been giving much attention to honey-pro¬ 
ducing plants, and am constrained to believe 
that the catnip plant has not received the 
‘consideration that its importance justly en¬ 
titles it to. For three years post* I have 
been sowing the seed on Waste places, in all 
directions for the distance of a mile or more 
from my apiary, and I have never seen any¬ 
thing equal it, it commences to bloom here 
the last week in June, and lasts fully three 
months, giving a continuous yield from the 
time the white clover fails till frost. 
It thrives in any part of our country ; 
stands our continuous summer drouths betr 
ter than any other plant, and never fails. 
Dur bees are on it every moment of daylight 
there is, from one mouth’s end to another ; 
not even a smart rain will drive them from 
it. Motwithstanding it is now the driest 
time that lias been known here for many 
years, the bees make a eonstant roaring over 
the little catnip Held which I am cultivating. 
We shall plant more of it for cultivation 
next spring, or rather winter. January and 
February is the best time to sow it. Quinby 
says, “If there is any article that I would 
cultivate especially ior honey, it would be 
catnip. I find nothing to surpass it.” 
HOW TO GET SURPLUS HONEY 
LIG COW STORY 
G. M. Doot.ttti.k, Borodino, N. Y., writes 
to “Gleanings in Bee Culture” in reference 
to the statement that lie took 3,074 pounds of 
box honey from 37 old stocks in the spring ; 
and a part of his increase came from the 
same stocks and were boxed of course. He 
says :—“Now for our method with our small 
hives holding 9 Gallup frames, and we would 
use no larger. In the spring (as soon as the 
first ol' April), v, e fill our caps with straw 
pressed in with a follower ns tight as our 
weight (which is 243 lbs,) will press it. This 
brings the straw on the quilt, pressing it 
firmly on the frames and by the next- day, if 
we raise the cap and put our hand between 
the quilt and straw, it will feel somewhat 
like putting it in an oven, while without the 
straw the quilt is us cold us a stone. This 
sets the Queen to laying and t he bees will 
hatch the eggs unless we have winter all the 
while, as we did last spring. Now if you 
know each stock has a Queen and plenty of 
honey, let them alone until pollen becomes 
plenty which is witli us, from the first to the 
tenth of May, then go to each hive, and if 
the bees will bear spreading a little more 
without danger of chilling the brood, take a 
frame of honey from the outside, break the 
sealing by passing a knife flatwise over it, 
and put it in ihe center of brood nest. In ten 
days go over with them again and so on and 
when warm weather oomes in June, go over 
with them every four days putting one 
frame in the center each time, and you will 
find the Queen will fill it every four days 
besides keeping all the empty cells filled 
which are daily' vacated by maturing brood. 
By' the way, this has proved more satisfac¬ 
tory' to us than any or all the methods given 
for feeding to stimulate brood rearing. Don’t 
commence to spread the brood unless you 
are willing to do all in your power for the 
well being of your bees. We have known a 
certain bee-keeper to carry all swarms that 
he in any' way suspected Jwould suffer from 
over-spreading, during a cold snap, into a 
warm room until it became warm again. 
But to return, by the 23L1i of June, every' 
available cell should be filled with brood and 
the hive full of bees. By this t ime white 
clover is at its higlit and if your Votes swarm 
they' do well, and those that don’t swarm do 
better. If they are getting honey' to any' 
amount put boxes on all that do uot show 
signs of swarming in a few days, but keep 
the boxes off the rest, unless they are getting 
honey quite freely. At this season of the 
year we always like to put boxes on when 
the hive is so full of brood, and the bees so 
anxious for some place to put, honey', that 
they will commence putting honey in the 
first boxes before we have the lust ones on, 
When basswood appears put on all boxes, 
and by this time your new swarms should 
have their hives two-thirds full of comb, and 
the old stocks t heir young Queen just com¬ 
mencing to lay. Those that have not swarmed 
will have some boxes ready to take off, and 
will get nearly as much honey after this as 
the old and new together if they had swarm¬ 
ed. It is no t rick at all to get 8 lbs. of honey 
put in boxes in a day if you have your hive 
full of brood and bees, and honey is plenty. 
