THE CULTIVATOR 
147 
WINTERING SHEEP, &c. 
Messrs. Editors —Having- heard some of my neigh¬ 
bors observe that they must sell off their sheep, so that 
they could plow more, it has occurred to me that by pur¬ 
suing my method of wintering sheep, they might avoid 
the necessity of throwing their sheep in market at this 
time, when they would have to sell at a great sacrifice, 
owing to the depression in the wool market, brought 
about by the want of adequate protecting duties. 
My method is as follows:—About the middle of No¬ 
vember, last year, I got up my sheep from the fields, and 
put 100 together; they consisted of Saxony ewes, and 
half blood South Down lambs. I shut them up in a yard 
that was provided with a warm shed, (which I deem 
very essential,) and fed them on oats in the straw, for 
about four weeks, until it was gone; (a more economical 
way would be to thrash the oats and feed each separate.) 
I then commenced feeding them on shorts and wheat 
straw; I gave the one hundred sheep one bushel of shorts 
in the morning, and one bushel in the evening, and fod¬ 
dered them with wheat straw three times a day, in the 
morning and evening, before feeding the shorts. The 
shorts cost me 15 cents per bush, and weighed from 20 
to 22 lb. per bush. The cost per day, was 30 cts. for 100 
sheep; the straw, I count nothing, as the manure was 
worth more than the straw and labor of foddering. The 
shorts was fed dry to the sheep, in troughs made for the 
purpose; they were salted twice a week, and occasionally 
had sulphur with their salt. The sheep were healthy 
and in line order in the spring; in fact, I never had an- 
unhealthy sheep. The sheep had access to water, which 
they helped themselves to. I find that sheep will drink 
four or five times in a day, when they can get it without 
too much trouble. 
Farmers who find it necessary to reduce their flocks, 
should be very particular in selecting those that they 
keep, and let none but the poorest go from their farms; 
in that way the quality of wool will be improving, and 
there is none but a good quality that will pay the expense 
of raising at present prices. 
I see by your July No. that Mr. Durand, Derby, Conn, 
refers to the Scotch drink, as recommended by Judge 
Duel, in the 2d vol. of the Cultivator. In his descrip¬ 
tion of the method of making it, he, as well as Judge 
Buel, omits one essential particular; that is, that the oats 
should be kiln dried or parched before being ground; if 
the oat meal is stirred in the water in its raw state, it 
will be liable to do more hurt than good to those who 
drink it, but if the oats are properly prepared before be¬ 
ing ground, or the meal parched a little after being 
ground, the drink will be all that it is cracked up to be, 
that is, one of the best drinks that is carried to the field 
m hot weather. Ithaca, July 13, 1842. E. Cornell. 
QUEEN BEES. 
Messrs. Editors —In your July No. I observed an ar¬ 
ticle on Queen Bees, that somewhat surprised me; for I 
had supposed that the fact of their existence was settled 
beyond doubt or cavil, to a demonstration, if any fact 
could be so settled. It appears the first to broach the 
idea as a fact, as I read, was Hodiernia of Totria. Mr. 
Robert Huis'h, of London, a modern writer, is positive on 
the subject, and calls her the queen mother of the swarm. 
As his description perfectly agrees with my own obser¬ 
vation, I give it in his own words:—“Her teeth and her 
wings are unfit for labor, being much shorter than the 
common bees and the drones; the body of the queen is 
much longer and slimmer than the other bees; her belly 
and legs yellow, and her back and wings of a brighter 
hue. The queen possesses in health, an astonishing fe¬ 
cundity, unequaled by any thing in nature, except the 
fish.” I have been in the habit of doubling small swarms, 
and sometimes I have put three together, and therewith 
made one swarm; consequently, on their casting out the 
supernumerary queens, I have had frequent opportuni¬ 
ties for close examination of them. Their attachment to 
the swarm is great; they manifest a harmless disposition; 
I have frequently taken them by a wing or leg, and I 
never knew one attempt to sting on being handled; I 
have put them with a drone or two, or more, away from 
the swarm, also with the common bees in like manner, 
of different swarms from those to which they belonged, 
and they manifested no disposition to make war; but 
place them where they can come in contact with each 
other, and there is instantly fighting until one gets her 
death wound by the dirk of the other. I have often dis¬ 
sected them, and observed their prolific character, espe¬ 
cially when in health, to agree with Mr. Huish’s descrip¬ 
tion, particularly in July; the cell in which the queen is 
reared, is circular and perpendicular, and fifty times the 
quantity of wax is used in making one, that there is in 
making one of the hexagonal and horizontal cells in 
which the common bees and drones are reared. Some 
seasons, especially wet ones, the queens are many of 
them feeble, and consequently the swarms alight low; 
for the swarm never alights and stays right for hiving, 
except the queen be with them. I have often known a 
swarm commence alighting, then leave and commence 
in another place, then leave there, begin again, and on 
my examining near the swarm from which they came, I 
have found the queen of the young swarm, taken and 
held her up in my hand for a few seconds, where the 
bees were the thickest, and never failed to have the 
swarm gather around her, and be ready to hive in about 
two minutes. The specimens you request, of the differ¬ 
ent bees found in a hive, shall be forthcoming this fall, 
for the benefit of Mr. Palmer. J. H. 
