W-s' 
7 J] 
JUNE 8 
CORE’S BUBAL NEW-YORKER. 
Juditstpl S'o^tirfi. 
NECESSITY FOE EDUCATED FARMERS. 
Being one of those farmer’s sons who 
would have had an education if I could, I 
want to say a word upon the education of 
farmers’ sous generally. It is quite com¬ 
mon for thuiu to be spoken of as verdant, 
Slovenish, etc.—adjectives which become 
doubly cutting when those to whom they 
are applied fool them to be true to a certain 
degree, yet are ignorant of the way in which 
they might improve. The feeling that this 
is the inevitable result of life on the farm, 
has done much to make the profession un¬ 
popular, and has had no small influence in 
sending those who were born there, and 
Were well fitted to conduct its business suc¬ 
cessfully, away to the village or city, to en¬ 
gage in something that would at least free 
them from tills fault. 
Why need a farmer's son, any more than 
any ot her, bo an ignoramus or a clown, even 
though he cannot get more than a common 
school education? Nearly all can get this; 
and then the same amount of application 
that would be necessary to make it com¬ 
plete under the most favorable circum¬ 
stances, would do very much towards it, 
even in their homes, in the spare hours they 
might find, which are so generally wasted. 
Books and papers can bo obtained at a rate 
that is, to some extent, within the reach of 
all. Yet it is not enough to read simply; it 
must bo with some, definite purpose. There 
are cords of books and papers that leave 
one, worse t han they found him, and farm¬ 
ers are the very ones who encourage their 
production by buying them. 1 know of 
families who cannot afford to take the 
Rural or the Tribune, yet cannot live a 
week without tho New York or 
Weekly. These papers, from the character 
of their stories, do more harm among farm¬ 
ers’ children than anywhere else, because 
they do not have enough society most of the 
time to counteract their influence. The 
tendency toward light reading is a<> strong 
as to produce permanent Injury, The coun¬ 
try is flooded with stories. They come in 
books, in magazines, and papers, and are 
read by farmers’ families generally, with 
far too little discrimination. The effect is 
to destroy all taste for more solid reading 
that requires a stronger effort of tho mind, 
and imparts more valuable information. 
Yet this solid reading that makes thinking 
a necessity, should be the groundwork upon 
which to build an education, and the lighter 
kinds should only be used as a recreation. 
There is much of it that should not be read 
at all. 
Most of tho farmers with whom I am ac¬ 
quainted are comparatively uneducated, 
and from not having its advantages them¬ 
selves, fail to appreciate its value to their 
children, who ure growing up to till the 
places of their parents with very few ideas 
beyond the business of the farm, ft is this 
willful blindness to their own true interests 
that makes so largo a number <>f farmers 
incapable of taking a higher position in so¬ 
ciety. \ oil must talk to them of farming 
or they are not interested. Their minds 
narrow down to their own petty interests, 
and they wear themselves out to accomplish 
what an educated mind would do with ease. 
Many of them are not conscious of their 
own defects, and are the most difficult to 
get along with in the town or church, be¬ 
cause their minds work perpetually in the 
same old rut. 
Farmers do not think enough. They use 
their muscles moro freely than they do 
their intellects, which are weak for want 
of exercise. If they cannot got this at tho 
right time and in the usual place under in¬ 
structors, they ought to have a course of 
reading that would produce a similar effect 
upon the mind, and lit them not only to 
form, but also to express opinions upon 
those questions that concern them in com¬ 
mon with others. This would give a new 
zest to life, and would fit, them to do their ( 
own work better and easier, while as oiti- , 
zens they would far excel their present rep¬ 
utation. Anon. i 
West Haven, Vt. , 
a matter of economical policy, as good care 
of a horse—to say noth'mg about the fact 
that a man is a human being and a part of 
the human brotherhood. Every farmer 
finds that it pays him well to keep his 
horse in good condition, give him plenty of 
feed, rest when necessary and the proper 
grooming. The hygienic law which oper¬ 
ates in the caso of the horse should operate 
in relation to men and women. In one case, 
it is true, ownership makes it a matter of 
self interest; in the other seif interest 
should make it a matter of policy to provide 
for the comfort of those who work the farm, 
and upon whom wo depend for the produc¬ 
tion and securing of our crops. 
