some pecuniary interests, in common with others, my friends, in a Kansas
cattle ranch. I am therefore a good deal exercised about this
foot-and-mouth disease. Is it the terrible scourge reported by one cattle
doctor, who, according to the papers, says, "the only remedies are fire or
death." What do you say?
ANSWER.--The disease is a bad one, very contagious, but easily yields to
remedies in the first stages.
THOMAS V. JOHNSON, LEXINGTON, KY.--There is a report here that your draft
horses of all breeds are not crossing with satisfaction on your common
steeds in Illinois, and that not more twenty five in one hundred of the
mares for the last three years have thrown foal, nor will they the present
season. Can you give me the facts?
ANSWER.--Our correspondent has certainly been misinformed, or is an
unconscious victim of local jealousy, as he may easily convince himself by
visiting interior towns, every one of which is a horse market.
Wayside Notes.
BY A MAN OF THE PRAIRIE.
A neighbor of mine who has been intending to purchase store cattle and
sheep at the Chicago Stock Yards soon, asked me last night what I thought
about his doing so. I asked him if he had read what THE PRAIRIE
FARMER and other papers had contained of late regarding foot-and-mouth
disease in Maine, Kansas, Illinois, and Iowa. He had not; did not take the
papers, and had not heard anything about the disease here or in England.
Then I explained to him, as best I could, its nature, contagious
character, etc., and having a PRAIRIE FARMER in my pocket, read him your
brief history of the ailment in Great Britain. Well, that man was
astonished. Finally, said he, What has that got to do with my question
about buying cattle and sheep at the stock yards? Just this, I replied:
every day there are arrivals at the stock yards of many thousands of
cattle from these infected States. Perhaps some of them come from the very
counties where this disease is known to exist. The disease may break out
any day in scores of places in all these States. It may appear--indeed is
quite likely to do so at the stock yards. For aught I know it may be there
now. The cattle brokers will not be very likely to make known such an
unwelcome fact a minute sooner than they are obliged to. In fact, from
what they have lately been saying about the absurdity of new and stringent
enactments concerning animal diseases, I conclude they will labor to
conceal cases that may really exist. Now you go there to pick up cattle to
consume your pasturage this spring and summer, and don't you see you run
the risk of taking to your home and neighborhood a disease that may cost
you and your neighbors many thousands of dollars? If I were you I would
pick up the stock I want in my own neighborhood and county, even though
not exactly the kind I would like to have, and though it would cost me a
great deal more time and trouble. You see to a Man of the Prairie things
look a little squally in this cattle business. We have all got to be
careful about this thing. We have a terrible enemy at our stable doors and
pasture gates, and we must guard them well. I am not an alarmist, but I
would run any time, almost, rather than get licked, and I have always
tried to keep a lock on the stable door before the horse is stolen. I am
in favor of _in_-trenchment. Perhaps my advice to my neighbor was not
sound, but according to the light I have, I have no desire to recall it
till I hear more from the infected districts.
To show the difference between the winter in Colorado and the States this
way and further west, the Farmer, of Denver, mentions the fact that it
knows a farmer who has had about two hundred acres of new land broken
between the middle of November and the first of March. Still, these
Eastern States have advantages which render them rather pleasant to live
in. Our farmers find plenty of time in fall and spring in which to do
their plowing and sowing, and our severe winters don't seem to hurt the
ground a bit. In fact, I suppose it has got used to them, sort of
acclimated, as it were. We have pretty good markets, low railway fares,
good schools and plenty of them, and we manage to enjoy ourselves just as
well as though we could hitch up to the plow and do our breaking in
December and January. We can't all go to Colorado, Dakota, Montana, or
Washington Territory, nor to those other Edens at the South and Southwest
where a man, so far as winter is concerned, may work about every day in
the year; but don't do so any more than we here at the North where we have
the excuse of severe weather for our laziness between November and April.
I like Colorado and Wyoming, Arkansas and Texas, Alabama and Florida--for
other people who like to make their homes there, but my home is here and I
like it. "I don't _have_ to" plow in winter, and I don't need to. I am
going to try to do my duty and be happy where I am, believing Heaven to be
just as near Illinois as any other State or any Territory.
I read in the dispatches this morning that the barns on a ranch near Omaha
burned the other night. With the barns were consumed twenty-six cows,
eighteen horses, 1,000 bushels of corn and a large lot of hay and oats. In
all the loss amounted to above $10,000 and there was no insurance. From
all over the country and at all times of the year I read almost daily of
similar losses varying from $100 up into the thousands, and the closing
sentence of about nine out of ten of these announcements is "no
insurance." Now I am neither an insurance agent nor a lightning rod
peddler, but there are two luxuries that I indulge in all the time, and
these are an insurance policy to fairly cover my farm buildings and their
contents, and what I believe to be well constructed lightning rods in
sufficient number to protect the property from electric eccentricities.
