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II. S. RANDALL, LL. D., EDITOR, 
Of Cortland Village, Conn. and County, New York, 
BLACK LAMBS. 
Benjamin F. Austin, Pittsburgh, N. Y., 
■writes us: 
“Some five years since I kept a large black 
dog. and the first year after my ewes had seven 
black lambs, and the next year nine, when I 
concluded to dispose of my dog, which I did. and 
since then have had no black lambs. My infer¬ 
ence is this, that the lambs were “marked" by 
the dog. If any should differ from me, I would 
like lo hear from them through the columns of 
the Ritual, although my mind is firmly fixed In 
regard to tho black lambs." 
If our correspondent’s mind is “firmly 
fixed ” in favor of his theory, there can be 
no great use in any one's arguing the mat ter 
with him. But having for some time had a 
request from another correspondent to give 
our views on “marking,” we proceed to do 
so. We have no fai thin it whatever. There 
is an instance of it recorded in the Bible— 
but that was a miracle, and therefore outside 
of the laws of nature. Otherwise, why will 
not tho same means again and habitually 
produce the same results? 
Has anybody ever repeated the patriarch 
J \<'on’s “ marking ” experiment success¬ 
fully? If Mr. A. thinks this is for the want 
of a trial, we suggest that he try it, and re¬ 
port results. We suppose there are thou¬ 
sands of sheep owners in the country who 
keep black ilogs, yet whose sheep have no 
black lambs. And why don’t gray dogs, 
and red dogs, and “valler” (logs, and brown 
dogs “mark” lambs with their respective 
colors? According lo Genesis xxx, .Jacob’s 
lambs were “ marked ” brown. If some mys¬ 
terious sympathy produces “ marking,” why 
does it now extend only lo the color black 
in the case of sheep V If, according to the 
more generally accepted ihcory among the 
believers in “ marking," it is produced by 
fright, a big yellow, or big brown, dog can 
frighten a llock of sheep its badly as a black 
“ Marking" among human brings is not 
restricted to a black color, nor is that even 
the favorite color. Most of those spots on 
infants, in which nurses find mysterious 
resemblances to objects, which it is (usually 
afterward*) found have strangely impressed 
or frightened the mother during pregnancy, 
are red, or purplish red. And reason good ; 
they are produced by cxlruvasated blood 
( e&shymosis )—blood let out of its proper ves¬ 
sels—and blood is red. Were infants at¬ 
tacked in the hair, as lambs are. in the wool, 
the case it is true might be dilfereut! And 
marking in human subjects extends to the 
form as well as color of portions of the 
body. Who has not heard of infants with 
snakes’ heads, snaky skins, reptiles’ claws, 
&e., Ac., wisely put out of the way in 
solemn secrecy by doctors and nurses? 
There are enough honest people who will 
swear to such things. But there exists this 
remarkable circumstance. Like ghosts, these 
strange or horrible resemblances never ap¬ 
pear except to those who are previous be¬ 
lievers, or who are prepared by education to 
become believers in them. Wc have seen a 
great many cases of ecchymosis which had 
stories about “ marking" to explain their 
presence, hut never saw one which even 
accidentally him; any close resemblance to 
the “marking" object, or which stood in the 
least need of any such explanation of its 
presence. As to reptiles’ heads and claws i 
on infants, not one was ever seen by any 
modern man having any pretentions to 
science or sound learning. Arc they claimed 
to appear on lambs? Wc have forgotten, 
how this is. 
What slender proofs will establish almost 
any marvel, where the observer has been 
brought up to believe in such marvels! 
Having a “ large black dog ” on the farm 
two years fully explains the production of a 
number of black lambs each year, because, 
the dog being disposed of, no black lambs 
subsequently made their appearance. Tins 
is the whole case before us—all the proof 
given. Our correspondent saw no use of 
showing that the same ram begot the lambs 
before and after the removal of the dog, or 
that the flock continued to include the same 
ewes which bore the black lambs. We have 
a parallel case in view. A distinguished 
breeder of our acquaintance had the same 
“marking” misfortune beliill his flock for 
two years. Having no large black dog to 
lay it to, be saddled the blame on the 
skunks which often infested his barn-yard—■ 
the more especially as bis colored lambs (as 
is usual) had more or less white on them. 
