1868.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
24/7 
Keeping; Good. BBulls. —Bulls are not 
very expensive animals to keep. They should begin to 
earn their living as breeders when eighteen months old, 
and from about the same time may be worked to good 
advantage, as steadily as the farm horses. Let them 
draw in single harness by a padded stick across the fore¬ 
head, to which chain or rope traces are attached — bade 
strap and breeching, if necessary, being simple and 
strong. Keep, of course, only fall-blood bulls of some 
sort. Charge not less than $3 for service. Your neigh¬ 
bors will say it is too much. Never mind. If they say 
they would pay it willingly could they be sure of heifer 
calves, tell them you will give them $3 each for their 
bull calves at three days old. We know of this plan 
being followed to the great benefit of the stock in the 
neighborhood, while the bull owner rarely is allowed to 
buy the bull calves for fattening, unless he engages them 
positively beforehand, and insists on his bargain. 
More Butter and Less CSieese. —A 
correspondent in Alleghany Co., N. Y„ writes: “Fac¬ 
tories around here are commencing with a less number 
of cows than last year, as many farmers think that butter 
is going to pay better than cheese.” Of course, it de¬ 
pends on the relative price of cheese and butter. With 
cheese at 14 cents, and butter at 40 cents, it is doubtless 
more profitable to keep the milk at home and make but¬ 
ter rather than to send it to the factory. It is equally cer¬ 
tain that there can be no export demand for butter at 
these prices,while there is a steady demand for our cheese. 
If the supply of butter should exceed our home demand, 
prices would fall to a price at which it could be exported ; 
and the quality of our butter, as a general rule, is far be¬ 
low that of our cheese, and it would have to be sold at low 
figures. Sure profit lies in making a first-rate article. 
To Prevent Milk Souring'. —We know 
that bisulphite of soda and the similar salt of lime are 
occasionally used to prevent milk turning sour. The 
quantities used are very small, but with the ill-judged se¬ 
crecy which leads some men to keep to themselves facts 
which might benefit their neighbors, some people keep 
the quantity a secret. It will be very easy for any one 
to determine the desiyable quantity by beginning to use 
very little of a dilute solution in one pan, day after day, 
and seeing what the effect is. Whether the effects are 
desirable or not, on the whole, we do not know, but no 
harm will be experienced from using the milk not so 
strongly impregnated with the salt as to be unedible. 
B>omesticatImg tlie Antelope. —“ C. 
K.,” Dutchess County. We are not aware that any at¬ 
tempt has been made in this country to breed these ani¬ 
mals. Lord Derby introduced the Canna, or Eland, 
the largest of the Antelopes, into England, in 1861. These 
animals, with a single exception, have been perfectly 
healthy, have produced young, and the progeny are said 
to be larger and stronger than the parents. They feed in 
the pastures with other cattle, and require no extra care. 
One killed for the table weighed 1,185 pounds. The flesh 
was delicate and of fine flavor. No doubt they could be 
introduced here and would thrive. The profitableness of 
the enterprise can alone be determined by experiment. 
A White Mouse, belonging to “D. A. O.,” 
Erie Co., Pa., eats her young ones every time. We sug¬ 
gest as a cure the same treatment we would recommend 
for a sow—another omnivorous animal occasionally liable 
to do the same thing; namely, feed almost exclusively 
roots and fruits several days before littering. Carrots, 
raw potatoes, and sweet apples, arc a good variety. 
Cat l*hcnoiaieiioa.— “ F. R. M.,” Mystic 
Bridge, Conn., has a cat that has adopted two young 
gray squirrels, and is nursing them with her own kitten. 
The squirrels were captured before their eyes were open, 
and the old cat was as blind as her nurslings, as to the 
deception practiced upon her. 
Bees am July, l»y Win. W. Cary.— 
Loss is frequently sustained by neglect to give thin, un¬ 
painted hives some protection from the sun. When tiie 
temperature rises above 100 degrees in the hive, bees 
cease labor and cluster outside, thus losing time. It is a 
not infrequent cause of new swarms deserting. Swarms 
issning this month, unless they are strong, should be 
suitably aided, united, or returned to the parent stocks. 
