1882,] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



^69 



movable frame liiv >, commence on one side of 

 liivc and take out one or two frames and 

 sliake oil' the bees so as to be sure that the 

 lilack queen is not on them. Now have a new 

 hive ; put the two frames in and set in place 

 of the old hive, and carry the old hive and re- 

 maining bees some six or eight rods away, 

 then examine each frame carefully until the 

 black (lueen is found, tlicn kill her or mak<> a 

 new colony.by giving her about half of the 

 frames, and set it some distance from where 

 it lirst stood. Queens are mostly sent in a 

 cage one inch thick and two inches s(iuare. 

 Take this cage and lay it on a frame of 

 brood, near the top bar, and with a sharp 

 knife cut out a piece of comb, just as large as 

 the cage and no larger. Now remove the 

 two tacks that hold the tin gate, but do not 

 lei the gate slip out of place, slip the cage in 

 the hole cut in the comb with the gate down, 

 be sure the gate is in the right place so it will 

 be impossihle for the queen,to get out, place 

 the frames in the hives, just as they were, 

 and leave it for 3(5 to 48 hours, then remove 

 the tin gate, but leave the cage in position, 

 and with a sharp, thin knife give Ivvo or three 

 cuts just below the opening, but do not re- 

 move any comb ; now close the hive and the 

 bees will know their way out, but before 

 closing the hive be careful to destroy all queen 

 cells. In about live days open the hive and 

 see if all is right ami remove the cage. The 

 above plan is intended for those who have had 

 but little experience at the business, and not 

 for the practical apiarian. — Maryland Farmer. 



ON 



THE 



PREVENTABLE LOSSES 

 FARM. 



It is a "penny wise and pound foolish" sys- 

 tem, to breed from scrub stock. There is not 

 a farmer in this region who has not access to 

 a pedigreed Shorthorn bidl, by a payment of 

 a small fee of two to live dollars, and yet we 

 (ind only one animal in ten with Shorthorn 

 blood. It is a common practice to breed to a 

 yearling, and as he is almost sure to become 

 breechj', to sell him for what he will bring 

 the second summer. Many farmers neglect 

 castrating their calves until they are a year 

 old. I think ten per cent, are thus perma- 

 nently injured — must be classed as stags, and 

 sold at a reduced price. Fully half the 

 calves so stunted never recover. 



With many, the starving process continues 

 through the entire year. They are lirst fed 

 an insullicient quantity of skim milk; then in 

 July or August, just at the season when flies 

 are at their worst, and pastures driest, they 

 are weaned, and turned out to shift for them- 

 selves, and left on the p.istures until snow 

 fall, long after the fields yield them a good 

 support. They are wintered without grain, 

 spring tind them poor and hide-bound, 

 and the be st grazing season is over be- 

 fore they are fairly thrifty. 



The keeping of old cows long past their 

 lirinie is another thing which largely reduces 

 the profits of the farniei-. We have found 

 quite a large per cent, of cows, whose 

 wrinkled horns and generally run-down con- 

 dition, show that they have long since passed 

 the point of profit. A few years ago, these 

 cows would have sold at full prices for beef, 

 now they will only do for bologna at 2 cents per 

 pound. Thus cows have, in a majority of 



cases, been kept, not because they were fa- 

 vorites, or even because they were jirofitable, 

 but from sheer carelessness and want of fore- 

 thought. Another fruitful cause of loss to 

 the farmer, is attempting to winter more 

 stock than he has feed for. Instead of esti- 

 mating his resources in the fall, and knowing 

 that he has enough feed even fur a hard win- 

 ter, he gives the matter no thought, and 

 March linds him with the choice of two evils, 

 either to sell" stock, or buy feed. If he 

 chooses the former, he will often sell for much 

 less than the animals would have brought 

 four months earlier, and if the latter, will 

 usually i)ay a mu('h higher price for feed than 

 if it had been bought in autumn. Too often 

 he scrimps the feed, hoping for an early 

 spring, and so soon as he can see the grass 

 showing a shade of green around the fence 

 rows, or in some sheltered ravine, turns his 

 stock out to make their own living. This 

 brings one of the most potent causes of un- 

 prolitable cattle raising ; namely, short pas- 

 tures. The farmer who is overstocked in 

 winter, is almost sure to turn his cattle on 

 his pastures too early in the spring, and this 

 generally results in short pasture all summer, 

 and consequently the stock do not thrive as 

 they ought, and in addition, the laud which 

 should be greatly benefited and enriched, is 

 injured, for the develoinnent of the roots in 

 the soil must correspond to that of the tops, 

 and if the latter are constantly cropped short, 

 the roots must be small. The heuefit of shade 

 is lost, and the land is trampled by the cattle 

 in their wanderings to till themselves, so that 

 it is in a worse condition than if a crop of 

 grain had been grown on it. From all these 

 causes combined, there is a large aggregate of 

 loss, and it is the exception to find a farm on 

 which one or more of thiiin does not exist, 

 and yet without exception, they may be 

 classed as "preventable," if thought and 

 liractical common sense are brought to bear 

 in the management. — Amcrkan Ayricultnritit. 