Wc advised him to extirpate the skunks, 
black cats and all other black animals on 
his premises; to abstain from wearing black 
clothes when amongliis sheep; and to keep 
light colored, blue, red or yellow wrappers 
for persons who should come, dressed in 
black, to examine life beautiful flock. Being 
a believer, he of course thought us more sar- 
castical than sensible. But when he changed 
his ram, aud bred outside of that ram’s par¬ 
ticular strain of blood, the “marking” 
ceased. It was a singular case. The rain’s 
ancestors were known for many generations 
back, and not one of them was black. Yet 
be habitually got a small percentage of black 
lambs in whatever flock he was used. 
Such cast's are exceedingly rare among 
pure blood Merinos. We have known a few, 
but none which went to the sime extent. 
We have repeatedly had occasion to declare, 
on the authority of the most reliable authors 
of antiquity, that the original stock from 
which the Merino is descended, was black, 
red, or tawny; and remains of these colors 
have always been found down to this day in 
the Spanish sheep and their American de¬ 
scendants. Some of them have tawny spots, 
others black, about the lips, face, eyelids and 
ears. Some are born w ith their wool of the 
same colors in spots, or all over the body. 
The tawuiy color soon disappears from Hie 
wool; the black is permanent. Black lambs 
are very rare among puro-blood Merinos; 
among grade sheep and those descended 
from unimproved races, they are compara¬ 
tively common—in certain families of the 
latter very common. Therefore there is no 
necessity to resort to a miracle, or to a popu¬ 
lar superstition, to account for their appear¬ 
ance. 
We are conscious that wc have bestowed 
a very unnecessary amount of space on this 
topic, for who ever was reasoned out or 
laughed out, of a “firmly fixed” belief in 
anything within or bordering on the domain 
of the supernatural ? And in the ease of non¬ 
believers, both kinds of ammunition are of 
course thrown away. 
-*-*--*■-- 
SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN MISSOURI. 
The following clear and apparently can¬ 
did letter would have been published sooner, 
but has been for some time mislaid: 
GiSonoiA Cjtv, Mo., May, 1869. 
Mk. II. S. Randall — Sir: I see in the 
Rural of March 27, in your answer to ll, 
M. B.’s letter and ot her similar ones, you ad¬ 
vise him to come to the Spring River country 
of Southwest Missouri to Stall in the sheep 
business, that being the best country, in 
your judgment, all things considered, for 
wool growing and sheep raising. In Ibis I 
fully agree with you. It may he interesting 
to some of your readers to learn some fuels 
from one living in the country spoken of. T 
have located one and a half miles from 
Spring River and eighteen miles northwest 
of Carthage, the county seat of Jasper Co. 
M«. I moved here, last September. I brought 
a flock of sheep along with me, consisting of 
four hundred high grade Merinos and fifteen 
full-blood American Merinos. I arrived lien; 
the last of September, which is as late as 
sheep ought to lie driven in, if driven far. 
My sheep ranged on the prairie without any 
herder, and came up to be yarded regularly 
every night after the first few nights. They 
did very finely without feeding any up to 
the fore part of December, at which time I 
commenced to feed one-half bushel of corn 
in the ear to the hundred—sheep and lambs 
all running together. In about ten days the 
weather turned warm and wet, and was so 
muddy that they would not cat corn on the 
ground. I waited about one w'cck, expect¬ 
ing every day it would freeze up again. As 
it diil not, I started for lumber to make feed 
troughs. Commenced again feeding one-half 
bushel to the bundled, and increased as fast, 
as I thought, safe, until 1 got up to one bushel 
to the hundred. 
