ENTOMOLOGY FOR FARMERS. 21 



a free circulation of air. Some persons use glass jars, but I prefer the 

 boxes. Others have a whole series of little nurseries in a frame, which 

 has very much the appearance of what are called the pigeon holes in a 

 writing desk, with a door or two closing the whole together. Of course 

 the door frame must be covered with bobbinet, and the back of the frame 

 also. Into each pigeon hole or box, put all the caterpillars of the same 

 species, with the species of leaf or plant on which you captured them. 

 But how shall I keep the food fresh for even a day.' 1 will tell you. 

 You should have a short phial nearly full of water in the box, into which 

 you must insert the stems of the leaves, and they will keep fresh for a 

 day or until they are all consumed. Your caterpillars will immediately 

 begin to eat ravenously, and you must be careful to keep them well sup- 

 plied with provisions, or some species with stout mandibles will bite 

 holes into your bobbinet and escape. But do not some species of cater- 

 pillars undergo their transformation in the ground? Yes, and you must 

 meet the exigency of the case, by furnishing them with earth enough to 

 burv themselves in, and this is best done by covering the bottom of the 

 box or pigeon hole with a mixture of dry sand and earth to the depth of 

 two or three inches. A litde experience will soon enable you to distin- 

 guish between those which thus inhume themselves and those wliich 

 do not. 



But as you will not have an opportunity of engaging in this interest- 

 ing pursuit until next summer at any rate, I will have the whole winter 

 to talk to you about it, and therefore, shall resume the subject in the next 

 number of the Journal. Entomophilos. 



EMTOMOLOGY FOR FARMERS. 



Farmers are generally plain people in their language as well as in 

 their manners. They have, therefore, an aversion to all strange and 

 high-sounding words, and but seldom take an interest in abstruse specu- 

 lations. Hence ''■sclcnlijic farm'mg'''' has become a by-word among them, 

 and the very idea is generally treated with contempt. We can, therefore, 

 scarcely hope for a patient hearing when we propose to their considera- 

 tion such a subject as entomology. And yet there are few things in which 

 tliey are more interested, or to wliich they might naturally be expected 

 to pay more attention. 



Entomolngy describes the form and habits of insects, and naturally 

 leads us to a consideration of the benefits which we receive from them 

 and of the injuries which they inflict upon us. These last aie points 

 which every farmer discusses at his fireside in the evening and with his 



