OCT.48 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORK 8. 
Snow-drops, are the subjects of the colored 
plate of this number. It is full of lively and in¬ 
teresting floral articles. 
|lund ladiitcrtutf, 
A CONTRAST. 
Hebe are two pictures, one representing a 
comfortable suburban home as it ought to be in 
summer time, and the other unveiling, too truth¬ 
fully, what we frequently find in city and subur¬ 
ban districts, especially in tenement quarters. 
What miserable enjoyment such backyards afford 
the weary workmen who toil hard all day long 
and need rest and relaxation in the evening! 
And what a play-ground for their children! A 
firBtrclasB place, perhaps, for earth oastles and 
mud pies; but where is the father who would 
associate his children with the rubbish of suoh a 
place, rather than with the purity of a beauti¬ 
fied, vine-bedraped and flower-bedecked iuolos- 
ure. In a moral or sanitary point of view, the 
yard of Wistarias, Virginia Creepers, Honey¬ 
suckles. Pipe Vines, Akebias, Japanese Ampel- 
opsis, Yuccas, and orderly tidiness, surely far 
surpasses in goodness that of the accumulated 
conglomeration of old barrels and boxes, tin 
kettles and other disorderly rubbish. 
Nor is it immediate so much as future ill 
effeots such surroundings rivet on our children. 
Soloman says, “Train up a child in the way he 
should go, and when he is old he will not depart 
from it.” Therefore are we to understand that 
children nursed in such unbecoming wretched¬ 
ness, will, in after life, prove indifferent to 
greater refinement. It becomes us to do our 
best in the external decoration of our homes, 
because our attachment to them is thereby 
cemented and our dispositions purified, and the 
refining influences exercised on our own families 
as well as our neighbors' are surely a reward 
worth working for. A bad man and a pretty 
garden are seldom associated ; but, on the other 
hand, the external adornment of our domiciles 
is a commendable reference to ourselves. 
In rural districts, too, where there is no ex¬ 
cuse whatever, we not unfrequently find a paral¬ 
lel to the worst kind of city backyard negligence. 
But we are pleased to note that both in city and 
country, great strides arc being made in the right 
direction, and that a healthy rivalry in garden 
precedence prevails. Therefore wo hope that 
before long, the tardiest may be shamed out of 
their indifference, aud compelled, if for no other 
reason than fashion’s sake, to travel the paths 
of education and intelligence, and beautify their 
homes with ornamental trees and flowers. 
A SLIGHT MISTAKE. U> 
The Rural of September 23d says: “All 
builders agree in this: The most economical 
form in whioh a dwelling can be erected is a cube, 
for the reason that it contains more space within 
a given area of wall and roof than any other.” 
An old Judge said to one recently appointed: 
“Never give reasons for your decisions unless 
you feel obliged to. For while your decisions 
may be in the main correct, when you undertake 
to give reasons therefor, you will be very likely 
to get things confused and make erroneous 
statements.” 
So, in the case of the above extract, it is 
probable that, all things considered, a cube is 
the most economical form for a dwelling But 
the reason given is not the true one. A circum¬ 
ference measuring 100 feet incloses an area of 
796 square feot; 100 feet in form of square, with 
sides 25 feet each, incloses but 625 feet. The 
nearer the circular form, the greater the area. 
The advocates of the octagon form of houses, 
who wrote considerably on the subject a few 
years ago, made this their principal argument. 
That form never became popular, however. 
What was saved in building the walls was usual¬ 
ly lost when the area was divided into rooms, 
by the irregularity of form, or if regularity was 
obtained, then by the waste of room sacrificed to 
obtain it. L. A. B. 
[We should still say that the most economical 
form in which a building can be erected is a 
cube. We think “all things considered” is 
understood.— Eds . ] 
Apiarian. 
BEE HINTS FOR OCTOBER. 
About this time in October preparations 
should be made for wintering bees. For this 
purpose I have found the following pr ^cautions 
successful in my case, and although others may 
prefer a different course of action, I have had 
no ambition to abandon a good practice to search 
for a better: AU good stocks should be wintered. 
From 25 to 30 pounds of honey should be left in 
every hive. To ascertain the quantity in the 
hive, weigh it and its contents, subti acting, 
from the result, the weight of an empty hive of 
similar size, thiokness of boards, etc., together 
with, say, six pounds for weight of bees, wax 
bees ’bread. Call the balance of the w t 
honey, and unless the combs are very old, the 
calculation will be about right. It is important 
that just the right amount should be left, as too 
much is almost as hurcfnl as tot little. If any 
combs in movable frame-hives are filled through¬ 
out with honey, they should be alternated with 
such as are empty. Any stock that is too weak 
and without combs enough to hold a sufficiency 
of honey, should be taken np at onco. If there 
are combs enough, but not enough bees and 
there is no condemned colony to reinforce them, 
they should be treated in the same way. 