They have got to put it in the box or no¬ 
where. Gallup gave ns the secret in the A. 
B. J. years ago when he said “got the bees 
and they will get the honey if there is any to 
be had.” Keep an eye out, and do things in 
the right time. 
“If we had waited G or 8 days longer this 
year before putting on our boxes we should 
have got nothing. We have come to this 
conclusion in regard to profit in 1 ' keeping 
lx Rural New-Yorker, Nov. 28, first 
page, Mr. Wilson has made a formal reply, 
as he may think, to the question put to him 
through the Rural by me, in regard to the 
large yield of butterand net profits of certain 
cows mentioned by him in Rural, Oct. 10, 
1874. As I read and digest his article, I fail 
to find any answer to the question, which 
was this :—“ What was the feed of those 
cows that made so much butter ?—the feed 
so fed as not to exceed $40 per year per cow. 
Now Mr. Wilsov seems to think I may yet 
learn how this is done. It may be I will. It 
is said figures won’t lie ; let us make some 
for Mr. W. He saj*s he feed3 two quarts of 
milk per day all summer while his cows are 
at grass ; two quarts per day—730 quarts ; 
two pounds per quart, 1,460 lbs.; one cent 
per lb., $14.00. He must feed hay seven 
months ; 20 lbs. per day is not a heavy feed 
for a cow giving 20 or 30 quarts milk; 211 
days— 4,220 lbs. huj'. 
Now, to make it light as we can, we will 
take off the 171 lbs. and he will feed two tons 
at $15 per ton, which will cost him $30. Now 
we have five months at grass at $2 per month 
—$10. Now let. us count and find the cost as 
herein stated, and wc have $54.60. I think 1 
have not given here any estimate too large 
for a cow' that is giving milk, to say nothing 
of ull the roots and bran that is needed to 
keep the cow in good flesh and to a full flow 
of milk which, for me to feed, I should need 
at least one ton of beets and a half-ton of 
bran during the* year. Beets, $6.60; bran, 
(05c. per 100 lbs., $7.50. Now, what have we ? 
$84.70. 
Now, Mr. Wilson, do you think I have 
overdrawn on feed for a cow that is kept up 
to a flow of milk to make 400 or 500 pounds 
of butter? You can safely say “No,” and 
may add to it as much as you think proper, 
A. Donald. 
in one pen. lhey had starved through the 
summer and the winter before, were long 
haired and in thin order, about eighteen 
months old. 
In the other pen 1 put ten head of hogs, six 
months old averaging one hundred and sixty 
punds, which had been liberally fed from 
pigs and were eatable then. 
Each lot was fed alike, partly on cooked 
feed and corn in the ear. Cooking the meal 
to the consistency of thick slop, giving each 
party, night and morning, what cooked 
feed they seemed to relish, giving them at 
tne same time, corn in the car, feeding to 
each party what they would clean up well, 
cleaning their pens ou t every day. The hogs 
that had been liberally fed consumed about 
a fourth more feed than the others and gave 
me a fourth greater gains in proportion to 
what I fed them. The weather was more 
favorable for feeding than with the first 
hogs, and my engagements otherwise were 
such that 1 was not able to keep as accurate 
account of the last as of the first hogs, but 
calculating as closely as the circumstances 
would allow, I have the following result: 
The part that had been liberally fed gave 
me twelve pounds per bushel. The other 
part that had been illiberally fed gave me 
nine pounds per bushel. 
Since feeding the above hogs, I have fed 
others in the summer with cooked feed (as a 
slop) corn in the ear letting them run to 
clover, with very favorable results. 1 am 
fully persuaded from past experience, that 
ln>g* should lie fed all they will eat from the 
l ime they are pigs until sold for market. In 
buying stock hogs to feed, buy only those 
that have been well fed, their digestive or¬ 
gans are able to assimilate more food and 
better than those whose organs have beeu 
dwarfed for want of feed. 
