572 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



will vote for a member who is in earnest for agri- 

 cultural education. Besides this, let every agri- 

 cultural society in the state send a delegate to Alba- 

 ny next winter, to represent to the honorable gen- 

 ilementhat there are a few of their constituents at 

 home, who are farmers, and who mean to have 

 that fact understood and appreciated, and we stake 

 our reputation that there will be no lagging in the 

 matter of appropriation for the education of the 

 farmer's son. 



Agricultural Bureau. — A bill has just been 

 introduced into the U- S. Senate, to establish, per- 

 manently, an Agricultural Bureau at Washington 

 — the chief of which is to be called the Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture, and to receive the same 

 .salary as the Commissioner of Patents. The bill 

 states, 



;I That it shall be the duty of said Commissioner 

 to collect agricultural statistics; to procure and 

 distribute valuable seeds, cuttings, buds and tu- 

 bers; to procure and put in operation a chemical 

 laboratory, at a cost not exceeding two thousand 

 dollars, and to cause all desirable analyses of mi- 

 nerals and mineral waters, and such as relate to 

 composition and improvement of soils; the feeding 

 of domestic animals; the preparation and preser- 

 vation of provisions and breadstuff's; the manufac- 

 ture of sugar, and such other manufactures as 

 may be connected with agriculture, and arise im- 

 mediately out of agricultural products; and to pre- 

 pare and make annually a full report to Congress, 

 containing an account of such experiments as may 

 have been made, and such useful information as 

 he may have obtained on all the subjects con- 

 nected with the duties of his office." 



The bill also provides for an agricultural chem- 

 ist with a salary of $2000, a chief clerk with a 

 salary of $1600, a recording clerk with a salary 

 of $1000, a messenger with a salary of $750. 



The bill is a good one, and that a commissioner 

 so appointed, if a competent one, could do a vast 

 deal for the agricultural interest, and thereby the 

 interest of the country generally, is undeniable. 

 We hope it will pass as it stands. 



Aspect for Apricots. — Since writing the ar- 

 ticle on the apricot, in our last number, we have 

 had further proof of the advantages of a northern 

 aspect for this tender-skinned fruit. 



In the garden of our neighbor, T. W. Chrys- 

 tie, Esq., we were shown half a dozen apricot 

 trees of the finest sorts, which uniformly bear 

 abundant crops of large and delicious fruit, with- 

 out the least care, being treated like common 

 siandard peach trees. The secret of their uniform 

 productiveness and excellence, Mr. C. informed 

 us, was simply in the aspect. Trees of the same 

 varieties had been planted on other sides of his 

 residence, and in various open parts of the grounds, 

 the soil being the same, but they had, without ex- 

 ception, all failed, sooner or later. Hence Mr. C. 

 had been inevitably led to the same conclusion 



which we have reached, viz: that the greatest fal- 

 lacy in planting an apricot tree, is that of putting 

 it in a southern exposure. The temperature in the 

 middle states is always high enough to ripen the 

 fruit in a northern aspect, while the tree is uni- 

 formly more healthy and less liable to injury by 

 frosts or insects, than in any warmer position. 



Tobacco Water vs. Insects. — Every good gar- 

 dener knows that to combat his worst enemies, the 

 insect tribe, successfully, he must open the cam- 

 paign early and briskly. An hour's active opera- 

 tions, when they first begin to marshal their forces, 

 is worth a whole day's battle when they have 

 mustered in full strength. 



Tobacco water is his best ammunition, and if he 

 has much fighting to do, he must immediately set 

 about getting it ready. To make it in a state fit 

 for using out of doors, he should have a barrel full 

 — and the following is the way to make it: First 

 go to the tobacconists and buy shag tobacco or 

 tobacco stalks — the latter worth only three cents 

 a pound. A pound will make four gallons of to- 

 bacco water ; if you wish to make half a barrel , 

 you will require four pounds — or if a barrel, eight 

 pounds. Put the stalks in the barrel, and pour 

 the water over it — nearly boiling — at the rate as 

 we have said, of four gallons to a pound of the 

 tobacco. When it is cold, stir the whole tho- 

 roughly, and it is fit for use, or you may pour it off, 

 and adding again one half the former quantity of 

 hot water, make as much more. 



Tobacco water, made in this way, will destroy 

 almost any insect of the aphis or sting kind, with- 

 out any injury to the plant. Some very delicate 

 plants may require that it be diluted — and some 

 will bear it made stronger — so that before un- 

 dertaking the operation, largely, you should try 

 its strength upon the insects and flowrets for 12 

 hours, to see if it answers the purpose, without 

 injury to the foliage. 



Insects on the Rose. — Numberless insects in- 

 fest the rose of late years — the two worst being- 

 the rose slug, and a small aphis, both living and 

 feeding on the under side of its leaves. The aphis 

 appears first, and sucking part of the juices, causes 

 the foliage to look mottled, sickly, and unhealthy; 

 the slug comes next, and eats away the fleshy part 

 of the leaf, till it looks, as Mrs. Partington 

 says, like " a 'natomony." Tobacco water will 

 kill both these worms, if applied once or twice 

 about sunset. As the insects are all on the under 

 sides of the leaves, it may be puzzling at first to 

 know how to get at them, but the difficulty is easily 

 overcome by using one of Poolis' or Reid's syr- 

 inges, made with a crooked or goose neck, so as 

 to throw the shower in an oblique direction. 

 They may be had at any of the principal seed 

 stores. 



Massachusetts Hort. Society. — Dear Sir: 

 I paid a visit to the first exhibition for the season, 



