4. Aphides, liy sucking the juices, impair the 

 qiialilies of the sap. 



5. The snp, hijiii!,' injured, no longer performs 

 lis ()roper fiinotions. 



6. The injured sap, cannot [lerfeclly nomish 

 the plant. 



7. Unnourisiied or imperfect tissue is apt to 

 die. 



8. Pai-lial death, folluwing the attacks of 

 nphiiles, may he local at the part attected, or re- 

 mote, that is to say, at a <lislaiice from the attack. 



9. The total death of the plant may arise from 

 the death of a part necessary to the whole, which 

 wonid cause its total death. 



10. Wild plants, or plants in a condition well 

 calculated to develop libre, will resist the attacks 

 of aphides. 



11. Ilijrhly cidtivatfi.l plants, or plants not un- 

 der circumstances favorahle to the formation of 

 fihre, ill resist the attacks of aphides. 



12. Plants are most iiijiired by aphides at that 

 period of their jtroutli when t'hev are required 

 to deposit juost lihre. 



l;5. Plants having- their tissues damaged from 

 aphides are apt to propagate diseased tissue in 

 all their future growihs. 



14. The injury to plants hastens the trans- 

 formation of aphides. 



15. The altai-ksof aphides are most invariahly 

 followed liy growth of fungi. 



"In ohedicnce to these laws, (Mr. Smee statesl 

 the aphis vastator feeds on the living potato 

 plant; comes first upon healthy plants; sucks 

 the juices after having punctured the cuticle; 

 impairs the qualities of the sap ; which then 

 cannot perform its proper functions; ami the 

 |ormaiiou of fibre and .slarch is reiarded. The 

 imperfect tissue is apt to die, either locally, at 

 the part attacked, or remotely at the ollar," un- 

 derground stems, or roots; Which death at' the 

 eollur may separate the leaf from the root, and 

 thus destroy the greater part of the plant. The 

 reputed wild potato plant, and plants growin.' in 

 a poor soil and dry atmosphere resist more than 

 tlie highly cultivated varieties and those "rowin" 

 in a rich soil and a moist, cold, and dark place"; 

 and the injury takes place principally when the 

 starch is being deposited in the tubers. 



A set from a former diseased plant is liable to 

 mamlest the disease in all its future growths. 

 VVheiT'thc potato plant begins to perish, the larva 

 become per/ect insects, and flv away to commit 

 ravages elsewhere. The injured potato plant 

 lias a jast niimher of parasite fungi growing up- 



A tew years ago, a friend of ours, sometimes 

 raised thirteen hundred bushels of potatoes in a 

 season, and turned them into his cellar tlirou'^h 

 a trap door in the kitchen :— his wilb(wholms 

 made him rich by her economy) was surprised 

 to find a very disagreeable effluvia in the cellar, 

 in the early part of winter. She requested her 

 husband to ascertain the cause: he discovered 

 nothing, until he opened the trap dom- in the 

 kitchen, when millions of small flies, resemhlino- 

 cheese flies, only smaller, rushed from the cellar' 

 darkening the windows, and almost tilliiP' the 

 rooms above. Nearly the whole bin of potatoes 

 was found to be a mass of gangrene, and was 

 hastily carried to the barnyard for manure — 

 Other instances, on a smaller scale, can be citeil. 

 hut the observation of any critical lUrmer will" 

 demonstrate the foregoing theory. 



I have no data by which io aecouiu for vas- 

 tatois ill the cellar, as it is a well estalilislied 

 fact, that the animal does not operate directlv on 

 the tuber but through the medium of destroyed 

 leaves and staiks. 



