422 



FARMERS' REGISTER— DOMESTICATING THE BEAVER. 



passed in the chrysalis state; the hogs continued to 

 feed upon them until the moths came forth in 

 multitudes. But I am going ahead of my 

 journal. 



On the 28th, in cleaning out my ditches, I dis- 

 covered several of the worms in the pupa state, 

 and on the Istof June most of the worms had quit 

 eating. Our corn fields are now naked, and we are 

 beginning to think about planting another crop, in 

 hopes that the worms will be gone before the 

 young corn makes its appearance. June 6th, the 

 worms are all gone, and some of our young corn 

 is beginning to make its appearance. June 12ih, 

 email gray millers are coming from the chrysalis 

 of the army worm. 



Now Mr. Editor, I should be glad if either 

 yourself or any of your correspondents can inform 

 me whether or not these worms have a regular pe- 

 riod ibr their appearance; and if they have whether 

 they usually attack the same places, which had 

 been previously subject to their ravages. If they 

 have a regular period of re-appearance, and that pe- 

 riod were once accurately ascertained, much of the 

 mischief they occasion mightbe prevented, by plant- 

 ing upon places subject to their ravages, only such 

 crops as appear to be in a great measure exempt, 

 whilst ])laces where tliey are not produced might 

 be protected by ditching. In such seasons the 

 corn crop would be better unplanted until the 

 worms are gone. 



June 20th. Since writing the above, I have 

 come to the conclusion that the miller of the army 

 worm is probably migratory, as they all disappeared 

 on the night of the 17th or 18th; and those which 

 were kept in close confinement lor the purpose of 

 close observation, have all died without depositing 

 any eggs. 



Yours, 



JOSEPH BRASHAW. 



From tlie New Yorlv Farmer. 

 DOMESTICATING THE BEAVER. 



Mr. Editor — In almost every paper which is 

 issued from the public press, we find something 

 noted as an improvement, which is in some way 

 intended to benefit the community, or to turn to 

 individual advantage. Now, sir, as all animals 

 that are valuable for the fur they yield are becom- 

 ing scarce, owing to the destructive war that is 

 continually waged against them, it is evident that 

 the value of the fur must be enhanced in propor- 

 tion to the scarcity of the animal. If, therefore, 

 there can be any method devised to domesticate 

 them, it would be of more importance than almost 

 any new enlerj)rise that could be suggested; and 

 as there have been instances of the beaver becom- 

 ing as familiar and gentle as a common dog, I can 

 conceive no good reason why that most valuable 

 animal should not be entiUed to the fostering care 

 of man as any other animal; and for this purpose I 

 would propose the following method: let there be 

 an enclosure, of from one to five acres, made so as 

 to be secure from dogs or thieves, having a brook 

 passing through it. Plant the enclosure plentifully 

 with that kind of shrub or tree that the beaver uses 

 for food, or ibr budding his habitation. Conimence 

 by procuring two or more young beavers of difier- 

 ent sizes, which being already fiiniiliar with human 

 society, and the enclosure being closely connected 

 with the dwellin<f house, the animal would never 

 become wild; ancl as they breed rapidly, the num- 



ber would soon become very considerable; and if 

 they could not be made to yield their fiir without 

 destroying their life, they might be bred in such 

 numbers that they might supply our market with 

 beaver fur as well as it is now with wool from the 

 merino sheep, and make it a much more profitable 

 business, if entered into with spirit by a compa- 



lyy. * * * # # 



TAMING THE OTTER. 



The Cambridge (Ohio) Times gives an inte- 

 resting account of the manner in which a Mr. 

 Entz, of that town, has domesticated the vvijd 

 otter, of the western waters, and made the fur a 

 source of profit by picking it from the body of the 

 animal. Mr. Entz's experience with four otters 

 attests the tiict, that each of these animals may be 

 made to realise, according to tiie present prices of 

 fur, an annual profit of at least fbm'teen dollars. 

 The otter yields two crops or fleeces of fur a year, 

 which is said to be superior in fhieness and gloss 

 to that which is taken from the skin of the dead 

 animal. It is the intention of Mr. Entz to increase 

 his colony of" otters, being quite confident he will 

 make the flir trade, thus pursued, a profitable con- 

 cern. The Times states that it intends on some 

 future occasion, to notice more particularly, some 

 experiments of Mr. Entz in other matters of the 

 same sort. We suppose he alludes to a colony of 

 musk-rats, which we have understood, Mr. Ent^s 

 has in contemplation. 



Several years ago, the editor of the Village Re- 

 cord, (in Penn.) in some remarks on the habits of 

 the beaver, and the perfect feasibility, demon- 

 strated by actual experiment, of taming and do- 

 mesticating it, suggested a similar plan with re- 

 gard to that valuable animal, which Mr. Entz 

 has so successflilly adopted with the otter. 



TOPPING CORN. 



[The article containing the interesting experiments 

 of Mr. Clark, which is referred to below, was re- 

 published in the 4th number of the Farmers' Register, 

 page 243, but without the author's signature — which 

 was by a mistake of the compositor left out, together 

 with the last paragraph, which was intended to be 

 passed over, because relating to another subject.] 



From tlie [New Yorli] Cultivator. 



Experience and science concur in disapprobating 

 the common practice of topping corn. The expe- 

 riments of Mr. Clark and Mr. Lorrain, which we 

 have published in the Cultivator, go to show that 

 it diminishes the crop; and the principles of science 

 corroborate their report. The corn is nourished 

 by the sap elaborated in the leaves above the ears, 

 and when these elaboratic organs are taken away, 

 the supply of fbod must cease in whole or in part. 

 If fodder is the object, it is far better to cut the 

 whole crop at the ground, when the corn is seared. 

 This mode has two other recommendations: it 

 clears the ground for fall grain, and the corn de- 

 rives nourishment from the stock after it is cut. 

 We invite our brother farmers, with a view of ar- 

 riving at a correct result, to do as we intend, that 

 is, to%et apart three parcels of corn of similar di- 

 mensions, and finality, say tliree adjoining rowfe,— 

 to top one part, cut another at the ground, and to 