At the risk of repeating an oft-told lesson to 
every reader, it is well to urge the necessity of 
strengthening one weak colony by uniting to it 
another of the same kind, and supplying them 
with honey enough, so that all the stocks will be 
strong and well supplied against winter. Hives 
from which condemned colonies have been re¬ 
moved, should have the dead bees taken from 
between the combs and be set away for use next 
year. They should be set right side up, kept 
dry, and have all holes that would admit a bee, 
stopped up. If a colony has bees and combs 
enough, but lacks honey, this may be fed up to 
the required weight just abuut tbis time or so 
soon as the brood is ail hatched. The feeding 
should be done as quickly as possible or the 
bees may nse too much in rearing broods. The 
extra supply may be fed conveniently, in box 
hives, in a shallow dish placed on top of the hive 
with out straw or shavings in it to keep the bees 
from drowning. The sides of the dish should be 
rough enough to make it easy for the bees to 
creep up and down. Two or three holes should 
be bored in the top of the hive, and the whole 
covered with a close-fitting box to keep away 
robbers. In case of movable frames, tae combs 
may be taken out and held at an angle of 45°, 
and the honey or syrup poured into the cells 
through a flat-bottomed, tinned dish, having 
twenty or more small holes punched in the bot¬ 
tom. Wheu one side is tilled, the combs can be 
turned, and the process repeated with the other 
side. A good but cheap honey, like West Indian, 
may be fed with profit, but in such a case, in 
order to be safe from disease, add a quart of 
water to teu pounds of honey, or proportionally, 
scald thoroughly and Bkim. If honey in the 
comb is preferred, the caps of sealed combs, 
should be shaved off with a knife. 
As bees might starve in oold weather with 
plenty of honey in the hive, all winter stores 
should be in the same compartment with the 
bees. All stocks one year old that have not 
been examined with regard to foul brood, should 
be at once attended to On no account should 
an honest man allow a hive with foul brood to 
be robbed. It would be an injustice to his 
neighbors to allow it to stand exposed to be rob¬ 
bed by their beeB. Honey from such hives 
should always be scalded before it is permitted 
to go into healthy stocks. Look out for queen¬ 
less stocks or barren queens, and either combine 
stocks or furnish good, healthy queens. 
w. L. M. 
-- 
PROFITABLE BEE-KEEPING. 
I notice in the Apiarian Department of the 
Rural anaooonnt of some large yields of honey. 
I am interested mbees, and can show a larger 
yield than those. I commenced with 26 swarm 
in the spring. I have increased them to 57 good 
swarms with honey to winter them, and have 
obtained 1,800 lbs. of basswood honey, 2,100 lbs. 
of buckwheat honey, and over 100 lbs. of comb 
honey in frames and boxes. This is all ex¬ 
tracted except the 100 lbs of comb honey. I 
keep bees for profit as well as for pleasure." 
West Gboten, N. Y. d. h. c. 
RAISING ANGORA GOATS. 
Fob several years our farmers have heard va¬ 
rying reports of the results of an effort to intro¬ 
duce the raising of the alpaca sheep and the 
Thibet, Cashmere and Angora goate iuto the 
United States. Some of these reports have 
wholly scouted the practicability of the business, 
largely because the writers had no reliable data 
upon which to base their convictions, and largely 
from the fact that until the manufacture of the 
wool, or rather the hair, of these animals, was 
established, there was no market for the pic- 
duct. Other reports have been quite extrava¬ 
gant in their estimates of the value of these ani¬ 
mals. 
As we now have a considerable number of 
manufacturers using this hair, and there is as 
ready a market for it as for wool, it will be well 
for farmers having rough, hilly, rocky and 
mountainous pastures or other high land covered 
witn bashes, to understand the value of these 
goats as an additional feature in farming pur¬ 
suits. 
The number of goats, sheep, llamas and simi¬ 
lar animals existing in North and South Amer¬ 
ica and Europe is quite large, but as yet no great 
value has been attached to many of the Bpecies. 