From the time 1 stopped feeding up to the 
lime I had got them on to one bushel to the 
hundred—which was about twenty days, ten 
without any and ten with part feed—they 
fell away very fast, the weather being bad 
and I had not got their shelter completed. I 
would advise every one to prepare himself 
with a corn sheller aud feed troughs on the 
start, as the winters are too open lo depend 
upon feeding on the ground, as is customary 
further North. 1 stopped feeding the last 
days of March, an.(l there was not a poor 
sheep in the llock. All were in good, strong, 
plump condition. The grades have all been 
wintered in one flock, lambs and old ones, 
with the exception of one which did not 
seem to do jus well as the rest. 1 lost but 
one from the first of October to the first of 
May, seven months. The ewes commenced 
dropping lambs the first of April; lambs 
came large and strong, and it. was Imt little 
trouble to raise them. I raised one hundred 
and seventy-five. My sheep consumed in all 
a little less than one bushel of corn to the 
bead, and it can be raised here for less than 
twenty-five cents, counting all labor, interest 
and taxes on the land; and, with blue grass 
for winter pasture, can do away with feeding 
almost entirely. 
They ranged on the prairie every day for 
their rough feed ; on stormy days but a part 
Ol I lie day after the storm ceased, it hiring 
my aim to keep them out of all hard storms. 
I offered them good corn fodder tit different 
times when the weather turned cold; but 
almost all refused to even taste of it, pro fee¬ 
ing the rough feed they could get on the 
prairie. But this would not be the case every 
winter, and all ought to have some good hay 
or corn fodder put. up for winter use, and 
one bushel of corn to .the head. Some come 
to this country thinking they need not pre¬ 
pare any shelter or feed for stock. It is true 
that a good deal of stock is wintered here in 
this manner, hut there is less profit in so 
doing, and oftentimes a heavy loss to sus¬ 
tain. I know of work horses that, have had 
to work the past winter, and have been tied 
to the wagon at night all winter long, with¬ 
out any shelter, and eating their feed in the 
wagon box, and some of the owners of 
these horses say, because they have not done 
well, it is because they are not acclimated 
to the country. Some of these same men, 
to my knowledge, if they had spent one 
half of the time preparing shelter that they 
have spent in idleness, could have had good, 
warm shelter, made out of poles and prairie 
hay, which is to be had by every one by a 
little labor. 
Those that have not limber or money to 
J»uy, can get poles enough to build a stable 
with for two or three days’ work ; and the 
hay is to he had for the cutting at or near 
almost every man’s door. Any man in good 
health that will let his stock stand out on 
the open prairie, exposed to cold, rain and 
storms, has no other excuse, in this country, 
than laziness or perfect indifference Lo his 
own interest and to the comfort of his ani¬ 
mals. 1 know of some flocks of sheep that 
have been wintered, the past winter, with¬ 
out any feed to speak of, and with no shelter, 
and some not even so much as a yard to 
shut them up at night in. The result is that 
a good many have died, some strayed olf, 
and the remainder came out poor aud weak 
in the spring. They raise but few lambs, 
and will clip very light fleeces. There will 
be some sheep for sale at fair prices in the 
fall in this county; hut all wishing lo buy 
many will do better to buy in Illinois, 
Michigan or Ohio, and drive in early. Wc 
have u line, healthy country, with short, 
mild winters, soil good; stone plenty for 
building and other purposes; timber good 
for prairie country, ami the best watered 
prairie country 1 ever saw, with also an 
abundance of water power. It cannot be 
beaten for fruit, and produces wheat, oats, 
corn and vegetables in abundance. Lands 
are cheap yet, but will not remain so long, 
as the country is settling up very List with a 
live, go-ahead class of people. 
M. G. SlUNNEIt. 
-♦ - 
Illinois State Wont Growers' Association.- Wo 
published, October 33d, u report of tho proceed¬ 
ings of the Annual MeetiriK of the above named 
Association, copied from Ihe Western Rural, 
which mit'c tlm mime of the President Heel us 
A. M. GooIjD. We see by Mie Prairie Funner 
that A. M. Garland, fur some years the incum¬ 
bent, was re-o Ice tod. 'the error of the Western 
Rural was doubtless a typographical one. Itc- 
tfiirdiiiK Mr. Oakland as a peon Marly able and 
efficient officer tlimouKhly veisetl in ail subjects 
perbtimnix to the In to res is of the wool Industry 
of tho country, wo m e highly: yrntiliod In record 
liis re-election. And the same remark will apply 
to the other members of tho Executive hoard. 
