1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVIER. 



43 



he would take them back to the city and sell 

 them as horses just from the country, — the old 

 owners often buying the horse they sold, be- 

 cause the horse could not eat grain enough to 

 look as fine and soft coated as he did when he 

 returned to the city, when at pasture or in the 

 yard. At this farm the horse was kept just 

 alive, but had little or no work. I tried it on 

 one or more horses I have owned, and found 

 it very beneficial, especially to horses that 

 were over ten years of age. I think that eight 

 rj'iarts of grain given to a horse, after some 

 MX months of this treatment, will have a bet- 

 tiT el'fcct on the looks of the hair and feelings 

 7,r life of the horse, than twelve or fourteen 

 quarts did before ; remember, I speak from 

 facts. Y"ou look at coach horses, in your city, 

 which you know have been there six or eight 

 years, with a good deal of work, and the 

 coachman allowed to feed all the grain he 

 chooses, and also as little hay, and see if I am 

 not sustained in what I write. 



Grain-killed horses are always gaunt be- 

 tween the ribs ; the hair stares and looks dead, 

 and the flesh feels hard and dry ; the horse is 

 dull and stupid — not pla} ful, and looks sleepy 

 about the eyes. Treat him as I say, and, my 

 word for it, in a few months he will be his old 

 self, playful at the halter, prompt to the bit, 

 and look sleek. To give less grain, more 

 damp hay or green food, carrots, potatoes or 

 something of that kind in moderation is my 

 advice and practice. — James Thompson, Hose 

 Hill, in Country Gentleman. 



"WINTBKING BEES. 

 Mr. P. Lattner of Dubuque Co., Iowa, 

 writes to the AmeHcan Bee Journal as fol- 

 lows : — 



I have seen a great jnany plans in the Bee 

 Journal for wintering bees, but I prefer the 

 one I adopted last winter to any that has been 

 suggested. Out of seventy-six hives wintered 

 (among them some pretty weak colonies) I did 

 not lose one. AVhereas, winter before last, 

 out of sixty-eight hives wintered on their sum- 

 mer stands, I lost thirty-eight, and the remain- 

 ing thirty were weak. I came to the conclu- 

 sion that what is good to keep ice in summer 

 is good to keep bees in winter ; and I went to 

 work and built an ice house, 16 feet by 20, 

 and 7 feet high. I used six-inch studding sid- 

 ing on the outside, and lined with inch boards 

 inside ; put a tight floor overhead, and then 

 filled all around with sawdust. 1 also put six 

 inches of sav/dust above, on the floor. I had 

 in each corner a four-inch opening, or chim- 

 ney, through the floor, but not through the 

 roof; and a double door in front, which kept 

 the room perfectly dark. We had pretty cold 

 weather last winter, yet water would not freeze 

 in that room. 'I'owards spring, it was getting 

 rather warm inside, and I noticed that some 



colonies were becoming uneasy. I then left 

 the doors open after dark and shut them again 

 before daylight — which operation made all 

 quiet. 



I can winter a hundred colonies in that room, 

 and it did not cost over forty dollars to build it. 



IMy bees commenced swarming the first 

 week in June, though one swarm issued on the 

 28th of May. I only let them swarm once. 

 Six or seven days after swarming I would cut 

 out all the queen cells, and insert one Italian 

 in place of black ones. I have now one hun- 

 dred and thirty-five colonies ; and, I think, 

 when I put them in winte*r quarters, I .shall 

 have Italianized every one of them. 



I use the Langstroth hive, and prefer it to 

 any other form. Any one must acknowledge 

 that the frames are easier handled than in any 

 other hive — besides the grand place for sur- 

 plus honey, which no other hive can equal. 



As for wintering bees out of doors, I do 

 not believe in it any more. We must provide 

 shelter for all our stock in the winter ; why 

 can we not afford to do the same for our bees ? 



My bees are doing well, and some of the 

 ■first swarms have filled six boxes of honey.- 

 Those with frames on the top have done still 

 better. I believe bees will store double the 

 quantity of honey in frames, as compared with 

 boxes. 



BOAEDS AND NAILS FOB PODDEK. 

 Farmers are sometimes annoyed by their 

 cattle gnawing boards, bones, &c. We do 

 not propose to grind up "boards and nails for 

 fodder" and give it to animals with such a 

 perverted taste. We were thinking merely of 

 how much fodder might be saved in many 

 barns by a dose of boards and nails adminis- 

 tered, not to the cattle, but to the barn in which 

 cows and other animals are kept. Not long 

 since while looking over the premises of a neat 

 and thoughtful farmer, and admiring his warm 

 stable, pig-pen, and shed for manure, he re- 

 marked "that little funny article in your paper, 

 about boards saving hay, written by some- 

 body [Rufus Nutting, E^q.,] in Randolph, 

 Vt., was worth a year's subscription to me. 

 It is strange," he continued "that so few far- 

 mers in this cold country provide a warm place 

 for their stock." Those who read Mr. N.'s 

 article will remember that he estimated that 

 in many cases two dollars worth of boards and 

 nails might save in expense of fodder, and by 

 the increase of the milk of say five cows, fifty 

 dollars in one hundred winter days. After 

 the ends and back side of the stable are made 

 sufiiciently tight, he recommended that a few 

 boards be hinired on in front, so that in severe 