The potato crop in this vicinity >vill proliahlv 

 fall short fifty per cent., as most of the tons were 

 sometime ago destroyed by the vastator, and a 

 fatal gangrene is now nianifestini: itself on the 

 tubers. It is stated that where vast quantities of 

 aphides collect on a large plant, that honey dew 

 will cover the plants or earth beneath. The 

 honey dew is sugar e.^civted l»y these creatures 

 which IS one of the most marvellous and inter- 

 esting facts in natural history. Is it the manna 

 of Arabia.^ If so, a small quantity may he col- 

 lected under my plants at this time." J. Vv \V 

 Lancaster. N. H. Sept. 16, 1847. 



^I)c jTarmcr^q jHontlilu bisitor. 



171 



Crops in Illi.nois.— The crops in Bureau co 

 nverage the present season, ]5 bushels per acre 

 for wheat, 40 for corn, and 40 to r,0 for oaf- 



Merrimack Agricultural Society. 

 REPORT ON UUTTKR. 



The beneficence of the Creator is manifeat in 

 so disposing our tastes, and so ti.lai.ling these to 

 the varieties with which we are surrounded, as 

 to make life a scene of enjoyment instead of a 

 burden. It might have been that necessary food 

 would have been noisome, as it is sometimes to 

 the diseased stomach, had it not pleased the 

 Creator to have ordered it otherwise. Bread is 

 the staff of life, but butter is given to make it 

 slip down easier and with a better relish. But 

 it depends something on who makes the butter 

 whether it answers this purpose. Butter made 

 ill Joe Bunker's family needs to be eaten in the 

 dark ; then to make it pass well one or two other 

 senses should be laid aside— while that made by 

 his brother Jonathan may be eaten in the full blaze 

 of noon ; you would wish your neck as long 

 again that you might have the pleasurable sen- 

 sation of swallowing prolonged. Perhaps a bit 

 of the history of their better halves will explain 

 the whole matter. 



Joe's wife was Sally Sly— when a small girl 

 she was sly— she would not half wash tlie milk 

 pail and sly it away and let it sour. She was 

 sly at school and did not half get her lessons, 

 but would have her book in sight when reciting: 

 but as she grew older she learned that to get 

 well married she must appear well, and so she 

 bent all her cunning to get a superficial educa- 

 tion in every thing, from roasting a potato to 

 playing the piano. Poor Joe fell in love with 

 her, and Move has no eyes,'— so he married her. 

 But soon after she entered on housekeeping his 

 eyesight came, and he saw his fix that it was ' for 

 better oi worse ;' and he thought it was all for 

 worse. Like a true [diilosopher he concluded 

 to endure what he could not avoid nor cure, and 

 got along tolerably well only when he came to 

 her butter— for his mother was a real butter- 

 maker. Every lime he saw or tasted of Sally's 

 butter he felt the horrors. Her manner of mak- 

 ing butter was sonTething as follows : she thinks 

 it of no consequence whether the milk pail is 

 sweet or sour— sets the milk in a warm room,— 

 because it is easier than to go to the cellar, and 

 ifsome dirt should blow into the pans she thinks 

 every man must 'eat a. peck of dirt,' and no 

 place will it slip down easier than in butler:- 

 she lets the cream pots he open and when she 

 clnirus forgets the poke ; leaves the cream nearly 

 at blood heat that it may come quick. When 

 she takes it out of the churn she picks out the 

 bodies of>all flies and spiders-the legs and 

 wings are so small they can be swallowed. She 

 works out half the buttermilk and sets it away in 

 a warm place for use. Poor Joe has seen so 

 much hmtei oi' this kind that he declares butter 

 does not agree with his health, and will not taste 

 It. Yet his wife wonders v\ by he does not try 

 it, and marvels why he does not keep a dairy, 

 and make butter for market. 



Jonathan was a younger brother of .Joe, and 

 lie had had occasion Io eat at his brother's 

 enough to know why he could not eat butter; 

 and he declared he never would marry without 

 knowing what his bread wouhl be bnltered with. 

