NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



THE CHURCHYARD BEETLE. 



Frazer's Magazine has lately contained a num- 

 ber of very interesting papers called "Episodes of 

 Insect Life," from the last published one of which 

 we make an extract, as follows : 



A German named Gleditsh, who had laid some 

 dead moles upon the beds in his garden, whether 

 as examples of retributive justice for their deface- 

 ment of his borders ami walks, or for other good 

 reasons, or for none at all, does not appear, ob- 

 served that the bodies of the little gentlemen in 

 velvet disappeared mysteriously. He watched, 

 and found that the agents were beetles, which 

 having first deposited their eggs in the carcases 

 that were to be the provision for their larvae, 

 buried the bodies, so that they might be safe from 

 predatory birds and quadrupeds. Into a glass 

 vessel he put four of these insects, having filled it 

 with earth, on the surface of which he placed two 

 dead frogs. His sextons went to work, and one 

 frog was interred in less than twelve hours — the 

 other one on the third day. Then he introduced 

 a dead linnet. The beetles soon began their la- 

 bors, commencing operations by removing the earth 

 from under the body, so as to form a cavity for its 

 reception. Male and female got under the corpse, 

 and pulled away at the feathers to lower it into 

 its grave. A change then came over the spirit of 

 the male, for he drove the female .away, and 

 worked by himself for five hours at a stretch. He 

 lifted the body, changed its position, turned and 

 arranged it, coming out of the hole, mounting on 

 the dead bird, trampling on it, and then again go- 

 ing below to draw it down deeper still. Wearied 

 with his incessant efforts, he came out and laid his 

 head upon the earth beside the object of his la- 

 bors, remaining motionless for a full hour, as if 

 for a good rest. Then he crept under the earth 

 again. On the morning of the next day, the bird 

 was an inch and a half below the surface of the 

 ground, but the trench remained open, the body 

 looking as if laid out upon a bier, surrounded by 

 a rampart of mould. 



When evening came, it had sunk half an inch 

 lower. The next day the burial was completed, 

 the bird having been completely covered. More 

 corpses were now supplied, and in fifty days twelve 

 bodies were interred by the four beetles in this 

 cemetry under a glass case. 



THE SOAP PLANT. 



From a paper read before the Boston Society of 

 Natural History, it appears that the soap plant 

 grows all over California. The leaves make their 

 appearance about the middle of November, or 

 about six wee"ks after the rainy season has fully 

 set in ; the plants never grow more than a foot 

 high, and the leaves and stock drop entirely off in 

 May, though the bulbs remain in the ground all 

 summer without decaying. It is used to wash 

 with, in all parts of the country, and, by those who 

 know its virtues, it is preferred to the best of soap. 

 The method of using it is merely to strip off the 

 husk, dip the clothes into the water, and rub the 

 bulb on them. It makes a thick lather, and smells 

 not unlike brown soap. The botanical name of 

 the plant is Phalangium pomaridianum. Besides 

 this plant, the bark of a tree is also used in South 

 America, for the purpose of washing. Several 

 other plants have been used in different countries 

 as a substitute for soap. 



FARMER'S HYMN FOR WINTER. 



O, Thou to whom our thoughts we raise, 

 Throughout the ever-changing year, 



Teach us to fitly sing thy praise, 

 And bow to thee with love and fear. 



Though nature die in icy death, 

 All hidden 'neath the wintry snow, 



We know that thy reviving breath 

 Will cause her streams again to flow. 



Omniscient source of every good, 

 In all thy ways we're ever blest ; — 



In ev'ry ill — well understood — 



Thy constant goodness stands confest. 



Thy mercies, Lord, are ever sure; — 

 And when we view the snow clad plain, 



Our hopes on Thee we rest secure; — 

 Thou wilt the summer bring again. 



COLTS AND CALVES. 



No idea has been much more common among 

 farmers, than that colts until they got past their 

 second year, needed but very little care ; that they 

 might wander unhoused and pick up a scanty sub- 

 sistence from the coarse scatterings about the yard 

 and barn ; and that under this treatment they 

 grew as well as they would if they were better fed 

 and protected. Indeed, the idea extended much 

 farther than this, even to the belief that good 

 generous feeding and a warm shelter were produc- 

 tive of disease ; that "the animal would contract 

 humors and bad joints and be affected for life." 

 How this grew up or from what process of Rea- 

 soning it was drawn, it is difficult to tell. It has 

 been put in practice for many years, and has been 

 the ruin of many fine animals. 



That colts should have considerable liberty in a 

 safe place is as reasonable, as that a child should, 

 and that they should not be fed upon rich and 

 highly concentrated food, such as large feeds of 

 corn, meal, oats or barley, is equally clear. But 

 that small quantities of either of these with an 

 occasional mess of carrots or other roots judiciously 

 fed would be injurious to the colt, we look upon 

 as an error. 



The same idea prevails, but perhaps in a less 

 degree, in relation to calves; thfi* are obliged to 

 occupy the meanest place in the barn — if they are 

 so fortunate as to get in at all — are hooked and 

 pushed about by the older cattle and fed upon 

 meadow hay or the orts of the oxen and cows. 

 Their hair is left uncombed, and skins unscratched, 

 while filth is suffered to gather in untold accumula- 

 tions upon their haunches, drying and hardening 

 in the sun, until the bunches rattle when the 

 creature runs, like a pocket of dried walnuts ! This 

 is all wrong. Calves cannot be made profitable 

 without plenty of nutritious food Avith dry and 

 warm lodgings. This is no fancy sketch, but just 

 such management as we have witnessed through 

 many years. But there are exceptions, where 

 everything is reversed, order and neatness prevail- 

 ing, and handsome annual profits being realized. 