YIELD AND CONDITION OK CROPS. 



The October returns include the entire 

 area of nearly seventeen hundred counties of 

 the United .States, representing nearly all of 

 the breadth in cereals, potatoes, cotton, to- 

 bacco, and sorghum. They give direct esti- 

 mates of the yield per acre of the small grains, 

 all of which are harvested, based on thrashers' 

 records as far as obtainable. Errors have 

 been carefully eliiuinated, and unreasonable 

 estimates examined for coj-rectioii. The re- 

 sult of this test of production gives the largest 

 figures of the ollicial series of tests, from the 

 involuntary impulse of farmers to think and 

 speak well of their acres; so that, on com- 

 pleting the direct comparison, by counties, 

 with the product of last year, and the adjust- 

 ment of possible discrepancies by furthur in- 

 vestigation, the outcome may pnssilily be 

 lower than is indicated by the figures of yield 

 per acre. 



The crops not yet generally harvested, corn, 

 potatoes, and buckwheat, and cotton also, 

 make a final report of condition, the rate of 

 yield to fellow in November. 

 WHEAT. 



The October returns of yield per acre of 

 wheat, estimated from results of thrashing, 

 foreshadows a product slightly exceeding 



r)0(),(lOO,(l(i() Inishels. The average yield per 

 acre will not much exceed an average of 1.3.5 

 bushels, on an acreage slightly under .37,- 

 UOi),UOO. There is a reduction of area in the 

 spring-wheat region, and a largo yield in the 

 great vvinter-wheat-growing belt of the West. 

 The six jiriiicipal winter-wheat States will 

 aggregate about aH.IMlO.ljlJO bushels, or nearly 

 half the crop of the United Slates. The 

 spring wheat of the Northwest may make 

 113,0U0,U00 bushels. The Pacific-coast crop, 

 which has been piTsisteiitly exaggerated in 

 commercial estimates, may pessibly reach 

 4r),OUO,IIO() bushels. The Middle States have 

 produced about 40,000,000 bushels, and the 

 Southern States slightly in excess of 50,- 

 000,000. Slight modifications may come from 

 further investigation as the results of the 

 harvest are more closely tested ; but the total 

 i-annot be much changed, and certainly can- 

 not be expected to enlarge the aggregate 

 above, which requires nearly as large a yield 

 per acre as has ever been reported in this 

 country by census or ollicial estimate. ' The 

 average yield has never fallen quite to 10 

 bushels (though very near .it last year), and 

 never has quite touched 14 bushels in years of 

 greatest abundance. It was 12.0 in the census 

 year, and the croi) of 1880 was estimated 

 at 13.1. 



The yield in New England varies from 14 

 bushels in Maine to 18.7 in Vermont. It is 

 unusually high in New York, 18.7 bushels; in 

 Pennsylvania not quite so high, 15.5 bushels. 

 Delaware and Maryland secure good yields ; 

 but the South, from Virginio to the MLssiss- 

 ippi Eiver, though yielding better than usual, 

 ranges 7 to 10 bushels ; Arkansas and Texas 

 do better. 



Coming to the winter wheat belt of the 

 Ohio Valley, the country north of that river 

 averages nearly sixteen bushels. Michigan 

 and Illinois stand highe.'-l in this belt. Ken- 

 tucky and Missouri promise about 14 bushels; 

 Kansas reports the extraordinary yield of 

 10.5, a crop of about 34,000,000 bushels. The 

 yield of California is apparently about 13 

 bushels, while Oregon and Washington are 

 higher and more unifi)rm in local areas. 



The quality of wheat is generally good ; 

 high in the Eastern and Middle States and 

 approximating 100 in the South. In Illinois 

 the average is 09; in Indiana. 07 ; in Ohio, 

 0(5. Some loss of quality in Jlichigan from 

 heating in the stack, reducing the as'erase to 

 90. In West Virginia it fails to reach per- 

 feelion by nine points. Iowa, in the spring 

 wheat belt, makes lowest returns, averaging 

 07. Further west, and on the Pacific coast, 

 quality is reported uiiiforinly good. 



().\TS. 



The average yield of oats will be somewhat 

 higher than last year or 1879, and the product 

 wdl be nearly as large as that of wheat, pro- 

 bably about 480,000,0(10 bushels. Illinois, 

 Iowa, New Vork, Wisconsin, Missouri, Penn- 

 sylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Kansas are 

 Slates of highest rank. 

 KYi:. 



The indicated average yield of rye is 14.7, 

 making a crop of 20,000,000 bushels, or nearly 

 the same as that reported by the last census. 

 The quality ranges, with few exceptions, 

 from 95 to 100. 