Raise our hogs from the best stock we can 
procure, and keep no more than we can feed 
well. As to the profit of shelling our corn 
and taking it four miles to mill, paying ei ;hl 
cents a bushel for grinding, and after cooking 
it., those interested can make their own cal¬ 
culations. 
I ffeel confident in saying that the hogs 
were fed under favorable circumstances, 
with the above result. Those who feed in 
open lota without shelter, on the ground in 
winter, I am persuaded do not (except in 
very favorable winters) realize more than 
five or six pounds to the bushel of corn fed. 
It is true that the latter sum will bring some 
money, but I would greatly prefer ten or 
twelve pounds to the bushel for winter feed¬ 
ing. 
FEEDING HOGS IN WINTER 
Mr. J. J. W. Billingsley, in the Indiana 
Farmer, gives the result of his experience in 
winter feeding and in cooking food for hogs 
which will attract, the attention of swine¬ 
herds ;—In the fall of 1870 I provided myself 
with a hog house, lift}' by thirty, on the east 
side of a hill near a spring ; built a shed upon 
the south side of the house. Under the shed, 
at one end, I put in a pair of Fairbanks’ six- 
ton scales, with the weighing beam coming 
up in the cook room of the main building. 
After putting in the scales, 1 had thirty-five 
feet of shed room left. This was floored by 
laying oak plank on the earth, then the shed 
room was divided equally III two parts, and 
lots of the same width df one hundred feet in 
length crossing the spring branch Bouth of 
the house. From the shed room they passed 
into feeding rooms in the main body of the 
house. These rooms were ten by fifteen, 
floored tightly. The. shed rooms; J kept a 
foot deep with dry wheat straw, changing 
once a week. The hill on the west was a 
secure wind-break and the shed room and 
lots being ou the south, with a bountiful sup¬ 
ply of fresh spring water within seventy feet 
of the feed pen, made it a desirable place to 
feed, I procured one of Anderson's Univer¬ 
sal Steamers, (cost one hundred and fifty 
dollars,) and provided myself with barrels. 
Having had a well dug in the cook room and 
a pump put into it, and other necessary 
fixtures, 1 felt prepared to test fully the. 
mysteries of hog feeding. 1 took twenty 
hogs and divided them as nearly equal as 
my judgment enabled me, all tilings taken 
into account, drawing for those I would feed 
with cooked food, then turned each lot into 
their quarters, each having the same amount 
shed room, range and water. 
NOTES FOR HERDSMEN 
King's Jersey Cow.—J. C. King, Elyria, 
O., writes the Germantown Telegraph his 
experience with his Jersey cow us follows : 
“ Ln the spring of 1871 L bought my fir it Jer¬ 
sey cow. My neighbors laughed at me for 
paying $250 for so small a cow; but when I 
showed them the rich yellow milk and thick 
cream and Buch yellow butter as they never 
saw before, they thought a Jersey cow was 
worth having after all. That cow has won 
me $189 in premiums, and I have sold two of 
her calves (one a half-blood) for $250, and I 
have the cow and a nice yearling heifer left. 
The increase of that cow have also won me 
$147 in premiums.” 
Feeding Cattle and Hogs Together.—A cor¬ 
respondent of St. Henry, Ohio, in the West¬ 
ern Rural, replies to the inquiry, “ What 
Ails our Cattle T* as follows : — “A farmer 
near this place had also a queer disease in his 
cattle ; and as he solved it at last, I will tell 
you what the people thiuk it was. Mr. R., 
of this place, had a lot of cattle and he also 
fed them in the same yard with some hogs, 
and they (the cattle) died one after another, 
until an old farmer told Mr, R. not to feed 
his cattle and hogs together in the same 
place. Mr. It. separated the hogs and cattle 
and that stopped the disease.” 
