AUG. 7 
THE R0S3AL 
fJEW-VORKEB. 
not a feathered friend to be pitied and fostered, 
as our writers in big towns and eaey chairs, 
who may or may not have ever seen a sparrow 
in their lives, and are profoundly ignorant of 
their depredations, assure us. Cultivators 
en masse exclaim: ’‘Save or deliver us from 
such friends." “Give me any number of grubs,” 
the same writer continues, “caterpillars,worms, 
snails, slugs even, but rid me by any and all 
means of the sparrows, who are thieves and 
robbers on the most gigantic, scale in our gar¬ 
dens and on our farms. The quantity of good 
vegetables and 60 lid grain they destroy is ap¬ 
palling. The latter is a most, vital considera¬ 
tion at a time when of every three loaves eaten 
two are of foreign growth, and every provin¬ 
cial fruit and vegetable market is crowded 
with foreign produce, brought to us, if not 
from China to Pern, yet from all parts of the 
world; and this while the house-sparrow is 
reveling and ruining the best, of our food.” 
We have seen grass sown with turnips yield 
a crop the first year after sowiDg almost equal 
to one that had occupied the grouud two years 
before being eut. There is no reason, there¬ 
fore, that we know of why those who wish to 
try to get a crop of grass the first year after 
sowing should not have a crop of turnips at 
the same time. 
Those who have not tried grass and turnips 
together can do so without any risk as to the 
labor or experience; and a single experiment 
may be sufficient to determine the matter. 
The best crop of turnips we ever saw was 
sown with grass. [We have lost the “ credit 
for this.]— Eds._ 
The query raised why grass colors butter yel¬ 
low, instead of green, is answered by Prof. 
Arnold in the New York Tribune. He says 
that chloropbyl, the green coloring matter of 
plants, is neither digested nor appropriated by 
milk-giving animals, while the yellow fats 
which abound in grass, are assimilated with¬ 
out change. _ 
“ Viburnum vucATUM. —We are glad to 
Bee that our repeated commeudatious of this 
noble shrub are now being seconded iu rnauy 
different quarters. Au American writer who 
is peculiarly partial to the English press, 
speaks in the Gardeners' Chronicle as follows: 
“Auioug the flowering shrubs the recently in¬ 
troduced Viburnum plicatum holds a promin¬ 
ent place; next to Hydrangea paniculate 
graudillora. I deem it one of our greatest ac¬ 
quisitions. The neat and symmetrical habit of 
growth, its very handsome plaited leaves (indi¬ 
cated by its specific name), and the profusion 
of its moderate-sized balls of snowy blossoms, 
which quite cover the plaut, render it unusu¬ 
ally attractive and beautiful. As single speci¬ 
mens planted iu appropriate situations, it is 
quite as ornamental as a rhododendron or 
azalea, and if its foliage were evergreen it 
would be a formidable rival in ornamental 
plantations."_ 
Seedling Roses are very uncertain, says 
Mr. Laxton, of England, as to the period of 
showing their first blooms, some flowering 
when little more than two inches high, and 
withiH two or three months from the seed 
being sown, and others, although often even¬ 
tually proving good Perpetual Rose6, do not 
show bloom for several year6. 1 have now 
seedlings of the current year showing bloom. 
My crop this season consists of upwards of one 
thousand seedlings grown on a bed containing 
about two square yards; most of these are 
already planted out, aud several of them I 
hope to bud, bloom, and primarily test before 
winter. In the ordinary course at least one- 
half will probably disappear before next year 
from delicacy of constitution. These I shall 
not regret. _ 
The graft, says C. A. Green, in the New 
York Tribune, has a remarkable effect on the 
roots of the stock. In starting apple trees in 
the nursery, we graft on roots of seedlings, all 
of which, if unaffected by the graft, would 
exhibit no especial character; but when we 
dig these roots, after being affected by the 
graft for three or four years, we find that those 
grafted with Red Astrachan, for inslance, are 
very fibrous, branching out near the surface, 
with few tap roots, while the rows adjoining, 
or parts of the same row, grafted with the 
Duchess of Oldenburgh or the Fameuse, are 
destitute of fibers, possess only three coarse 
prongs, as a rule, one of which is liable to be a 
tap root seeking an abode far down in the 
euosoil. It takes my men twice as long to dig 
a row of Fameuse or Duchess as a row of Red 
Astrachan, aud when planted the roots of all 
were of the same character. 
The London Live Stock Journal says : At 
the recent agricultural meeting at Melun, in 
the Department du Nord, the most noticeable 
feature of the show was a splendid collection 
of Merino sheep, for which class there were 
no fewer than sixty entries. Oar Freneh 
neighbors appear to be devoting special pains 
to the development of this breed, which, al¬ 
though a comparative novelty with them, is 
rapidly becoming a fashionable as well as 
profitable strain. 
