1874] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
171 
the more prosperous I should expect them to be. I have 
had opportunities of watching more closely since then 
where there were acres of milk-weed, and bees by the 
hundred colonies kept in the vicinity, which prospered 
as finely as any that could be found. The flowers of the 
weed have a peculiar shape, as well as an appendage 
that becomes detached and adheres to the foot of the 
bee, which becomes hooked to the flower when at work 
and held fast. But it will be found that not over one 
bee in a thousand is caught fast. 
When we had the old box hive, and it was only part 
full, a few—a dozen bees or so—might be seen on the 
bottom board in the morning unable to get on the combs 
above them, because of this adherence to their feet. But 
very few of the whole number were disabled thus, as 
was proved by the quantity of these appendages that 
was worked off of the feet of those in the cluster over¬ 
head, that had ascended. Handfuls mixed with scales 
of wax might be scraped up, proving to me at least that 
only a small portion of the bees that work on milk-weed 
are lost. If it should be established that getting honey 
from the flowers of milk weed did not kill the bees but 
was rather a benefit to them, the absurdity of the Prof.’s 
recommend to sow the weed is evident. 
The injury bees are alleged to do to the flowers of 
fruit, grain, and grass, may be discussed another time. 
If the objections against bee-keeping are greater than 
the inducements to undertake it, of course it is better 
not to commence till these are removed. We think we 
have recently discovered means to lessen the danger 
from the dreaded stings, and if we can abandon fear and 
approach them with a desire to discover facts we shall 
progress in a ratio quadruple to anything we have done 
before. 
Kentucky Blue-Grass. 
BY THE HON. JOHN H. KLIPPART, COLUMBUS, O. 
A paragraph appeared in the March number 
of the American Agriculturist from which one 
would be led to infer that this grass attained 
its greatest perfection only in a few counties in 
Kentucky, and that it required a limestone soil 
on which to flourish in any locality. The 
fact is that the limestone formation of the 
blue-grass region in Kentucky extends over 
Brown, Butler, Clermont, part of Clinton, part 
of Greene, all of Hamilton and Montgomery 
counties in Ohio; but for some reason the blue- 
grass does not seem to flourish so luxuriantly 
on the Ohio side of the lower Silurian forma¬ 
tion as it does on the Kentucky side. But in 
Union, Madison, Greene, Clarke, Fayette, Pick¬ 
away, Ross, Franklin, and Champaign counties, 
in Ohio, the blue grass grows as luxuriantly 
and forms as staple a pasture grass as it does in 
Bourbon or Woodford counties in Kentucky. 
In the Ohio counties just enumerated the 
“ drift” ranges from five to 150 feet deep; and 
in some of the counties this drift rests upon 
black shale, and in others upon the corniferous 
and Helderberg or Water-line limestone forma¬ 
tions. How much influence the bedded lime¬ 
stone or shales lying beneath 150 feet of drift 
may or does exert upon the blue-grass growing 
on the top soil I am not prepared to state. 
There is no grass which accommodates itself 
to any given locality with as much facility as 
does this same blue-grass—it is almost protean 
in the variations which it assumes according to 
climate and soil. We find it in southern and 
central Ohio growing rankly and luxuriantly 
on gravelly soils; then we find it equally rank 
on the bottom lands, and it does very well on 
stiff clay lands. It is the wayside pasture or 
June grass of Northern Ohio, hut it does not 
do so well nor grow so luxuriantly there as on 
the gravel soils in southern Ohio. 
A writer over the initials “ J. L. C.” in an 
article on Kentucky blue-grass, says: “It is 
one of our earliest grasses, growing, with an 
upright round stem, from one to three feet 
high, with three or four long, rich, bluish green, 
highly nutritious leaves, with a perennial fibrous 
toot, creeping near the surface.” This is prob 
ably correct for northern Ohio, but in central 
or southern Ohio it differs somewhat. There 
are three or four leaves ou the stem, it is true, 
from two to four inches long; but I have count¬ 
ed as many as thirty radical leaves belonging 
to one stalk, each leaf longer than the longest 
one on the stem. In these radical leaves is 
where the great merit of the plant lies. It is 
scarcely worth cultivating as a meadow grass 
or as a grass from which hay is to be made ; 
the radical leaves are too short to mow, and 
the stems are unfit for hay, being very tough 
and wiry, so much so that as a matter of fact 
it is in some localities better known as wire- 
grass than by any other term. “J. L. C.” 
warns persons not to grow it with clover, giv¬ 
ing as a reason that “ they are not fit to cut at 
the same time.” If blue-grass is not sown with 
clover or oats, or some rapid-growing nurse, it 
will be many a long day before a “ set” can be 
obtained. If sown by itself, the June or July 
sun will kill the tender plant down to the very 
roots—at least this has been my experience; 
but every time I sowed it with clover—and 
clover is the best nurse for it—I have succeeded 
in getting a good set. “ J. L. C.” says: “ From 
the fact of its roots extending near the surface 
it is easily affected with drouth.” Here in cen¬ 
tral and southern Ohio it resists drouth better 
than any grass we have. In Union and Madison 
counties are blue-grass pastures which have not 
been disturbed by the plow since the settlement 
of the country, and these undisturbed pastures 
are the most luxuriant and richest pastures we 
have. More than fifty years of constant graz¬ 
ing does not appear to have diminished the 
yield of pasturage. One field in Union county 
was plowed up some fifty years ago, and several 
crops of corn grown on it; then it was al¬ 
lowed to become a blue-grass pasture again, 
but up to to-day any one can see that it is in¬ 
ferior in its production of pasturage to the ad¬ 
joining fields which were not disturbed by the 
plow. This is to me conclusive evidence that 
it is not any more exhaustive than any of the 
ordinary meadow or other pasture grasses. 