We commend local legislation in this mat¬ 
ter. We believe it policy for a community 
of farmers to meet, fix upon the number iif 
hours that shall be regarded a day’s work, 
the prices they will pay the different classes 
of laborers, the amount t hat shall be allowed 
per hour for extra time, and then operate 
upon the oo-operative principle of “help¬ 
ing each other out,” on occasions. We have 
known good results to follow such combi¬ 
nations—results that were not good to the 
farmers because their co-operation op¬ 
pressed the laborers, but because it defined 
distinctly the relations between employer 
and employe, and enabled each to under¬ 
stand and appreciate the other. There 
must be mutual concession. We warn the 
farmers of this country that unless there is 
some such distinct and definite relationship 
established by them, t he laborers will com¬ 
bine to establish it. The strikes in this 
cities, the labor unions, self-protective so¬ 
cieties, Internationals, etc., etc., are steadi¬ 
ly at work seeking to combine labor against 
capital —seeking to control capital by con¬ 
doling labor. This matter must be met, 
sooner or later, as It is being met in Eng¬ 
land, and there will be the same disturb¬ 
ance of relationship and of values, unless a 
wise discretion induces the taking of steps 
in advance to recognise the rights and meet 
the needs of tho workingmen. 
®hc ^rattan. 
lie Stiinc-1) 
PIG-PEN PAPERS. 
Origin of Improved Cheshire Swine, 
As 1 am the author of an article on the 
“Origin of the improved Cheshires of Jef¬ 
ferson County, N. Y.,” published in the 
Rural New-Yorker, the Now York week¬ 
ly papers aud the Live Stock Journal, the 
inquiry of J. A. Kkakny, in Rural of May 
11, as to whether A. <’. Clark, Hender¬ 
son, Jefferson Co., N. Y., or T. T. Cava¬ 
naugh, Watertown, N. Y., is the “origina¬ 
tor or this justly celebrated breed," seems 
to require of me further explanation. It is 
h well known fact here, that A. C. Clark 
exhibited bis stock of hogs at the. State 
Fairs, previous to the purchase of a sow of 
T. T. Cavanaugh, as Yorkshire. The sow 
Mr. Clark purchased of Mr. Cavanaugh, 
he crossed with a boar lie imported from 
Canada. The progeny so nearly resembled 
Mr. Cavanaugh’s pigs that they (Cava¬ 
naugh and Clark) agreed to name them 
the Improved Cheshires at the State Fair 
held in Utica in 180.1; Mr. Cavanaugh 
crossing with Mr. Clark’s boar, and Mr. 
Clark with Mr. Cavanaugh's boar. They 
became the “ original breeders,” as stated 
in the article alluded to in Rural. of March 
10th. In view of the above facts would it 
not be just to give Mr. Cavanaugh the 
credit of being the originator of the Im¬ 
proved Cheshires?—S. 8. Gardner, Jeffer¬ 
son Co., N. V. 
MANAGEMENT OF HIRED HELP. 
The English farm laborers’ strike is at¬ 
tracting much attention to the condition, 
habits and customs of farm laborers in all 
countries. The laws of labor are the laws 
of commerce —supply and demand. Tho 
rules which should regulate labor are such 
as will be just to employers and employed. 
Industrial rights must be recognized. Good 
care of the laborer is just as important, as 
I Va.s for Pigs.—F. R. 8., Hamilton Co., 
O., asks some of our readers to tell him 
whether it is profitable to sow land in peas 
for pigs; and at what time in their growth 
it*is most profitable to turn them into the 
field; if peas are as profitable as clover, 
lie also asks the best kind of peas to sow 
for tills purpose. On soils adapted to pea 
culture, if the season is favorable, we have 
seen good crops grown for pig forage—the 
pigs being turned in just as the peas got 
their growth, hurdles being used to prevent 
them running ever tho whole field at once. 
In this caso a small pea (we do not know the 
name) two-thirds the size of the black-eyed 
marrowfat, was sown. Tho soil was a rather 
stiff, rich, clayey loam, well drained. 
Sugar Beets for Swine.— A writer in 
the Practical Farmer says that he finds the 
sugar beet very good to fatten his hogs with. 
