667 
OST. as 
most terrible scourge the apiarist has to con¬ 
tend with. If a colony has been suffering 
from this disease until late in the season, so 
that no young bees have been reared, there is 
but little chance for such a colony to pass 
safely through the winter; or, if it should, it 
is almost certain to succumb uuder spring 
dwindling, though the disease be eradicated. 
The consideration of food involves the most 
important factor in connection with successful 
wintering. A large proportion of the many 
stocks that perished last wiuter, died of starva¬ 
tion, either from an absolute lack of food or 
from its being covered with ice and inaccessi¬ 
ble to the bees. If on examining the colonies 
now, it is found that they will need more 
honey to last them through the winter, this 
should he supplied immediately. Thirty pounds 
of honey are the least quantity that a colony 
can safely be trusted to subsist on during the 
winter, and experience and observation have 
convinced us that this should he of the best 
capped honey. Sweets gathered from eider 
mills or molasses factories are unlit for bee- 
food, and will iu most instances cause dysen¬ 
tery and great mortality. If no capped honey 
is on hand, feeding may be resorted to, which 
should either be of the best extracted honey, 
or a sirup made from the best quality of granu¬ 
lated sugar. It is a mistaken policy to rob 
the bees of their choice treasured honey for 
the sake of making a few cents, and as a sub¬ 
stitute feed them on foul, adulterated and 
worthless stuff that is hardly lit to be put on 
auy table. The little that may be gained by 
the sale of the houey is lost tenfold by the 
weakening and loss of colonics. •* The laborer 
is worthy of his hire,” and whoever attempts 
to defraud the bees of their well-earned hire, 
must suffer the inevitable penalty. It is also 
essential that the colonies should bo strong; 
they will not then suffer so severely from 
spring dwindling, nor from the cold during 
the winter. Weak colonies should therefore 
be united, and if any is without a queen, one 
should be introduced without delay. 
When these three conditions—the heulth, 
lood and vigor of the colonies—ure satisfac- 
tory, the next point is a suitable protection 
against cold. Before the hives are put in 
wintei^quarters, they should be carefully gone 
over, the frames arranged in a compact form 
in the middle, closed up by division boards, 
and covered with a quilt or doth. To facili¬ 
tate the communication from frame to frame, 
and thus enable the bees to get at the food 
without separating from the cluster and tra¬ 
versing the round of each frame, a hole of 
about half an inch in diameter should he made 
in the middle of each comb. This pro\ islon is 
of more importance than is generally sup¬ 
posed. If, in a protracted, severe cold, the 
houey becomes exhausted on two or three of 
the middle frames and there is no passage 
through the middle, the bees have but the 
alternatives either to starve or separate lrom 
the cluster and one by one crawl over the edge 
ot each frame till the honey is reached. The 
first alternative is a sure death, and if the 
second be chosen, many will undoubtedly be 
chilled, fall to the bottom and there perish. 
If there is any vacant space in the hive, this 
should be filled with chuff or cut straw, which 
help to absorb the moisture evolved from the 
bees, as well as to keep them warm. It is 
well also to cover the entrance with a piece of 
wire-gauze, or with a piece of tin iu which 
holes have been punched; the bees will thus 
be shut in, and the mice out, otherwise those 
might make their way through the eutrance. 
A dry, dark, frost-proof cellar or room, in 
which can be maintained a temperature of be¬ 
tween 35 and 45 degrees F., will form the best 
winter-quarters for bees, and if such a place 
cannot be secured, the nearer the place 
chosen cornea to this staudard the better, iu 
most cellars ventilation will be needed. This 
may be effected by connecting a stove-pipe 
with a chimney above, and letting it extend 
downward to near the Hour. If no suitable 
house-room can be had, the ingenious bee¬ 
keeper can winter his bees very successfully 
out-of-doors on the summer stands, or in some 
place sheltered from the winds. Here each 
hive should be surrounded by a box nailed to¬ 
gether of rough boards, and supplied with a 
movable, slanting cover. The box should be 
so large as to permit a space of a foot, or, 
better still, a foot aud a half, to be packed 
with chaff or dry straw, on all sides of the 
hive. To permit liight when desired, and thus 
avoid dysentery, let a wooden tube lead from 
the entrance of the hive to the outside of the 
box. Two or more hives may also be placed 
together, aud one box made to answer for 
them all. 'flic straw should be packed very 
tightly around the hives, aud this can be done 
most effectually if it is cut up iu lengths of two 
or three inches. 