True, my buildings have never suffered from fire or lightning and these
luxuries have cost me no inconsiderable amount of cash, but this money has
brought me relief from a heap of anxiety, for I know in case my property
is swept away I am not left stripped and powerless to provide for my
family, and I know that it will not be necessary to mortgage the farm to
furnish them a shelter. I don't take _cheap_ insurance either, but invest
my money in the policy of a company which I believe has abundant capital
and is cautiously managed. A wealthy man can take his fire risks in his
own hands if he chooses, but for a man of small or moderate means it seems
to me the height of folly to do so. I would rather go without tobacco or
"biled shirts" than insurance and lightning rods.
I don't know that an American farmer ever had the gout. Certainly I never
heard of such a case. If one does get the ailment, however, if he keeps
bees he always has a sure remedy at hand. A German has discovered that if
a bee is allowed to sting the affected part, a cure is instantaneous. Why
don't Bismarck try this home remedy for his complication of gout and
trichinae?
REMEMBER _that $2.00 pays for_ THE PRAIRIE FARMER _one year, and the
subscriber gets a copy of_ THE PRAIRIE FARMER COUNTY MAP OF THE UNITED
STATES, FREE! _This is the most liberal offer ever made by any first-class
weekly agricultural paper in this country._
[Illustration: Poultry Notes.]
Poultry-Raisers. Write for Your Paper.
Chicken Chat.
One of my correspondents writes: "My hens don't eat well--they just pick
over the food as if it were not good enough for them--and they don't lay
well; in fact they don't do much of anything except to mope about--not as
if sick, but as if lazy."
Probably you have fed the same thing every day for the last six months,
and the hens are getting tired of it. Hens are like other people--they
like a change of provender once in awhile--especially when confined
indoors. Sometimes over-feeding will cause indigestion, and then the
biddies will exhibit the symptoms you describe. In either case, let the
fowls fast for a whole day, and then for a few days feed lightly with food
that is different from what they have been living on. Give plenty of green
food, also Douglas' mixture in the drinking water twice a week.
Another correspondent wants to know why I always advise giving cooked food
to fowls and chicks when uncooked food is the natural diet.
I advise cooked food because experience has taught me that it is much
better for poultry than the raw articles would be. Because raw bugs and
worms constitute the "natural diet" of fowls in their wild state, it does
not follow that raw meal and potatoes would be the best and most
economical food for our domestic fowls. Other things being equal, chicks
that are fed on cooked food grow fatter, are less liable to disease, and
thrive better generally than those who worry along on uncooked rations.
If you are short of sitting hens and don't own an incubator, make the hens
do double duty. Set two or more at the same time, and when the chicks come
out, give two families to one hen, and set the other over again. To do
this successfully, the chicks must be taken from the nest as soon as dry
and given to the hen that is to raise them; for if a hen once leaves the
nest with her chicks, no amount of moral suasion will induce her to go
back. Before giving the hen fresh eggs, the nest should be renovated and
the hen dusted with sulphur or something to prevent lice.
A lady who commenced raising thoroughbred poultry last season writes me
that she proposes to sell eggs for hatching this season, and asks for
information about advertising, packing eggs, etc.
The advertising is easy enough: all you have to do is to write a copy of
your "ad.," send it to THE PRAIRIE FARMER and other papers that circulate
among farmers, pay the bills, and answer the postals and letters as they
come. But if I were in your shoes, I would "put my foot down" on the
postals to begin with; they don't amount to anything anyway; the people
who ask a long string of questions on a postal card are not, as a rule,
the ones who become customers. Before we went into the poultry business an
old poultry-breeder said: "Don't have anything to do with postals, it
don't pay." We thought differently, but to satisfy ourselves, we kept
track of the postals, and to-day I have the addresses of over 300 people
who wrote us on postal cards. How many of those people became customers?
Just one, and he was an Ohio man. When I go into that branch of the
poultry business again, my advertisements will contain a postscript which
will read thusly: "No postals answered."
And you need not expect that every letter will mean business; people who
have not the remotest idea of buying eggs will write and ask your prices,
etc., and you must answer them all alike. Here is where circulars save
lots of work and postage. I have sent you by mail what I call a model
circular, and from that you can get up something to fit your case. Pack
your eggs in baskets in cut straw or chaff, first wrapping each egg
separately in paper. The eggs should not touch each other or the basket.
