"Dwarf Broom Corn," presented to you, as two years' cultivation thereof, has suggested to my mind in its favor. Without being enabled, from experience, to say that it is more productive than the common variety, I would give it as my best impression, that it cannot be a great deal less, and might be more, in consequence of its growth being much shorter, and therefore permitting closer planting. The brush of this variety is longer than the common variety, and the fiber smaller and tougher; but the main thing in its favor is that it needs no "breaking down." The top leaf runs its sheath midway up the brush, supporting it in such a manner as to keep the brush entirely straight, and when harvesting comes on, all the operator has to do is to take hold of the top leaf in one hand and the bush in the other and pull in opposite directions, which in severing the stalk at the top joint leaves just about enough thereof for broom-making. My impression, from what experience I have had, is that parties interested in growing broom corn would not regret it if they were to give the variety a trial. Yours, &c., M. K. YOUNG. Resolved, That the article of Imphee is better adapted to the manufacture of sugar than Sorghum. Mr. Mers remarked upon soil best adapted to cane. "He found that the black, sandy limestone soil produced the whitest, best tasted, and largest quantity of syrup." As to the best stage of growth for manufacturing, Mr. Jacobs believed the cane is in the best season of maturity when the seed is a little colored; when the seed is hard and dry the saccharine matter forms wood and fibre; when the seed is half ripe it makes the best syrup; and when cut too green it forms a syrup of a light orange color. The leaves should be stripped off when still green, by using a stick like a sword. Use bisulphite of lime, using from one to two teaspoonfuls to the gallon of juice, to prevent fermentation if the weather is warm, which destroys the acid and makes a better and smoother article of molasses. His experience proved that the less juice put into the pan at any one time, and the quicker it was evaporated the better the syrup made. Mr. Hopkins had tried the culture of the cane for two years, and had made about 1,800 He found a gallous of syrup the past season. clay soil the best; that muck was not so good as clay ground. Cane grown on muck made the most juice, but less syrup. His experience was, that the cane that stood the longest after cutting made the best molasses. Mr. Franklin said he had tried topping when in blossom-not too early-and found it increased the product about one-seventh. A preamble and series of resolutions were passed by the convention, the last of which we copy, and would commend its recommendations to the consideration of our State Legislature. From what has already been done in Iowa, we are forced to believe that this business will, ere long, become one of her great leading staples. Experience thus far would seem to establish the fact that Iowa and Illinois are better adapted to the growth of the Sorghum and Imphee, than any other of the Northern or Western States. Little or nothing, so far as we can learn, is being done in the business east of Ohio; nor do we hear much from Indiana, Michigan, or Wisconsin. The New England States still depend upon the maple for their domestic sugar and syrup. Resolved, That in the opinion of this convention, it is desirable to so amend the legislation of this State, that hereafter the assessors be required to report the number of acres cultivated, in these canes, and the number of pounds of sugar, and of gallons of syrup made. [Iowa Homestead. This is already done in Wisconsin. STOCK REGISTER. Vermin on Cattle, Colts and Pigs. We see a great many remedies for these loathsome tormentors of domestic animals— vermin. One recommends soft grease and Scotch snuff mixed in the proportion of a pound of grease to an ounce of snuff, and rubbed in upon the skin. Another would sift powdered charcoal into the hair. A third has used ashes from the blacksmith's forge in the same way. And others drive away lice from swine by pouring buttermilk along their backs freely, and ticks from sheep by sprinkling a spoonful of Scotch snuff into the wool from head to tail. All these remedies may be of service, but after all the great remedy, is good feed, with For lousy calves, a few "nubproper care. bins" a day during the early spring months are worth a pound of snuff and a keg of grease. Indeed well-fed, thrifty, growing stock, are rarely much troubled in this way. Skim-Milk Calves. The following from the Editor of the Massachusetts Ploughman so well expresses our own views on the subject of raising calves, that we copy it entire. Calves, like all other domestic animals-except pehaps, dogs-pay for good keeping. Better restrict and pinch them in the quality and quantity of their food at any other time than while young : We find in some of our exchange papers many schemes to rear calves without giving them anything of value to eat. Skim milk is a fancy article with some breeders, and they give precise directions how to administer the dose. Some direct to get the calf into a corner, where he can't hang back. Let a stout man straddle his neck-let a boy hold a dish of skim milk so high that the calf may drink, if he will. But he is now two or three days old and knows better than to taste of such stuff, except by compulsion." 