1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



67 



twenty. His four Lambs this year weighed 59, 60, 

 67 and 50 lbs. He has also eight cov/s from which 

 he has made, since the first of April, 1200 lbs. of 

 butter, and reared four calves. The butter brought 

 him $490 22. So says the Vermont Farmer. 



— The temperature of the surrounding air has a 

 great effect upon the time required for the rising of 

 the ci'eam ; experiment has demonstrated that with 

 the thermometer at 



80 degrees, all the cream will rise in 10 hours. 



77 

 68 

 55 

 50 

 45 



12 

 18 

 24 

 36 

 43 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



WHITE BEANS — SEED CORN — BREEDS OF SWINE — 

 ESSEX PIGS. 



What kind of white beans are the best for table 

 use, and at the same time bring the highest price 

 in market ? Where can I obtain a seed of corn 

 that will yield a large crop, and ripen early in the 

 State of Maine ? Is the Columbia County pig 

 equal to the Chester, Suffolk or Cheshire, in qual- 

 ity of pork and ease of fattening ? 



What is the best Ijreed of pigs in all respects ? 



Will the Essex pig dress white ? 



Norton, Dec, 1866. A Subscriber. 



Remarks. — The white "pea bean," as it is 

 called, is probably the best bean known, all things 

 considered. That is, most people prefer this to 

 any other bean. It is easily raised, ripens before 

 frosts usually come, is always in demand in the 

 market, and at the highest price paid for beans. 



Seed corn may be obtained at the seed stores in 

 Boston, and probably in any of the cities in Maine, 

 that will yield a large crop if managed properly, 

 and will ripen in about ninety days from the time 

 of planting — provided the seed is put into the 

 ground as soon as the soil is suitable in the spring. 



We have no knowledge that is sufficiently relia- 

 ble on j'our question about the swine. The pure 

 Chester and the Suffolk fatten quite rapidly, and 

 the poi-k sometimes lacks that firmness which we 

 find in breeds of larger frames. 



The question as to what is the best breed of 

 Bwine in all respect, is probably as much unsettled 

 as it would be if applied to cattle or horses. 



The Essex swine do dress white. 



Since then I have kept them on their summer 

 stand. 



I have a few hives that stand on a platform, 

 with wire cloth for a bottom. I think Ihcy winter 

 nnich better than those in hives standing on a 

 board. During the i)ast winter I examined the 

 bees a number of times in the hives standing on a 

 board bottom, and found many of them on the 

 l)Ottom, sometimes being frozen iogethcr ; at others 

 they were wet, having a very disagreeable smell. 

 On the wire bottom there were a few dead bees, 

 but the wire was dry. To the wire bottom, how- 

 ever, I have two objections: First, the expense; 

 and second, the bees will seal it over so as to make 

 it water-tight. 



1 intend this winter to make a box or frame two. 

 inches deep, just the size of the hive ; then remove 

 the hive from Ihe liotiom board, put on the frame, 

 fill ii^ wiih coarse pine sawdiu t, and then replace 

 the hive. This, I think, will help to keep the bees 

 dry, as the water lliat drops from the comb will 

 pars through the sawdust. For the top of the hive 

 I intend to lay six small sticks about one-fourth 

 longer than liie widih of the hive, on the top of 

 the hive, crosswise the frames, then fill the top 

 with dean rye straw. This will give the bees an 

 air chamber and a passage over the frapies. Should 

 any person give this arrangement a trial, I should 

 be pleased to hear of it through the New England 

 Farmer. For the last six years I have made my 

 honey boxes to fit on the frames, using no honey 

 board. J. s. c. 



Manchester, Mass., Nov., 1866. 



Remarks. — We hope "J. S. C." will not fail to 

 communicate the result of the proposed experi- 

 ment, whether others do so or not. We shall be 

 pleased to give our readers the benefit of other 

 facts which the experience of these fifteen years 

 may have developed. 



treatment of croup. 



Noticing a statement in your paper in regard to 

 the treatment of croup, I will say that, in my 

 opinion, when any one has an attack of the croup, 

 or diptheria, as it is termed, be it a child or an 

 adult, just drink freely of wann water only, until 

 relief is obtained; at the same time keeping the 

 whole body warm, not by wet cloths, but dry ones, 

 especially the batk of the neck. Mothers, try it 

 for your little ones. It cannot harm, if it does not 

 cure. I have tried it in the first stages of croup, 

 in my family, and found it gave speedy relief. 



A Farmer's Wife. 



North Hadley, Mass., 1866. 



care of bees in winter. 



Having kept bees for the last fifteen years, I 

 have come to the conclusion that the profits of bee- 

 keeping depend more on keeping them weU in win- 

 ter than in summer. I find that one strong, healthy 

 swarm in the spring of the year is worth many 

 weak ones. 



In the winter of 1860-61 I put some of my bees 

 in a dry cellar, and I thought it a poor way to win- 

 ter them, as they came out in the spring rather 

 feeble and with mouldy combs. The next winter 

 I put them in a dark room in the house, with the 

 holes in the honey board open for ventilation. In 

 the month of Januarj', the weather being mild, the 

 bees became over-heated, and in order to save 

 them, I was obliged to carry them out of doors. 



SHOE FOR corked OX. 



A subscriber from Littleton, N. H., wishes for 

 info'anation relative to shoeing his ox. I had one 

 eorked the same way, and had a shoe made tight 

 and drawn out at the toe so as to turn up over the 

 end of the hoof, and then put on so as not to press 

 hard on the toe. It worked very well. I think it 

 best to let his ox lie still a while. I know of noth- 

 ing better to facilitate the growth of the hoof than 

 a little soft grease of some kind applied often 

 around the hoof, near the hair. 



A Subscriber. 



Waterhury, Vt., Nov. 17, 1866. 



BIG colt in a bad FIX. 



I have a colt five months and twenty-two days 

 old, 14 1-2 hands (58 in.) high, and well-propor- 

 tioned, that seems to be stiff, weak and lame all 

 over. The cords in his legs are very prominent, 

 and appear contracted, somewtat like the cramp, 