Put plenty of packing on top, and with a darning needle and stout twine
sew on a cover of stout cotton cloth. For the address use shipping tags,
or else mark it plainly on the white cotton cover; I prefer the latter
way. A day or two before you ship the eggs send a postal telling your
customer when to look for them; that's all that postals are good for.
Concerning the duplicating of orders in cases of failure of the eggs to
hatch, I quote from one of my old circulars: "I guarantee to furnish fresh
eggs, true to name, from pure-bred, standard fowls, packed to carry safely
any distance. In cases of total failure, when the eggs have been properly
cared for and set within two weeks after arrival, orders will be
duplicated free of charge." I furnished just what I promised, and when a
total failure was reported I sent the second sitting free--though
sometimes I felt sure that the eggs were not properly cared for, and once
a man reported a failure when, as I afterwards learned, eight eggs of the
first sitting hatched. But, generally speaking, my customers were pretty
well satisfied. It sometimes happens that only one or two eggs out of a
sitting will hatch, and naturally the customer feels that he has not
received the worth of his money. In such cases, if both parties are
willing to do just what is right, the matter can be arranged so that all
will be satisfied. And you will sometimes get hold of a customer that
nothing under the heavens will satisfy; when this happens, do just exactly
as you would wish to be done by, and there let the matter end.
If the lady who wrote from Carroll county, Illinois, concerning an
incubator, will write again and give the name of her postoffice, she will
receive a reply by mail.
FANNY FIELD.
[Illustration: THE APIARY.]
Spring Care of Bees.
Although yesterday was very cold and inclement, to-day (March 11th) is
warm and pleasant, and bees that are wintered upon their summer stands
will be upon the wing. It would be well on such days as this to see that
all entrances to hives are open, so that no hindrances may be in the way
of house-cleaning. This is all we think necessary for this month, provided
they have plenty of stores to last until flowers bloom. Handling bees
tends to excite them to brood rearing, and veterans in bee-culture claim
that this uses up the vitality of bees in spring very fast. Although more
young may be reared, it is at the risk of the old ones, as they leave the
hive in search of water; many thus perish, which often results in the
death of the colony, as the young perish for want of nurses. Sometimes,
also, in handling bees early in the season the queens are lost, as they
may fall upon the ground, yet chilled, and perish.
Bees consume food very fast while rearing brood; naturalists tells us that
insects during the larvae state consume more food than they do during the
remainder of their existence. Where a bee-keeper has been so improvident
as to neglect to provide abundance of stores for his bees he should
examine them carefully, and if found wanting, remove an empty frame,
substituting a full one in its place. Where frames of honey are not to be
had, liquid honey and sugar can be kneaded together, forming cakes, which
can be placed over the cluster. Care should be taken that no apertures are
left, thus forming a way for cold drafts through the hive. These cakes are
thought to excite bees less than when liquid food is given; they have
another advantage, also, viz., bees can cluster upon them while feeding,
and do not get chilled.
Bees that have been wintered in cellars, or special repositories, are
often injured by being removed too early to their summer stands. It would
be better to let them remain, and lower the temperature during warm days
with ice, until warm weather has come to stay. An aged veteran in Vermont
that we visited the season following the disastrous winter of 1880-81,
told us that his neighbors removed their bees from the cellar during a
warm spell early in spring, and they were then in splendid condition. He
let his bees remain until pollen was plentiful, and brought them out, all
being in fine order; by this time his neighbors' colonies were all dead.
Good judgment and care must be exercised in removing bees from the cellar,
or disastrous results will follow. We know of an apiary of over one
hundred colonies that was badly injured, indeed nearly ruined, by all
being taken from the cellar at once on a fine, warm day. The bees all
poured out of the hives for a play spell, like children from school, and
having been confined so long together in one apartment had acquired, in
some measure, the same scent, and soon things were badly mixed. Some
colonies swarmed, others caught the fever, and piled up together in a huge
mass. This merry making may have been fun for the bees, but it was the
reverse of this for the owner, as many queens were destroyed, and hives
that were populous before were carried from the cellar and left without a
bee to care for the unhatched brood.
When it is time to remove bees from the cellar the stands they are to
occupy should be prepared beforehand. They should be higher at the back,
inclining to the front; if the height of two bricks are at the back, one
will answer for the front. This inclination to the front is an important
matter; it facilitates the carrying out of dead bees and debris from the
hive, the escape of moisture, and last, and most important item, bees will
build their comb straight in the frame instead of crosswise of the hive,
and their surplus comb in boxes correspondingly. If a few hives are
removed near the close of the day and put in different parts of the
apiary, the danger from swarming out is avoided, for the bees will become
quiet before morning, and being far apart will not mix up when they have
their play spell. The success of bee-keeping depends upon the faithful
performance of infinite little items.
