172 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[June, 
Experience with Italian Bees. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
July 3d, 1861, an Italian queen was received 
at my Apiary. During the last of that season, 
I reared six queens and introduced them into 
stocks that Winter. In the year 1862, under 
the same circumstances, the Italians did one- 
fourth better, and where I introduced them to 
some of my neighbors, they say that they have 
done one-half better than the common stock. Of 
two colonies that stood side by side—the Italian 
filled 14 411b. boxes; the common bees, filled 8 
4jlb. boxes. In introducing Italian queens, I 
find that the common bees disappear 
in about 90 days. This season I intend 
to introduce a common queen to an 
Italian stock to test what is now the¬ 
ory, that is, whether the life of the 
Italian worker is longer than the com¬ 
mon. Either this is the case, or the 
Italian queen is very much more pro¬ 
lific. That it is a more active worker I 
have no doubt; that it will defend its 
stores with marked promptness is also 
true. I have been troubled less with 
robbery from the Italian than the com¬ 
mon bee. Last year until after swarm¬ 
ing or dividing, I had over 100 col¬ 
onies at my place; then I carried some 
to what I supposed were better honey 
producing localities. The Italian bee 
is larger when it builds its own comb. 
I notice that they fly earlier and later 
than common stocks of equal strength, 
also on a cool day when scarcely a 
common bee is out. If the Italian bee 
is abused, it will resent it more vigorous¬ 
ly than the common bee, but with care 
they can be managed as well. This 
Spring my Italians are in good condi¬ 
tion and I am much pleased with them. 
Tipton County , Iowa. C. G. McHEIL. 
[We print the above as one of the apparent 
results of experiments with the Italian bee; but 
it will require a great number of careful experi¬ 
ments, to finally decide whether or not the 
Italian bees, as a rule, are better workers, more 
vigorous, and otherwise superior to the common 
bees. In the above case, and in the few others 
reported, the apparent difference in the amount 
of the honey,may have resulted from other causes, 
as it often happens that of two common swarms, 
apparently of equal number and vigor, the one 
will store up double the amount of honey se¬ 
cured by the other, though no reason can be 
given for the difference. If the general experi¬ 
ence continues to show a marked difference in 
favor of the Italian, there will then be good 
reasons for introducing them generally.— Ed.] 
---- 
Sheds for Manure. 
Some farmers would build sheds for their ma¬ 
nure, if it were not for the trouble. Others 
would do so, if they did not fear fire-fanging, or 
waste by drying up. But the trouble is nothing 
to an industrious man, and if the heap is prop¬ 
erly managed, there is no danger from excessive 
heat. By protecting it from wind, sun, rain, 
and washing, its value will be largely increased. 
It is doubtless true that horse-manure alone, 
if covered, will suffer from too rapid decompo¬ 
sition. But this can easily be prevented by mix¬ 
ing with it, as the heap is forming, frequent 
“ dividers ” of muck, tan-bark or common soil. 
The very best way is to throw up rough sheds, 
without siding, over the port holes of the barn, 
large enough to cover the dung-heaps and a large 
pile of muck. Every few days, after the stalls 
are cleaned out, let a man shovel an equal 
amount of muck over the pile of fresh manure. 
This will absorb the liquid parts and prevent 
“fire-fanging.” And when this heap is finally 
shoveled over and mixed, the compost will be 
as valuable as unequal amount of simple manure. 
We are continually hearing of farmers who 
accidentally learned the lesson we now teach. 
They now never think of leaving their manure 
“ out in the cold.” They know that the in¬ 
creased value of their manure annually is four- [ 
fold greater than the cost of their sheds. 
Poultry—The Black Spanish Fowls. 
This breed of poultry is deservedly becoming 
popular in this country. It has long been 
reared in Spain and the adjacent countries 
along the Mediteranean, where it is said to have 
been introduced from the West Indies. Bement, 
in his Poulterer’s Companion says of it: “The 
thorough-bred Spanish fowls should be entirely 
black, as far as feathers are concerned, and 
when in high condition display a greenish me¬ 
tallic lustre; an erect brilliant scarlet comb, 
serrated ; with a clear milk-white face and ear¬ 
lobes; dark-blue legs; and a lofty carriage. 
