CUT-WORM. 



show that the farmer is a great gainer by the 

 outlay. 



Mr. Deane once prevented the depredations 

 of cut-worms in his garden by manuring the 

 soil with sea-mud. The plants generally es- 

 caped, although every one was cut off in a 

 spot of ground contiguous. He acknowledges, 

 hpwever, that the most effectual remedy, even 

 in field culture, is to go round every morning 

 and open the earth at the foot of the plant, 

 where, if present, the worm will be found at 

 the root, within four inches of the surface. 

 Mr. Preston of Stockport, Pennsylvania, pro- 

 tected his cabbage-plants by wrapping a hickory 

 or walnut leaf around the stem between the 

 root and leaves before planting. A piece of 

 rag would answer equally well ; but care must 

 be taken to remove any such bandage when 

 the plant has attained a size to resist the at- 

 tacks of worms. Paper has been successfully 

 used for this purpose by Mr. Fiske of Massa- 

 chusetts. 



Salt is known to be highly obnoxious to 

 naked worms and caterpillars. Some farmers 

 have found great protection from the depreda- 

 tions of these by mixing salt with the manure 

 put upon the ground as mentioned by Mr. 

 Colman in his " Third Report," where, how- 

 ever, no definite proportion is stated. Some 

 Pennsylvania farmers place the greatest reli- 

 ance in a mixture of equal parts of salt, ashes, 

 and plaster of Paris, about a gill of which mix- 

 ture is applied on each corn hill. The experi- 

 ment has been tried on alternate rows which 

 were exempt from the attacks of worms, whilst 

 the rows to which no application was made 

 suffered greatly. The plaster might probably 

 be dispensed with. 



Dr. Harris describes another naked caterpil- 

 lar which is often found to be injurious to cab- 

 bages, cauliflowers, spinach, beets, and other 

 garden vegetables with succulent leaves. It 

 does not conceal itself in the ground, but lives 

 exposed on the leaves of the plants which it 

 devours. It is of a light yellow colour, with 

 three, broad, longitudinal, yellow stripes, one 

 on each side, and the third on the top of the 

 back ; and the head and feet are tawny. Dr. 

 Melsheimer calls it the zebra-caterpillar, on 

 account of its stripes. It comes to its full size 

 in Massachusetts in September, and then mea- 

 sures about two inches in length. Early in Oc- 

 tober it leaves off eating, goes into the ground, 

 changes to a shining brown chrysalis, and is 

 transformed to a moth about the first of June. 

 It is probable that there are two broods of this 

 kind of caterpillar every summer, in some, if 

 not all, parts of this country ; for Dr. Mel- 

 sheimer says that it appears in Pennsylvania in 

 June, goes into the ground and is changed to a 

 chrysalis towards the end of June or the be- 

 ginning of July, and comes forth in the moth 

 state near the end of August. The moth may 

 be called Mamestra picta, the painted Mamestra, 

 in allusion both to the beautiful tints of the ca- 

 terpillar, and to the softly blended shades of 

 dark and light brown with which the fore- 

 wings of the moth are coloured. It is of a 

 light brown colour, shaded with purple brown ; 

 the ordinary spots on the fore-wings, with a 

 third oval spot behind the round one, are edged 

 382 



CYPERUS. 



with gray ; and there is a transverse zigzag 

 gray line, forming a distinct W in the middle,, 

 near the outer hind margin. The hind-win^ 

 are white, and faintly edged with brown around 

 the tip. It is evident that this insect cannot be 

 included in either of the foregoing groups of 

 the owlet-moths. It belongs to a distinct fa- 

 mily, which may be called Mamcstrailce, or 

 Mamestrians. The caterpillars in this group 

 are generally distinguished by their bright co- 

 lours; they live m.o re or less exposed on the 

 leaves of plants, and transform in the ground. 

 The moths fly by night only; most of them 

 have the thorax slightly crested ; and they are 

 easily known by the zigzag line, near the outer 

 hind margin of the fore-wings, forming a W or 

 M in the middle. 



As the caterpillar of the painted Mamestra 

 does not seek concealment, it may easily be 

 found, and destroyed by hand." (Harris.) 

 See GRUBS, WIRE-WORMS, SPIXDLE or BUD 

 WORSTS. 



CUTTING. When a horse cuts or wounds 

 one leg with the opposite foot. The best re- 

 medy is to put on the cutting foot a shoe of 

 even thickness from heel to toe, not projecting 

 in the slightest degree beyond the crusp, and 

 the crusp itself to be rasped a little at the 

 quarters. This shoe should only have one nail 

 on the inside, and that almost close to the 

 toe. (Lib. Useful Know., THE HORSE, pp. 252, 

 341.) 



CYDER. See CIDER. 



CYNOSURUS. The dog's tail grass, from 

 x.uu>v, a dog, and //>*, a tail. There are three 

 commonly known varieties of this grass in 

 England, and two in the United States. One 

 of which was found by Mr. Nuttall in the plains 

 of Missouri. Very little value is attached to 

 this grass by the American farmer. 



Cynosurus cristatus. Crested dog's tail grass. 

 PI. 6,/. This is an excellent sheep grass. Sin- 

 clair found the produce per acre, from a brown 

 loam with manure, at the time of flowering, to 

 be 6125 Ibs., containing nutritive matter 406 

 Ibs. He says of it, "In all the most celebrated 

 pastures, which I have examined, it constituted 

 a very considerable portion of the produce." 



Cynosurus crucatformis. Linear-spiked dog's 

 tail grass, flourishes best on a rich deep loam; 

 next best on a clayey loam ; in which soil 

 Sinclair obtained of this grass, when in flower, 

 6806 Ibs. per acre, containing nutritive matter 

 365 Ibs. 



Cynosurus echinatus. Rough dog's tail grass. 

 It is a scarce, and an inferior grass. When in 

 bloom, it yielded Sinclair per acre from a 

 sandy loam 5445 Ibs., containing of nutritive 

 matter 191 Ibs. (Papon's Eot. Diet. ; Sinclair's 

 Hort. Gram. Wob.) 



CYPERUS (Cyprus-grass). This is a natu- 

 ral order, embracing some of the sedge tribe 

 somewhat allied to grasses. The stems are 

 either solid or filled with a spongy pith-like 

 substance, generally without joints, or nodes, 

 tapering, cylindric, or angular (often triangu- 

 lar), and the sheaths of the leaves which em- 

 brace the stem are not slit, but entire. The 

 roots of some species of cyperusses possess 

 an aromatic odour, especially those of the C. 

 longus. A few others produce tubers said to 