-m-- 
Wisconsin State IVix.l Growers' Association. 
Wc are indebted to the .Secretary for a report of 
the proceedings of tho Wisconsin State Wool 
Growers' Association. The President elect tins 
held tin- amid office since I lie unpin izationot tho 
AsaociaMon. He is emphatically “the right mini 
in tho right place," and ns .ve remarked of Pres¬ 
ident Uaiu..\ni>, is thoroughly master of all the 
Dublin questions uffectiiu' American wool hus¬ 
bandry. The remainder of the hoard consists in 
part of the sumo officers as last, year. All are 
capable and well-known men. The following is 
the report; 
“ At. the annual meet tag of the Wisconsin Slate 
Wool Growers' Association, hold at Madison, 
September lisih, I860, the following persons were 
elected nfltopi's for I tin ensuing year;- [‘resident, 
Ei.i Sen, son. Oshkosh. Vio-I’rcjiMml* Geo. K. 
Wheeler. Nmiaupu; (). Cook, Whitewater. .Stc- 
• 1 ‘ilaru T. H,Goodhue, Whin-water, Treasurer— 
G. K. Stewart, Danville. ttxeeutlve. CnwtitlHec - 
it. itichil 'l.s, Racine; W. li. Kingsbury, liipou; 
E. S. Hammond, I ond do I.uc; 0. A. Lewis, Sun 
Prairie; if. fi. Dixon, llipon." 
flic Apiarian. 
a quarter-inch hole, B, and tapered to a 
point Over B is placed a piece of wire 
doth, made convex so as to keep the burn¬ 
ing puff-ball from the hole. The stopper, 0, 
differs only in form. To use the instrument, 
remove C, and int roduce a piece of well dried 
puff-ball, having lighted it with a coal. Re¬ 
place the stopper, insert the point in a 
Fiouke 1. 
hole of the hive you wish to fumigate, and 
blow in tin; smoko with the breath. Tho 
bees will soon tall us if dead. But the fresh 
air will quickly restore them. 
Where uniting swarms is not desirable, 
and there is comb enough to hold honey for 
winter, feed by all means, if the hives are 
light. A good substitute for honey may be 
made of white, coffee-crushed sugar, dis¬ 
solved in water at the rate of four pounds to 
a quart. Open three or four inch holes in 
the top of the hive, set a shallow dish of 
sirup near them, taking care that the bees 
can crawl easily over its edge, and cover with 
a, closely fitting box. II too late to feed in 
the open air, it may be done in a warm, dark 
room. The room must he perfectly dark or 
the bees will lly out and be lost. 
Where movable frames are used, another 
and much more expeditions method of feed¬ 
ing, or rather filling the combs, may lie 
adopted. It is done by means of a simple 
machine represented in Fig. 2. Let A, A, ho 
'■’‘Wsiiwfc 
[jiPMBr 
FEEDING BEES. 
Thebe are many bee keepers this fall who 
will either not feed at all, where their stocks 
are sure to die ■without, or else will do it 
so ineffectually as to accomplish nothing. 
As a consequence, the bees in this State and 
several others will be very much reduced in 
number and enhanced in price. Every pru¬ 
dent mail, therefore, will try to get bis stock 
safely through the winter. 
Where movable frames are used, two or 
more stocks, each having sonic honey, and 
altogether enough for a good swarm, maybe 
united. All the queens but one should be 
destroyed, and the bees stupefied by stopping 
thorn up and fumigating with puff-ball. 
When they revive they will be as peaceably 
disposed toward each Other as if they had 
always been in one community. The fumi- 
gator for this purpose is easily made. Let, 
Figure 1 represent a section of the instru¬ 
ment. It is Constructed of a tin tube two 
and a half inches in diameter by five long. 
