1826.] 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



203 



How fiir llie^e go to stroilgthcn my theory, niuv 

 be seen by the subjoined extracts, which 1 mnUe 

 from his comnmnicalion. I am not enough en- 

 tomologist to decide, whether the in=ect describ- 

 ed has wings to ennlde it to lly ; but I find sev 

 era! species of the rijnchtvnus described by Fab- 

 ricius as having no wings ; and the one figured 

 by Professor Peck appears to be of this kind. 



" Tlie plum trees, pmnits rhmrstic.a, have for 

 several years (savs Professor I'eck) been disfig- 

 ured with irregular swellings en the younger 

 branches. The seat of this disease is in the b.irk. 

 Tlie sap is diverted from its regular course, and 

 is absorbed entirely by the bark, which is very 

 much increased in thickness, the cuticle bursts, 

 the swelling becomes irregular, and is lormed 

 into black lumps, with a cracked, uneven, gran- 

 ulated surface. The wood, besides being de- 

 prived of its nutriment, is very much compres- 

 sed, and the branch above the tumor perishes. 

 The cherry tree is aflected in a similar way. 



" When the Board of Trustees met at the seat 

 of John Lowell, E-q. m Fioxbury, on the 2Ttli 

 of June, Mr Pomeroy took from a cherry tree 

 in Mr Lowell's ganlen, a small branch diseased 

 as above mentioned. On taking olY a Ihm slice 

 of the tumor, 1 found it was inhabited by living 

 larvffi ; and flallered myself that the disease of 

 both trees arose from the same insect. I brought 

 the branch home ivith me, and placed it in a 

 large glass phial. On the Glh of July I perceiv- 

 ed that the larvss had left the tumor, and were 

 uneasy in the bottom of the phial. A vessel of 

 earth was immediately prejiared; the larvse, 

 when turned into if, buried themselves instantly. 

 On the 30lh of the same month, or tiventy-four 

 days from their leaving the bark, the perfect 

 insects began to rise. They jiroved to bo inserts 

 which I had long known to occasion the fall oi 

 peaches, apricots and plums, by the larvae eat- 

 ing into the kernels of those fruits long before 

 they had acquired half their growth. 



" Mr Pomeroy was so obliging as to bring me 

 three tumors cut from his plum trees late in the 

 season, but the larvaj had left them. lieing 

 therefore uncertain whether the disease ol the 

 plum tree is to be attributed to this insect, or to 

 another species of the same genus, I would call 

 it the cherry weevil. It may be distinguished 

 by the specific name of rynchttcnus (^cerax.) &c. 



"The evil produced by this insect cannot be 

 wholly remedied : but something may be done 

 to diminish the mischief, by cutting oil" the dis- 

 eased branches. Thi«, however, must be done 

 at the right season, and must be the joint care 

 of a whole neighbourhood at the same time. — 

 Those which furnished the data above set down, 

 ceased to feed on the 6lh July, rose from the 

 earth on the 30th, and were soon ready to de- 

 posile their eg^s in healthy branches. But if 

 the diseased branches be cut nfl' in the last half 

 of June, a great number may be destroyed, and 

 most elTectually, by burning the amputated parts. 

 It is possible, that in some situalinns they may 

 be disclosed earlier: it will therefore be surest 

 to prune a«ay the diseased parts as soon as ihey 

 appear, cleaning the trees note' of the old lu- 

 mnrs, that new one* may be more readily per- 

 ceived."— pp. 311, 312, 313. 



The greatest ditficnilyl perceive in the fore- 

 going extract, is the circumstance of identifying 

 the cherry weevit, as the Proie«sor his denomin- 

 ated if, with the insert which causes the prema- 

 ture fail of our young fruit, by eating into the 



kernel. The fruit has Iieen deslroj'ed time out 

 of miii<), while the di.>;case of the tumor is of 

 romjiarative recent origin. In my own garden, 

 the fruit is annually and extensively injurei!,and 

 yet tiiero is no appearance of tumors. Surely 

 this could not bo so if both diseases are caused 

 liy the same s])ecies of insect. 



J. nUEL. 

 Albany^ Dec. 17, lC2j. 



To the F.diloT of I lie American Farmer. 

 Sir, — Enclosed you will find directions of the 

 method my molluM' has practised many years 

 back, for making hard soap. The sample liand 

 ed with this was made on the 30th Oct. last, out 

 of the common gathering of fat, during the last 

 six montlis, in my father's family. Not being 

 able to be present myself, I beg you will have 

 the goodness to take charge of it, and have the 

 same exhibited to the Agricultural Society of 

 Maryland, at their next meeting, which ! under- 

 stand takes place on to-morrow. 



1 am. Sir, 

 With due respect. 

 Your very ob't servant, 

 DANIEL KRABER. 



Directions f 07' making Hard Soap. 



The ashes are pre[)ared in the following man- 

 ner, the quantil3' of lime mentioned is siifl'icieni 

 for a vessel containing three barrels, viz : — 



The ashes are deposited on the ground and 

 made moderately damp, after which they are 

 raised on the edges, so as to be sufiicienlly hollow 

 in the centre to admit half a bushel of slone 

 lime, where it mu«t be completely slacked ; 

 when the lime is perfectly slacked, the uhole 

 must be well mixed — it is then put into the hop- 

 per, &c. In putting the ashes into the hopper, 

 they must be stamped in order to [irevent the 

 water passing immediately through. _ The hop- 

 per must be continually kept full of water, or 

 in other words, the same quantity of lye that is 

 drawn ofl" must be replaced with water ; warm 

 or cold w.iter may bi; used, cold is however 

 preferable. — The next day the fat may be put 

 into the kettle, and a suiiiciency of lye mixed 

 with it, to neutralize the fat. 



