NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



303 



yield more milk than when fed upon hay alone, 

 yield it of a better quality, and, withal, thrive up- 

 on it ; but carrots, as well as parsnips, sugar beets, 

 or mangel wurtzel, or, indeed, any other roots, 

 when fed to milch cows, should be mixed with cut 

 straw, hay, or fodder of some kind ; besides which 

 they should bo given other portions of long proven- 

 der uncut, or cut, as the feeder may best like, by 

 itself. When given roots, cattle, of course, con- 

 sume less long food, but still they should receive 

 such portion, as when added to the roots they 

 may receive, will form an equivalent in nutrimen- 

 t;il matter to a full feed of hay, fodder, or other 

 long provender. — American Farmer. 



HARVESTING WHEAT. 



BY DANIEL LEE, M. D. 



Many farmers cut wheat too late, (waiting un- 

 til it is dead ripe) and still more permit the grain 

 to remain a long time in the field in small stacks 

 after it is harvested. Both practices are wrong. 

 Wheat intended for seed ought to be fully ri| e 

 before it is cut ; but that which is to be ground 

 into flour should not stand too long. The proper 

 time is to cut it in the "doughy state," out of 

 the milk, but not hard or flinty. Where one has 

 many acres to harvest, it is difficult to avoid cut 

 ting some a little too early, or a great deal toe 

 late. 



So soon as the straw is sufficiently cured, the 

 crop should be housed, stored away in a barn, or 

 thrashed. Wheat straw is worth half the price of 

 hay, if the grain be cut at the right time, and the 

 straw properly saved from rain, dew and sun- 

 shine. Where good hay is cheap, say four or 

 five dollars a ton, the saving of wheat straw for 

 forage need not command much care. But at the 

 South, where first rate hay is rarely worth less 

 than seventy-five cents or one dollar per 100 lbs., 

 the stems and leaves of all the cereal grasses 

 should be preserved from damage by exposure to 

 the elements, and used for wintering stock. Sheep 

 are kept all winter on straw alone, by the large 

 wheat growers in Western New York ; and so are 

 mares and colts and cattle. Good barns, sheds 

 and stables are not so common as they ought to 

 be, and no farmer who has the means to make 

 these useful buildings should be without them. 

 They will pay a high interest on their cost, great- 

 ly economize fodder, and operate to improve our 

 live stock. — Southern Cultivator. 



them much, since they obtain by it cheerfulness 

 and a quiet spirit ; and besides, it taketh away 

 bad thoughts, which it is not convenient they 

 should know." 



THE APPLE TREE BORER. 



One of the greatest of all evils that the fruit 

 grower has to contend against is the apple tree 

 borer, which also attacks the quince, mountain ash, 

 white ash, locust, hawthorn and the aronias. We 

 have repeatedly called attention to their destruc- 

 tive habits, and have heretofore given the illus- 

 trations below, but as the evil is perpetual, so must 

 our promptings be. Beside, some thousands of 

 persons are now readers of the Farmer, that were 

 not so, when these subjects were alluded to be- 

 fore. 



This borer is the larva of the two-striped sapor- 

 da, (Sapcrda bivittati,) which is truly represented 

 by the following cut. This is the beetle or insect 

 in its perfect state. 



WHAT ANY DAUGHTER OUGHT TO 

 BE. 



In the Law of Spain written by Alfonso, "the 

 wise," about the year 1260, there occurs the fol- 

 lowing passage. It is in a law respecting the du- 

 ties of the governesses of the king's daughter : — 



"They are to endeavor, as much as may be, 

 that the king's daughters be moderate and seemly 

 in eating and drinking, and also in their carriage 

 and dress, and of good manners in all things, and 

 especially, that they be not given to anger ; for 

 besides the wickedness that lieth in it, it is the 

 thing in the world that most easily leadeth women 

 to do ill. And they ought to teach them to be 

 handy in performing those works that belong to 

 noble ladies ; for this is a matter that becometh 



This figure shows the size of the insect. The 

 upper part of the body is mai'ked by two longitu- 

 dinal white stripes, among others of alight brown. 

 The face antennas, the under side of the body and 

 legs are white. 



This beetle comes forth from the tree in June, 

 in the night, flying from tree to tree for food or 

 companions, resting in the day time among the 

 leaves on which it feeds. In June, July and some- 

 times in August, it deposits eggs on the bark of 

 the tree, at or near the ground. 



The lame or young borers from these eggs are 

 fleshy, round, whitish grubs, without legs. This 

 grub eats through the bark, and remains there 

 the first winter. The next season it penetrates the 

 wood, throwing out dust or cuttings, like saw dust, 

 by which it may be traced, generally ascending, 

 as it proceeds, and boring deeper into the tree. 

 Its whole passage is usually about 12 to 15 inches. 

 It becomes a full grown borer as here represented. 



The third season, nearly two years from its en- 

 trance, it approaches the surface, where it under- 

 goes its final transformation, becomes a beetle and 

 leaves the tree. 



Rarely, the borer gets off the track, and de- 

 scends ; sometimes it enters the tree several feet 

 above the ground, and seldom it enters the limbs 

 of the tree. 



Keep the trees well washed and the bark smooth , 