He begins with the beets and finishes off on 
corn. As the result of his experience, he 
found that his hogs fattened earlier, with a 
material saving of corn. 
iis ITALIANIZING BEES. 
of 
er O. H Adair, in his “Outlines of Cul- 
v- ture,” states that he finds t he following plan 
te for Italianizing bees, the easiest, quickest 
e, fttid best:—Empty all tho bees out of the 
of hive to be Italianized, into a box, by taking 
st do sections apart, or frames out, and 
[c brushing all the bees off the comb; while 
u, doing so hunt out the black queen and cap¬ 
ture her. Have about a quart of water 
sweetened with sugar (not honey) into 
which put a few drops of oil of anise, or 
anything that will give a decided perfume, 
sprinkle the bees with this, thoroughly mix¬ 
ing them up by stirring them, the box being 
set open side up. 
Let the box set in that position for ten or 
fifteen minutes or longer, until the bees be¬ 
gin to show uneasiness, by running about 
and over the sides of the box. Now take 
the Italian queen, thoroughly wet her with 
the perfumed sweetened water, and drop 
her in tho center of the box among the 
bees. She will remain quietly on top until 
some of the bees notice her, when they will 
immediately set to work to lick her dry, 
and in a short while she will crawl down 
among them out of sight, andftill will bo 
right. As she disappears, have a tumbler 
or cup and dip her up with a half pint or 
more of bees, and put them in the brood 
chamber, when the remaining bees may be 
emptied in front of it anil will enter. 
In handling the sheets of comb, look for 
queen cells and cut them all out. By clip¬ 
ping the wings of the Italian queen she will 
be prevented from escaping with a swarm, 
and the apiarian will be enabled to recog¬ 
nize her afterward. A new swarm, before 
it is hived, may be Italianized in tho same 
way, if you have a queen. 
■- *■+<> - 
BEE NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Honey Bees ami Grapes.—Confirming 
what lias hitherto been said in these col¬ 
umns on this subject, H. B, Lazier, West 
Virginia, says tlm bees, wasps, hornets and 
yellow jackets almost ruined the grape 
crop (including Delaware. Catawba, Clin¬ 
ton, Hartford Prolific, Isabella, &o.,) before 
the fruit was perfected, especially the thin- 
skinned varieties. William BarnshAuic, 
Troy, 111., writes that the honey bee de¬ 
stroyed one-third of the grapes in that sec¬ 
tion in 1871. lie bad to gather his grapes, 
J in order to save them, tea days before they 
r were fit to make good wine. He finds lie 
- has got to give up bees or grapes. He says 
- the hornets and yellow jackets help the 
bees in this destruction of grapes. 
i -—. 
i Mortality Among Bees,—The bees in 
this section came through the winter, till 
• March, for the most part, in good condition; 
f but some lost their queen, and ilwln- 
r died and died, leaving honey in their hives; 
, others starved, aud others died with dysen- 
i tery, so that a great share are dead—some 
i say one-half. The Bee Journal's report from 
. the Western States says that nearly one- 
half of the byes are dead—mostly caused by 
• dysentery. Reports from the Eastern States 
are nearly the same—caused by a long, cold 
winter, with not warm days enough to ad¬ 
mit of their coming out to exercise and dis¬ 
charge their contents.—A. Wilson, Murcel- 
Ivm, A . r. 
Cause of Dysentery in Bees the Past 
Winter.—The Iowa Homestead says:—“ C. 
Doedant, than whom no wiser “ bee man ” 
lives in America, tolls us that he thinks bees 
in some localities stored inferior honey last 
Fall, which caused dysentery. He says that 
from some of his combs last October, he 
emptied houoy very watery, and appearing 
more like cider than honey, ill some cases 
he thinks bees carried in cider. We think 
in some places bees may have suffered the 
past winter from dysentery caused by poor 
honey; but in all cases we have examined 
they have died from natural causes." 
Honey in Wood.—I saw, the other day, 
a barrel of extracted honey which had been 
kept over from last year. It was at the 
Station to be shipped. Now, I would like 
to know if storing honey in wooden casks 
will not affect its flavor unfavorably? It 
seems to me to be an important thing to 
know. I have not dared to use barrels for 
this reason.—N. v. <:, 
We have seen old whisky barrels recom¬ 
mended as unlikely to flavor the honey un¬ 
favorably; but we cannot speak from ex¬ 
perience. 
To Prevent Honey Candying.—F. R. 
P. asks what will prevent honey candying 
after it has been extracted and put up in 
i bulk. We know no method; perhaps our 
readers do. We remember a housewife 
usod to set her candied houey in a vessel of 
warm wator on the stovo before serviug it 
on the table, and it was as dilute as if fresh¬ 
ly made. 
