1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



841 



has ever cultivated even a garden patch of cab- 

 bage without feeling the need of a better knowl- 

 edge of the nature and habits of the worms and 

 lice and bugs which so often claim the lion's share 

 of our harvest ? Where can a better argument for 

 agricultural colleges be found, — we put the ques- 

 tion in all seriousness, — than in a cabbage head ? 

 Insects cause its roots to "club ;" its stem is sawn 

 off by the cut worm, or destroyed by the "weevil ;" 

 its leaves are wilted by innumerable lice, and now, 

 as our correspondent says, the progeny of a white 

 butterfly destroys the head ! And the question is 

 for a remedy'. "Who can answer it ? Mr. Hender- 

 son, in his "Gardening for Profit," a little book 

 which we take much pleasure in recommending as 

 giving the experience of a practical and successful 

 gardener, says that on a strip of land near the ocean, 

 which is filled with oyster shells, cabbages have 

 been grown year after year for twenty years or 

 more, and though manured with hog manure, and 

 everything else, and though the soil be dry or wet, 

 no club-root has ever yet been seen there; while 

 on a diflferent soil, not more than a mile distant, 

 where ground is cultivated in the best possible 

 manner, it is impossible to get a crop of cauliflower 

 or cabbage clear from club-foot for two years in 

 succession. He infers that the "Communipaw 

 shore," as the oyster-shell land is called, contains 

 so much lime as to make it fatid to insects. Hence 

 he recommends the application of lime, particularly 

 in the form of ground bone, which he applied after 

 ploughing, at the rate of 2000 pounds per acre, and 

 harrowed in. The experiment, he adds, was 

 rather costly, but on the whole satisfactory. 



A correspondent of the Concord, N. H., States- 

 man says that some ten years ago, while visiting 

 the farm of the Insane A?ylum of that State, he 

 was much interested by a field of some three thou- 

 sand cabbages, the largest and best he had ever 

 seen, while on his own farm the crop had to be 

 abandoned on account of club-foot. He was in- 

 formed that the manure for cabbages at that insti- 

 tution received all the beef and pork brine and 

 waste salt of the institution, amounting to many 

 barrels each year ; and since they had made use 

 of the salted manure they had not failed to raise 

 extra large crops, which for years had taken the 

 lead of all others at the New Hampshire State and 

 county fairs. 



To avoid the cut-worm, plant on new ground, 

 and a correspondent of the Country Gentleman 

 says, open the hills as for potatoes ; put in a shov- 

 elful of night soil and dry muck, or any good com- 

 post of manure, except hog manure, cover slightly 

 and on this sow a dozen or more seeds, so as to 

 have some plants for an occasional enemy, and 

 gradually thin out to one or two plants in a hill. 

 Hoe often night and morning when the dew is on, 

 and sift on ashes and plaster to help keep away 

 bugs, &c. 



In this connection we print the following valua- 

 ble communication, just received: — 



THE CABBAGE WEEVIL. 



When I sent my communication concerning the 

 onion worm, I promised if it was worthy a place 

 in the Farmer, I would give more of my experi- 

 ence. I otten see the inquiry in the papers, What 

 will destroy the cabbage weevil ? Nothing will 

 destroy it, without destroying the plant. It is the 

 off>pring of a fly, and is the onion maggot. 



Butterflies or millers produce nearly all the in- 

 sects that are such a pest to the farmer and gar- 

 dener. I once placed a caterpillar with yellow 

 middle and black ends, under a glass, and at the 

 same time I placed one with red middle and black 

 ends under another glass. The first produced five 

 flies or millers which proved to be the veritable 

 onion fly, the other one produced four flies or mil- 

 lers of about the same size of a yellowish brown 

 color. 



Suspecting that I had found the author of the 

 cabbage weevil, I visited my garden early a few 

 mornings and caught the creatures at their work. 

 I immedi^itely hoed my caljbage and put a handful 

 of wood ashes around each plant. I was on the 

 right track. In a short time my plants where the 

 fty had been at work, began to wilt. I took a 

 shovel and removed a shovelful of earth where the 

 plants stood, carried it away, and replaced it with 

 other earth, and set my plants and put ashes 

 around them. I had conquered. Some may in- 

 quire what time I put on the ashes. About the 

 thiid or fourth time I hoe, and again the next hoe- 

 ing; no matter how many times, ashes are a good 

 fertilizer. Try it gardeners. I have not been 

 troubled since I found out the author of the weevil. 



Chelsea, Vt., 1869. 0. HoTT. 



We are aware that all this does not answer Mr. 

 Sowlee' question, and we confess that we are not 

 able to answer it.* Who is ? 



A GOOD BARN. 



I want to build me a barn which will contain 

 forty tons of hay and accommodate twenty head 

 of cattle and two horses. 



Will you or some of your correspondents give 

 me soa^e plans for such a b irn. I want one that 

 will not cost more than ^1500, and should rather 

 build one tor $(1000 or $1200, if for that money I 

 (>ould build one that would answer my purpose. 



You know, Mr. Editor, that a gi)oJ convenient 

 barn is a vLry useful apptndag? to a farm, and 

 hoping I never shall have occasion to build but; 

 one, I want to consult a number of plans and try 

 to suit myself the first time. 



A Young Farmer. 



Alfred, Me., May 4, 1869. 



Remarks. — These fictitious signatures are very 

 inconvenient, as well as improper. The rule of 

 Editors not to take apy notice of a communication 

 without a responsible name, ought to be enforced 

 in every case, and we have nearly made up our 

 minds to throw every one of the kind directly into 

 the waste basket. If requested to do so, we will 

 withhold the name from pul)lication ; but it should 

 always be given, if not as a signature, as a guar- 

 antee of good faith on the part of the writer. But 

 farmers are so exceedingly modest! If "Young 

 Farmer" had sent us his address we would have 

 forwarded him one or two plans which we have 

 published. That in the Weekly Farmer of Feb- 

 ruary 6, Monthly, page 148, we consider a very 

 good one. Our neighbor, Mr. J. Bent, of Concord, 

 Mass., has one constructed on that plan. The 



