m 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Drc. 1!^, 1828. 



as in the latter |)ari of winter ; for cattle are more 

 liable to be piiicbed with cold in December and 

 January than afterwards when they become ha- 

 bituated to rigorous weather. Advantage may 

 also be niaile of browsing more in the latter than 

 the fore part of wi)iter, as the buds begin to swell 

 and the twigs have more sap in them than in the 

 early part of the season. 



If a farmer proposes to feed his cattle with po- 

 tatoes or other roots, it will be better to give them 

 but a small nuantif at first, increa.sing it by de- 



lay hold of Weak minds, especially of sick or hy- 

 pochondriac persons, may cause the event that is 

 sup])osed to be prognosticated. A small degree 

 of enton)ological knowledge would relieve them 

 from all their fears, and teach them that this 

 heart-sickening tick is caused by a small Beetle, 

 (Jlnohium ti-ssellatum, F.) which lives in timber, 

 and is merely a call to its companion. Attention 

 to entomology may therefore be rendered very 

 useful in this view, since nothing certainly is more 

 desirable than to deliver the human ir.i.id from 



grees as they become accustomed to that sort of! the dominion of superstitious fears, and false no- 

 food. It will, likewise, be better to give them a 

 little every day than a large tiiiantity once in three 

 or four days or a week. 



ENTOMOLOGY. 



One would not think that the excrements of in- 



tions, v/hich having considerable influence on the 

 conduct of mankind are the cause of no small por- 

 tion of evil. 



But as we cannot well guard against the injur- 

 ies produced by insects, or remove the evil, whe- 

 ,,,,.„ ther real or arising from misconceptions respect- 



sects could be objects ofterror, yet so It has been. i„g u.em, which they occasion, unless we have 

 Manyspec.es ot Lep.doptera, when tl>ey emerge : ,^,„c knowledge of them; so neither without such 

 from toe pupa state discharge trom then- anus knowledge can we apply them, when beneficial to 

 a reddish hud, which in some instances, where ; our uce. Now it is extremely probable that they 

 then- numbers have been considerable, has P™- ; might be made vastly more subservient to our ad- 

 duced the appearance ot a sho,yer of blood ; and j vantage and profit than at present if we were bet- 

 by this natural fact, all those b.oody showers, re- ,er acquainted with them. It is the remark of an 

 corded by histonans as preternatural, and regard- .„m,o,, ,,,,,„ ,,i,„,,,f ;, „„ entomologist : " we have 

 ed, wuere they happened as fearful prognostics of[,iot taken animals enough into alliance with us. 

 impending evils, are stripped of their terrors, and j The more spiders there were in the stable, the less 

 reduced to the class of events that happen in the ^ould the horses suffer from the flies. The great 

 common course ot nature. That insects are the | American fire-fly should be imported into Spain 



ent discovery ; for : to catch mosquitos. In hot countries a reward 

 . , ^, „. ^;^'','' ^^^3' =1 *«^t "'"I- j should be offered to the man who could discover 



titude of butterflies swarmed through a great j.art I „.hat insects feed on fleas." It would be worth 

 of Germany, and spnnkled plants, leaves, build- ' our while to act upon this hint, and a similar one 

 mgs, clothes and men, with bloody drops, as if it ; of Dr. Darwin. Those insects might be collected 

 hud rained blood. But the most interesting ac- ; and preserved that are known to destroy the aphi- 

 count of an event of ti.is kmd is .nve;, bv Reau- ^„, „„^ „..,„.. injurious tribes ; and we should 



cause of these showers is no 

 Sleidan relates that in the 



give;i by Reau- 

 mur, from whom we learn that in the hegiuniug 

 of July 1608, tlie suburbs of Aix, and a consider- 

 able extent of country round it, were covered with 

 what a])peared to be a shower of Idood. We may 

 conceive the amazement and stupor of the popu- 

 lace upon such a discovery, t!ie alarm of the citi- 

 zens, the grave reasonings of the learned. All 

 agreed, however, in attributing this appearance to 

 powers of darkness, and in regarding it as the 

 prognostic an<l precursor of some direful misfor- 

 tune about to befall them. Fear and prejudice 

 would liave taken deep root on this occasion, and 



des and other 



thus be enabled to direct their operations to anv 



quarter where they would be most serviceable ; 



but this can never be done till experimental agri- 

 culturists and gardeners are conversant with in- 

 sects, and acquainted with their properties and 

 economy. How is it that the great Being of be- 

 ings preserves the system which he has created 

 ■from any permanent injury, in consequence of the 

 reduncancy of any individual species, but by em- 

 ploying one creature to prey upon another and so 

 overruling and directing the instincts of all, that 

 they may operate most, where they are most want- 

 We cannot better exercise the reason, pow- 



distinguish a Lythe from a Carabeu8 or Cetonia, 

 both of which I have found mixed with the form- 

 er, how can he know whether his druggist fun- 

 ishes him with a good or bad article ? And the 

 same oliservation may with still greater force ap- 

 ply to the dyer in his purchase of cochineal, sime 

 it is still more difficult to distinguish the wild sort 

 f'oni tlie cultivated. 