Prof. Sheldon says that “It is always so; 
the reward of the toiling producer is ever less 
than that of him who merely distributes.” 
Some years ago, says the Ohio Farmer, D. 
M. Ferry grew 600 bushels of onions on an 
acre, for which he was offered §2.50 per bushel, 
making the snug sum of §1.500 from an acre. 
A farmer who heard of it, and knew no more 
about onion-growing than he did of Sanskrit, 
planted five acres of common corn land in 
onions, the next season, the seed costing him 
§100. He didn’t grow a bushel of marketable 
onions. Had he studied up the subject and 
planted the first season an eighth or fourth of 
of one acre, he might now be a successful 
onion-grower, whereas he indulges in profan¬ 
ity at the smell of an onion. 
high. Place stont 12-foot boards 16 inches 
wide thereon, and nail them down. With 
bolts or thongs fasten poles at the top of the 
posts lengthwise, and make a shade of willows, 
or you may make a lumber roof. Set your 
hives on the seat, back towards back, aud you 
have between the two rows of hives an avenue 
four feet wide, where yon may pass along, for 
observation, unmolested, and work both sides 
behind the hives. This also gives room for a 
two-foot table. The hives, if painted in differ¬ 
ent colors, may beset within six inches of each 
other without detriment. I have nearly 200 col¬ 
onies in just this style, only the hives are set 
close together, where the bees work regularly 
without disorder. After trying this plan for 
two years I pronounce it a decided improve¬ 
ment upon the old plans. 
Moth and Worms —The bee-moth lays its 
eggs in the combs or elsewhere and then dies. 
These eggs produce a worm very destructive to 
the comb and honey by making passages and 
galleries through the comb, fattening itself on 
the honey aud formiug a web that protects it 
aud is very annoying to the bees. When about 
three-fourths of an inch long and a sixteenth 
of an inch thick it is full-grown and wiuds a 
web or cocoon for itself that hatches out an¬ 
other moth, The best possible remedy for the 
moth is strong colonies and good, tight laves. 
A stroDg colony protects itself from encroach¬ 
ments, but a weak or queenless oue often falls 
a prey. When a hive is attacked, clean out the 
moth aud strongmen your colony, or if too foul 
with moth clear the hive thoroughly, saving 
ouly such combs as you do not suspect of being 
infested with worms or eggs, give the colony 
new frames of brood and supplies, and make 
them strong enough to protect themselves. 
Wintering Bees. Feeding, etc.— Bees will 
winter well in good hives, and protected from 
the winds, in auy settlement in Utah that has 
been tried. After the honey season has fully 
closed carefully examine each hive and take 
those that have no queens and put the bees and 
such of the supplies as arc needed into the 
hives of the weakest colonies, sprinkling all 
bees together with sweetened water, scented 
with peppermint. Strengthen up auy colouies 
that are weak aud keep a few full frames safely 
from the moth, with which to feed auy colony 
that may chance to be short of supplies before 
flowers bloom. Iloney. dissolved sugar and 
rye flour may oe placed ou a plate over the 
frames in the top of the hive. A colony may 
be stimulated to early and abundant brood by 
feeding before flowers come. 
Good Honey and Pollen Plants are white 
clover, buckwheat, currant, gooseberry, cu¬ 
cumber, melon, squash, pumpkin, lucerne, 
Great Americau bee-plant, bloom of all fruit 
trees, mignonette, Canterbury bells, sweet 
clover, corn, and a great variety of wild flow¬ 
ers. 
Drones.— One drone for each queen is all 
that is really needed. All others arc a surplus, 
aud only live to make the colony poor in 
houey. All unnecessary drone brood should 
be cut out and empty drone comb kept at the 
sides of the hive and always away from the 
center, for storing honey. When too great a 
quantity of drones fills the hive, it should be 
opened and most of the drones should be de¬ 
stroyed or a drone trap used. 
Best Time to Handle Bees.— Iu midsum¬ 
mer, from early morning until 10 a. m. is 
the best aud most quiet time, when many of 
the bees are out. They should never be dis¬ 
turbed at uight or when the air is damp or 
chilly, or it is windy. 
Fodl Brood.— Where the hive is too full it 
is probably the best plan to drive the bees into 
a new hive, giving them frames for a healthy 
colony to start them. Never allow a particle 
of foul brood about the apiary where bees can 
reach it, as it is considered a contagious dis¬ 
ease. The infection may be carried to a sound 
hive by bees passing over the combs. An in¬ 
fected hive should not be used until thoroughly 
disinfected by fumigation with sulphur or boil¬ 
ing water. 
