182 
MODES OF DESTROYING RATS.-ARTIFICIAL SWARMING OF BEES. 
farmers, it may be, that they do not need a draw¬ 
ing knife as we do, as they can get a good 
one from $1 to $1.50 ; but with us, it is a rare 
chance if one out of five is worth a dime. There¬ 
fore, when we can buy a dozen good ones at once, 
it is really worth bragging of. 
Another good implement I have—a steel weeding 
hoe. I have bought steel hoes for three past 
years; and had as much as I could do to make a 
crop set. With my present lot of hoes, I count 
upon making two crops certain, and with some of 
them three and four crops. There has been too 
much slop work made up and sent out south, on 
the score that anything will do for those folks; they 
don’t know any better any how. 
The above tools, I received from R. L. Allen, 
No. 75 Camp street, New Orleans, who will 
promptly attend to all orders—if I judge by his 
promptness to mine. I make the above statement 
tor the benefit of the planting interest. As to the 
cast-iron plow, which many have an objection to, 
I beg to say, I have used two cast-iron plows this 
season, and have used them since 1844, inclusive, 
as much as I have any other plows. I have others 
that I have used one, two, and three years, and if 1 
except last year, I might say, I have broken none. 
A neighbor, who came here to put my tools in or¬ 
der, remarked to me—“ if that overseer you had 
last year would stay with you five years, he would 
break up all you ever made ” At all events, I am 
determined to use no other plow. If the planter 
could get sharp, chilled points and shares at 6 cts. 
per lb. he certainly could not get his wrought-iron 
plows put in order so cheap, if the smith were in 
his own shop. And as to making a good plow of 
cast iron, I have seen two stout mules and two 
quick-running, stout horses, brought up in an in¬ 
stant by the plow striking a root, where it hung, 
requiring a strong negro to pull and tug for a mi¬ 
nute or so, ere he could drive on. The plows in 
the outset, cost no more, and are not set out of 
shape by putting on a new point, nor a new share. 
1 would recommend to the manufacturers to make 
the shares quite sharp and chilled ■ or self-sharp¬ 
eners, and out of the best iron. 
I would advise planters to buy four or five extra 
points to each plow, one bar, or land-side to every 
five plows, and buy a full set of one kind ; thus 
will they be easily repaired, by making two into 
one, as they wear out. M. W. Philips. 
Edwards , Miss., January 24 th, 1848. 
MODES OF DESTROYING RATS 
Dr. J. Y. C. Smith, of Boston, stated, at a late 
meeting of the Massachusetts Legislative Agricul¬ 
tural Society, that he had had some experience in 
destroying rats and mice. The use of ratsbane 
(arsenic), he considered of very little service ; as, 
after one or two have partaken of it, the others 
will not touch it. In England, he said, the work 
of destroying rats is followed as an employment. 
A person goes about the county and engages to 
destroy one or more hundred for a stipulated sum. 
He carries a large bag with him, which he sets 
open, and with a peice of hard-baked bread, cover¬ 
ed with a preparation of the oil of anise and the oil 
of rhodium, entices them to enter, by mean? of the 
charming odor it emits, and thus is enabled to en¬ 
trap the number required. Dr. S. said that he had 
tried the oil of anise alone, and that he had hardly 
time to leave the room before the rats took thy 
bate ; being so eager after it, that, seemingly, the$ 
would almost go through fire to obtain it. 
Another method suggested, was to catch one oi 
two rats, cover them well with tar and let them 
loose again. Upon this, the other rats will turn 
upon them, and, becoming themselves besmeared 
with the tar, will commence a civil war with one 
another, which will result in clearing them all from 
the premises. 
Another mode had been tried with success, by 
mixing a table-spoonful of pulverized plaster of 
Paris, with a little sugar, in a tea-cupful of Indian 
meal. If the vermin eat this, it will cause them to 
die. Throwing pulverized potash in their path¬ 
ways, it was stated will give them such sore feet 
that it will cause them to forsake their customary 
haunts. 
ARTIFICIAL SWARMING OF BEES. 
As the management of honey bees has been my 
sole business for these last twelve years, in the city 
of New York, I have thought it would not be amiss 
to give my own experience in a few particulars in 
regard to these industrious insects. 
Artificial swarming is not generally practised in 
this country, owing probably to the want of suffi¬ 
cient practical skill in most of those who apply 
themselves to bee husbandry. For several years, I 
have divided my bees, not allowing them to swarm 
in the natural way ; and I find a great advantage in 
so doing by reaping the full benefit of the stock. It 
saves the watching necessary in the case of natural 
swarms, and if conducted on right principles, it 
renders the artificial colony quite independent of 
the casualties to which they are liable. Moreover, 
it secures the multiplication of swarms in cases, 
where, if left to the natural process, there would 
be none. Should a continued spell of bad weather 
occur about the usual period of swarming, the old 
queen would have time and opportunity to destroy 
all the royal progeny (for the bees never oppose 
the queen mother in such cases), and thereby en¬ 
tirely frustrate the hope of multiplication by natu¬ 
ral swarms. In order to avoid this evil, we must 
have recourse to artificial swarming. The general 
period proper for the operation, is about eight or 
ten days previous to the time when natural swarms 
might be looked for. At that time, it is likely that 
royal broods would be found in the combs; at all 
events, an abundance of eggs and larvae, of work¬ 
ers, from which might be reared an artificial queen ; 
the males, or drones, are also at this time numer¬ 
ous—a state of things indispensable, in order to se¬ 
cure success. 
I had a number of hives which had not swarmed, 
probably owing to an unfavorable change of 
weather. In consequence of this delay, the reign¬ 
ing queen had an opportunity of putting to death 
her intended successors. In this state of things, 
from the crowded condition of the hives, a mass of 
bees, as large as a man’s head, hung from the 
alighting board of each, while others were cluster¬ 
ed on the outside of the hives. With these hives, I 
resolved to try artificial swarming. I cut out of 
another hi 'e, a piece of brood comb, containing 
