106 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
March, 
Management of Bees. 
Eds. Cultivator —I have perused your valuable 
journal, The Cultivator , for several years past, and 
find it contains more important information for the 
young and inexperienced, as well as the aged and 
practical farmer, than any other periodical of the 
kind published in the State, and I might add in the 
United States. I take a number of journals devoted 
to the u improvement of the soil and the mind,” 
yet there is none, in my estimation, which affords as 
much useful knowledge to all classes of community 
as The Cultivator. 
I will state that I am now in possession of six 
elegantly bound volumes, which have cost me the 
price of two young swarms of bees. The informa¬ 
tion I have gained on this subject alone—the man¬ 
agement of bees—has more than doubly paid me for 
the volumes I now hold. And as there has been 
less said on this subject than most others, I feel in¬ 
clined to ask the inexperienced bee-keeper a few 
important questions: First, did you examine your 
hives of bees and honey after harvest, and satisfy 
yourself that each swarm had sufficient honey in 
store to keep them through the winter without being 
fed? Each swarm will consume some twenty pounds 
from the middle of October to the middle of April. 
If there is even a larger quantity left in the hive, 
the bees will thrive better the coming summer, and 
prove more profitable to the keeper. Secondly, is 
your Bee-House so constructed as to keep the blus¬ 
tering snow storms and cold rains from beating 
against the hives? If not, it should be so construct¬ 
ed. Bees can stand a great deal of cold during 
the winter, but they must be kept dry. Hives 
should be well ventilated. Have you examined your 
bottom-board, or holes intended for ventilation, to 
see if they are not closed with dead bees and other 
filth? If they are, the dead bees should be remo¬ 
ved. If not attended to, the chances are, the whole 
colony will be dead before spring. It is well to ex¬ 
amine your hives as often as once a month, during 
the winter. 
I have seen and used many well constructed pa¬ 
tented hives, yet I know of none that requires no 
attention. Bees require but little attention to keep 
them in a healthy condition, yet that little attention 
must not be neglected, if you would make them pro¬ 
fitable. C. G. J. Buffalo, N. Y ., Jan., 1850. 
Cows for the Dairy. 
Mr. Robert Gray, near Fredericton, N. B., in 
answer to an inquiry from the Directors of the St. 
John Agricultural Society, says — 11 From my expe¬ 
rience in the matter, I give a decided preference to 
Ayrshire cows for the dairy. I believe they will 
yield a greater quantity of milk, in proportion to the 
food they consume, than any other breed. Besides 
this, they are docile and hardy, and will thrive on 
pasture, and with a description of keep where such 
breeds as the Short-Horns would starve. They also 
possess more than average feeding qualities of their 
own, and when crossed with the Short-Horn or Dur¬ 
ham bull, the produce is an animal remarkable for 
early maturity and a disposition to fatten. If proof 
were wanting of the excellence of the breed, it 
would be found in the circumstance that they are 
carried to almost every quarter of the globe. Large 
droves are every year taken to England, and during 
the last ten years, considerable numbers have been 
taken to the Cape, the Isle of France, to Sweden, 
Denmark, Belgium, and the United States.” 
Miscellaneous Items. 
Making Maple Sugar. —It is surprising how 
very general the practice is of boiling the sap in 
large cast-iron kettles. Sheet iron is much cheap¬ 
er, needs far less fuel, does not crust nor burn round 
the top, and is decidedly favorable to very clean su¬ 
gar. A simple mode of making sheet iron pans is 
described in the Ohio Cultivator —the pans being 4 
or 5 feet by 2i, 9 inches deep, the bottom and ends 
one strip of good sheet iron, and the sides 1| inch 
plank. The edges of the iron are punched with 
holes an inch apart in a zig-zag line, a strip of 
slippery-elm bark placed between the iron and 
plank when nailed on, and the whole then placed 
on a brick “ arch ” which entirely keeps the fire 
from the plank sides. 
Hens in Winter. —S. W. Cole says that hens 
will never lay well in winter, unless they are made 
to C( scratch for a living.” This is done by bury¬ 
ing their grain several inches in gravel. He states 
that eight hens, winch did not lay an egg in a month 
in the winter, by adopting this course, lay 3 times 
as many eggs the following winter, as their whole 
feed cost. 
Feeding Cattle. —Cattle standing in cold mud¬ 
dy yards, exposed to the weather, consume about 
twice as much as those in sheltered stables kept 
clean and littered, and free from the accumulations 
of manure. 
®l)e iLterinarj) HLpartment. 
Vermin on Cattle. 
Eds. Cultivator —It has long been known that 
a tincture of the seeds of the common blue Lark¬ 
spur {Delphinium consolidum ) w r ill destroy lice on 
the heads of children, immediately and effectually. 
Having tried on cattle, with partial success, every¬ 
thing recommended in books, (except preparations 
of mercury,) I used larkspur seed in diluted alco¬ 
hol, and the insects appear to be entirely destroyed. 
The labor of applying it is much less than most 
other remedies, and it appears to have no injurious 
effect on the cattle to which it is applied. T. S. 
Gold. West Cornwall, Ct., Jan. 22, 1850. 
Ringbone. 
Eds. Cultivator —In the December number of 
The Cultivator, in answer to an inquiry, you re¬ 
mark, (l We know nothing of ringbone being fed 
by a bladder, situated in the heel or posterior part 
of the foot.” If you will turn to Cole's Veterina - 
rian, you will find it there described, and the ex¬ 
traction of the bladder, recommended as a remedy. 
From twenty years observation, I am satisfied that 
three out of four may be thus cured, and why not 
the other fourth, is beyond my ken, unless it is be¬ 
cause the operation is so slightly performed as to 
leave a connection between the bladder and the 
ringbone. But be that as it may, some of the worst 
cases I have ever known, have been permanently 
cured. For instance, a colt lame in three feet, all 
cured at once. A horse that had got into his teens, 
and had been for some months entirely useless, even, 
holding up the lame foot when he moved, was well in 
tw r o weeks after the operation, &c. The operation 
is very simple, and can be performed by any one, if 
the horse is properly secured, and will at most, do 
no harm. W. Waterbury, Ct., Jan. 25, 1850. 
We should like to have the opinions of experienced 
veterinarians in reference to this subject.— Eds. 