 Following the bent of his flmcy, he made sever- 

 al attempts at matrimony, and Julia Juniper al- 

 iiinst caught hiui.fur there was always good but- 

 ter on the table at tea, but he was determined to 

 know who made it. On enquiry —She says, 'La! 

 me! in«tli(n- makes the butler: i lake lessiins on 

 the piano.' ' Well,' says Jonathan, ' I want a 

 wifii that lakes lessons on the churn— I shall 



look further, after several unsuccessful attempts, 

 and just ready to despair, he started in pursuit of 

 stray cattle, before breakfiist, and wandered across 

 the forest into the corner of the ne.\t town, and 

 weary and hungry called at a decent looking 

 liouse and asked for some refreshment, which 

 was most cordially granted, for the family were 

 what are called Scotch-Irish— in religion Presby- 

 terian, and in hospitality boundless. Mere he 

 found the butter exactly right— though the weath- 

 er \vi(s hot; the butter kept its shape as well as 

 bees-wax. He catechised the old lady about her 

 bunsewifery- for the bread was as right as the 

 butter. The old lady said her health was feeble 

 —she could do but little, and Jenny had the 

 whole management. He made some round-about 

 enquiries concerning Jenny, and learned she was 

 a hearty black haired, black eyed lass, of about 

 two and twenty; had never seen a piano nor at- 

 tended a ball— but knew the Assembly's cate- 

 chism ; could sing Old Hundred to a charm- 

 spin flax and darn stockings, and was then gone 

 to town with butter. He lingered, but she was 

 delayed, and when his excuses for staying were 

 all exhausted he started. He could not get the 

 good butter out of his mind; and bowk hap- 

 pened I know not, he soon found his way there 

 again and the result of his adventure was he 

 made a wife of Jane IVl'Kean. And now one 

 lump of his butter is worth more than all Joe's 

 wife would make in a month. Theie's no trouble 

 ill going to market— the keejiers of genteel 

 boarding houses in the neighboring village send 

 and take it at the highest market price. 



Now the main difference in these two women 

 arises from their manner of training, though 

 there is no difierence in natural dispositions. Old 

 Madam Sly never looked on to see that Sally 

 done up her work right, but suftered her to sly 

 off her work as she chose, and though a good 

 housekeeper herself was' altogether too indul- 

 gent, and like some other mothers thought more 

 of getting Sally well married, than of making 

 lier fit for a wife— while offl madam M'Kean 

 was determined Jenny should be fit for any man 

 a wife, whether she got married or not. Perhaps 

 there is no more certain criterion by which to 

 judge of a woman's general character for neat- 

 ness and good housekeeping than by the quality 

 of her butter. Fiiyl on ilie fiirmer's table a good 

 solid, ^properly salted, well worked, slice of but- 

 ter, and you need not fear to eat the pan-cake.s 

 or hash ; but if yon sec a splash of half-worked 

 butter- salt in lumps and a sprinkling of hair 

 and flies' leg.=, you m.ay be sure if you boani 

 there long, death will not be obliged to wait for 

 you to finish your peck of dirt. My advice is to 

 young farmers to make it a sine qua non m a. 

 wife that she makes prime butter; and the young 

 ladies who aspire to he farmer's wives, had much 

 better be imperfect in fillagree and music than 

 be deli.-ient in that most important art of mak- 

 ing biuter, which smoothes not only the sharp 

 corners of crust and crackers, hut will smooth 

 asperities of the hii Uuiid's tempor. 



The e,\-liil)itio:i ,,„ this occasion has been 



splendid and indicates tliat iMerrimack County 



can show as good butter as heart could wish 



here were so many good sptcimens as to lead 



•I'" Committee to wish for more premiums to 



dispose oi; and caused some diflieidiy i„ dispos- 

 ing of those we had— Initaccor.ling to our best 

 judgment we award to 



No. 5, l.,t preminm. • 



No. 3, 2d do. 



No. 13, 3.1 do. 



No. 7, 4tli do. 



No. 1, i.t ,|o. 



s. H.^rji 



