348 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



THE CRANBERRY WORM. 



This insect has made its appearance within a short 

 period, and in some sections it has been very destruc- 

 tive, destroying the whole crop ; and as it is on the 

 increase, it is apprehended that it will be a serious 

 pest. It is supposed that it will be most destructive 

 on high lands, or those that are of medial elevation, 

 or comparatively dry. I)ea. Fowler handed us some 

 cranberries which he raised on high land, containing 

 these worms, which we sent to Dr. Harris, distin- 

 guish«d as an able entomologist, and he made the 

 following communication, which friend Fowler has 

 handed to us, and which we publish by permission 

 of Dr. Harris. 



Dea. Fowler. Dear Sir : Mr. Cole sent to me, to- 

 day, some cranberries injured by insects, together 

 with your letter, in which you referred them to me. 

 Most of the insects had escaped ; but some of them 

 remained in the cranberries, and these I found to 

 resemble closely the well-known " apple-worms ; " 

 indeed, they do not present any perceptible differ- 

 ence from the latter. The question of their identity, 

 however, can be settled by keeping them till they 

 undergo their transformations. It is a new thing for 

 cranberries to be attacked by apple-worms; or, rather, 

 no instance of the kind has ever before come to my 

 knowledge. The unripe cranberry is not very unlike 

 in its pulp and its flavor to unripe apples, and hence 

 it is not surprising that this fruit, especially when 

 cultivated in dnj situations, should be attacked by 

 such insects as these. It appears to me that apple- 

 worms have very much increased of late, and wc 

 have many more windfalls, and much more Avormy 

 fruit, than I remember to have seen in my boyhood. 

 It was the practice with some farmers, formerly, to 

 gather their wind-fallen apples and make them into 

 cider. Perhaps the discontinuation of this practice 

 has contributed to the increase of the apple-worms. 

 rerha])s cranberry meadows which are wet escape 

 these insects, because the fruit is more or less tiowed 

 or immersed in water at the time when the moth 

 that produces the apple-worms is about laying its 

 eggs. Some have supposed that this moth lays its 

 egj^s in the bhssoms of apples and pears ; but this is 

 not the fact. It does not lay its eggs till the fruit 

 has formed, and it continues to deposit eggs in the 

 fruit for some time afterwards ; though the greater 

 number of eggs are laid while the fruit is very small. 

 If, therefore, it were possible to lay cranberry mead- 

 ows under water, for a short time after the vines were 

 out '>f Jiower, and aftir the fruit was formed, such a 

 course might effectually protect the fruit from attack. 

 Against their attacks on the fruit grown in dry 

 meadows I cannot suggest any preventive. 

 liespectfuUy yours, 



THADDEUS W. HARRIS. 



Cambridge, Mass., ikpt. 3, 1850. 



DISEASES OF ANIMALS. 



Friend Lovctt Peters, Westborough, has commu- 

 nitated to us the following remarks on the diseases 

 of animals, in reference to what he had seen on the 

 sul)ject in the American Veterinarian. Friend P. is 

 in a vigorous old age, after having seen more than 

 fourscore years. He has been a successful farmer, 

 and paid great attention to animals; but while we 

 would claim for him a respectful consideration of his 



new theory in regard to the cud of ruminating ani- 

 mals, we are not prepared to endorse his views. 



Loss of Cud. — I doubt whether a ruminating ani- 

 mal ever lost its cud ; probably no one will demy that 

 every ruminating animal makes its first cud ; then 

 why not another ? 



It is also doubted whether a ruminating animal 

 brings from the stomach to the mouth what has been 

 swallowed, to remasticate it. It seems unreasonable 

 that it should be so, for two reasons : one is, that on 

 examining the contents of an animal's stomach, there 

 will be found whatever the animal has eaten or drank, 

 all mixed up together ; and how can it be separated ? 

 Another reason is, that a pair of oxen well fed in the 

 morning, and worked all the forenoon, and chewing 

 the cud but very little, will eat just as much at noon 

 as if they had chewed the cud the whole forenoon ; 

 and they will go through the same process in the 

 afternoon, — no chewing of the cud, yet all they have 

 eaten is gone. 



Now, I never have believed this notion of animals 

 bringing up from the stomach all that had been 

 eaten, to remasticate, nor the cud, but have supposed 

 there was a secret place of deposit for the cud ; and 

 I find such is the fact, and the place is under the 

 tongue ; and probably a new cud is made when the 

 animal ceases eating. 



Scours in Calves. — Put half a pint or three gills of 

 cider in a bottle ; open a vein in the calf's neck, and 

 let about the same quantity of blood into the bottle as 

 you have of cider ; shake it well together, and give 

 it to the calf. One dose generally effects a cure ; if 

 one does not, a second, with me, always has. 



Tail Sickness. — There is no need of animals ever 

 being tail-sick. My method of managing calves' tails 

 is a complete preventive ; at least it has proved so 

 with me, in a practice of twenty years or more. It 

 will be found, by a careful examination, that every 

 calf has a small spot in the tail, sometimes not more 

 than half an inch in length. By nipping with the 

 thumb, on each side of it, and a little way from the 

 end, it will be found considerably smaller. Cut the 

 tail off at this small place, and if it is rightly cut, 

 the animal will have a beautiful switch, that it can 

 swing over its back much easier than it can those 

 heavy slit tails which some have. There will then 

 be no tail sickness, nor cutting of tails after. 



Horn-Ail. — I believe there is a mistake about the 

 seat of this disease. The opinion of some is, — and 

 mine among the rest, — that the disease is on the liver, 

 and disease appearing in the horns is the effect, not 

 the cause ; and I am confirmed in this opinion by 

 some examinations which I have made after the ani- 

 mal was dead. 



If the seat of the disease is on the liver, then tur- 

 pentine between the horns could do no good, as I 

 have never found it to be. With salt, pepper, and 

 soot, equal parts, given in powder, I have cured 

 many which I believed to have the horn-ail badly. 



For the Neio England Farmer, 

 FRUIT AS FOOD. -GRAFTING. 



Mr. Cole: The importance of fruit- raising, in a 

 pecuniary point of view, is now comparatively well 

 understood by the more intelligent portion of our 

 agriculturists and horticulturists. Many are now 

 devoting much time and capital to its culture — an 

 investment far more lucrative than many other 

 branches of industry. The importance of fruit as 

 an article of diet, however, seems not so generally 

 appreciated. There are a few, indeed, who regard 

 fruits as almost indispensable to health ; but the great 



