THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
nation to do it, would take the trouble to give 
us a little practical information. 
I wish, with a view to this end, that Mr. 
Bliss would reorganize hiB challenge and bring 
it to a head, so that some practical good could 
come of it. There is a field for both fuu and 
information in the substance of his suggestion. 
--- 
SPECIFIC HEAT AND CREAM RAISING. 
O. S. BLISS. 
A faithful mentor, who, though he never 
writes, often criticises me pretty severely and 
thus renders me invaluable aid, insists that I 
shall not leave the discussion of “ cream rais¬ 
ing” till I have farther elucidated its relations 
• to the doctrine or law of specific heat. I un¬ 
dertake the task thus imposed upon me with 
vert gieat reluctance because the doctors have 
got into an almost inextricable muddle over it. 
In the article of March 29th, which was the 
occasion of the preparation of my former con¬ 
tribution to the Rural, it is said under the 
sub-head, “ Law of Specific Heat“ For 
under this law when milk is rapidly cooled, the 
cream globules cool faster than the milk, con¬ 
sequently they would have a less tendency to 
rise, rather than a greater, as their greater 
condensation or contraction makes them rela- 
titely heavier than before the cold was applied. 
As it does iu fact rise much quicker, thosfe 
theorists who have been seeking for a motor 
power in aid of gravity to account for the ob¬ 
served facts, are at a non-plus iu regard to the 
matter." 
The Scientific Farmer for November 1878. in 
an article on the “ Philosophy of Milk Cool¬ 
ing says: " It takes longer to cool down the 
milk whose specific heat is represented by 
0.847, than the cream whose specific heat is 0.78. 
and, longer still the water, if the can contained 
water instead of milk.” 
A correspondent of the same paper for Jan¬ 
uary 1879, commeuting upon the above-men¬ 
tioned article says“ It is stated that if the 
water outside the can of milk were cooler 
than the milk, then the fluid portion of the 
milk would be cooled two degrees while the 
globules of oil were being cooled one degree.' 
But as the specific heat of oil is less than that 
of milk, exactly the reverse of this is true. 
The oil will cool two degrees while the milk 
cools one degree. This is correctly stated iu 
the next seutonce—• it takes longer to cool 
down the milk- than the cream.’ The cream 
therefore cools more rapidly than the milk. 
But this being the case, the cream, which at 
the beginning of the process is a little lighter 
than the milk, will, as the cooling procoeds. ap¬ 
proach it iu density (the more rapid cooling of 
the cream producing a more rapid specific 
gravity) so that as far as the agencies invoked 
in this explanation arc concerned, cooling may 
be expected to prevent the rapid rising of the 
cream. Therefore the very reverse of what 
this article states is the truth.” The editor ac¬ 
cepts the “correction" and says Bodies 
which have the greatest specific heat cool the 
most slowly. The specific heat of water being 
1.000, that of milk is 0.847; that of crearn is 
0.780. Thus water cools slower than milk, and 
milk, than cream. 
Specific heat is defined in the books as “ The 
quantity of heat required to raise the tempera¬ 
ture oi a body oue degree, taking as the unit 
of measure the quantity required to raise the 
same weight of water one degree." The rela¬ 
tive quantities of heat required to raise cream, 
milk and water respectively one degree, accord¬ 
ing to the figures quoted above, arc 0.780, 0.847 
and 1.000. But absorption and radiation are 
reciprocal. Bodies radiate just as much heat 
in falling oue degree in temperature, as is re¬ 
quired to raise them oue degree. We find, 
then, that under the law of specific heat cream 
radiates heat under a falling temperature, 
from any one degree to another, in the propor¬ 
tion of .780 to .847 as compared with milk, or 
1. as compared with water, which is directly 
the reverse of the conclusions of the three 
writers quoted above. Tyndall in his lectures 
illustrates the principle involved, by a simple 
yet very striking experiment. He takes a cake 
of beeswax, half an inch thick, and from a 
vessel of hot oil places upon it bails of different 
metals. He Bays: “At present they all possess 
the same temperature, namely, that of the oil. 