(frowjiroim. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Ark., Saratoga, Johnson Co., July 22.—We 
have here a high, dry, healthy locality. Some 
of the laud is level; other parts are undulating 
and hilly. It is well adapted to the growth of 
all kinds of fruit, such as apples, peaches, 
plums, cherries, quinces, etc. Corn yields 
here from 20 to 60 bushels per ucre; cotton, 
from 12 to 15 cwts.; Irish potatoes. 150bushels; 
sweet potatoes^, 100; wheat, 10 to 25 ; oats from 
20 to 75 ; rye, 15 to 30; barley, 10 to 50. bushels 
per acre. Walker aud Mediterranean are our 
favorite wheats. We have here some 25 to 30 
medicinal spriugs; good, free, comrnou schools, 
there being 46 common school districts in the 
county, aud one seminary aud college. We 
have, too, good water jiowei, aud for trans¬ 
portation, steamboat navigation and railroads. 
J. 3. 
Cal., Venryn, Placer Co., July 18. —Wo are 
located iu the foothills, 23 miles from Sacra¬ 
mento aud 170 miles from San Franeisco on 
the C. P. R- R- There is nothing raised for 
sale or shipment in this vicinity but fruit. In 
tlie western portion of the county the farmers 
raise grain. The principal grains raised are 
wheat aud barley and owing to the character of 
the soil they seldom fail to have a good crop. 
They raise but very little oats aud rye and no 
corn aud but few potatoes—noue for market; 
Early Rose for house consumption. This will 
apply equally to our locality so far as potatoes 
Again referring to the First Annual Report 
of the Cornell Experiment StatiOD, Professor 
W- 8 Barnard says of the Grape phylloxera 
that in that vicinity, the adults and eggs were 
mostly destroyed last fall by two of its enemies, 
a larval Syrphus-ily aud a small mite. This 
pest lias confined itself there almost exclusively 
to the wild vines, but be has found it, in a few 
instances, on the cultivated vines of the west 
hill. Foreigners would do well to import and 
cultivate its natural enemies. 
Mr. E. P. Roe says “Within a few years a 
new variety of strawberry named Windsor 
Chief has been disseminated and the enormous 
yield of 17,000 quarts per acre has been claimed 
for it. It is said to be a seedling of the Cham¬ 
pion, fertilized with the Charles Dowuing va¬ 
riety. If there has been no mistake in this 
history of its origin, it is a remarkable instance 
of the reproduction of the traits of one parent 
only, for in no respect have I been able thus 
far to see wherein it differs from the Champion. 
Mb. J. T. Lovett says that Glendale is the 
best late strawberry yet lully tested either for 
home use or market, succeeding on all soils 
and under all systems of culture. Of the Bid- 
well he says: “This is a very promising va¬ 
riety, being of stroug growth aud producing a 
heavy yield of large, conical, crimson, smooth, 
firm berries of excellent quality." lie picked a 
pint of large, ripe berries from a single plant 
at oue picking. _ 
Points in Bee-keefing. —The following 
points in bee-keeping are extracted from a 
prize essay by Mr. J. E. Johnson, of St- George, 
Utah. _ 
Necessary Qualifications of a Bee- 
keefer. —To make a proper and successful 
apiarian oue should love and take special in¬ 
terest in the business, and in all that pertains 
to the successful management of bees, care¬ 
fully noting the observations, experience and 
instructions of intelligent aud successful bee¬ 
keepers; patient iu observing and supplying 
the wants of the colony and assist! ng it to ac¬ 
complish the most rapid progress for the in¬ 
crease of bees and houey, aud at all needful 
Limes to guard them from too great cold, heat, 
or moisture, from birds, toads, moths aud other 
insects, and generally treating his useful col¬ 
ony with quiet gentleness aud considerate 
care, never disturbing them unnecessarily, or 
annoying them by quick or boisterous motions, 
always avoiding timidity, nervousness or fear. 
Profits of Beb-keefjng. — When this 
branch of indnstry is practiced in a careful 
and intelligent manner there is no ordinary 
business within the scope of my experience 
that remunerates as satisfactorily as bee-keep¬ 
ing. “Good luck” is good, intelligent man¬ 
agement, and “bad luck” ib the reverse. 
Many a person invests iu a swarm of bees, ex¬ 
pecting it to make his fortune. He is ignorant 
of their wants, neglects them, except to rob 
them of their honey, and perhaps destroy the 
queen. They dwiudle, grow less, moth or rob¬ 
bers attack them, the colony disappears, aud 
the owner eurse6 the business as a bad specu¬ 
lation. With proper care and intelligent man¬ 
agement, one year with another, bees will 
average an increase of 100 per cent, clear of 
expense. The surplus honey will pay for the 
hives aud care, aud with ingenious finessing 
one may make from two to four and some¬ 
times ten or a dozen colonies from one, it 
being strong and having a prolific queen. 