See to it that every hive is clean, dry and 
tight, and that the best possible provisions for 
successful wintering are made iu every par¬ 
ticular. Were there means of knowing just 
how severe the winter would be, some work 
might perhaps be saved, but as it is, uo bee¬ 
keeper cau be considered prudent who does 
not provide for the worst, , 
THE RURAL 
®ljc |raltrjr garfr. 
POULTRY AND POULTRY BREEDING. 
A. M. UAJ.STEAD. 
Whekk the lieus are to do the hatching 
they need to be removed to the “ sitting” 
room. This should be dune at night. Move 
the hen carefully and quietly and put her on 
a nest with dummy eggs for a few days until 
she is sitting steadily. The French use tur¬ 
keys aud do not wait for them to be *• broody.” 
but make them drunk with a wiueglassful of 
spirits when they are wanted for use, An 
ordinary-sized turkey will cover 20 eggs aud 
may be used for several lots of eggs. 
incubators and artificial mothers, however, 
have been brought to such a state of perfec¬ 
tion that it seems folly to ding to I he old 
method. The saving comes from the avoid¬ 
ing ofloss by breakage, by hens leaving the 
nest or trampliug the half-hatched chicks to 
death. Moreover, the incubator and brooder 
are always ready for use and save the time of 
liens, which cau be devoted to laying. Iu both 
the natural and artificial method it is neces¬ 
sary to full success that the eggs receive a 
daily airing. 
As the chicks hatch, remove them from 
the nest as fast as dry, and cover them with 
some warm material uutll ready to put them 
out. Here is when the brooder artifical 
mother comes into play. The chicks may be 
taken from the hen or the incubator, and put 
iuto the brooder; where, by means of a small 
lamp, they are kept warm and dry, and re¬ 
ceive all the brooding they need—more than 
with the heu, for the brooder is always ready 
to hover them, while the hen is not. 
The young chicks need no food for the first 
twenty-four hours. After that they should be 
fed plentifully and often. At first give them 
the yelks of hard-boiled eggs, chopped or 
crumbled fine. After the second day, mix 
coarse corn meal and wheat bran, equal parts, 
and scald it. When two weeks old, begin 
feeding cracked corn or wheat for their 
night food. In addition to this, they may be 
given occasional feeds of boiled vice, small 
potatoes boiled and mashed and mixed with a 
little corn or barley meal, bread crumbs and 
stale bread steeped iu milk or water ; in fact, 
all the scraps from the table should be saved 
and given to them, Greeu food-cabbage 
chopped fine, onions, ditto, celery tops aud, 
best of all, lettuce—is highly relished aud 
should be fed to them often. To give delicacy 
to the flesh of the chicks designed for the 
table, make tbeir principal feed, for a week 
or ten days before killing, barley-meal moist¬ 
ened with milk and occasionally alternate 
with Indian meal. 
The greatest profit in raising chickens must 
come by getting them fit for market at the 
earliest possible age. The average cost of hatch¬ 
ing and raising chickens (I apeak now of doing 
so by artificial means) until they are eight 
weeks old, is not over fifteen cents each. At 
this age they should weigh from one aud a 
half to two pounds. The cost l'or the next 
two mouths will be more than doubled, while 
the increase in weight will not be over fifty 
per cent. It follows, therefore, that the most 
of the profit comes from the first two mouths’ 
care and feeding. Broilers at that uge will 
sell in April ancl May in our large cities at 
from 75 ets to $1.00 per pair aud sometimes 
for as high as $1.50. 
