1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARIMER. 



367 



liarly southern species, — ranging from the 

 Middle States south, and unknown in New 

 England. In some {ilafes it utterly ruins the 

 crops. So far as known it infests only the 

 potato plant. 



The potato, or tomato worm {Sphinx macu- 

 lata,) is well known to tobacco growers as the 

 tobacco worm, and moth, and needs nothing 

 fur her explanatory. 



The striped Blister beetle (Lytta vitata) 

 follows. Four varieties are mentioned as be- 

 longing to the Lytta family. They are only 

 dcstrucUve of the foliage of the plant in their 

 perfect winged state, living and feeding on 

 various roots, under ground, in their larva 

 state. They belong to the same family as the 

 Spanish tly, and will raise just as good blisters 

 as that does, and are equally poisonous taken 

 internally in large doses. The striped blister 

 beetle is almost exclusively a southern species, 

 occuring some years very abundantly. This 

 beetle is said to take all other varieties of po- 

 tatoes in preference, to the Peachblow, and 

 may be destroyed by driving them off the vines 

 with a bush, placing hay or straw between the 

 rows in which they will seek to hide, and burn- 

 ing them. 



We have next the Ash-gray blister beetle, 

 {Lytta Cinerea.) It is found more commonly 

 in the northern part of the northern States. 

 It attacks not only the potato, but honey 

 locust, and English or Windsor beans. It has 

 been known to swarm upon every apple tree 

 of a small orchard in northern Illinois, eating 

 the foliage and gnawing the young apples. 



Next is the Black Rat blister beetle, (Lytta 

 Murita,) which is often mistaken for the black 

 blister beetle, {Lytta Afrata) from which it 

 d^ers only in having four raised lines placea 

 lengthwise upon each wing-case, and by the 

 two first joints of the antenna? being greatly 

 dilated and lengthened in the males. 



The ^largined blister beetle, {Lytta Mar- 

 ginata} is a species easily recognized by its 

 general black color, and the narrow ashgr^y 

 edging to its wing. It usually feeds on t-er- 

 certain wild plants ; but in Wisconsin and 

 Illinois it has been known to feed on the pota- 

 to vine, and been taken in company with the 

 striped blister beetle, and iy known to be in- 

 creasing on the potato. 



These are only a portion of the many varie- 

 ties of "potato bugs," but the list is believed 

 to embrace the most injurious of them. A 

 knowledge of these varieties, of their manner 

 of breeding, and of their habits will aid ma- 

 terially in furnishing data which shall be of 

 service in planning more efficient means for 

 their extermination. 



Corn or Witch Grass Land — The land 

 ■where I raise my corn is full of witch-grass. I 

 plough in August six inches deep, harrow two 

 or three times in the fall when it is dry ; cross 

 plough late in the fall two inches deeper, and 



let it lay up to the action of the frost during 

 the Winter ; harrow down in the spring ; plough 

 ten inches deep ; harrow ; furrow deep ; dress 

 with a shovelful of barn dressing and a spoon- 

 ful of phospLate of lime to the hill. I have 

 killed the witch-grass so that it takes less time 

 to cultivate the crop properly than it would 

 with one ploughing. The land is in fine tilth, 

 stands the drought better and produces a much 

 better crop ; the ground is in better order for 

 grain, and grass seed catches better and is not 

 choked out by the roots of the witch-gr;/ss. 

 I planted ten acres of corn last year on inter- 

 val, with beans between the hills, and raised 

 three hundred and sixty-two bushels of ears — 

 handsome, sound corn as I ever saw. — Louis 

 Simpson, 2d, of Brunswick, in Maine Far- 

 mer. 



KAISB THE BEST CALVES. 

 We find the following article by our val- 

 ued correspondent, A. W. Cheever, Esq., of 

 Sheldonville, Mass., in the Oermantown Tele- 

 graph : — 



I do not propose to have all the calves 

 raised, but with the present high prices of 

 good cows, it seems injudicious to let good 

 heifer calves go to the butcher. I know a 

 twenty-dollar bill is a temptation to let a good 

 calf go. I could get that price for one now 

 on hand at eight weeks old. I shall not sell 

 her. She drinks well and eats very like an 

 ox. I bought her at four weeks old, let her 

 go without one meal to give her an appetite, 

 then carried her some new milk in a clean 

 pail, wet my finger in the milk, put it in her 

 mouth and gradually coaxed her head down 

 to the railk. She soon learned where the 

 milk came from, and in a few days would 

 drini as well as I could wish. She now has 

 wLat sweet skimmed milk she will drink, twice 

 a day. It is warmed nearly to blood-heat. 

 Cold milk is sure to give the scours to a 

 young calf. I intend to feed her milk several 

 months and keep her constantly growing and 

 healthy. I give her a lock of hay when 1 feed 

 the other cattle, and give her some exercise 

 in the yard with the dry cows. 



I have raised all my best heifer calves for 

 the last five years, and am getting a good 

 stock of well-behaved cows, much more quiet 

 and orderly than those I formerly picked up 

 in the neii^hborhood. 



I find my heifers are as large at two years 

 as most of those I see are at three. I have 

 them come in about two years. But to have 

 heifers that jou will be proud to show your 

 friends, you must not let them get any check 

 in their growth. It will not do to let them 

 out to pasture to shift for themselves in the 

 hot suns of summer or the cold storms of au- 

 tumn. I'hey ought to have milk till six 

 months old, and a little meal may be added 

 gradually. They ought to learn to eat meal 