66 But this beverage is made better by adding a little oat meal, cobmeal, or buckwheat meal. Something must be added to the skim milk to make it go-and then it is no go. A calf would stand three days over such fodder, and eat straw or poor hay rather than to touch it. What is to be done? The owner, or his aid, puts his finger into the calf's mouth, and tries to make it believe that it is sucking milk from the teat of its mother. The calf never believes it, but as its nose is in the dish and the finger in its mouth, it must mive its jaws in order to spit out the finger, and in doing this it is obliged to swallow some of the porridge. The calf is often treated in this way for weeks and weeks, till it is reduced so low that it will eat anything rather than starve. He turns to the hay mow and there finds a little consolation in a cud, and it begins to think that it can live after all. it than two quarts of new milk drawn by hand, The Farmer who rears a number of calves the oldest will teach the others how to eat hay When a Farmer raises a number of calves, and drink water. Let the hay be of first quality, and let a tub of water stand on one side of the pen. The oldest calf will soon learn to drink water without putting a finger in his mouth, and his companions will soon find out what he is about at the tub. meal and oats, and they will learn this in one Calves ought to learn how to eat meal, or day's time if you will place some on one of the ward in learning this, put a little fresh earth sills at the side of the pen. If they are backbeside the meal and they will soon mix the whole together and eat it. By the way, calves earth of some kind. They eat it more readily should always have free access to loam or than meal, and it is good for them. Nothing is so good to prevent the complaint called Scours, or to cure it, as loam from the field. After a calf has been nursed by its mother for three months, it may be taken off to anothfall feed for it. Then it may run at large and er barn and fed on the best of hay till you have eat grass. Or, it may be kept in a cool barn through the summer season. Through the winter, calves should have the best of hay, but they should not be closely confined as some writers advise. They winter best under open sheds where they can have air and light. The Importance of Currying Animals. But now its master fancies that new grass must be good for the youngling, and he ties him in the border of his garden where the It is well known that every hair, whether early clover has made its appearance. The long or short, is covered with numerous little calf has now learned to drink out of a pail-barbs, like the barbs of fish-hooks, and therebut it prefers pure water to skim milk and its mixtures. It drinks but little, for the fresh grass is its food and drink. In six weeks the calf looks as old as a yearling, though not a tenth part as large as a yearling should be. The owner rears but one or two in a year, therefore he cannot let them loose till after haying is over. Then they are permitted to range through the cornfield and elsewhere to pick up enough to keep along through the winter. If Farmers would count the cost of rearing calves by hand they would be likely to try better methods. One quart of milk drawn by the calf from its mother, is worth more to sustain fore when a number of hairs are brought in contact with each other, and moved back and forth, they will work in among each other, and often form a mass so tangled-like the mane of a colt, which our ancestors have often taught us to believe were the stirrups of witches, which were accustomed to ride them in the dark nights-that it is difficult to disentangle them. The only means that cattle have of scratching themselves many times, is to apply their tongues; and when the hair comes off, as it often does, by the handful, more or less will adhere to their tongues, and many times find its way into their stomachs; and the re competent to give the best method of graining, and taking care of sheep during winter; but I will give a mode which, if practiced, will be much more profitable than the above: Divide your sheep into flocks of three grades-the heaviest in one flock, the middle in the second, and the poorest in the third; and let them not exceed one hundred to the flock; prepare comfortable sheds, which may be made of slabs, put upon pole-frames, inclosing three sides, and the east side down to within two and a half feet from the ground. If the sheds are not built upon high and rolling ground, sawdust or tan-bark should be put in them. Pre ciprocating motions of the stomachs of animals which chew the cud would soon form a bunch of hair into a pellet; and, as more hair was taken into the stomach from day to day, it would be very sure to all collect in one mass. Now, when an animal begins to shed its coat of hair there always appears to be more or less irritation of the skin, and if the card or currycomb is not used pretty freely the tongue must be applied; and if an animal is well curried every day, when it is shedding its coat, it will be far less iiable to collect hair in the stomach. A ball of hair-being indigestiblein the stomach would be very likely to injure its energies so as to produce disease, and event-pare movable troughs, ten or twelve feet long, ually premature death.-Rural Register.. Low Diet for Cows after Calving. Not "thenceforth and forever"-don't make any such mistake-but immediately and for a few days. The labor of parturition is a serious task upon the nervous system of the animal, and unless carefully treated and moderately fed there is a liability to what are known as milk fever and caking of the bag. A sheltered place, if stormy weather, a drink of water and a littte dry hay are all sufficient for the first day; indeed good hay and water are sufficient for several days-until all appearances of inflammation are gone. Graining Sheep for Spring Market. A correspondent of the Ohio Farmer has been experimenting in this direction, and contrasts the usual mode of performing the duty with the one he has adopted. We give his remarks as follows: THE USUAL MODE.