Swarms sometimes cluster in places from which the in¬ 
genuity of experts is taxed to dislodge them. The fol¬ 
lowing from J. Rodclspergcr.intho American Bee Journal, 
will be found applicable to a variety of cases. “ To keep 
natural swarms from decamping when they issue, and 
induce them to settle in a manner convenient for hiving, 
I take two or three frames filled with comb, adjust them 
together at the distance apart at which they are usually 
/set in the hive, and fasten them to a light pole of con¬ 
venient length, When the swarm issues I present this 
to the bees ten or twelve feet in front of their hive, and 
they usually betake themselves to it without hesitation 
or delay. If the swarm has already settled on a tree, it 
can commonly be induced to take possession of the 
combs, by placing the apparatus gently over or against 
the cluster. Even if settled in a hedge, otherwise diffi¬ 
cult of access, they will readily remove to more accepta¬ 
ble quarters, if the frames be presented to them through 
an opening in the hedge made by drawing the branches 
asunder. When the bees have taken full possession of 
the comb, they are not apt to leave ; and the frames may 
bo again separated and set in a hive in the usual manner, 
with the bees adhering to the combs.” 
“ Artificial Impregnation.” —The Kohler pro¬ 
cess for securing the impregnation of queens with any 
given stock of drones is a recent discovery, which is ex¬ 
citing great interest in Europe. It is now known to a 
few of our leading Apiarians, who are testing it thor¬ 
oughly in practice, and has its importance for those in¬ 
terested in bee-breeding, which is becoming a distinct 
branch of business from honey producing; the same as 
breeding fowls is conducted as a distinct business from 
raising poultry or eggs for market. 
The Wild Bigeon Mills Insects.— 
Mr. Reid says: “ I shot some this past summer, one of 
which had 43 caterpillars over an inch long in its crop. 
It was a young one.” This is some compensation for the 
damage done to the newly sown wheat crop by this bird. 
We are always glad to get .facts in natural history. 
Color ofllorking; Claickens wlscm. 
First Hatched.—It is an old saying that any color 
is admissible and correct in a colored Dorking, save black 
and white. Many chickens hatched apparently white 
become gray and silver gray, and apparently black ones 
become the dark birds that are so much admired. 
IIoMg- Konp; (Seese.—“ G. N.,” Newport, 
R. I. They are a good variety, and as easily kept in in¬ 
closures as the common goose. They cross readily with 
it, and make a fine large bird. The only objection brought 
against them is their noise, which has not weighed much 
with poultry men from the time of old Rome downwards. 
Csgi-iosilies of iFisto Hatching;.—At 
the Hatching Works in Charlestown, N. H., they have a 
blind trout, and one perfectly white—so transparent when 
young, that one could see the heart throw the blood at 
each pulsation through the whole body. They have a 
double-headed salmon, and a good many specimens of 
trout doubled in one part or another. 
Selling; Eggs toy Weight.—“E. F.,” 
Windsor Locks, Conn. We do not know of any exception 
to the rule of selling eggs by the dozen or piece. The 
sale by weight is the only fair thing, and ought to be rec¬ 
ommended by farmers’ clubs and agricultural societies. 
Hens Eating Eg;gs.—“ D. I.,” Michigan. 
“Is there a cure ?”—We think there is, in allowing them to 
run at large, if they are confined, or in giving them plenty 
of animal food, and broken oyster shells, or bones. This 
bad habit is generally contracted in close confinement 
and indicates the need of a change of diet. They will 
follow their instincts, and eat eggs, if the constituents of 
eggs are not furnished in some other form. The cheap¬ 
est kinds of fish or flesh will be greedily devoured. 
Coal TTas* ok Clotls.— “W. T” asks if 
cloth can be water-proofed by means of coal tar, and be 
flexible. When the tar gets thoroughly dry, the cloth 
can not be very flexible. We have no experience in 
the matter, except seeing the effect of coal tar on some 
fishermen’s seines, which were utterly ruined by it. 
Lightning £3o«l Swindlecs. — The 
“ Girard Electric Insurance Company” are again opera¬ 
ting in some parts of the West. They impose upon the 
public by means of fraudulent contracts. The “Agents” 
visit farmers and others, propose to put up lightning rods 
on their buildings, and warrant them good for five 
years for a specified sum, usually from $5.00 to $50.00. 