Wattles of the hen small, but large and very 
conspicuous in the cocks, and like the comb, of 
a light scarlet. This marked contrast of black, 
bright-red, and white, makes the head of the 
Spanish cock as handsome as that of any other 
variety; and in the genuine breed the whole 
form is equally good. The cock-bird should be 
strong and short in the legs as possible; his 
back from tail to neck short, tail large and 
ample. He should weigh not less than six 
pounds; the head is rather large, the spurs long 
and sharp, and the bearing and carriage proud 
and high. The face should commence from 
where the comb joins on the head, and must 
extend downward over and around the eye till 
it meets the white ear-lobes. 
Spanish hens are also of good size and good 
figure, and are celebrated as good layers, pro¬ 
ducing very large white eggs. The head of the 
hen should be neat, and of moderate size; eyes 
bright; comb single, very large and pendulous; 
face entirely white, the white extending aro.und 
the eye; neck of moderate length, neatly set 
on; body broad, wings of middle size; legs a 
bluish-white; tail long and well squared; 
plumage of a glossy black, with brilliant tints 
of green and purple, as in the cock, but less 
brilliant. Her weight should not be less than 
five pounds. It must be especially observed 
that the slightest approach to coarseness, in 
either- cock or hen, must be discountenanced, 
even at (he expense of size; for in no class of 
fowls is fineness of quality more requisite 
and more appreciated than in the Spanish.' M 
These fowls are favorites for their beauty, 
their excellent flavor of flesh, and their 
prolificness as layers. Such is their 
indisposition to sit, that it is advisable 
to depend upon hens of other breeds 
to rear their young. They are sub¬ 
ject to one or two drawbacks. Then- 
large combs are apt to be frosted dur¬ 
ing our northern winters, unless the 
birds are kept in warm quarters, and 
without proper care, mortification and 
death may ensue. They also are liable 
to lose their plumage, and if they 
moult late, they suffer from exposure. 
- 0 - 
Look After the Cabbages Early. 
The importance of the cabbage as a 
field crop has hardly begun to be appre¬ 
ciated in this country, while in Eng¬ 
land, it ranks second only in value to 
the great root crops. As a food for 
fattening animals and as a change of 
diet for all, cabbages are highly esteem¬ 
ed. The crop is liable to the attacks 
of both insects and disease. The most 
common pest is the aphis or cabbage 
louse. If the plant is vigorous, it will 
soon outgrow its attacks. The sprink¬ 
ling of ashes or air-slaked lime over 
the plants is recommended as a remedy. Mr. M. 
Scougale, of Mich., writes to the Agriculturist, 
that he has found it beneficial to sprinkle salt 
over the cabbages. Soon after the plants are 
set out, the cut-worm makes its appearance, tak¬ 
ing off the leaves and sometimes the entire 
plant. The only remedy is to search for it just 
beneath the surface. It shows its tracks in the 
fragments of leaves, and the hole by which it 
has entered the soil. After the plants are out 
of the way of the cut-worm, they are preyed 
upon by the caterpillars of several species of 
butterflies. These, when young, are close to¬ 
gether upon the outer leaves which may be 
broken off and the caterpillars destroyed. If 
over-looked until they get larger they become 
scattered, when hand picking must be resorted 
to. Cabbages are liable to a disease called club¬ 
foot, which shows itself in large swellings, or 
excrescences upon the root. This is by some 
supposed to be caused by insects, and by others 
regarded as a disease of the plant resulting from 
poor culture, and that the insects found accom¬ 
panying it, are there because they find a favor¬ 
able place for their operations, and are a result 
rather than the cause of disease. The only 
remedy that has been proposed for club-foot is 
to cultivate on land which has not been occu¬ 
pied by cabbages or any of the family for sever¬ 
al years. In Massachusetts, where the culture 
is, perhaps, carried to as great perfection as any¬ 
where else in the country, the best growers do 
not plant cabbages on the same land oftener 
than once in three or four years. In setting out 
the late crop this hint should be followed. 