SELF-FODDERING BARN—(Fig. 86.) 
Editors of the Cultivator —Mill’s India, and Dr. 
Robertson’s America, has substantiated the seeming para¬ 
dox that a man can write a history of what he has seen 
nothing of. Relying on the success of so eminent men, 
I offer herewith some suggestions and plans relating to 
foddering from barns, which, without being based on 
much practical experience in se, yet seem to me worthy 
of trial per se. It is well established, that foddering up¬ 
on grass lands is an efficient means of sustaining their 
value, and on many farms, particularly leased lands, the 
only effectual method. It is moreover pretty well set¬ 
tled, that the best economy with ordinary farm stock, is 
to suffer them to eat their fill; and hence, if there be no 
liability to abuse, to keep hay constantly before them; it 
is farther agreed upon, at least in this neighborhood, that 
the labor and hardship of traversing some miles of snow, 
of a winter’s morning, to fodder a few head of cattle, is 
considerable. With these points in view, I have pro¬ 
posed to myself the model of a barn, which, while it 
reaches every aim presented, is at the same time, cheap 
and easy of construction, easily moved, an ample protec¬ 
tion to hay, offering shelter for a considerable herd, and 
withall a sightly object. 
The barn may be capable of containing 15 or 20 tons, 
as circumstances may direct; it should be in proportion 
of length to breadth, as 20 to 12. The two longitudinal 
sills I would have permanently fixed to two substantial 
runners; four feet above the sills on either side, a beam 
should be inserted, from which rack stocks or slats (A,) 
may run to the sill. This exposed portion I would pro¬ 
tect by a slight roof, (B,) hung upon rude-string hinges, 
3 feet above the upper insertion of the rack; this roof to 
project at an angle sufficient to shed the rain, some 7 or 
8 feet from the barn, the roof to be upheld by two end 
pieces, (C,) compactly made of thin boards, hung also 
by hinges upon the corner posts. Fig. 86 is a perspec¬ 
tive view of the whole. 
Now then for the use of the hinges; it is simply this: 
that the ends may be folded in, and the roof be swung 
down upon them, thus forming in a moment a compact 
barn, subject little as any to depredation. This, the late 
pasturage of mowing lands might render necessary. On 
the approach of winter, the roof may be elevated, the 
ends swung under, and the pressure of the superincum¬ 
bent hay will keep fodder before stock until it is entirely 
gone. D. Y. Mitchell. 
Elmgrove, Ct. July 21, 1842. 
MR. BICKETT AND AN ONONDAGA FARMER. 
Messrs. Editors —I have seen at page 110, of the 
present volume, a communication from Mr. A. Bickett, 
in relation to some previous remarks of mine on the im¬ 
portation of animals, and the improvement of our stock. 
With your leave, I have a few words to say in answer to 
Mr. B. To the general tone of his paper, however, and 
his insinuations, I have no reply. Such a tone and tem¬ 
per cannot subserve the cause of truth; and will not be 
indulged in a civilized country, by one who has not made 
up his mind to forfeit all claim to the character of a gen¬ 
tleman. 
Mr. Bickett errs in supposing that An Onondaga Farm¬ 
er and Mr. Allen, are one and the same individual. So 
far from it, O. F. has never had the happiness of meet¬ 
ing Mr. Allen; and is wholly unacquainted with him ex¬ 
cept through the medium of the public press. He knows, 
however, that Mr. A. is a gentleman to whom the coun¬ 
try is much indebted for his efforts and his success in the 
improvement of our stock, and whose opinions are enti¬ 
tled to great weight. He may, sometimes, have express¬ 
ed himself incautiously, as he doubtless did in regard to 
the Ayrsliires; or used language capable of misconstruc¬ 
tion, (ami who does not?) yet no liberal minded man 
will make such mistakes the basis of vindictive personal 
remarks. 
Mr. Bickett asserts that the remarks of an “ Onondaga 
Farmer,” must have arisen from selfish motives, and a 
desire in him, Mr. A., and the present breeders of im¬ 
proved stock, to monopolize the home market. To show 
Mr. B. how wide he is of the mark, an O. F. would state 
that he is not now the owner of, and has not at this time 
on his farm, a single animal of the improved breeds; and 
he has yet to learn, were it otherwise, how their posses¬ 
sion, or sale, could be construed into a crime. 
Mr. Bickett objects to the anonymous signature of an 
“ Onondaga Farmer.” O. F. has a name, of which he 
knows no reason why he should be ashamed, or be led 
to suppose it would lessen the value of any communica¬ 
tion he may see fit to make; still he chooses not to use 
it in this place; and were other reasons wanting, Mr. 
Bickett’sletter would furnish them in abundance. That 
paper shows that writers for the public are most unfortu¬ 
nately apt to lose sight of the subject, in the individual, 
when his name and position are known to them; and the 
matters treated, are weighed more with reference to what 
is known of the writer, than their intrinsic merit or de¬ 
merit. 