-I have long contended that there is much lost every winter, among farmers, by feeding corn to sheep in the manner generally adopted in this section. Their sheep are allowed to run in flocks of from one to six hundred, without shelter; corn is dragged out by the shock, and strewed on the ground or snow, as the case may be; and the sheep are allowed to eat all they can consume. My reasons for objecting to this mode of graining sheep are as follows:-First, a portion of the corn is shelled while the sheep are biting it from the cob, which is trodden under foot and lost. Second, the heaviest sheep monopolize the field, and keep the poorer ones back. Third, a portion of the stalks are trodden into the snow or mud, and lost, which is the best of fodder, and much better for milk cows than for sheep. Fourth, not half the profit is derived from feeding sheep all the grain they can hold, that there is from a less and regular quantity. A BETTER MODE.-I do not know that I am elevated one foot above the ground, to grain the sheep in. Begin to feed shelled corn as soon as the fall feed begins to fail, but with small quantities, and gradually increase to half a bushel twice a day, to each hundred sheep. Feed fine bright hay in racks, and in such quantities as they will eat up clean. See that your sheep are in their sheds during cold, wet storms, and that they have a plenty of good water to drink every day. With this mode of treatment, I can assure you that your sheep will come through in much better condition than by the other mode, and that the grain and fodder saved will more than pay the extra expense. The sheds will stand many years, and answer as store-houses for the racks and troughs during summer. CURE FOR SCRATCHES.-ED. VALLEY FARMER. Sometime last year, I noticed in the Valley Farmer, a cure for Scratches in horses (the use of lime) which the writer said he had never known to fail. Permit me to say that I have seen lime fail in different instances, and also permit me to recommend a cure which I have never known to fail, and which is much easier used than the lime: First, wash the parts affected with soap suds. Then apply a mixture consisting of gunpowder, spts. turpentine and hog's lard, in as nearly equal portions as they will mix well together. Apply twice a day, and unless in very severe cases two days will affect a cure. WARTS ON CATTLE.-A correspondent of the Genesee Farmer gives the following remedy for warts on cattle: Slake a piece of lime the size of a hen's egg, add four table-spoonfuls of soft soap, stir the same until well mixed. Apply the same to the warts. They will disappear in a few days, and the skin become smooth. VERMIN ON CALVES.-If your calves are troubled with vermin, give them a table spoonful of sulphur every other morning, for a week. Take extra care in the Spring season, of your working horses. They will pay you back with compound interest. THE POULTERER. Best Laying Fowls Classified. The following question has been repeatedly put to us, personally as well as by letter: "What breed or variety of fowls would you recommend keeping for a supply of eggs?" In reply we would name 1. White-face Black Spanish fowls as laying the greatest number of pounds of eggs. The Spanish hens are notorious for abundant layers of very large-sized eggs, weighing from two and a half to three ounces each. They require warm housing and abundance of good clean water, &c. 2. The Black Poland, with a white top-knot. The Polish fowls are prolific of rather largesized eggs, and are slow to sit, in fact, rare incubators. Hens of this variety have been known to lay from two hundred to two hundred and fifty eggs in a year. Chickens rather delicate and difficult to rear. 3. The Hamburg Fowls. All the Hamburg fowls are distinguished as great layers of middling-sized eggs, but rich in quality, and like all great laying fowls, poor incubators; indeed, mostly everlasting layers; they are great favorites of those who require an abundance of eggs, rather than frequent broods of chickens. 4. The Crested Hamburgs, like the foregoing, are great layers of rich, good-flavored, medium-sized eggs. Non-sitters-never knew one that wanted to sit. 5. The Game Fowls are next in order as good layers of rather small-sized, delicious eggs, excellent mothers and rearers of chickens, good for the table. Hardy and great foragers Are preferred by some to all other breeds. breed. By the term "maturity" is meant the age at which a pullet will commence laying, and thus perpetuate its race. 10. The Guinea fowl is prolifie of eggs, small but very nutritious; shells hard, and on that account can be transported any distance with eating, the flesh little inferior to our partridge, safety. The young Guinea fowl is delicate and is in season when chickens and Prairie hens are scarce-in March. that will lay 150 eggs the first year, 130 the GOOD LAYERS.-We conceive it a good hen second, and 100 the third; after which she should "go to pot." TO MAKE HENS LAY IN WINTER.-There is another inquiry which we may as well answer with our hens in order to have them continue at the present time-"How shall we manage to lay in winter, the season when eggs are scarce and sell at the highest price?" The most practical mode that occurs to us would be to confine the earliest pullets after they are two or three months old, feed them well, and keep should be allowed full liberty. A week or ten them until the first of October, when they days afterwards they should be confined in a weather and storms will not reach them.