1858. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
125 
Experience with Bees. 
Messrs. Editors —I have been working with bees 
for the last forty years. I have bought both English 
and German works on Bees, and the only one that I 
consider worth having, is M. Quinby’s, which, in my 
opinion, is far the best. My income from six stands 
last season, counting honey at 30 cts. per lb. and new 
swarms at $5 00 each, was a few cents over $103. I 
use no patent hive, not because I am down on patents, 
but because I have never seen one that suited me, but 
a kind of common hive of my own getting up, with a 
number of caps. I build my bee-houses by nailing 
lath lengthwise, such as are used to nail shingles on 
roofs. I nail against posts, leaving spaces between 
them so as to give plenty of air in summer, with a 
good roof to keep off rain and snow. In winter I shut 
them up with straw or light boards, so as to keep it 
dark for the bees. Worms don’t trouble my bees much. 
I watch them closely, and kill all the moths as they ap¬ 
pear, two or three times a week, either in the morning 
or evening, and keep ants and spiders off by killing 
them. Ants steal more honey than most people are 
aware of. If you kill them as they leave the hive, you 
will find them as full of hone}' as they can hold. To 
destroy the ants, take two pieces of bark and lay them 
one in the other, first rubbing a little honey, molasses 
or sugar between them, near the hive, and they will 
soon enter this home, when they should be quickly de¬ 
stroyed in boiling water or the fire. Geo. Gebhart. 
Union City , Incl. 
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Singular Death, of a Cow. 
Messrs. Editors —A neighbor of mine lost a cow a 
few days since, in a manner so singular that I will ask 
you to place it on record. On Sunday morning last' 
she was found standing in her stall exhibiting signs of 
being choked. Several antidotes were given without 
relief. On Monday morning I saw her still on her feet, 
(which she kept till she died,) exhibiting signs of great 
distress in breathing. Eroth and saliva in large 
quantities came from her mouth—her tongue was out 
a part of the time, and a jerking tremulous motion of 
the head was made at each breath. I thought she 
must die, and no further medicine was given. At 3 
o’clock P. M. she died. On opening, her lungs were 
filled in all the principal air pipes with masticated food, 
and the conclusion was that she had swallowed her cud 
the wrong way. A. S. Moss. 
Rock or Stone Turnip. 
Messrs. Editors —I wish to tell your numerous 
readers of a turnip worth raising, to wit, the Rock or 
Stone Turnip. 
I raised from ten rods of ground, (one sixteenth of 
an acre,) ninety bushels, weighing sixty pounds per 
bushel, which I think worth as much to feed cattle, as 
potatoes. I have no doubt I can raise 1,500 bushels on 
an acre of light, warm land, suitably enriched as for 
corn. I sow the seed in a bed, as for cabbage, and 
after my ground is well plowed and harrowed, trans¬ 
plant in rows eighteen inches apart, and the plants 
twelve inches ; but I think eight inches would be bet¬ 
ter. You will find but little trouble in keeping the 
weeds out till they cover the ground. Whole cost not 
over six cents per bushel—worth from 37£ to 50, for 
the table, and will keep the year round. Sow the seed 
as soon as the ground is fit in the spring, and transplant 
when large enough. The turnip when cut, is white and 
very sweet. Judson Wadsworth. West Winsted, Ct. 
Suggestions about Haymaking. 
Some things I know, and others I should like to 
know. I know that this life is too short to learn every¬ 
thing that a farmer should know, by actual experi¬ 
ment ; therefore it is necessary to profit by the experi¬ 
ence of others by reading. I would therefore recom¬ 
mend that every farmer who can, should take and read 
the Country Gentleman or Cultivator, and as many 
other agricultural papers as he pleases. I think it 
pays well. Knowledge and Industry are what elevate 
the farmer, or one man above another. I know that 
horses and cattle like early cut hay better than that 
which is cut late. They can be fatted on it by giving 
them what they will eat, while they will barely subsist 
on that which gets dead ripe before it is cut. Cows 
who go to pasture early in the spring will make yellow 
butter, and so they will in winter if fed on early cut 
hay, if it be well cured. It is more work to make hay 
of early cut grass, than that which stands and dries up 
before being cut. It is an old adage, to “ make hay 
while the sun shines.” I think hay dried in the shade, 
is more fragrant and better than if dried in the sun. 
But in haying time we are in haste to dry it as soon 
as possible, and get it into the barn out of the way of 
the rain. I have noticed that women who have occa¬ 
sion to gather herbs for winter use, usually gather 
them when in blossom, and dry them in the shade. I 
believe it is correct. If it be so with herbs, is it not 
equally so with grass? I don't know which will pay 
best—to cut meadows once or twice the same season. 
I think the hay will be better to cut twice ; and I 
think the quantity will be as much or more on the 
right kind of land, if cut twice the same season. I 
don’t know but grass would be more likely to kill 
or die out, if cut twice a year ; think it would; but 
would it not pay to reseed it every Jwo or three years ? 
I wish you would persuade John Doe or Richard Roe, 
or some of those big farmers who own a hay-scale, to 
take, say two acres of meadow ground, cut one acre 
early so as to cut it twice the same season, and the 
other acre to cut but once, and weigh it in and weigh 
it out again on feeding, and feed it to two steers or 
cattle of nearly equal size, and weigh them every few 
days so as to determine which is the most economical 
plan, or which will pay the best. I should like to see 
the result of such an experiment in the Country Gen¬ 
tleman. B. Clinton Co., N. Y. 
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Ticks on Sheep. 
Does friend Johnston mean to be understood that ticks 
do not like the taste of a fat, healthy sheep, or that 
feeding the sheep well, eradicates the ticks ? I think 
I keep mine well, but find ticks on them sometimes, 
more especially on the lambs, unless I take care to 
have them dipped (soon after the sheep are sheared,) 
in some preparation poisonous to the ticks. For this pur¬ 
pose I ho ve used a recipe found in Blacklock’s Treatise, 
which is as follows : 
Arsenic, one pound, finely powdered. 
Potash, 12 ounces. 
Common yellow soap, 6 ounces. 
Rain <or river water, 30 gallons. Boil the ingredi¬ 
ents together for 15 minutes. 
I find this cheaper than tobacco, much less offensive 
to the operator, and I think quite as efficient, and it 
seems rather to improve the appearance of the lambs, 
instead of disfiguring them as the stain of tobacco 
water does. Thos. B. Buffum. Near Newport , R. 1. 