lift them out of the oil, and place them upon i 
this cake of wax, which is supported by the < 
ung of a i etort stand; they melt the wax i 
underneath and sink in it. But they are sink¬ 
ing with different velocities. The iron and the 1 
copper are workiug themselves much more I 
vigorously iuto the fusible mass tliau the 1 
others; the tin comes next, while the lead and 
the bismuth lag eutiroly behind." Then- spe- | 
cific heat in the order iu which they stand , 
above, ie represeu ted by the following numbers: ( 
0.1188,0.0952,0.0562, 0-0814,0.0308 ; the iinpres- t 
Siou they make upon the wax exactly eorres- I ) 
ponds with them. The iron and copper go com- t 
petely through the wax, wtiile the lead aud , 
bismuth only sink a little way luto it, 
«nH U T Qm]ier tiluc nor space is at my service, i 
mnr l ,“ ay v a<>t I>ursueUlc object, though much t 
j i 1 WC ^ be 8a ^‘ * trust euough evi- f 
ce 8 herein Produced to establish the fact a 
* 80 * ar as the abstract principle of specific 
heat is concerned, so far is it from conflicting in 
any manner or degree with the theory of the cold 
setting of milk for cream raising, that it is in 
perfect accord with it. If the only principles 
involved were the radiation of heat in propor¬ 
tion to the specific heat of the respective 
bodies, and contraction followed in the same 
proportion, the increase iu the specific gravity 
of the milk would he to that of the cream as 
0.847 to 0.780, which would materially con¬ 
tribute to that “ motive power in aid of 
gravity,” so sneeringly spoken of by Dr. Hos¬ 
kins. 
Iffrtrstm 
A BREEDER’S OPINION OF DAIRY COWS. 
WILLIAM crozier. 
Marvelous reports of dainj successes; the Jer¬ 
sey; the Guernsey; the Ayrshire. 
I have just returned home from a short trip 
for the purpose of visiting farmers and breed¬ 
ers. It may be said : “ This is not the time 
foi a farmer to be away on a visiting tour; at 
this busy season he should be about the home¬ 
stead taking care of his stock and farm work 
in general.” This remark I believe, as a rule, 
to be just; yet we are all the better and wiser 
for investigating the work on other farms, 
and to me this seemed the best season for do¬ 
ing so. I have read and heard so much of 
late about wonderful crops, marvelous cows 
aud other phenomena, that I was anxious to 
seek knowledge from those who had raised 
those wonderous crops, owned those cows 
and were the happy possessors of the other 
agricultural marvels. My search, however, 
has not been very satisfactory, so far as ob¬ 
taining proofs of these wonders is concerned. 
So much has been said of the quantity and 
quality of dairy produce from some herds and 
of the high price obtained therefor, that nearly 
all who own a herd of milch cows have been 
worked up to fever heat to get a dash of 
some puffed-up breed iu their yards. The 
expectations indulged in by some of these seem 
to me to resemble somewhat the musiugs of 
the milk woman who, while trudging along 
with a pail of milk on her head, thought that 
by sale of it she would gaiu double what it 
had cost her, theu by-aud-by she would buy a 
cow, aud that cow would have a calf, aud so 
her wealth would go ou doubling yearly un¬ 
til she could ride in her carriage—all from 
that pail of milk! 
We read of small heids that make 450 pounds 
of butter a year per cow, aud that that but¬ 
ter sells for one dollar a pound I Why the 
owners ought to be rich iu ash orttime! Just 
thiuk of it—150 pouuds of butter to a cow, 
none of it selling for less than one dollar a 
pound and some of it bringing as high as $1,25 
per pound! Then the calves are selliug for 
from $100 to $175 each, so that there’s uo end 
to the profits! Yet, strange to say, some of 
the noble, kind-hearted writers who are gener¬ 
ously willing that the public should share their 
advantages “for a consideration,” although 
they had the best of land under their control 
f*r 10 or 12 years without paying for it, would 
have been bankrupted had not the rich man’s 
full purse been opened for their relief. They 
were from $12,000 to $14,000 behind, and yet 
they are still preaching; to young men to fol¬ 
low their example. 
For myself, 1 am a breeder and importer of 
Ayrshires. Guernseys aud Jerseys. I have also 
tried the Dutch, or so-called Holsteins, but 
found it profitable to quit dealing in them. There 
are many good Jerseys and a great many more 
poor ones. When I say poor ones, 1 mean 
that many of them will not exceed the rate of 
half a pound of butter a day the year round. 
Many will make a pound of butter a day fot 
the whole year, but it is not the very pretty- 
looking ones that will do this. To get such a 
one a man must select au animal with a good, 
large frame, au excellent feudar, aud flue all 
over. By flue I do not mean fine-looking. 
Looks are nothing. The good cow has a fine 
countenance, a light neck, good withers, with 
full crops, well-spread ribs, deep naval, broad 
back ; not backed like a fisb, nor with little 
delicate hind-quarters; but with good, deep 
quarters behind, wide between the thighs with 
a fine, set of limbs. Such cows well selected, 
will breed well and milk well; but, alas! beau¬ 
ty now-a-days counts high far too high_in 
the selection of a cow, no matter how much or 
how little milk she may give. 
