1846. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
371 
viscidity and consistency which could only have been 
Obtained by some unknown elaboratory process. Were 
the honey, when deposited in the cell, to be of that 
thin and fluid nature in which it appears in the necta- 
rium of the flower, it would flow out of the cell; at the 
same time it must be admitted, that the elaboratory 
powers of the stomach of the bee must be wonderful¬ 
ly great to change the nature of a natural production in 
so short a time as that which intervenes between the 
extraction of the mellifluous juices and their deposition 
in the cells.” [Huish’s work on bees, pp. 369, 375.] 
The ideas of this writer in regard to pollen seem to 
be so different from any we have met with, that we 
cannot at present assent to them; yet we deem it proper 
to give them for the examination of our readers. 
“ It has,” he says, “ been asserted by some apiarians, 
that bee-bread, or the pollen of flowers, is the food 
which is administered to the young; but so far from 
this substance being gathered as the food of the larvae, 
we can affirm that under no circumstances whatever, is 
it applied to that purpose, nor does it under any modi¬ 
fication whatever, form a part of the food of the bees. 
Honey is their only natural food, and although they 
possess the power of regurgitation, yet we never expe¬ 
rienced a single instance in which honey was regurgi¬ 
tated into a cell in which there was an existing worm. 
Rather than consume a single particle of bee-bread they 
will die with hunger.” [pp. 344, 345.] 
CATCHING RATS. 
Governments have offered bounties for the destruc¬ 
tion of bears, wolves, and foxes, while the rat, the most 
injurious to the interests of man of all quadrupeds, is 
allowed to pursue his marauding career entirely inde¬ 
pendent of legislation. 
It is not a very easy matter to extirpate rats; they 
are endowed with more sagacity than they generally 
have credit for, and under the promptings of self-preser¬ 
vation, often elude plans which are laid for their cap¬ 
ture. A friend of the writer, quite distinguished as a 
successful hunter, has frequently been heard to make 
the remark, that he could catch a fox easier than he 
could catch a common house-rat. 
A writer in the Ayrshire (Scotland) Agriculturist , 
appears to understand the business of rat-trapping, and 
gives some directions on the subject which we think 
worthy of remembering. He recommends the round 
and square wire traps; and in order to take the rats, he 
states that “ it is in the first place necessary to remove 
their suspicions, to get the better of their cunning; in 
short, to throw them off their guard .” He thinks this 
can be most effectually done by “ fastening the doors 
of the trap open for a night or two, so that the rats 
may have free ingress and egress.” He supposes that 
rats, as well as many other animals, possess the power 
of conveying intelligence to each other; and when one 
has found a delicious morsel, he will convey the intel¬ 
ligence to his comrades. As bait, he prefers bacon, 
fried till it is somewhat burned, with plenty of grease. 
He recommends that the trap be visited early in the 
morning, for if the rats remain long in the traps it will 
be the means of frightening the others so that it will 
be difficult to catch them. 
“ Poison ,” he says, “ can only be resorted to in such 
places as are inaccessible to any other living animal. It 
can safely be applied in sewers, drains, and such like 
places, and should always be combined with some sa¬ 
vory fry. In this instance, again, feed for a night or 
two ere mingling the poison in the food—you will thus 
lull suspicion and commit greater havoc. I may here 
observe that common bottle corks, cut in very thin sli¬ 
ces, will kill rats, and will be greedily devoured. 
Phosphorus has been recommended, and so has broken 
glass. For my own part, I detest poisoning, and prefer 
the trapping system. Either when using trap or poi¬ 
son, you will find your success immeasureably enhanced 
by using a few drops of the following mixture upon 
the mess used as bait. It is the preparation generally . 
employed by professional rat catchers, and is that to 
which they have imputed such wonderful effects—such 
as decoying the vermin into one spot, and there de¬ 
stroying them wholesale. I must, however, confess 
that I have both sought and met with some of the most 
talented and successful professors of the art of rat- 
catching, without witnessing such . miracles. I once, 
however, did see a tame rat, (in Edinburgh, at the back 
of the Catsle, in the year 1837,) which, having been pre¬ 
viously smeared with a certain composition—that which 
I am about to describe—was let loose in a vault, and in 
less than half an hour returned followed by some half- 
dozen others, which seemed so enamored of the decoy, 
or of the scent that hung about him, that they suffered 
themselves to be taken alive in the rat-catcher’s hands, 
without ever offering to bite. The preparation I pur¬ 
chased from an eminent practitioner in rat-catching. It 
is as follows: 
Powdered Assafcetida,. ^ grain. 
Essential Oil of Rhodium,. 3 drachms. 
Essential Oil of Lavender, . 1 scruple. 
Oil of Anniseed,.... . 1 drachm.” 
BREEDING STOCK. 
The New-York Farmer and Mechanic, speaking of 
the stock exhibited at the late Fair of the American In¬ 
stitute, makes the following statement:— 
“ We will here take occasion to remark, what all 
will acknowledge, who carefully examine for them¬ 
selves, that our best stock is produced by crossing the 
breeds. No matter how good at first, experience shows 
that they can be made better; and it is a law of nature that 
all things degenerate by a continued growing from the 
same seed or blood.” 
The writer of the above quotation may have seea 
enough to induce his belief “ that all things degenerate 
by a continued growing from the same seed or blood;” 
but for ourselves, we have not so learned the operations 
of nature. That it is possible, under some circumstan¬ 
ces, to improve both animals and vegetables by cro&a- 
breeding, we do not deny, but a latitude is here given 
to the practice, which might be productive of great in¬ 
jury. According to this writer, ee no matter how good 
at first,” animals may be, “ experience shows that they 
can be made better ” by crossing! It strikes us that the 
proposition involves a palpable inconsistency, for if it 
is “ no matter how good ” our stock may be “ at first,” 
we would take such as are perfect; and we should like 
to know how perfection can be improved? 
But we find these distinct races and breeds existing 
naturally; and, if, in the beginning, they so well an¬ 
swered the designs for which they were created, as to be 
justly pronounced “very good,” it seems to us that the 
doctrine which would break down these lines, should 
be received as too much akin to that which would 
cause the oak to produce the pumpkin. It would throw 
the fairest works of nature into confusion; it would 
unite the Caucasian with the African or the Mongolian, 
and their progeny with the aboriginal American: it 
would lead us to sacrifice the fine fleece of the Merino 
sheep for the sake of intermingling the blood of the 
coarser races: it would lead us to destroy all the dis¬ 
tinct and beautiful breeds of horses and cattle, by mix¬ 
ing them together; and, in fact, throughout the animal 
and Vegetable kingdoms, would leave nothing but hy¬ 
brids and mongrels. 
As to plants or vegetables, we know the idea is en¬ 
tertained—though erroneously, as we think—that all 
varieties “run out ” if propagated continually from the 
« same seed;” and this leads to the notion of a neces¬ 
sity of change. A farmer obtains a variety of wheat, or 
some other grain, which proves to be better suited to 
his soil than any other; but he can only keep it a few 
years before he concludes that it “ has been raised on 
his farm long enough,” and he changes it for some 
other kind. 
Now we admit that with the careless and slovenly 
husbandry which too many practice, this “running out” 