Europe and America raise the common goat for 
milk, while in Asia the Cashmere goat, the 
Thibet goat and the varieties of the Angora 
goat are raised for cashmere and mohair. Cash¬ 
mere is the undercoat of a species of the Thibet 
goat produced at Cashmere. Mohair is the 
fleece of the Angora goat. Beside these, the 
Rocky Mountain sheep is found in our far West, 
and as the range of mountains is followed 
Southward, we meet the Mexican goat, and 
still further south, the llama and alpaca of the 
Andes. 
The only auimal'of thisj character yet found 
valuable in the United States, besides the com¬ 
mon sheep and its improved breeds, is the An¬ 
gora goat, imported originally from Asia Minor. 
This animal, the Capra Angorensis. was intro¬ 
duced iuto the United States in 1848, by Dr. 
Davis, of South Carolina, who brought to this 
country nine goats, a present from the Saltan of 
Turkey. Since that time, variou-i importations 
have been made by other parties in the North¬ 
ern, Southern and Pacific States. 
Mr. PeterB, of Atlanta. Georgia, has been very 
successful in breeding these goats, and many of 
his fine animals have gone to tbe Pacific coast, 
while there are now in California, Oregon and 
Washington Territory probably over one million 
goats. There are several flocks in the vicinity 
of San Antonio, Texas, crossed with the Mexi¬ 
can goat, and the raising of goats is there found 
a source of great profit. Several small flocks 
have, from time to time, been reported in the 
Northern and Eastern States, but we know of no 
extensive effort to breed and acclimate them. 
In the Pacific States the Angora goat is chiefly 
raised for the purpose of increasing and supply¬ 
ing the demand for new flocks, and also to fur¬ 
nish the skin, which is tanned with the hair on 
for a great variety of purposes. The hair is all 
used in home manufacture, being ehipped to 
the Eastern States for manufacture iuto the 
various kinds of ladies’ dress goods. The pro¬ 
duct averages from five to eight pounds to a 
clip, and is worth 75 cts. to $1 per pound. 
The object several farmers of Oregon have 
had in purchasing the goats, was to have them 
open their large tracts of “ brush laud” to kill 
out the brush, which the animals do thoroughly 
in two or three years. Like the common goat,, 
the Angora thrivos best unconfined, summer or 
winter, and upon a rough, hilly, and rocky pas¬ 
ture where his food can be varied from coarse 
browsing to the finer grass.; 
The alpaca (Camelu3 paco,) was introduced 
into the United States several years since from 
Peru, by ex-Gov. Thomas of Maryland ; but was 
only partially successful with him, and the flock 
of fourteen originally imported, did not increase 
to any extent in numbers, and was afterwards 
sold to other parties, some of whom report a 
belief in the practicability of their growth in 
the United States. The alpaca wool is far more 
valuable than the wool of our best breeds of 
sheep, being longer and finer and of a beautiful, 
glossy appearance—either black, white or gray. 
The fleece weiglis about seven pounds to a shear¬ 
ing, and the wool is worth from 75 cts. to 31 per 
pound. England imports 3,000,000 pounds an¬ 
nually besides what she obtains from her Austra¬ 
lian colonies. 
Industrial Implrarnts, 
FRENCH BUHR - STONE GRIST-MILL. 
We have recently seen a compact little mill 
well adapted for farmers' use. The driving 
pulley is twelve inches in diameter, and the mill 
may be ran up to six hundred revolutions per 
minute with from three to six horse power, 
grinding ten to twenty bushels of corn, or fif¬ 
teen to thirty of feed. The main points of its 
construction are strong iron and steel frame, in¬ 
closing selected French buhr stones, eighteen 
inches in diameter. The stones are banded, 
faced, furrowed and m what seems to be perfect 
balance. They ara held iu au iron hoop, the 
back half of whioh is bolted to the feed-plate 
and front pedestal in a way to bring the face of 
the bed stone in train with the spindle. The 
bed stone is cemented aud held in position by 
bolts passing through rubber springs, which 
yield when any foreign substance passes in with 
the grain, preventing breakage. The construc¬ 
tion of the mill is scientific, simple, strong, and 
likely to be very durable, it requires no fitting 
after leaving the manufacturers. Bolt it to the 
floor, and it is ready for work. The mill weighs 
oa'y seven hundred pounds, and is guaranteed. 
Those interested will be more particularly sup¬ 
plied with information by addressing tne mak¬ 
ers, Richmond City Mill Works, Richmond, 
Indiana. 
AS WE TOO OFTEN SEE. 
AS WE TOO SELDOM SEE. 