QUESTIONS ASP ANSWERS. 
Among the questions oftenest asked me 
are the followiug: Are the chicks as 
healthy uuder the care of the artificial mother, 
as under the natural parent? Answer—More 
so, aud especially because they escape the 
NEW-YORKER. 
lice pest which always attacks chickens soon 
after they are hatched. Question—Are arti¬ 
ficially hatched chickens likely to have gapes 
and chicken cholera? A. After careful ex¬ 
amination and experiment I am satisfied they 
are not. Q. Is it necessary to be very care¬ 
ful in bandliug eggs? A. No; not as careful 
as we arc apt to tbiuk. JoitiDg does no harm, 
though a sudden jar which separates the in¬ 
ner connection with the shell, docs. Q. Is it 
good to wot food long before feeding? A. 
Tes. 1 nless wet long enough before feeding 
to allow it to swell, it will distend the crop, 
and is apt to cause sickness and sometimes 
death. I always prefer to cook food for 
chickens aud all stock, and believe in the 
practice most heartily. Q. Ta cistern water 
injurious to fowls? A. Not if pure. Q. Is it 
a good plan to put pepper in food ? A. I don’t 
believe in stimulants of any kind, or iu any 
of the condiments and artificial loods iu vogue. 
Good wholesome food, fed often, is best, and 
helps most to force the six-weeks’ broilers, in 
the sale of which lies the profit of poultry 
raising. The question about gapes and cholera 
was pul to mu because it 6cemed that the 
artificial method would prevent the spread 
of such contagions. As to the tick and gape 
worm Dr. Law thinks it not unlikely that the 
gape worm lives iu a parasitic state in the 
abdomen of the tick, and he gives au iustance 
of a similar case in a certain species of tape¬ 
worm common iu dogs. 
--- - 
POULTRY NOTES. 
I wish through the Rural to call the atten¬ 
tion of our farmers to the proper care of their 
chickens, prompted to do so by witnessing tbe 
daily havoc among the flocks of my neighbors, 
one of whom has lost 185 birds witbiu the past 
month, while another has lost 119, and I am 
fully convinced that there isn't a farm iu the 
w hole parish on which some loss iu poultry 
has not occurred. Iu the eases iu wbieh I had 
an opportunity of making an investigation, I 
found the remnants of the docks generally suf¬ 
fering from diarrhoea, while iu several in¬ 
stances the surviving fowls were badly infested 
with lice. 
As to lice, the pests arc the results of gross 
negligence, and may be removed by the use of 
a dust-bath iu which powdered sulphur has 
been mixed; a little lard, too, should be ap¬ 
plied under the wings. This treatment, ac¬ 
companied by an energetic white-washing of 
the poultry house, will soon rid the poor crea¬ 
tures ol this misery-producing annoyance. 
With regard to diarrhosa, and all other diseases 
to which fowls arc subject, prevention is much 
easier and better than cure. 1 have raised a 
large number of fowls this season, aud of them 
1 have lost ouly four, and these by accident. Al¬ 
though my poultry house is by no means a com¬ 
fortable structure, yet 1 always keep it dry and 
clean, and feed the birds regularly twice a day 
myself. This Is a job which I would entrust to 
no one else. I make a mixture of 4 oz. of 
saltpeter; i oz. of Talamouicum; d oz. pow¬ 
dered rad. gentiuua; and4oz. powdered rad. 
calami. Auy drug store should be able to put 
up tbe prescription. Of this mixture I give 
the whole dock, young aud old, numbering 
200, four ounces mixed with corn in*nl twice a 
week and find that it increases their appetite. 