So soon as the fat is neutralized, lye may be 

 added at intervals, until the kettle is full, ('tis 

 well to observe that the lye must be strong 

 enough to bear an egg for the first day's boil- 

 ing.) The soap is boiled over a slow fire, imlil 

 the after part of tlie day, when it is sailed off, 

 (as it is termed) or the soap separated irom the 

 lye in the following manner: — 



Pour at intervals into the soap, a pint of 

 ground alum salt, stirring it, in order to mix 

 the salt with the so;ip, &.c. This method is con- 

 tinued until the soap and h'c are separated ; 

 when in this situation it is siillered to boil about 

 one hour, it is then taken from off the fire, and 

 poured into a tub, or suffered to remain in the 

 kettle until next morning, when it is cut from 

 off the lye and again replaced into the kettle, 

 boiled as on the day previous, treated precisely 

 in the same manner, with this difference, that 

 instead of using strong lye, weak Ive is used. — 

 When the whole process is gone through with, 

 the soap is dijipcd out of the kettle into a box 

 or any other vessel that may be thought proper 

 to use, taking care to put a coarse cloth into the 

 box, &c. sufliciently large to give an opporluni- 



1v to p'lll the soap fri^m o'lt r.f the be-?, &c. a® 

 Oihcrwisc it would adliere to tbe vrssfl. 



D.WIEL KRABER. 

 P. S. When the fat is of the conniion gather- 

 ing in a famil}-, it becomes necrssary on the first 

 day's boiling, in onler to prevent the substance 

 other than fat, from adhering to the bottom of 

 the kettle, to stir it occasionally during the day. 



D. K. 



VALUABr.E ACqUISlTION TO BuECDERS OF SwiN'E. 



A pair of bogs passed accidentally under our 

 i notice in their transi.t to the Eastern Shore of 

 this state, where they were going to Mr Frede- 

 rick Purnell, to whom theyV^ere presented by 

 Mr Thorndike, of Massachusetts. They are of 

 Mr Pomeroy's celebrated compound breed, 

 , being made up of certain proportions of the 

 I Bedford, Bakewell, and Byfield blood— are of 

 small bone and easily fatted. Maryland farmers 

 may have recourse to them alter a short limp, 

 for the imjirovement of their stock of swine, 

 and will know how to appreciate their benrfit. 



Am. Fariittr, 



NEW ALLOY. 

 An English paper aversMlial a most important 

 discovery has recently been made in London, in 

 the production of a composilion metal, or alloy, 

 which equals g<M in the richness of its colour, 

 and its applicat)iiity to articles of plate and orna- 

 mental purposes : it also resists the action of the 

 atmosphere, not tarnishing or oxidizing, even 

 when exposed out of doors to the sea. Some 

 specimens of'lhi; mela!, which is termed .WfMd/c 

 GcW, have been handed about in the higher 

 circles and we understand that orders to an im- 

 mense a^oiint have already been received." 



It may be consoHng to parerits tvho are in the first 

 ci"isi? of impatience, at tlie sort of Iiopeless slupidily 

 which i-ome children exhibit, to know, that the dawn 

 of Sheritlan's inl<-llect was as Hvill and unpromising; as 

 its meriilian day was bright ; and that in the year 1759, 

 he, who in less than thirty years bflerwartls, held sen- 

 ates enchained by his eloquence, and audiences fasci- 

 n.'ited by his wit, was hy cnmnion consent, both of par- 

 ents and preceptor, pronounced to be " a most impene- 

 trable dunce." — J\Ioore''s Life of Sheridan. 



A company in France, which has selected Mr. Charlf.' 

 Dnpiti as their Engineer, propose to form a Canal to 

 unite Paris with the ocean, and thus to make that Capi- 

 tal a sea port. Many other projects for the improve- 

 ment of France by Canals are under consideration and 

 it is anticipated tliat ships will arrive in Cites m her in- 

 terior, much distant from the sea, from America, from 

 India, from China, and from the Southern ocean. 



^ Revue Enci/clojjediqite. 



Suicides. — The average number of suicides commit- 

 ted annually at Paris, amounts 350, without including • 

 60 or 80 cases of a doulitUd character, where persons 

 are found drowned, and it cannot be ascertained wheth- 

 er by accident or design. This city has a population of 

 703. 9ti6 inhabitants, giving a proportion of 49 suicides 

 for every 100,000 souls. 



Foreign papers still speak of a canal to unite the 

 Mediterranean with the '.driatic. The author of this 

 grand project is M. Ferrari, and it is said, that his Hol- 

 iness is so well satisfied with the plan, that he is to take 

 it into consideration, 'fhe estimated expense of the 

 execution is 150 millions. 



A schooner lately arrived at Detroit from New. York, 

 with a cargo of oysters in the shell, which were sold at 

 six dol'ars a hundred. 