Guernseys now seem to be much sought after 
by the rich men of the East, aud they are run¬ 
ning the Jerseys hard. There are a few good 
cows of this breed, with rich milk like that of 
the kindred Jersey. There is, however, no 
breed that can bo compared with the quiet, lit¬ 
tle Ayrshire, aud when the lassie calls Mollie 
she comes pleasantly, not to lick or play or be 
petted, but to give a good, large mess of rich ] 
milk, which will make butter or cheese or fill 
the milkman’s pocket. She needs no “puf- 5 
ling she speaks for herself; 6he will not dis¬ 
appoint her owner. Ayrshires make excellent i 
butter, cheese or beef, aud for working cattle 
they cannot be excelled even by the beautiful 
Devons. Their milk is rich in quality, and large 
in quantity. They are easy keepers and in 
every way a most profitable breed of cattle, 
and wherever they find a home they become 
permanent favorites. 
Suffolk Co., N. Y. 
-- 
Treatment of Mange.— The half-bred 
Berkshire pigs are nearly all white. They be¬ 
came mangy when only a few weeks old. We 
tried carbolic soap, tobacco tea, lard and 
sulphur. We also washed them clean several 
times with soap and water. Each time we 
thought we had conquered; but in a few weeks 
the disease would break out again. In look¬ 
ing over the scrap-book we found a clipping 
from the Rural of several years ago, in which 
the writer stated that outside applications 
were useless without some Inside remedy. 
Fiualiy, when our pigs were about four months 
old, we gave the six two tablespoonfuls of sul¬ 
phur per day, for three days; then skipped 
three days and repeated the doses, in the in¬ 
terim making a thorough application of 
iard and sulphur to the surface, and now we 
believe the cure is effected, as two months 
have since elapsed and they are still clean and 
nice. The dog was afflicted with the mange, 
too. We treated him in the same manner, 
giviug a teaspoonful of sulphur at a dose, and 
he is cured. M. B. Prince. 
A GOOD MOVABLE COMB BEE-HIVE. 
While there are many forms of bee-hives, 
each one of which has its advantages and ad¬ 
vocates, and while each one is good, still some 
have a greater number of advantages than 
others. These few are the hives which should 
be described in our various agricultural papers, 
and the readers left to exercise their own judg¬ 
ment iu choosing what one they shall use. "i 
trust I will be excused for selecting the Laug- 
stroth-Doolittle Hive, as the one to be described. 
Perhaps it is because it is my preference, or 
perhaps simply because I know it to be a good 
hive, and feel sure that every practical apiarist 
will succeed well with it. 
The Manner or Using this Hive 
I will describe as follows: In the spring or 
summer, whenever your bees commence gath¬ 
ering honey, place two cases, one above the 
other, on each side of the brood nest, placing 
the separation-side away from the partition; 
shove the followers up against these aud key 
them up suugly. Examine the hives in a few 
days, aud as soon as the bees have built out 
the combs aud stored honey in these boxes, so 
as to be well started, move the cases away to¬ 
ward the ends of the hive, and insert two more 
between them and the partition, key them up 
agaiu, turning the key flat-wise. As soon as 
these side boxes are nearly full aud ready to 
ripen, raise them np to the top. resting the 
cases upon the strips of wood (Q), and place 
empty cases at sides. When the top boxes are 
capped, remove them, and raise the partly- 
filled side cases to their place, supplying 
empty eases at sides again. In this way, work 
all the hives. The empty boxes, are, of course, 
to be provided with starters of either natural 
or artificial comb. The reasons for raising 
the 6ide eases to the top are : houey is stored, 
aud comb built much faster at the sides than 
at the top, and honey ripens much faster at 
the top than at the sides. The boxes are, cf 
course, to be removed as soon as filled. To¬ 
ward the close of the honey season be careful 
not to put on too many cases, as the bees may 
be able to fill them all, and thus you will have 
a lot of unfinished boxes. For wintering, re¬ 
move all cases, wedge the followers against 
partitions, pack the spaces at ends with chaff 
or cut straw, stuff the cap with long straw aud 
put it in place; if then the entrance is con¬ 
tracted with the entruuce blocks, the bees will 
generally winter well. Now as to the 
Description of the Hive. 
I have decided to give a list of the number and 
size of pieces, aud this, together with the en¬ 
gravings will. I think, enable anyone to make 
these hives. 
A—Two pieces, forming the front and back 
ol the hive, 12 inches wide, 24 inches long, 1 
inch thick. 
B—Two pieces, 12 inches wide, 14$ inches 
long, $ inch thick. 
E—Two pieces, 25$ inches long, 8 inches 
wide, 1 inch thick. 
F—Two pieces, 16$ inches long, 8 inches 
wide, $ inch thick. 
G One piece, 27 inches long, 18 inches wide, 
$-iiieh thick. 
H—One piece, 25 inches long, 20 inches wide, 
1 inch thick. 