Besides a fair increase of bees, instances are 
not rare where 100 aud more pounds of surplus 
houey per hive have been taken in a season 
from each colony. The business is easy aud 
interesting, aud may be performed by women, 
or even by children who have aptitude and 
taste for it. __ 
Best form for Apiary.— After trying several 
plana, I have hit upon the following, which I 
think is origiual and most convenient, as econ¬ 
omizing ground-room, shelter, aud obviating 
the uecebsity of manipulating bees in front of 
any hive; it also saves steps aud time. Set 
two rows of posts seven feet apart and about 
six feet apart iu the rows or they may go fur¬ 
ther apart, and stand seven feet above the 
level surface. Fasten to the posts knees for 
the bench, or seat to rest ou about 16 inches 
The best Hive. —None but frame hives 
should he used, aud these should measure at 
least a cubic foot inside. The frames should 
have the beveled honey guide and be so shaped 
that they may lie drawn from the top. The 
hive should have vemilatiou above and a regu¬ 
lator at the entrance that it may be closed if 
desited in case of robbing or bad weather. 
Transferring from Box Hives.— Pry up 
the cap of your old hive a little all arouud. 
then turu it bottom-up aud place your new 
hive over it, wrapping a cloth arouud to close 
any hole where bees might go out. Then with 
a smoker blow in smoke below and rap the 
hive a little, and continue this until the bees 
have generally gone up into the uew hive, then 
place it on the 3eat, set your old hive on a table, 
pry off two sides aud carefully cut out the 
combs, one at a time. Lay your frame over that 
portion containing the brood aud cut around 
inside of the frame with a knife. Remove the 
pieces, press the frame over the comb, and fas¬ 
ten it around with 6iuall wire or waxed twine, 
and so continue until all you desire, together 
with all the bees remaining, are transferred to 
the new hives, which should be set in the places 
occupied by the old ones. 
To Introduce a Queen.— Daub your queen 
all over with thin honey aud place her in the 
hive; or, what is better, place your queen in a 
small wire-cloth cage, about two inches 
square, with plenty of food. Place the cage at 
the bottom or ou top of the frames where the 
bees may get near her. After two days turu 
her loose aud she will be received and adopted 
as the mother of the colony. 
To rear Queens.— Take the queen away 
from a strong colony and they will at ouee make 
from one to a dozen queen cells. Within 12 or 
13 days after the queen has been removed, care¬ 
fully cut out all but oue of the cells, fastening 
one in each new hive or queenless colony. If 
the cells are not removed within two weeks, 
the first queen that hatches out will be accepted 
and all the others destroyed. 
Queenless Colonies.—A colony without a 
queen grows daily weaker aud is always iu 
dauger of being destroyed by moths or bee rob¬ 
bers, aud even if not thus destroyed the colony 
will disappear iu a few months, having lived 
its allotted time. It may be known by the slow 
aud sluggish working of the bees, by the crazy 
mauner iu which they run around iu front of 
the hive, and the more surely by their having 
no young brood or eggs. Give such a hive a 
queen cell, if possible, or give it a frame of eggs» 
brood and young bees, aud change the place 
of the hive with a strong colony. Make sure 
you have plenty of young bees, or you will fail 
at last iu getting a queen cell; for remember 
it is only young bees that are workers of wax. 
To Equalize the Strength of Colonies. 
—Sometimes a eslony may have au old or 
otherwise unprolific queen ; may have been 
troubled by encroachments of moths, or from 
other causes uiay be weak, while other colo¬ 
nies in the apiary are strong. You wish them, 
doubtless, to be of about equal strength, as 
they should be. Take one good frame of 
brood from as many stroug hives as needful 
aud put in the weak, exchanging empty or 
poor ones for full if ueed be, and should this 
not be considered enough, change places with 
a strong colony you have not touched recently. 
Robbing.—I f a thieving attack is made upon 
a hive by bee robbers, it may be known by 
there being a profusion of bees flying about in 
frout aud near the entrance, going and com¬ 
ing, alighting and leaving, ruuuing about ex¬ 
citedly iu great numbers aud fighting aud tail¬ 
ing to the ground. Inside, too, it is all excite- 
meut. When robbing is discovered the hive 
should be ventilated and the entrance so closed 
that a bee cannot enter or go out. Opeu it 
just before dark so one bee may pass aud close 
again j ast before Buurise. When the excite¬ 
ment is so far over that robbers do not return, 
open the entrance for oue to pass at a time, or, 
what is far better, at once remove the hive at¬ 
tacked to a distance, pei haps away from the 
apiary; sometimes wheu the colony is quite 
strong you ueed ouly close the entrance pas¬ 
sage so that uot more than one bee can pass at 
a time, aud they will protect themselves. 