Chickens, ducks aud turkeys, eat it with con¬ 
siderable gusto. George Marx. 
somerset Co., N. J. 
|Diarrhcea to which our correspondent refers 
above Without giving auy remedy therefor, is 
generally due to a scanty supply ot grain— 
which necessitates an excess of green food— 
dampness aud unwholesome food of auy de¬ 
scription. When the disease is caused by a 
diet of green or soft food, the diet must be 
changed and water given sparingly. Five 
grains of powdered chalk, the same quantity 
of rhubarb and three grains of cayeiiuepepper, 
may be given with advantage; and if the loose¬ 
ness is not speedily checked, a grain of opium 
and oue of powdered ipecacuanha should be 
given every four or six hours. When the ail¬ 
ment arises from undue acidity chalk mixed 
with meal or rice-flour bolnses arc excellent.— 
Eds.] 
Jltlil (!U‘ 0 |)S. 
A GOOD VARIETY OF WHEAT. 
Tuk accompanying engraving represents a 
specimen of winter wheat sent us by Chas. 
Kroff, Esq., of Hickory County, Mo., which he 
calls the Gipsy wheat. He writes concerning 
it as follows: ‘'.My Gipsy wheat out-yields auy 
other variety grown iu this scctiou. I have 
raised it for five years aud the lowest average 
has been 32$ bushels per acre. In 1877 on nine 
acres 1 raised 254 bushels from 111 bushels 
of seed sown broadcast on corn land and plowed 
iu with a double shovel three times in a row. It 
makes excellent Hour as white as that of auy 
red variety.” We may add that of all the va¬ 
rieties of wheat sent us from different parts of 
the country, none has pleased us better than 
this. The berries in the heads we have re¬ 
ceived, are of medium size and appear some- 
GIPSY WHEAT. 
what shriveled; this, however, may be due to 
early cutting. The beards of the head illus¬ 
trated have beeu shortened. 
-+-*-♦-- 
CASTOR-OIL BEAN. 
JAMES BARTON. 
This agricultural product is u&rncd in botany 
Hicinus communis. In the l nited States it is 
cultivated in Caliiornla, Kansas, Missouri, and 
southern liliuois; but the fall frosts will al¬ 
most surely cut short the crop if planted north 
of 88 deg. Possibly other portions of the 
Southerly States produce the article in a small 
degree. The East Indies, Italy, and the United 
States produce all, or nearly all, the beaus the 
world requires. 
Its cultivation iu Southern Kansas is de¬ 
servedly increasing in popularity, and its uses 
in the arts, manufacture, aud for medical and 
lubricating purposes are rapidly increasing. 
There are mills for extracting the oil iu Fort 
Scott, Kausas, St. Louis, Missouri and in Cali¬ 
fornia. I dou’t know of auy more west of the 
Mississippi. The business is connected with 
the extraction of linseed oil from rtaxseed. 
Several qualities ot castor oil are made. 
The purest quality is made on the •* cold 
drawn” plan; that is, the seed is crushed and 
the oil extracted without the application of 
heat. The inferior qualities are crushed from 
seed that has had heat applied to it. As a 
lubricator for axles of wheel carriages, it is 
generally thought to be superior to all others, 
and is as economical as the various cheap oils, 
on account of its durance being much longer. 
The mode of cultivation is much like that ot 
Iudian corn. It is planted in hills lour feet 
apart. Two beans are dropped iu each hill, 
aud if both germinate, the weaker plant is 
destroyed. It is planted during the corn¬ 
planting season; that Is. when uo further frost 
may be expected. It is cultivated after the 
manner of corn. The bight of the plant varies 
from three to eight feet, according to the soil 
and season. There are two varieties of the 
oil-beau, namely, the blue-stem and the red- 
stem; some fanners prefer the red aud some 
the blue. There is a so-called castor-beau 
plant that is magnificent in its tropical luxu¬ 
riance, but it is more a foliage than an oil 
plant, the beans being out of favor with the 
oil-cruahers. 
The beans mature during August aud Sep¬ 
tember, or rather the maturing continues till 
the frost kills the plants and all the immature 
beans. The plant throws out during this pe¬ 
riod, from time to time, what are called the 
6pikes, to which are attached the pods con¬ 
taining the beans. These spikes vary in length 
from four or five to 15 inches, the average 
