THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



227 



To the Editor of the Mark-Lane Express. | 



Sir, — In reply to Mr. Mackenzie's letter, pub- 

 iislieti in your journal of Monday last, I heir to 

 stale that" I </() consider there is a considerable 

 eecape of carbonate of ammonia I'rom liirm yartis 

 where cattle are ted durinu: winter. As purirelac- 

 lion (foes on so carbonate of ammonia is fjjenerat- 

 ed, (whilst nitroijen remains in the compound,,) 

 which is held in solution in the water present, 

 and as the water evaporates so does the ammonia 

 with it. Therefore we cannot apply irypsum in 

 too early a stage of thedecoinposition, aller which 

 the same loss would result if water were allowed 

 to drain from the yard without being used as 

 manure. 



All dung piles ought to have a body mixed with 

 them having greater affinity for ammonia than 

 carbonic acid, or else a great part of the ammonia 

 will be lost ; but iC it be applied in the (arm-yard, 

 in sufficient quantity, it need not be applied after- 

 wards. 



I believe with your correeponuent, that "these 

 ihinss are of importance," and not so much at- 

 tended to as they ought, for I have seen men and 

 horses toiling up the hills with ponderous loads of 

 (so called) manure, when in fiact very little ma- 

 nure existed in it, whilst they leave the most 

 valuable manure scattered about their farm-yards 

 and fields fermenting and dissipating in vapor, 

 " carried away upon the wings of the wind," 

 serving their neighbor's purpose as much as their 

 own. 



I arn a great advocate for using manure as 

 early as possible, that its decomposition takes 

 place in the earth in the midst of veiietation, and 

 none of its elements would be lost. Thus the 

 death and dissolution of the present generation 

 would spring up into lile in a new one. 



I am, sir, your obedient servant, 



fVadebridge,Dec.9. Gregory Brabyn. 



SILK CULTURE. — IMPORTANT DISCOVERY. — 

 THE MUSCARDINE IN AMERICA. 



. From the National Intelligencer. 



Probably the most important information it 

 has ever fallen to the lot of the writer of this to 

 communicate to the public, on the subject of silk 

 culture in this country, will be found in the pre- 

 sent artitfle. It has long been known to every 

 one who has read much on the subject of the 

 silk culture, that, by the ravages of a disease 

 called muscardine in Europe, the average loss of 

 worms, takmg one year with another, amounted 

 to From forty- five to fifty per cent, of all the worms 

 hatched ; and, what was still worse, the disease 

 generally made its appearance after the greater 

 portion of th*e expense of the rearing had been 

 incurred. This evil has continued, from time be- 

 yond the reach of history, to within a year or 

 two past. In the United States, all of us have 

 heretofore considered our worms exempt from this 

 fatal disease, it having generally been supposed 

 not to exist here at all. This was a fatal delusion. 

 I have just received from France a copy of the 

 " Annales de la SocieteSericicole, fbndeeen 1837, 

 pour la propagation et I'amelioration de I'indusirie 

 de la soie en France," for 1837, 1888, pnH 183P. 

 in one of the volumes of which i ?n?i a r'a'e 



representing eilk- worms in the various stages of 

 the muscardine ; the first glance at which showed 

 me that it was the identical disease of which a 

 2re?)t portion of the silk-worms in this country 

 have perished. All who saw the disease last 

 summer and have seen this plate identified it 

 instantly. 1 shall endeavor to have translationa 

 made for the next number of the Silk Journal, 

 and, if possible, shall accompany them with a 

 copy of the plate, that all may read, see, and 

 judge for themselves. In the mean time, how- 

 ever, I have thought it advisable to lake this hasty 

 notice of the fact, that all silk-growers may be 

 enabled to apply the preventive and remedy. Hap- 

 pily, the remedy will do no harm, either to the 

 healthy worms or those that may be afTected witK 

 other diseases, and is cheap and easily applied. 

 The remedy is a free application of air-slaked 

 lime to the worms, and also to the floors of the 

 cocoonery, and white-washing all the wood-work 

 of the'fixtures. The lime should be sifted through 

 a fine sieve on' the worms, \wo or three times a 

 week if healthy, and once a day if diseased, in 

 the morning before the first feeding, and after 

 cleaning the hurdles. The quantity of lime to 

 be sifted on the worms may be just sufficient to 

 whiten the worms and leaves well ; and it should 

 be commenced when the worms are half-grown, 

 say twelve to fifteen days old. This remedy has, 

 during the past two years, enabled. those persons 

 in France who used it to save and obtain cocoons 

 from ninety-seven per cent, of all the worms 

 hatched. 



Now that we know we have this formidable 

 disease amongst us, it becomes necessary that 

 the remedy should be applied ; and, as there are 

 very few, if any, who know the disease by sight, 

 I would most earnestly recommend that the 

 remedy be applied in oil cases, whether the worms 

 are sickly or not ; for it is even more effectual as 

 H preventive than as a remedy, and, as before 

 stated, will do no harm to either healthy or sickly 

 worms. 



I consider it fortunate that this invaluable infor- 

 mation has reached me at this particular moment, 

 just in lime to be of immense service to us in this 

 our day of ordeal. Further particulars of the dis- 

 ease and the remedy will be published in the 

 forthcoming and subsequent numbers of the Silk 

 Journal. Gideon B. Smith, 



Editor of the SiHt Journal, Baltimore, Md. 



ON THE DESTRUCTION OF SNAILS IN FLOWER 

 GARDENS. 



From the Southern Agriculturist. 



Mr. Editor :— One of the greatest annoyances 

 which I have experienced in the cultivation of 

 flowers, has been from the depredations commit- 

 ted by" that apparently insignificant insect, the 

 snail. The last year they were uncommonly 

 numerous, and many a beautiful flower which the 

 owner prized much and was perhaps anxiously 

 watching, was laid low by these night depredators, 

 and many a garden which but lor them would 

 have been highly attractive, looked desolate and 

 Torlorn. I do not know whether I was rnore 

 tanfortunate than my acquaintance?, but certainly 