The stopper, A, is made of light wood, having 
Emu he 3. 
a, wooden box three or four feet square by a 
foot and a half deep, and tight enough to 
hold water. Make a frame-work, B, B, on 
which to set a broad, flat-bottomed tin pan, 
C. The frame-work across the top should 
be of narrow strips. The bottom of the pan 
should be pierced with numerous holes, not 
clean-cut with a punch, but so made with a 
pointed instrument as lo leave sharp points 
of the tin hanging down. When everything 
is ready, take t he outside combs of your hive 
first. These will have fewest bees on them, 
and what there are can he easily brushed off. 
If the room is cool, they will not fly much. 
You may find space enough in these to hold 
honey enough, but if not, takeout Ihe, combs 
near the middle, brushing the bees off care¬ 
fully in tin; hive, and (ill them also. To use. 
the machine, dip the feed in the pan, O, and 
hold t,h(! comb horizontally under it, so as to 
catch it as it falls. What accumulates in the 
box can be drawn off at tho vent, 1). From 
twenty to twenty-five pounds will bn suf¬ 
ficient to last a swarm from November to 
April. A little practice will enable one to 
till the combs very rapidly. After one side 
has been tilled, the atmospheric pressure will 
keep the sirup or honey in its place uni fi the 
other is filled also. M. Quin by. 
THE HYBRID QUESTION. 
Art! tht! IIi'Obcm from a Hybrid Italian 
Quecu I'll rt! Italian? 
I have seen at two different times articles 
in t he Rur al questioning the veracity of my 
assertion that the drones reared from an 
Italian queen that 1ms mated a black drone 
are purr Italian. As an introduction to this 
article, I would say that my article of June 
12i,h was not written with the idea of bring¬ 
ing on a controversy with any one; but on 
the contrary was intended to illustrate a 
met hod of queen rearing that was both prac¬ 
tical and cheap, and one that caused less 
trouble than uny other with which I was 
familiar—then, or even at the present. 
Will Z. C. Fairbanks please give us his 
“ good reasons ” for not. believing ibis theory 
true? He wishes me to “rear queens from 
queens that, have mated such drones, and sec 
if marks of impurity do not show themselves 
in the queens thus raised.” In the first 
place, how am I to know if my queen has 
mated with such, drone? And supposing I 
did know, how am I to certainly know by the 
marks of the queens reared from such brood 
whether they are pure or not? Any one 
that has bred Italian queens is aware that, 
there is a vast difference in the coloring of 
queens reared from the same brood; some 
being of a fine golden color a I most their whole 
length, while others arc comparatively black. 
And yet this difference in the color of the 
queens does not affect their worker progeny. 
I w ill now attempt to answer the article 
published in the Rukal of September 18th, 
which is anonymous. In the first place, I 
would say to the writer of that article please 
sign your name to your articles, especially 
when they tiro at variance with others already 
published. 
This writer believes that the eggs are all 
alike, aud that the “ nourishment these eggs 
receive determines the sex or kind of bees 
that they produce.” lie says that he is 
aware that eggs laid by a queen that has 
not. mated a drone cannot bo made to pro¬ 
duce anything but drones, but that this fact 
does not prove that the eggs of a queen that 
has mated a drone arc unlike. Now I think 
this is considerable proof. If tho drones in 
the first, instance have all the functions for 
which they were intended as fully developed 
as the drones in the second instance have, 
they are of course alike; and if alike, they 
prove the fact that eggs that produce, drones 
arc not impregnated. It would seem curious 
indeed if the “nourishment" alone could 
change the sex of a beo—giving in the one 
case a siting, pollen grooves, a honey sac, and 
a long proboscis, with the power of pro¬ 
ducing eggs on some occasions; while in the 
other case the hoc (drone) has none of these 
organs, hut is provided with the male gen¬ 
erative organs. 