The Average Yield per Cou\— E. Lewis 
Bturtevant of Waushakum farm, So. Fram- 
| ingbam, Mass., having overhauled dairy¬ 
men’s reports and other sources of informa¬ 
tion, for the purpose of settling the average 
annual yield of the native cow, sent the re¬ 
sults of his labors to the Country Gentleman, 
condensed in the following three conclusions: 
1. Tiie average yield of the average cow iu 
N. Y, State cannot exceed annually 1,350 
quarts. 2. The average yield of superior 
dairies will not exceed 1,800 quarts. 3. The 
possible yield of superior dairies of the native 
cow cannot exceed *2,300 quarts. 
North American Ayrshire Cat lie Register. 
—Sturtevaxt BROS., South Framingham, 
Mass., well known as breeder? of Ayrshires, 
have undertaken to inaugurate a Herd-Book 
for Ayrshire cattle to be known by the above 
name. Those who are interested in such a 
registry' should place themselves hi commu¬ 
nication with these gentlemen, who are both 
competent and interested in making this 
work as accurate aud complete as it can be 
made. 
Ashes for Cows .—The types made me say, 
“Feed ashes, equal parts.” Please say, Salt 
and ashes, equal parts, one handful, twice a 
week.—A. Donald. 
of feed room, 
the only difference being that one lot w 
fed on cooked feed and the other on corn 
the ear. 
The following table exhibits the result: 
Meal 
cooked 
by 
weight 
56 lbs per 
bushel. 
Lot No. 1. 
weight. 
HOG CHOLERA ENTERIC FEVER 
Prof. James Law, in one of his lectures 
at the Main State College, is reported by the 
Maine Farmer as saying of this disease The 
period of incubation is from 7 to 14 days, but 
is less in a hot climate. Causes Contagion, 
privation, starvation, confinement, filth, &c. 
Symptoms :—General ill health, shivering, 
fever, great dullness, prostrative fever, hides 
under litter, lies on belly, weakness of hind 
limbs, and later of the fore limbs; rapid, 
weak pulse; dry 
Dec. 10, 1870. 
Dec. 17, 1870 
Dec. 24. 1870 
Dec. 31. 1870 
Jati. 7, 1871 
JaiL 14, 1871 
Jail. 21. 1871 
Total. 
Corn fed 
in the 
ear 68 lbs. 
per bu. 
Lot No. 2. 
weight. 
snout, covered by blood¬ 
stained spots, which also cover the skin, eyes, 
&e. ; often a hard cough, littl: or no appe¬ 
tite ; intense thirst, tender abdomen. After 
death, blood staining, infiltrations into lungs 
and bowels ; ulcers on bowels. 
Dec. 10.1870 
Dec. 17,1870 
Dec. 24. 1870 
Dec. 31,1870 
Jan. 7, 1871 
Jan. 14. 1871 
Jan . 21, 1871 
Total_ 
Treatment: 
Give cooling acid drinks, buttermilk, sulphu¬ 
ric acid, &c. ; feed soft, mucilaginous food, 
such as oil cake. Administer 20 drops of 
perchloride of iron twice a day. Blister the 
abdomen by means of mustard and turpen¬ 
tine ; stimulate if very prostrate. Preven¬ 
tion :—Avoid all debilitating conditions, poor 
or spoiled food ; keep animals constantly 
Average gain per day. 1st lot 115-52 lbs ; 2nd 
lot, 1 24-52 lbs. Average gain per bushel, 1st lot, 
11 43-57 lbs ; 2nd lot, 10 50-71 tbs. 
The hogs would be called good fair hogs 
for this County, (Marion), being crosses of 
Chester, White Poland and Berkshire. Had 
been fed four weeks on com before they 
were lotted for the test. The scales being 
CATNIP FOR BEES 
A correspondent of the American Bee 
Journal writes :—For some years past I have 