^ piece, 25 inches long, 5 inches wide, 
1 inch thick. 
1—Two pieces, 25 inches long 3 inches wide 
2 inches thick. 
^ i' vo pieces, 10$ inches long, one inch 
wide, $ inch thick. 
C—Two pieces, 25 inches long, one inch 
wide, 1 inch thick. 
T—End pieces, 30 pieces, each 6 5-16 inches 
long, 2 inches wide, $ inch thick. 
T 1—Top pieces, 15 pieces, each 12$ inches 
long, 2 inches wide, 3-16 inch thick. 
T 2 —Bottom pieces, 15 pieces, each 11$ inches 
long, 2 inches wide, 3-10 inch thick. 
T Two pieces, 17 inches long, 2| inches 
wide, f inch thick. 
S—Top bars, 9 pieces, cacb 13$ inches long, 
1 inch wide, $ inch thick. 
8 1—Side bars, 18 pieces, each 10$ inches 
long, 1 incli wide, $ inch thick. 
^ 2 Bottom bars, 9 pieces, each 11$ inches 
long, $ inch wide, 3-10 inch thick. 
O—Two boards, 12$ inches long, 14 inches 
wide, $ inch thick. 
O 1—Two cleats, 14 inches long, 3 inches 
wide, | inch thick. 
K—Two boards, 11$ inches long, 4$ inches 
R 1—Four cleats, 4$ inches long, 1 inch wide, 
$ inch thick. 
N—Two pieces, 12$ inches long, 10$ inches 
wide, $ inch thick. 
Q—Two pieces, 14 inches long, 1$ inch wide, 
$ inch thick. 
^ Tin, two pieces, 13$ inches long, 2$ inches 
wide. 
^ T Tin, 15 pieces, 11$ inches long. 5 inches 
wide. 
Tin, one piece, 28 inches long, 20 inches 
wide. 
L—One piece, 13$ inches long, 11$ inches 
wide, | inch thick. 
M—Four pieces, seven inches long, 5 inches 
wide, $ inch thick. 
U—Sides. 60 pieces, 6$ inches long, 2 inches 
wide and f inch thick. 
V—Top aud bottom, 60 pieces, 5 inches long, 
1$ inch wide, $ inclt thick. 
F/b.'Z. 
Some of the pieces are so placed in the hive 
that they cannot be lettered. 
The complete hive is seen at Fig. 1—all ex¬ 
cept the entrance blocks—which are simply 
two hard-wood blocks, one inch square and 
seven inches long—are beveled back on one edge 
two inches, so as to guide the bees to the en¬ 
trance. 
A part view of internal arrangement is seen 
at Fig. 2. The brood-frame, at Fig. 6. The 
case, at Fig. 8. The slotted partition brood, 
at Fig. 3. The follower, at Fig. 5. The key, 
at Fig. 4. The small board that closes up the 
opening of the top cases, where they extend 
above the side cases, at Fig. 7. 
To Put the Hive Together, 
after you have cut all the pieces exactly the size 
given in the list, take the two pieces A, which 
are the front and back of the hive, and cut a 
groove across each end, five inches from the 
P~— — end, one-fourth of an 
^ ““““ inch square. The 
* _— , grooves are to receive 
■ r ■ -» . the slotted partitions. 
__ * Next, rabbet out the 
-^—*555- - upper inside edges of 
these pieces, f inch 
—-- deep and $ inch back, 
the rabbet extending from one groove to the 
other. These rabbets are for the frames to 
rest in. Take the pieces numbered M, and 
nail one to each lower corner, so as to be even 
with the bottom and extend to the groove. 
Take L and nail it to the back, so as to come 
even with the bottom aud be between the 
grooves. Cut out au entrance in the front, f 
inch high aud 13$ inches long. 
Now put the end of B to A. so as to make an 
oblong box. Slip “I” into the grooves until 
it is $ of an inch below the top of the hive, and 
then fasten it iu place by nailing small blocks 
in the grooves below it. The slats in these 
boards should correspond with the spaces 
above the tin separators of the lower side 
cases, ami the space between the upper r— 
and lower side cases. These slat6 are 
the entrances for the bees to side cases, 
aud care should be taken to see that they I 
arc in the proper places. Nail C to front ^ 
and back of hive, $ inch from the top. k. 
and D to the ends of hive one-lialf inch B f 
from the top. These are for the cap to w 
rest on. Now nail 1* to the ends of E. In 
aud nail G on top of this for the cap. 
Lay the sheet of tin W ou top of this. 
and bend the edges down evenly and I 
nail them with tacks to the edges of the roof. 
Nail H to I (I to be beveled off five inches 
back, as in Fig. 1), and uail K to 1 for the bot¬ 
tom and alighting board*. 