Thus far, every thing appears to be well enough, but hav¬ 
ing agreed to employ them, they present for signature 
what is represented to be an application for insurance, 
but in reality is nothing more or less than an agreement 
to pay them 40c. per foot, for the rods put up. The unsus¬ 
pecting farmer allows the men to go to work and put up 
the rods, and does not find out that the job is an expen¬ 
sive one until the collector comes around some weeks 
later and presents his bill for ten times the amount sup¬ 
posed to be agreed upon. If the victim demurs he is 
shown the contract with his name at the bottom. Some 
parties have been foolish enough to give their notes for 
the amount when it was not convenient to pay the money 
down; others have stood out and positively refused to 
pay more than the specified sum agreed upon, and after 
repeated threats of law-suits, the “ Company ” have com¬ 
promised rather than present their claim before the bar 
of justice. Our advice to every one who feels that he 
has been swindled by one of these lightning rod chaps, 
or by any other traveling swindler, is to appeal to the 
nearest Justice, if he is not a fool. If one is ashamed to 
have it known that he has been hoaxed, and would rather 
skulk out of the scrape by paying these swindling bills, 
he will do so ; but a true man will fight it out and win, 
if there is any justice to be found in his country. If one 
needs lightning rods, let him get them put up by respon¬ 
sible parties. Don’t employ traveling agents. The 
whole matter is so simple that we have not, perhaps, given 
it sufficient space in the Agriculturist. An iron rod cost¬ 
ing 3 cents a foot, with a sharp end in the air and the other 
in the ground, is all that is needed. We will try to give 
more on a subject about which there is so much nonsense. 
Ee»clac«l Astoes. —- Mr. M. S. IT. says: 
“ I can get soap boilers’ ashes for $1 per load. Will it 
pay to use them ?” Probably not, on your strong clay 
loam—that is to say, you can probably use other and 
cheaper means of enriching your land. Where leached 
ashes can be obtained in the immediate neighborhood, 
at 50 cents or even a dollar a load, it will pay well to use 
them; but to pay a dollar a load, and then draw them 
three miles will probably leave but little profit. In West¬ 
ern New York, we have known ten two-horse loads of 
leached ashes applied per acre, to wheat, with exceilent 
effect. Now the leached ashes of that section are shipped 
hundreds of miles to Long Island. Where you can grow 
large crops of clover by the use of plaster, leached ashes 
should be purchased at cheap rates. They can be used 
to great advantage, if they do not cost too much. 
Gas Lime. —Notwithstanding our rather 
frequent notes about gas lime, inquiries constantly come 
in regard to its use. Those who use it should bear in 
mind that it is, when fresh, strongly alkaline, and some¬ 
what caustic, so that it must not be mixed with animal 
manures ; that it contains poisonous and soluble sub¬ 
stances which are«destrnctive to vegetation ; that these, 
after sufficient exposure to the air become changed, and 
either innocent, or positively useful; and that in addition 
to the effects of lime as such, exercised in a moderate 
degree, those of gypsum are also produced very markedly. 
It is therefore to be regarded as a cheap source of gypsum 
for agricultural purposes, and always used with caution. 
Trial of El:ay Implements.— The New 
Jersey State Agricultural Society will hold a National 
trial of mowers, reapers, rakes, tedders, horse-forks, etc., 
commencing July 7th. Full particulars will be given by 
addressing the Secretary, at Newark, N. J. 
Tatotosig-es!. Alleotiaag- tlae Taste of 
Milk. —“ Young Farmer.” Cabbages, or turnips, if fed 
too constantly to cows, will affect the taste of milk, and 
this is true of oil meal, and some other kinds of fodder. 
But if the cabbages or turnips be fed only once a day, 
immediately after milking in the morning, and the cow 
has a plenty of other feed, the milk will have no unusual 
taste. Milch cows want a good variety of food. Both 
cabbages and turnips increase the flow of milk, but do 
not add to its richness so much as do carrots or parsnips. 
Am. Devon Herd BSook.—Mr. H. M. 
Sessions, of South Wilbraham, Mass., is about to publish 
the second volume of the American Devon Herd Book, 
with about 600 new pedigrees. This is issued under the 
auspices of the Am. Cattle Breeders’ Association, and it 
is understood that all the pedigrees are, before accept¬ 
ance, subjected to the searching scrutiny of an impartial 
committee of breeders. This beautiful and Useful breed 
are holding their own well, and are valued as highly as 
ever by their breeders. Registry in this volume will add 
to the value of the cattle in a way which should lead every 
Devon breeder to send in the pedigrees of all his best stock. 
SSasaler’s Family Scales are very con¬ 
venient, and sufficiently accurate for ordinary purposes, 
if care bo taken to always have the article to be weighed 
placed squarely over the upright or supporting shaft. If 
moved to the front or rear of the dial, a difference in the 
weight will be noticed. Experience in their uSe, with 
observation, will, in a measure, enable one to remedy 
this, apparently the only defect in the scales. 
BoKg’toMiint.So—By Jane E. Duflie. Take one 
pint of strained buttermilk, 1 teacup of sugar, one egg, 
one teaspoonful of soda, and a little salt. Add flour 
enough to make a stiff dough. 
Sally JLiinaa.—1 pints of flour, cup of 
butter, V 2 cup of yeast, 2 eggs, 1 tablespoonful of sugar, 
and *4 cup of milk, Mix about five hours before needed, 