An Onondaga Farmer does not feel himself called up¬ 
on to defend any of the positions taken by Mr. Allen. 
With that gentleman he has nothing to do, and Mr. A. is 
fully competent to defend himself; or should he be 
betrayed into careless statements, he is not the man to 
persist in language calculated to convey erroneous im¬ 
pressions. His statement already published in the Culti¬ 
vator, proves this. 
But why should the apprehensions of an Onondaga 
Farmer with regard to the importation of diseased ani¬ 
mals, be deemed without foundation? The epizootic, so 
prevalent for a few years past in Great Britain, and so 
extensively^ fatal, was imported into that Island, and from 
thence into Ireland, from which it has again passed into 
England, with similar destructive effects. We should 
remember too, that some of the diseases most fatal in 
this country to our domestic animals, have certainly been 
imported with them; and there can be no good reason 
given why the present plague which has passed over the 
continent, and is now ravaging the British Islands, should 
be confined to that side of ihe Atlantic. 
An O. F. has no doubt if Mr. B. will re-peruse the pa¬ 
per which has given him so much offence, he will see 
cause to modify the opinion he seems to have formed of 
its heterodox and dangerous nature. 
July, 1842. An Onondaga Farmer. 
COMMENTS ON THE CULTIVATOR FOR JULY. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —Your article entitled 
“ Wool audits Manufacture,” contains a number of statis¬ 
tical facts which are highly interesting—not only to wool 
growers, but to our whole community; for it involves 
the still unsettled question whether the government has 
any right to compel consumers to pay to producers a high¬ 
er price for what they want, than they would have to 
pay but for this legislative interference. On this all-im¬ 
portant question, it is not my present purpose to offer 
more than a passing hint; and I hope your readers will 
deem it worth their while to take it into their serious 
consideration. The grasping spirit of selfishness charac¬ 
terises governments quite as much as it does individuals; 
and it tempts them constantly to play 7 at that game of com¬ 
mercial restrictions, which cannot be better described 
than by Mr. Jefferson’s definition of war —'■‘the unpro¬ 
fitable contest of trying which can do each other the most 
harm.” Well then will it be for the people of the Uni¬ 
ted States to ponder this matter deeply before they 7 finally 
determine how far they mean to venture in playing this 
most precarious, and always more or less injurious game. 
Under the head " True Doctrine,” you have given us 
a short extract from an address by r A. C. Baine, Esq. 
which well deserves all the praise y r ou have bestowed on 
it, and much more. It is indeed —the true doctrine, and 
should be preached from one extremity of the Union to 
the other, wherever any hearers can be found to listen 
to it. To adopt it generally, is the only thing that can 
elevate the people of the United States to the rank they 
ought to hold among the nations of the earth. 
Your anti-queen bee correspondent, Mr. H. Palmer, 
reminds me of the old saying, that “ it takes all sorts of 
people to make a world;” and some truly queer sorts we 
occasionally find among them. I have never met with 
but one person to match him for incredulity ; and he was 
an old revolutionary officer, (long since dead,) who al¬ 
ways declared that a cardinal article in his creed, was, 
“ io believe nothing that he heard, and but one-half of w>ha,t 
he sau\” Should Mr. Palmer persist in this matter, he 
will have to prove a negative, in which—if he succeeds 
—he shall have, at least, my vote as Professor of Logic, 
in the new University that they are about to build in 
Washington, with the Smithsonian legacy. 
I am truly sorry that I did not see Mr. Eli Westfall’s 
communication to you relative to the marvellous virtues 
of a black cat’s blood in curing the shingles, before I 
classed the belief in them among “ absurd and ridiculous 
superstitutions,” as I might then have avoided wounding 
the feelings of so sensitive a gentleman as himself. Per¬ 
mit me to assure him that I have nothing to “ forgive” in 
his remarks, which he had a perfect right to make; but 
I owe it to myself to show that he has somewhat mis¬ 
represented me, although, I am sure, without intending 
it. I did not apply 7 the term “ absurd and ridiculous su¬ 
perstition” to the blood of cats of any color—nor to the 
fleshy side of their skins just taken off,—nor even to the 
blood of a black’s body, as a sovereign remedy for the 
shingles; but to the blood of his or her tail, as the grand 
panacea for this troublesome disease. From Mr. West- 
fall’s statement, it would seem that neither the color of 
the cat, nor the part of the body 7 from which the blood 
is taken, is of the least importance, and against this I 
have nothing to say 7 , but “ credat Judauis.” 
A word or two now on the article under the head— 
“ An Onondaga Farmer and Mr. Allen.” Having offered 
a few comments on Mr. Bickett’s former remarks about 
the latter gentleman, in which I might have done him 
some injustice, Mr. Bickett’s present attack upon him, 
seems to afford a fit occasion to ask what are Mr. Jl.'s 
claims to exemption from the influence of that self-inter¬ 
est of which he so strongly accuses Mr. Allen? May not 
Mr. B. be as deeply interested in the breeding- and sell¬ 
ing of Ayrshire cattle, as Mr. A. is in breeding and sell¬ 
ing of Durhams? Possibly too—he may be a Scotchman, 
