VOL. XII. SO. 5fc. 



\N0 HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



Ai 



419 



From the Cultivator. 

 THE CATKRPILL.VK. 



As much complaint is annually made of the 

 ravages of the caterpillar among the farmers' fruit 

 trees, and particularly in apple orchards, I feel de- 

 sirous of rendering some service to the public by 

 furnishing a remedy, which, from actual experi- 

 ment, 1 am satisfied is i ffectual. 



Place a sponge or SVflib made of rags, on the 

 e-nd of a pole, saturate it with lye made from com- 

 mon wood ashes; with this preparation give their 

 nests a thorough washing e rly in the morning 

 before these mischievous animals have gone abroad 1 

 for their food. This will instantly prove fatal to 

 them. Be careful to break the web of the nest 

 because they are so constructed as to shed the 

 rain and dews, the animal will thus escape. Not 

 one of them can live a minute after being wet 

 with this li mid. Yours respectfully, 



David Hudson. 



J. Buel — I see you have an article in the Cul- 

 tivator, directing how to destroy the caterpillar. 



I will s'ate what I know to be a fact, that is, 

 take a pail of soap suds, and with a swab attach- 

 ed to the end of a pole, swab the nest in the morn- 

 ing, and it will kill the worms and destroy the 

 eggs. It is the best remedy 1 ever saw, and the 

 quickest and cheapest. A. Bridges. 



Milford, May 17. 



From the Maine Farmer. 

 SPEAR GRASS. 



During the last season, a writer in your paper 

 gave his brother farmers some very good and 

 practical advice respecting spear grass. He as- 

 serted that it was a worthless' grass, and easily 

 removed, at least for the present in all arable 

 land. From this hint one of my brother farmers 

 informed me. that he set his plough a moving and 

 turned in the worthless stulT, (that would not have 

 Yielded him more than enough per acre to have 

 paid for the labor of mowing,) and sowed his land 

 to oats and peas, and without manure. He pro- 

 cured a very large crop, and in addition he got rid 

 of his spear grass el least for a number of years ; 

 for if he sowed it down to clover it would give a 

 valuable return, and the land thus made to yield a 

 good profit. I write to second the views of the wri- 

 ter above referred to, and to say that his bints 

 have done good ; and as 1 am not one who likes 

 to see a farmer allow land to produce spear grass 

 or any thing which gives him no profit, when it 

 can be avoided at very little expense, and made 

 to return him a handsome income, I hope all 

 our farmers will plough up and destroy this pest, 

 and that they will consider the difference between 

 fencing and paying taxes for land that gives no 

 profit, and the same soil rightly managed and giv- 

 ing a highly profitable crop. We fanners do not 

 calculate enough. 



A Farmer who sometimes uses figures. 



amount of labor, one piece will produce 25 bush- 

 els coin per acre, the other piece will produce 30 

 bushels emu per acre — making a difference (reck- 

 oning corn at the common price) of 5 dollars — 

 sown to gain the different value of the crops on 

 these two pieces will be two dollars per acre — and 

 when laid down to grass mown for six years, the 

 difference as above may be fairly estimated as de- 

 creasing from 2 to 1 dollar per acre. This will 

 give an average difference of 2 dollars per acre 

 for eighty years, a sum which at first glance would 

 seem small and hardly worth the notice of the 

 cultivator. But the question is, what is the dif- 

 ference of value in two pieces of ground ! We 

 cannot conceive the two dollars to be anything 

 else than interest which will make the principal 

 thirty-three dollars, the actual difference per acre 

 between these two piecesof land. If we are right 

 in the above conclusion (and if wrong we would 

 solicit your correction, Mr. Editor,) it will be per- 

 ceived that the relative value of land is far from 

 being justly based, and that farmers should not be 

 afraid of a little expense in clearing and fencing 

 ground, where the soil is good and adapted to cul- 

 tivation. 



From the Maine Farmer. 

 INDIAN CORN. 

 I have long been of the opinion that corn is the 

 most uncertain and expensive crop our farmers at- 

 tempt to raise, and that it would be well if the 

 quantity should be limited to what is wanted for 

 the fattening of their pork. Our seasons are not 

 always sufficiently long to insure its perfection. 

 Its growth, for a time is even more rapid than at 

 the South, but does not all times arrive at maturi- 

 ty before the frost overtakes it. Much may be 

 done to obviate this difficulty. An experiment 

 was tried this season (it may not be a new one) 

 to sprout the corn preparatory to planting; and it 

 was attended with complete success. A hole was 

 dug in the ground where a large heap had been 

 burnt, to where the earth was about blood warm, 

 four quarts of corn was put in ami covered up 

 with the warm earth taken out. The next day it 

 was examined, and found sprouted. On the third 

 day it was uncovered and taken out, bound together 

 in one mass by the sprouts which were from an inch 

 to an inch and a quarter long. In this case it was 

 difficult to get the kernels apart without breaking 

 the sprout, but that might be easily obviated by 

 opening a larger surface to spread the corn in. 1 

 do not know that this has been practised by our 

 farmers ; ifnot it is worth trying. A pile of brush- 

 wood, the pruning of their apple trees, or even the 

 small chips left in the door-yard, which every neat 

 farmer ought to burn, will heat the ground suffi- 

 ciently to try the experiment ; but the case allud- 

 ed to, was where logs had been piled and burnt 

 oft' for the purpose of clearing the land ; of course 

 the ground was heated to a considerable depth. 



