1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



475 



ard, this year, that will bear as much as twenty 

 bushels of marketable apples each. I've been of- 

 fered three hundred dollars for my apple crop 

 this year, with the privilege of reserving what I 

 want for family use." 



"Du tell ! three hunderd dollars!" 

 "Yes, and I think that that will pay pretty 

 well for agricultural books and papers for a 

 spell, and for all the time spent in reading them, 

 too, for if it hadn't been for them, I should have 

 been as ignorant of what ailed the apple trees 

 as you were, and mine would have gone the 

 same way, too. Now I've got some trees that 

 Vt'ill bring in, one year with another, as much 

 clear income as two hundred dollars would at 

 interest, and I'm not afraid of my income's be- 

 ing cut off by the failure of all the banks and 

 railroad companies in the country." 



"Hang these 'ere companies ! I've lost suthin' 

 {jy 'uni fust and last, but they wont git no more 

 of ray money, for if times don't change, I shan't 

 have much left I tell ye what, neighbor Gil- 

 man, I guess I shall go to work and take care of 

 my trees, and kill off them 'ere borers. We'll 

 go up to the house, and I'll git ye the money." 



[It appears by the above that Mr. HoE has 

 not lioed his roio out yet, and as the work is very 

 well done as far as he has gone, we hope he will 

 be diligent in well doing until the job is fairly 

 completed,] 



Ffir tlie New £ngl<cnd Farmer. 

 A NEW FKTJIT TREE PBOTECTOB. 



An invention has lately been brought into 

 notice by Wm. W. Taylor, Esq., of South Dart- 

 mouth, which bids fair to supply the want of 

 what all tree and fruit cultivators have most 

 sensibly felt the need of, namely, a reliable pro- 

 tector from the ravages of the canker worm and 

 other destructive insects, of which there are in 

 Massachusetts alone, according to Dr. Harris, no 

 less than 4800 species. 



This invention consists of a circular iron cup 

 cast in two semicircular sections, with flanger and 

 screws so moulded as to be perfectly water-tight 

 when joined together. Between the cup and the 

 tree a packing of sea-weed, straw, or any other 

 suitable material, is placed sufficiently tight to 

 prevent the passage of insects. An umbrella-like 

 screen is suspended about two inches above the 

 cup, which prevents the accidental lodgment of 

 leaves. The cup is then filled with bitter water 

 which will not freeze in the coldest winter, and 

 being deliquescent, will not evaporate. This circle 

 of bitter water ai-ound the tree is an impassable 

 barrier to every insect. A friend of mine invited 

 me a few days since to drive over and see the 

 operation of these cups in his orchard. I was 

 surprised to find that though the cups had been 

 placed on the trees only a few hours, that they 

 xvere half filled with canker worms and other 

 geometrte, and any quantity of aphides. 



Some of these worms appeared to be pretty 

 sensible fellows in the main, for great numbers 

 having climbed to the edge of this gulf of dis- 

 truction, had wisely adopted the policy of a 

 vicf^terhj inactivity, and had gone into winter 

 quarters ; hoping, perhaps, like INIicawber, that 

 something would turn up in the spring ; and they 



had wisely suspended themselves in cocoons, like 

 so many barnacles, on the iron cup and trunk 

 immediately beneath. There they hung like so 

 many monuments of misguided ambition. Now 

 when these hatch, the young having no nourish- 

 ment, must die of famine. The canker worm, 

 which is the especial pest of our northern orch- 

 ards, ascends the tree in the fall, and during 

 the mild spell of a moderate winter, and laying 

 al)out sixty eggs, drops into the ground and dies. 

 This new swai-ra hatches in due time, and when 

 it is too late to apply a remedy, the farmer finds 

 his orchards blighted, and his hopes of a good 

 fruit season destroyed. 



This invention of Captain Taylor completely 

 heads them off, as these cups of dead worms and 

 cocoons beneath show, and if applied in the early 

 fall, they act as an efficient insurance against 

 their insidious attacks. Many farmers in this 

 vicinity have tried it, and are thus far more than 

 satisfied with the result. Look out for a large 

 fruit crop from old Dartmouth next year. 



New Bedford, 1858. Agricola. 



URINE. 



Some years since, an experiment was made in 

 Flanders, which went far towards ascertaining 

 the value of urine when applied as a stimulant of 

 vegetable life. A box of fine, white sand was 

 exposed to a heat sufficiently intense to dissipate 

 its moisture, and thoroughly to destroy every 

 particle of organized matter it contained. It was 

 then placed in a dry situation, and some seeds of 

 Egyptian wheat being planted in it, the whole 

 mass was saturated with urine in a state of in- 

 cipient putridity. The result of this experiment 

 was that the wheat vegetated, grew rapidly 

 through the season, and in autumn, rather before 

 the maturation of the same grain in the open 

 fields, produced a heavy yield of fine and perfect- 

 Ij- developed grain. 



Of cow's urine, according to analysis of Brande, 

 contains in 100 parts : 



Hydrochlorate of potass and ammonia 1.5 



Sulphate of potass 0.6 



Carbonate of potass 0.4 



Phosphate of lime 0.3 



Urea 4 



Water 96 8 



100.0 



Urine of the horse, analyzed by Vauquelin, 

 gave : 



Hydrochlorate of potass and ammonia 1.5 



Sulphate of potass 0.6 



Carhonate of potass 4 



Phosphate of lime 0.3 



Urea 0.4 



Water 96.8 



]\Iost farmers are now so well convinced of the 

 value of liquid manure, that they take more pains 

 than formerly to preserve it. They have not only 

 placed cellars under their barns, where it falls, 

 when dropt, upon meadow muck, saw dust, loam, 

 refuse hay, leaves, or other matter, where it is 

 soon absorbed and saved from evaporation, — but 



