and if "Subscriber's" cattle 

 have had access to the ground during the winter, 

 and still gnaw boards, &c., they are unlike any 

 cattle that I ever saw ; will he please tell us about 

 this ? It is the same with the horse ; I often hear 

 people complain of their horses gnawing their 

 cribs. 



Colts are raised in the country, and graze in 

 the pastures for more than half the year for their 

 living, and when they are old enough to be put 

 into stables and put to close confinement and 

 hard work, and especially when they are brought 

 to the city, they are changed from their native 

 element of grazing, and rolling and stretching 

 themselves out at full length on the ground to 

 rest, and as the good people of old longed for the 

 leeks and onions of Egypt, so they long and han- 

 ker for their old grazing pastures of the country, 

 and in their faint stomach-hankerings do the 

 next best thing, and gnaw the cribs, and every 

 carriage and sleigh back they stand next to. 



I purchased a five-year old horse six years ago, 

 that had been brought from Vermont one year 

 before, and in three weeks after I purchased him, 

 he had gnawed through the bottom of a two inch 

 plank crib, and before I discovered that he was a 

 cribber, for my man took care of him. After this 

 I put him out in a little yard two or three times 

 a week, and let him pick some grass and ground, 

 and roll for an hour at a time, if I could noi, spare 



