104 



GENESEE FARMER. 



July, 1845 



Fi>i tlie Genpsi'f Fanner. 



CATERPILLARS, LITIGATION k LAWYERS 

 Mr. Editor — I can heartily sympathize with your 

 correspondent in his indignation "t the sight of or- 

 chards ravaged by the caterpillar. Every farmer who 

 pern)its it is an enemy to his own interest, as well 

 as the interest of his neighborhood ; for the insect 

 increases by his negligence, and another year will 

 be still more abundant. As he remarks, one day's 

 ■work at the proper season would prevent all the 

 mischief. 



I have been very successful in getting rid of these 

 nasty pests; and the method I adopt is simple and 

 sure. As soon r.s the nests are large enough to be 

 easily distinguished, say almost the size of a lady's 

 fist, I send a man with a small ladder into the or- 

 chard, with directions to go into every tree, and to 

 destroy every web. He puts a heavy leather mitten 

 on his right hand, , and taking the worm, web, or 

 nest in his h^nd on the limb, squeezes it into a mess, 

 thus destroying its contents at one fell swoop. If 

 there are any he cannot reach, he saws off the limb 

 and crushes them on the ground. The operator 

 should take a cold day, or only work at them when 

 the weather is cool, for then they will all be in their 

 nests. It only cost fifty cents to fill an orchard of 

 five acres this spring, and the work was thoroughly 

 done. If it had cost ten times that sum, I should 

 have thought the money well laid out. By close 

 attention for a few seasons, they will be almost en- 

 tirely eradicated. 



J. F. S. has good notions about litigation. If all 

 the farmers thought like him, and acted upon his 

 suggestions, lawyers and courts would be among 

 the things that were. There are no litigated siuts 

 that could not have been settled without any trouble, 

 if both parties had been willing to do right; or if 

 they had fallen into the hands of honest lawyers. 



J. F. S. will excuse me for suggesting to him and 

 all other farmers and mechanics, a very short and 

 easy way to avoid litigation. Let all agree at town 

 meeting to submit their difficulties to a board of re- 

 formers. Let the board consist of three persons and 

 choose them for the year. The law makes ample 

 provisions for arbitration. Select the best men in 

 town, and as there will be no party feeling to grati- 

 fy, the selection will be sure to be a good one. — 

 Public opinion will soon compel all who are in a 

 contentious mood, to resort to this tribunal. Boards 

 of trade in all large towns have their committee of 

 reference, and they have bsen found very useful in 

 preventing litigation. Farmers, of all others, should 

 keep out of the law; and they should not complain 

 of lawyers preying upon the hard earnings of in- 

 dustrious labors, until they cease to employ them 

 to ruin either themselves or their neighbors — nor 

 should they complain of the increase of that profess- 

 ion, as long as thev continue to give them all the 

 offices of honor or "profit. When fanners arc true 

 to themselves and their noble calling, lawyers will 

 become scarce. P. 



Keep down the Weeds. — Yes, don't permit a 

 Bnigle weed to grow. Remember that all spurious 

 vegetation is injurious alike to the growing crop and 

 the soil. It costs more to mature one rank pig 

 weed, than it does to rijjon three times its weight of 

 corn or any other grain. Let the hoe be busily em- 

 ployed. 



Hon. Henry L. Ellsworth, late Commissioner of 

 the Patent Office, has taken up his residence at La- 

 fayette, Indiana. 



For tliR (jell<»^pe Farmer. 



A GARDEN.— CLAY versus SAND. 



Mr. Editor. — How often do we hear a man say, 

 "give me tandy soil for a garden : clay is too hard 

 to work, and if you mix sand with it, it only turns 

 the product into a still more adhesive mortar." — 

 This assertion is true, so far as the ."^and and clay are 

 concerned ; but if you add coarse organic matter to 

 the sand, and avail yourself of the frosts of winter to 

 perfect the mixing, you will soon have a garden, 

 worth two where sand predominates ; Indian corn 

 never suffers from drought on a soil thus prepared. 

 It is with surprise I hear men of experien'-e in gar- 

 dening, denounce nature's choicest calcareous clays, 

 as fit only for a subsoil, to keep the salts of a manured 

 sandy surface from sinking. But abetter experience 

 proves that an alluminous soil, kept loose by fall 

 plowing, long manure, kc, is much better than 

 even a sandy surface with a clay subsoil; and it is as 

 easily tilled, if its mechanical structure is attended 

 to in season. 



Go over an acre of growing Indian corn, planted 

 in a greasy, calcareous cla}', ameliorated by fall or 

 winter plowing, long manure chip dung, and old 

 sward ; the soil between the rows will put you ill 

 mind of the soil in the woods: your feet sink into 

 the mellow compost, whose very fatness would be 

 oppressive to the senses, were it not expending it- 

 self beautifully in the growing crop. Then go over 

 an acre of corn planted on a sandy soil, which has 

 been even well manured: already the external evi- 

 dence of animal manure in the soil is extinct before 

 the crop is half grown; 'tis true that the sand beats 

 the clay the first two weeks of the corn's growth, 

 but now the odds is two to one in favor of the clay. 



Allumina has a great affinity for, and power to re- 

 tain the atmospheric gasses, which it gi^'es off only 

 as required for food to the growing plants. Sand, 

 on the other hand, needs all the quickening alkilies, 

 mineral and vegetable, to render it soluble. Its 

 constant cry is, give, give. S. W. 



Good Influence of Birds. — Birds that come 

 around our houses should be protected. Their in- 

 fluence is good on us and our children. Their 

 hymns go up when we are silent ; they never forget 

 the song of praise and thanksgiving. It is well for 

 us to listen to them, and be humanized by the kind- 

 ly lessons they teach us. Let us not grudge them 

 the little they take from us, but spare them for the 

 sake of those we love best. The child who has 

 watched for the coming of the birds, and has heard 

 the notes of the robin near his chamber window, will 

 feel their influence in after life as a holy remembered 

 thing. No tone of music shall ever fall on his ear 

 like that thrilling song in the dim twilight of early 

 morning. It may strike on his memory when he 

 will need it most, and the scenes and innocence of 

 childhood will come to him again to bear him up.— 

 Encourage this love for these things of nature, ye 

 who would bring up your children in purity and 

 peace. No after-teachings can give such holy feel- 

 ing, and the impressions they make shall never be 

 forgotten . 



The spring has come, and the robin is back again. 

 He has looked at his weather-beaten nest on the 

 apple tree, and finding thut a few repairs will make 

 it good, is now pouring out his song to his old 

 friends ; and, alth nigh he took rather more than his 

 fair share of our cheries, he feel.s that we are glad to 

 see him, and were satisfied to take our pay in sing- 

 ing. 