I will now relate a little experience that 
has a i/rrat bearing on this subject. Last fall 
I reared an Italian queen rather late in the 
season, and t herefore she did not commence 
laying, so that. 1 did not sec her progouy un¬ 
til spring. After my bees had been out of 
the cellar a couple of days, 1 noticed that 
this stock possessed drones, and supposed 
that the queen was n drone layer. On ex¬ 
amination, however, I found that, about , ono- 
tliird of her eggs produced workers, and two- 
thirds of the eggs produced droues in worker 
cells. I allowed this stock to stand with the 
idea of experimenting. This stock gradually 
dwindled away and had to be suspended. 
Now that this queen mated the drone is evi¬ 
dent, from the fact that part of her eggs pro¬ 
duced workers. 
The point of interest here, is—did the 
“nourishment” cause the drones? and why 
did not the bees make workers of the eggs 
when every day the stock was getting 
weaker for want of worker bees? This 
queen was quite small. The way that 1 ae- 
oount for this is, that, all the eggs that pro¬ 
duced the drones were not impregnated, 
according to Mr. W agnek’s theory of com¬ 
pression. 
I have also several times placed drone 
comb in the center of some: stocks before 
putting them in tho cellar, and have invari¬ 
ably succeeded in getting drones before the 
natural season for them, without extra feeding. 
Worker bees were what they most needed, 
so why did they not rear them even in drone 
oils, according to the theory of the anony¬ 
mous writer. Another good proof of the 
assertion in my former article is that queens 
e.annwt, be reared fi'om eggs placed in drone cells 
by a queen; a* any practical bee keeper who 
has tested it can certify. 
In the latter part of life article he says:— 
“Then, again, an egg deposited in a drone 
Cell usually produces a drone; and an egg 
deported in a worker cell usually produces 
a worker. But it can be converted into a 
drone or queen, which is very conclusive 
that they arc all alike at the time they are 
deposited.” Now which egg does he mean 
when lie says, “ lint it?” If lie means the 
eggs deposited in the drone cells, I defy him 
to rear queens from them. And if the queen 
that deposited the eggfl in the worker cells is 
large and fertilized by a drone, he cannot rear 
drones in them; ceils. 
lie says he. has black queens—fertilized 
by Italian drones—that produce “ handsome, 
well marked Italian drones almost without 
exception.” Then his experience is different 
from mine. 1 bought some stocks last fall, 
aud one of the black queens produced some 
good colored hybrid workers, bill the drones 
reared in this stock this summer were as 
black as auy that 1 ever saw. 1 would have 
him know, too, that I examined them closely 
after tho article of July 31st. 
I do not. keep Italian queens that have 
mated black drones longer than I can help, 
neither do 1 advocate the keeping of them, 
for the! reason that if they are superseded 
by queens reared from their brood, such 
queens probably would not be pure. In 
speaking of his “Italian drones" reared 
from black queens, lie says:—“ But when I 
come Lo male Italian queens with these 
drones, or with drones bred from Italian 
queens that have mated black drones, they 
do not produce a pure worker progeny ” l 
would like to know how lie knows that life 
Italian queens mated “ these drones,” for it 
is an established fact that queens meet the 
drones high In the air. If he has a method 
by which ho can practical/#. mate life queens 
with any drones desired I would be very 
glad to get it. 
I will now quote a little from two of our 
best modem writers, QrtNBYsnys, in “ Mys¬ 
teries of Bee Keeping Explained, page 37 
and 38:—“The tact that all eggs laid in 
drone cells will produce drones and nothing 
else, is to lie accounted for.”** * “ The 
reason undoubtedly is, that eggs laid in 
drone cells are not impregnated.” * * * 
“The Italian queen that, lias met the native 
drone, and brings forth a mixed progeny of 
workers—half Italian and half native—will 
produce just as pure drones as her mother, 
or one that, has never met the drone.” 
Laxostkotii, in his Circular for 1S(!!», second 
page, says, concerning Italian queens that 
have mated black drones:—“ Such a queen 
can always be relied on to produce pure 
Italian drones, but her queen and worker 
progeny will be hybrids." Now, it is curious 
indeed, if these two intelligent, bey keepers 
have so long come short of the truth. 
Canajoharie, N. Y. J. n. Nellis, 