Then' are,it is probalile, many insects that might 

 be employed with advantage in both these depart- 

 ments ; but unless entomology were more gener- 

 ally studied by scientific men, who are the only 

 persons likely to make any discoveries of this kind, 

 than it has hitherto been, we must not hope to de- 

 rive further profit from them. It seems more par- 

 ticularly incumbent upon the professors of the di- 

 vine art of healing to become conversant with 

 this as well as other branches of Natural History; 

 for not only do they derive some of their most 

 useful drugs from insects, but many also of the 

 diseases upon which they are consulted, are occa- 

 sioned by them. The profit we derive from the 

 works of creation will be in proportion to the 

 accuracy of our knowledge of them and their pro- 

 perties. 



TOMATO SAUCE. 



Peel about one dozen good sized Tomatos — put 

 in a stew pan, with about two teaspoonsfuU of 

 brown sugar, a little salt, some pepper, and about 

 one table spoonfuU of flour from a dredging box, 

 and a small piece of butter — stew slowly one hour 

 and a half — (Do not add any water.) Sotne per- 

 sons prefer pounded cracker instead of flour. — 

 [Communicated in answer lo Mr G7a:icr's inquiries 

 last ii'ffA'.l 



From the New York Slatesman. 



IIORTICI'LTLRE. 



We have jrerused with a high degree of satis- 

 faction the proceedings of a public meeting at 

 Geneva, for the organization of an extensive Hor- 

 ticultural Society ill the western counties of New 

 York, of which the subjoined notice from the Al- 

 bany Argus is a correct abstract. In the list of 

 officers our readers will recognize many gentle- 

 men of talents and high attainments, from whose 

 concentrated efforts results of great public utility 

 may be anticipated. Never was there a wider or 

 a fairer field opened for their transactions ; and 



might have produced fatal effects upon some weak gj i" 



minds, had not Mr. Peiresse, a celebrated pliiloso- era, and faculties with which he has endowed u.s, we congratulate the Society in this city, that a 

 pher of that place, paid some attention to insects, than by copying his example. We often employ i kindred association has been formed in the interi- 

 A chrysalis, which he preserved in his cabinet, the larger animals to destroy each other, but the | or of the state, between the members of which we 

 let bun into the secret of this mysterious shower, smaller, especially insects, we have totally neglect- ; hope good fellowship and a cordial co-operation 

 Hearing a fluttering, which mfurmed him that his ed. Some may'think, perhaps, that in aiming to ! may exist. fVe tmll mfrilyadd;tl,at the exnmplesct iy 

 insect had arrived at its perfect state, he opened jo this, we should be guiltv of presumption, and \the western counties, is worthy of imitation in other 

 the box m which he kept it. The aniraul flew ; of attemjiting to take the government and direc- parts of the slate and country. 



out and left behind it a red spot. He compared ' tion of things out of the hands of Providence ;_ j A number of gentlemen of the western counties 

 this with the spots of the bloody shower, and i.^ t|,is j^ a very weak argument, which might j assembled recently at Geneva, and organised as 



with equal reason be adduced to prove that when i " 1 he Domestic Horticultural Society of the toesteni. 

 rats and mice become troublesome to us, we ought .part of the state of jVew York." The following of- 

 not to hr.ve recourse to dogs, ferrets, and cats tofficers were appointed, viz. — 

 exterminate them. When any species multiplies j J ony GRt.tG, President. 



upon us, so as to become noxious, we certainly ' Daniel Kellog, Enos T. Throop, Abijah Wilier, 



have a just right to destroy it, and what means Isaac Q. Ogden, Graham H. Chapin, Abraham 



, can be more proper than those which Providence Dox, Juines AVadsworth, James K. Guernsey. Da- 



I itself has furnished ? We can none of us go fur- ^ vid E. Evans, and Herman H. Bogert, Vice Presi- 



Itber or do more than the Divine Will permits; dtnls. 



[ and He will take care that our efforts shall not be i Andrew Glover, Secretary. 

 injurious to the general welfare or affect the an- j Joseph Fellows, Treasurer. And 

 . - .. S nihilation of any individual species. I William Kirkpatrick, David Thomas, Daniel L. 



Uie family will die before the end of the year. I Again, with regard to insects that are employed Bishop, Charles W. Dey, Wm. H. Adams, Samuel 

 ihcse terrors, in particular instances, where they , jq niedicine or the arts, if the apothecary cannot E. Ellsworth, George Hosmer, Elisha B. Strong, 



found they were alike. At the same rime he ob 

 served there was a prodigious quantity of butter- 

 flies, flying about, and that the drops of the mi- 

 raculous rain were not to be found upon the tiles, 

 nor even upon the upper surface of the stones, 

 but chiefly in cavities and places, where rain could 

 not easily come. Thus did this .judicious observ- 

 er dispel the ignorant fears which a natural phe- 

 nomenon had caused. 



Every one has heard of the death-watch, and 

 knows of the superstitious notion of the vulgar, 

 lliat in whatever house its drum is heard one of 