MASS. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



An adjourned meeting of the Mass. Hon. Socie- 

 ty was hehl at their room on Saturday, July 5th. 



There being no business before the Society, the 

 sub-committee appointed at a former meeting mode 

 choice of the following committees, to make ar- 

 rangements and preparations for the ensuing ex- 

 hibition : — 



To procure a suitable Hall for Exhibition, I. P. 

 Davis, B. V. French, and J. P. Bradlee. 



To solicit the loan of plants anil flowers — anil 

 to ascertain the kinds and procure a list of aucb 

 as it may be desirable to obtain — fur Boston, I. P. 

 Davis, Geo. W. Pratt, LP. Bradlee, J.G.Joy, Will. 

 E. Payne. — For Cbarlestown, Lynn anil Salem, 

 David Fosdiek, Thos. Mason, A. Houghton, jr. I,. 

 A. Breed, E. Putnam. — For Cambridge, Brighton, 

 Watertown, &c. Jona. Winship, C. M. Hovey, Da- 

 vid Haggerston, John Kenrick, J. W.Russell, Win. 

 Carter. — For Koxbury, Dorchester and vicinity , 

 Sand. Walker, Thos. Brewer, John Lemist, M. i'. 

 Wilder, E. M. Richards, N. Davenport. 



To attend to the financial department, procure 

 tickets, &,c. E. Vose, I. P. Davis, Dr. S. A. Shurtlefl 



To conduct the necessary arrangements for the 

 transoortation of plants, to, and from the place of 

 exhibition, Jona. Winship, Geo. W. Pratt, J. P. 

 Bradlee. 



Adjourned to Saturday, July 12, at 11 o'clock, 

 A. M. Chas. M. Hovey, Sec. pro tern. 



All the members named in the above commit- 

 tees are requested to meet at the Room of the So- 

 ciety on Saturday next, at the hour mentioned in 

 the adjournment ; as a prompt attendance is the 

 only means by which the objects of the committees 

 can be conducted with any effect. 



LAND FOR CULTIVATION. 



Our correspondent in the following communica- 

 tion has touched upon an important subject. It 

 will set farmers to thinking, and we trust lead 

 them to important results. The writer is a prac- 

 tical farmer. We shall be glad to hear from him 

 again. — Portland Courier. 



" We believe that few farmers are fully aware 

 of the importance of selecting the best land for 

 cultivation. We will for example take two pieces 

 of ground — With the same dressing and same 



PYRITES 



Are inflammable substances composed of sul- 

 phur and iron or other metal, abounding probably 

 in many parts of our country which are destitute 

 of gypsum. In Flanders pyrites are used as ma- 

 nure particularly for grass lands, at the rate of 

 about six bushels to the acre ; the stone is suffi- 

 ciently impregnated with sulphur to burn, when 

 dry ; when red with burning the fire is extinguish- 

 ed before it becomes black, and it is then easily 

 reduced to powder. 



EXHIBITION OP FLOWERS. 



Saturday, July 5th, 1S3-1. 



Mr. Samuel Dowser, Dorchester — large speci- 

 men of Greville Rose of various colors and shades 



Mr. Thomas Mason, Cbarlestown Vineyard — 

 Amsonia salicifolia, Papaver warratah, variety of 

 Larkspur, do. Roses, double Ranunculus, Anemo- 

 nes, Delphinium grandiflora, Carnations, Moss 

 roses, Potentilla grandiflora, and a variety of other 

 flowers. 



Mr. J. A. Kenrick, Newton — Lonicera Fraseri 

 and Chinensis, Calycanthus florida, Peeonia fra- 

 grans, Glycine frutescens, Spirea levigata, Mag- 

 nolia glauca, Roses, &.c. 



Messrs. Hovey, Camhridgeport — Bouquet flow- 

 ers, Delphinium, Digitalis, Lychnis, Campanula, 

 Roses, Pinks, .Sec. 



Mr. S. Walker, Roxbury — Multiflora Rose, 

 open culture, and specimens of Various kinds. 



Mr. Wm. Kenrick, Newton — a great variety ol 

 Roses and other flowers. 



Messrs. Winships — variety as usual. 

 By order of the Committee, 



Jona. Winship, Chairman. 



FRUITS EXHIBITED. 



Saturday, July 5lh. 

 Royal Scarlet Strawberries from Messrs. Hovey 

 & Co. — fair quality. 



Black Tartarian Cherries, from Mr. Pond, Cam 

 bridgeport, and D.owuton Strawberries — all fine. 

 For the Committee on Fruit, 



S. A. Shurtleff. 