Barrels for Extracted Honey. — I 
should like the bee keepers’ experience as 
to the best kind (of wood, size, etc.,) of bar¬ 
rels in which to store extracted honey. 
This is an important matter. We do not 
want to lose our lionoy nor have Its flavor 
destroyed after it Is gathered and extract¬ 
ed.— R. N. v. 
Water for Bees Rearing Brood,— Mrs. 
Tupper says she has tried giving water to 
bees after they have commenced rearing 
their brood, and has also tried withholding 
it, but could see no difference in their pros¬ 
perity. 
MUSHROOM CULTURE. 
A writer in tho Canada Partner says: 
Many persons regard the culturo of mush¬ 
rooms as a great mystery. But It is not so. 
On the contrary, it is as simple as raising a 
crop of corn, or cultivating a grape vino or 
a bed of cabbages and can be done in out- 
of-the-way places, taking up little room, 
and requiring little attent ion. Mushrooms, 
too, can he raised in Winter, when no other 
crop can be, and a regular supply had for 
family use. Or, if conducted on a larger 
scale, with a view for disposal in our city 
markets, there is nothing to hinder, and a 
most profitable thing can be made of tho 
business. All fanners keep horses and cat¬ 
tle, and have plenty of manure; and it may 
be mentioned that the quantity used in 
forming mushroom beds is not lost, for it 
can, when new beds are made, bo returned 
to the manure yard. It must bo borne 
in mind, too, that there is no necessity to 
build a place to grow this vegetable. It can 
be grown almost anywhere in an enclosed 
place -even in tho kitchen or sitting-room; 
but the best out-of-the-way places are a 
close horse-stable , which is regarded as the 
best of all; mild collars, enclosed out-houses 
of almost every kind, where the soil In 
beds can bo kept from freezing. 
Now, for the inode of growing. Take a 
box, say ten or twelve inches in depth, aud as 
long and broad as the space will admit of or 
may be desired; pack it down with six inch¬ 
es of horae-droppings, on this three inches 
of dry cow droppings, broken somewhat 
fine; moisten this (not wetting or deluging 
it) with a strong brine of nitre or saltpetre 
wator. In this cow manure plant the spawn, 
which can be obtained at the best horticul¬ 
tural stores, in the form of a brick; break 
in good size pieces, say as large as a walnut, 
and set iu triangular shape, thus and 
cover with from an eighth to a quarter of an 
inch (not moro than tho latter) of fine dry 
soil. Cover tlie whole with old oarpet or 
any heavy cloth, so that the lUjht Is com¬ 
pletely excluded. Of course it needs no sun 
but just the contrary, as perfect darkness is 
required. 
-♦♦♦- 
GARDENERS’ NOTES. 
Good Bonus.—Inclosed find sample of 
beau sent for name. I have raised many, 
but find it. is a good eating bean, as well as 
a thrifty grower and bearer. The beau, 
when cooked and put on the table, cracks 
open and the skin peels off, and the flavor 
is splendid. 1 liavo asked many, and some 
think it a cross between the Lima and But¬ 
ter bean; but I herewith leave it to your 
judgment.—A. D. .Smithars. 
The purplish, black-spotted beau, is tho 
Phuscolus muUiJlurufi or Scarlet Runner; 
and the large white bean is only a variety 
of the same, with white flowers. They are 
both sometimes cultivated for the table, but 
most persons think they are not equal to 
many other of our choice sorts. 
Fro sewing Garden Stakes.—A corre¬ 
spondent of tho Country Gentleman has 
preserved his stakes—made of pine—by 
boiling them for a short lituo in a solution 
of blue vitriol; and after long use they are 
as sound as the day they were made, while 
other stakes, coal-tarred, have failed. 
To Secure a Good Crop of Onions.— 
A neighbor of mine, Wm. Waldron, say 3 
the way to secure a crop of onions is to sift 
pulverized hen manure over the beds, after 
tho seed is sown. No trouble to raise a good 
crop on almost any laud.— H. C. M., Nyack, 
N. Y. _ 
Tlie Cauadiun Wonder Kidney Bean 
has proved well adapted to forcing iu 10- 
inch pots. Planted in February, in fine 
soil, and kept at a temperature of 55' to 60“ 
at niglit, and do’ to 75“ by day, given air at 
mid-day and kept 6 to 0 Inches from the 
glass, they produce well. 
