870 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



fore described, in the very skin, sprout and bud- 

 part of the tubers. 



Who ever doubts this assurance, or attempts to 

 repel the fact, may as well attempt, at noon-day, 

 to disprove the existence of the sun. I "advance" 

 this fact of identity with "confidence," that occu- 

 lar proof will baflle the exertion of those who 

 may declare it a fallacy, or attempt its "over- 

 throw." 



"S. H. P.," says, "The advocates of this the- 

 ory will ask, why the atmosphere did not affect 

 the crop previous to 184:3." I have previously 

 referred to this, and I want "S. H. P." to answer 

 it himself. I reply to his "Yankee-fashioned" 

 question, that, the insects are doubtless descen- 

 dents from the garden of Eden. 



Natural causes and fixed facts, arising from 

 changing events, in connection with our philo- 

 sophical judgment, will furnish abundant an- 

 swers as to the phenomenon why "such bugs" 

 are now found on the potato. By inherent trans- 

 mission, year after year, from tuber to tuber, 

 these insects, by their extraordinary powers of 

 fecundity, have multiplied, and become legion. 

 They are so minute, when first stai-ting into mo- 

 tion, as not to be seen with the natural human 

 vision, on the point of a cambric needle, there- 

 fore their eggs are little indeed. A microscopic 

 demonstration which I made on the 24th of April 

 last, with six achromatics and other glasses 

 united, revealed in a cavity in the skin of the po- 

 tato — space, size of the head of a shingle nail — 

 a spawn or roe appearance, and I counted dis- 

 tinctly more than four hundred eggs in this little 

 cavity. This, in some degree, answers "S. H. P," 

 that "every eft'ect must have its adequate cause," 

 and "can so small a thing produce such effects 

 as to cause thousands of bushels of potatoes to 

 rot?" I reply, emphatically, that, these myriads 

 upon myriads of insects, in their larva age, as 

 found upon the roots of potatoes under ground, 

 are capable of doing all this mischief. Week af- 

 ter week, they are sucking, poisoning and cutting 

 off the sap, thus changing, gradually, the natural 

 health of the sustaining element and life of the 

 plant. 



Carry out the acknowledged principle and 

 statement of "S. H. P." which is a fact, that, from 

 my own observations and experiments, I can cor- 

 roborate,) which was fully admitted by the Prus- 

 sian government in 18.34, after their three years' 

 experiments,) that, "this poison in the top (or 

 vine) descends to the tubers," and I show the 

 cause that "produces this disease and decay." 

 "S. H. P." speaks of animalcula.'. His allusion 

 to that part of zoology has no connection what- 

 ever with this "bug," the aphis. The former, in 

 its zoological order belongs to infusoria ; the 

 latter to entomology ; and they are as widely 

 different from each other as fish and fowl. One, 

 as he says, "floats in the water," the other in- 

 habits tVie earth, and I know positively, feast in 

 their larva age on the fresh sap of the roots of 

 tiie potatoes and other plants, and in their pupa 

 and imago ages move on their wings in the air. 

 Animalcula? cannot be found upon, or in the po- 

 tato. Atmospheric influence is not a predispos- 

 ing or definite cause of this malady. The occu- 

 lar demonstrations revealed by microscopic re- 

 searches, clearly settles the question, that, myri- 

 ads of entomological insects, by their ravages, 



and voracious appetites, in their larva age under 

 ground, are the secret, and heretofore hidden, 

 predisposing or definite cause of the potato 

 blight and rot. This fact cannot be repelled. 

 June 30, 1859. The Farmer Boy. 



HIGH FARMING VS. INSECTS. 

 Speaking of the insects infesting the wheat 

 crop in this and the old country, the Mark Lane 

 Express thinks that the production of insects is 

 greatly promoted by the defective system of ag- 

 riculture in this country, remarking that "when 

 the average produce of wheat in England was 

 only two and a half quarters per acre, the rav- 

 ages of insects were far more general and de- 

 structive than they are now that the average haa 

 risen to four quarters and a half. Pligh farming 

 is as destructive to vermin as to weeds, and it is 

 rarely that the devastation committed on highly- 

 cultivated land is very serious." 



Remarks. — We think other causes must be 

 looked for, for the increase of insects, rather than 

 the "defective system of agriculture." Increase 

 follows supply in the insect world, as well as the 

 vegetable. Feed the land well and it will pro- 

 duce abundant crops ; so with insects. High 

 farming produces an abundance of succulent and 

 tender plants admirably adapted to insect wants, 

 such as the leaves of beets, turnips, onions, cab- 

 bage, celery, tomato, parsnips, roses, egg-plant, 

 &c. The leaves of our budded and grafted ap- 

 ple trees are far more tender and sweeter than 

 those of apple trees in a natural condition, and 

 probably more congenial to the tastes and habits 

 of our predatory neighbors. 



We are inclined to the opinion that on sterile 

 tracts of land, one's squashes, cucumbers and 

 melons would be much safer from the depreda- 

 tions of insects, than those in the midst of a 

 highly-cultivated district. We kindly supply in- 

 sects with the food they need, in the variety and 

 richness of the plants we cultivate, so that they 

 have a good time, and have little else to do but 

 to multiply and replenish the earth with their 

 kind. 



Having brought the plants to a state of great 

 perfection, it is the part of wisdom to devise the 

 means of keeping off their invaders, so that a 

 fair share shall reward the labor of the cultiva- 

 tor. This affords us an opportunity for the exer- 

 cise of our patience and ingenuity, and as a gen- 

 eral thing, is a blessing rather than a curse. 



A Trap for Catching Sheep-Killing Dogs. 

 — Make a pen of fence rails, beginning with four, 

 so as to have it square, and as you build it, draw 

 in each rail as you would the sticks of a partridge 

 trap, until your pen is of sufficient height, say 

 five feet. In this way you will construct a pen 

 that, when finished, will permit a dog to enter at 

 the top at pleasure, but out of which he will find 

 it difficult to escape, should he have the agility 