—C. N. warm, dry room, where the vicissitudes of the BEMENT, in Country Gentleman. THE BEE KEEPER. For the Wisconsin Farmer. Random Thoughts upon the Bee.—No. 5. DESCRIPTION of the droNES. The wings of the drone are shorter in proportion to his body than the males, or working bees; this occasions that humming sound Na 6. The Bolton Greys are esteemed prolific layers, of medium-sized eggs of good quality; poor sitters, indeed, mostly what are called which distinguishes them in their flight. “every-day” layers, but less invariably so than | ture has regulated the number of drones in some other breeds. 7. The Dominique. This well-known fowl, taken "all in all," is generally considered one of the very best we have, being pronounced good layers, good sitters, good mothers, and eggs and flesh of first quality. 8. The Dorkings are moderate layers of large and well-flavored eggs; sit steady, and are excellent mothers, rather delicate in constitution, chickens not easy to rear. They are to be ranked among the largest of fowls, and are esteemed the best in quality of flesh. 9. Brahmas and Cochins. These fowls are more noted for early and abundant layers.Eggs of good quality, averaging about two ounces each-rather small in proportihn to the size of the breed-good mothers, chickens strong, grow rapidly with good feeding, fit for the table at four months old, not after, until they arrive at maturity. As has often been said, they are early and excellent layers, and arrive at maturity earlier than any other large each hive with a direct proportion to the number of working bees, from 4 to 8 and 1200; and the fecundity of the queen according to the number of cells. The drone has no sting, and gathers no food; he, therefore, neither works nor fights; but his whole utility in the hive consists in being an instrument of fecundating the eggs, when deposited in the cells, or otherwise, as may be. (Apiarians differ upon this point.) The antennæ of the drones possess eleven articulations, and the other bees have fifteen. Their eyes cover all the upper part of the head, and the other bees have one oval eye upon each side of their head. Their teeth are smaller, and their probosces shorther than the common bee's; and thus nature has prepared them for useful and inoffensive animals in the THE HORTICULTURIST. CORRESPONDING EDITOR Apples Unsuited for Wisconsin. Wisconsin is very many thousands of dollars poorer to-day by reason of the injudicious selection of varieties for her early orchards. The Baldwin and Roxbury Russet, so popular in New York and New England, prove tender and of but little value throughout the North-West. hive. Whenever you discover that a hive be- A. G. HANFORD, : : W. H. MORRISON. Care of Bees in April. The following directions are from "Langstroth on the Honey-Bee"-an interesting and most excellent work: Those famous apples, the Spitzenburg, Greening and Fall Pippin, may succeed pretty well, when planted on the elevated dry white oak ridges. These, though hardly to be regarded as profitable, did so well with me at Woodside, and are withal, so excellent, that I could not easily dispense with them; but through the State generally, they brought only disappointment to the planter. The early orchards of Wisconsin, as far as obtained from New York, were made up principally of these tender sorts. Eastern nurserymen still grow them in much greater numbers than other varieties, and when unrestricted in the selection, would very naturally send out a large proportion of these. hardiest varieties." Of those sent twenty-five were Baldwins. Nurserymen are not alone at fault. Persons from the East wishing to plant orch APRIL.-Bees will ordinarily begin to gather Only last spring an instance came to our much pollen in this month, and sometimes considerable honey. As brood is now very rap-knowledge where an order was sent to Rochidly maturing, there is a largely increased ester for fifty apple trees to be "of the best and demand for honey, and great care should be taken to prevent the bees from suffering for want of food. If the supplies are at all deficient, breeding will be checked, even if much of the brood does not perish, or the whole colony die of starvation. If the weather is pro-ards in the West, naturally think of the sorts pitious, feeding to promote a more rapid renowned in their old homes for vigorous increase of young may now be commenced. Feeble colonies must now be reinforced and growth, productiveness and excellence of fruit. should the weather continue cold for several A large proportion of the many orders we days at a time, the bees ought to be supplied are receiving from Wisconsin, include more or with water in their hives. In April, if not before, the larvae of the bee-moth will begin to make their appearance, and should be carefully destroyed. The vertical position of royal cells does not appear to be an indispensable requisite for the perfect development of queens; because queens have been reared in cells lying horizontally on the bottom board of a hive. The essential requisite seems to be a constant and abundant supply of royal jelly. less of these tender varieties. We would save our friends from a lesson of experience which it will take them years to learn, and wish they could realize at once that they do not choose wisely. The simple circumstance of an apple being of Northern origin, does not render it suited to the North-West any more than a Southern apple should be unsuited; for it is a fact worthy |