The many friends of the Rev. L. L. Langstroth will be pained to learn that
he has a severe attack of his old malady and unable to do any mental work.
May the Lord deal kindly and gently with him.
During the last fall and winter he has been the light of many conventions,
and it will be remembered as a pleasant episode in the lives of many
bee-keepers that they had the privilege of viewing his beaming
countenance, hearing the words of wisdom as they escaped from his lips,
and taking the hand of this truly great and good man.
MRS. L. HARRISON
Extracted Honey.
A couple of copies of THE PRAIRIE FARMER have lately come to my desk, a
reminder of my boyhood days, when, in the old home with my father, I used
to contribute an article now and then to its columns. There is an old
scrap-book on the shelf, at my right, now, with some of those articles in
it, published nearly thirty years ago. But my object in writing now is to
add something to Mrs. Harrison's article on Extracted Honey. Last year my
honey crop was about 3,000 pounds, and half of this was extracted, or
slung honey, as we bee-keepers often call it; but for next year I have
decided to raise nearly all comb honey, for the reason that I do not get
customers so readily for extracted honey. I have never extracted until the
honey was all, or nearly all, capped over, and then admitted air into the
vessels holding it, so as to be absolutely sure of getting it "dry," and
proof against souring. This method has given me about half the amount
others obtained by extracting as soon as the combs were filled by the
bees, and ripening afterward.
But in spite of all these precautions I find so much prejudice against
extracted honey, growing out of the ignorance of the public with regard to
this sweet, ignorance equaled only by the ignorance in regard to bees
themselves, that the sale of such honey has been very slow; so slow that
while my comb honey is reduced at this date to about 150 pounds, I have
several ten-gallon kegs of pure white honey still on hand.
Especially is there a prejudice against candied honey, though that is an
absolute test of purity, and it can be readily liquified, as Mrs. H. says,
without injury. When I say that it is an absolute test of purity I mean
that all honey that candies evenly is pure, though some of the best honey
I have ever had never candied at all. In one case I knew the honey to
candy in the combs of a new swarm early in autumn; but some seasons,
particularly very dry ones, it will hardly candy at all. This difference
seems to be due to the varying proportion of natural glucose, which will
crystallize, and levulose, or mellose, which will not crystallize.
Manufactured glucose will not crystallize; and some of our largest honey
merchants, even the Thurbers, of New York, have mixed artificial glucose
with honey to avoid loss by the ignorant prejudice of the public.
WM. CAMM., MORGAN CO., ILL.
South'n Wisconsin Bee-keepers' Ass'n.
The bee-keepers met in Janesville, Wis., on the 4th inst., and organized a
permanent society, to be known as the Southern Wisconsin Bee-keepers'
Association. The following named persons were elected officers for the
ensuing year: President, C. O. Shannon; Vice-President, Levi Fatzinger;
Secretary, J. T. Pomeroy; Treasurer, W. S. Squire.
The regular sessions of the association will be held on the first Tuesday
of March in each year. Special meetings will also be held, the time of
which will be determined at previous meeting.
The object of the association is to promote scientific bee-culture, and
form a bond of union among bee-keepers. Any person may become a member by
signing the constitution, and paying a fee of fifty cents. The next
meeting will be held at the Pember house, Janesville, on the first Tuesday
in May at 10 o'clock A. M. All bee-keepers are cordially invited to
attend. The Secretary, of Edgerton, Rock Co., Wis., will conduct the
correspondence of the association.
* * * * *
Blue Stem Spring Wheat!!
The best variety of Prairie Wheat known. Yields largely and is less liable
to blight than any other variety.
Also celebrated Judson Oats for sale in small lots.
Samples, statement of yield and prices sent free upon application to
SAMPSON & FRENCH, Woodstock, Pipestone Co., Minn., or Storm Lake, Iowa.
MAPS.
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Agents wanted, to whom liberal inducements will be given. Address
RAND, McNALLY & CO., Chicago, Ill.
By arrangements with the publishers of this Map we are enabled to make the
following liberal offer: To each person who will remit us $2.25 we will
send copy of THE PRAIRIE FARMER one Year and THIS MAP POST-PAID. Address
PRAIRIE FARMER PUBLISHING CO., CHICAGO. ILL.
PUBLICATIONS.
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DO YOU WANT TO BECOME A RAILROAD MAN
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The most promising field for men of talent and ambition at the present day
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Any of the above books will be sent post-paid on receipt of price, by
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