A Pigeon Show. 
The engraving upon the first page represents 
the principal prize birds at the first exhibition 
of the National Columbarian Society recently 
held in the city of New York. It may be sup¬ 
posed that pigeons are of very little practical use 
and are unworthy of the notice of persons whose 
efforts are turned towards producing something 
useful. But this would be a mistake if for no 
other reason than that one class of these birds, 
the carriers, possess a value for their services 
alone which in some cases can hardly be com¬ 
puted. In the late siege of Paris by the Ger¬ 
man armies, the mails were frequently carried 
by these birds, and letters or information either 
upon political, mercantile, or social affairs of 
incalculable value were safely sent by their 
means over the lines of the besiegers. A trained 
carrier pigeon might easily be the means of de¬ 
ciding the safety or destruction of an army, 
and thus change the destiny of a nation. Trav¬ 
ellers or business men might send a rapid and 
inexpensive message from a distance or from 
their place of business to their home, by a car¬ 
rier pigeon, which might be carried with them 
for this purpose in a small basket, and many 
hours of anxiety and suspense be thus prevented. 
Besides as pets and ornamental birds they 
have their place in many a country house, to 
say nothing of their special adaptation to the 
purposes of the pie. We therefore give this 
prominent place to these portraits from life of 
probably the most valuable pigeons in the 
world ; for it must be confessed that the birds 
sent from England for the purpose of exhibi¬ 
tion here, as their best, were greatly surpassed 
by American birds. No. 4, the pigmy pouter, 
and No. 3, the bronze-wing, are two oilthese im¬ 
ported birds. They, however, arrived too late 
for entry and were not therefore in the compe¬ 
tition. No. 2, the Antwerp carrier, is a new 
variety in this country and has already become 
very popular. These birds have not hereto¬ 
fore been figured; the specimen shown in the 
engraving is the property of Mr. P. C. Bievel. 
No. 1, the bald head tumbler, is owned by Mr. 
H. A. Brown, who entered the five varieties or 
colors of these birds, which are now almost ex¬ 
tinct in America. He received a prize for each 
color. No. 6, the black swallow, is the proper¬ 
ty of Mr. T. S. Gaddess. No. 5, the red barb, 
owner H. Colell. No. 8, the black trumpeter, 
owned by T. S. Gaddess. No. 10, a pouter 
hen, a magnificent bird which took a prize of 
$50 and is valued at $250, is the property of J. 
Yeudall, Philadelphia. No. 7 is H. Colell’s 
black fan tail; No. 13 is the black English 
carrier owned by P. C. Biegel; No. 12 the 
dark almond tumbler owned by A. Scheld ; No. 
11, the African owl, owner J. Yeudall; and No. 
9, the yellow priest, owned by Mr. Gaddess. 
Ogden Farm Papers— Ho. 51. 
Much has recently been written about large 
yields of butter, and an active discussion has 
been in progress on the subject in various ag¬ 
ricultural papers. This discussion has re¬ 
vived what I wrote in the Ogden Farm 
Papers for August last concerning the dairy of 
Messrs. I. Boies & Son in Illinois. I have re¬ 
cently received a letter from them, in reply to 
a request for more information, in which 
they say: 
“In our statement to yon last spring we 
think we stated that we made about 300 lbs. of 
butter per year per cow. We thought so then, 
and we think so now. We have no means of 
knowing exactly how much we do make per 
cow, as we have never yet been able to give 
the matter a thorough trial. We are milking 
this winter 132 cows, 84 of which calved in 
September and October last, 48 having been 
milked from 12 to 18 months, it being impossi¬ 
ble to get some of them with calf. In October 
last these 84 new milch cows gave an average 
of 28 lbs. per cow, or something over 2,350 lbs. 
total of milk, while on January 9th the same 
cows gave 26 lbs. per cow. The same cows are 
giving at present an average of 21 lbs. per cow. 
You will see that there is a great decrease from 
January 9tli to the present time, a part of 
which is owing to our having to buy hay, and 
it is not so good as our own, as we take pains 
to have our hay cut very early. Every year 
since we have been in the dairy business our 
cows have given more milk in the middle of 
May and June than in the months of March 
and April. In the months of September and 
October last it took, September, 24 lbs. of milk 
to make a pound of butter, and October, 21 lbs. 
January, 23 lbs., and at present we are making 
from 23 lbs. Therefore, taking the months of 
May and June at the same average per cow that 
they are now giving, you will see that the aver¬ 
age can not be far from 300 lbs. per cow. We 
think we can make 300 lbs. from a cow that 
comes in September 1st as we can 225 from one 
