u 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



the explications of difficulties, and arguments 

 for the truth may come to the knowledgre of 

 every one, by one way or other." Add to this 

 that our work professes little more than to 

 abridge, compress, and reduce to handy size, 

 the voluminous productions on this important 

 subject; so that it will require neither much 

 expense to purchase, nor time to read." 



It would not comport with our plan or limits, 

 and probably would not be of much use cither 

 to the public, or to the author to give an ana- 

 lytical review of this work. The book is so 

 cheap, that those who have the least desire to 

 become acquainted with its contents may grati- 

 fy their wishes, without injury to the most li- 

 mited finances. And oftentimes a single hint 

 or intimation'in a book of that description may 

 save an intelligent farmer ten times the cost of 

 the ivork. To use the expressions of the book 

 under review, " Nothing but absolute poverty 

 can excuse a man from the purchase of books 

 and attention to study. But the farmer in the 

 middle walks of life, who with his brethren con- 

 stitutes the great body of our population, no 

 matter how numerous his family, if bred astliey 

 should be !o habits of strict economy and indus- 

 try, has leisure to pass without employment in 

 business many of the long winter evenings, and 

 much of the day time, during the same period, 

 in the improvement of his mind. He has the 

 means of purchasing a small collection of books 

 for purposes of the most immediate utility, to 

 serve as a manual for himselfand famih', and to 

 fill up those little interstici.'s of leisure continu- 

 ally occurring, which the poet calls " Catching 

 the transient hour, and impn^ving each moment 

 as it flies." While his more enlarged researches 

 are cheaply and liberally supplied by the well 

 selected public library of the neighbourhood. 

 Books, newspapers, &c. principally devoted to 

 agricultural subjects should occujiy an important 

 share of his attention." 



We ivere, at first looking over the "Farmer's 

 Guide," disposed to be a liule captious with the 

 author for manufacturing bis book, almost alto- 

 gether from ingredients, derived from other 

 works on the same subjects, without intimating 

 the sources from which his information was ob- 

 t.iined. Long passages arc taken for instance, 

 from our paper, many of them wiitlen by the 

 Editor, without acknowledgment, or any intima- 

 tion that the stream which composes a part of 

 Mr. Drown's " Rivulet of Text" had its source 

 in the New England Farmer. But the follow- 

 ing concluding paragraph of the " Farmer's 

 Guide," we are willing to accept as an ample 

 apology for any petty tresspass of this kind. 



" Owing to the numerous sources, whence 

 wp have gleaned the materials for almost eve- 

 ry article, (not less than 80 volumes having 

 been examined in making the compilntion,) \i 

 has not been llinught necessarv to refer to eve 

 ry (uiblication from which extracts have been 

 Saaile. But wo think it proper to observe that 



we have generally used the language of others, 

 whose opinions coincided with our own." 



In tine, we think the " Farmer's Guide" a 

 useful book, and wish its author that success, 

 which usefully directed industry should always 

 meet. But we would suggest, as an improve- 

 ment,should another edition be sent to the press, 

 to merely note at the bottom of each page 

 the titles of the books, &c. from which the as- 

 sertions or statements of the author are derived. 

 This will not greatly enhance his labours, and 

 in case any thing advanced by the author or 

 compiler should prove to be erroneous, it will 

 place the responsibility on those who ought to 

 bear it. 



From the Old Colony Memorial. 



I address this to your paper as the most con- 

 venient mode of meeting the observation of the 

 Editor of the New England Farmer, who.se can 



With due deference to the accuracy and inves- 

 tigation of the Editor of the Farmer, I will sug'- 

 gest, whether these insects, instead of being of 

 the genus aphis, are not the ova, and larvae, of 

 the little ant which is their constant attendant ; 

 and whether she is not rather their nurse than 

 their destroyer. Whatever their connexion or 

 relationship may be, it is admitted they are in- 

 separable companions ; and found most frequent- 

 ly on the tenderest shoots and seedlings, and 

 grafts of the present year, they affect the pear 

 more generally than the apple.* 



I have been greatly annoyed with them for 

 several years jn the nursery, and have always 

 found the ant the precursor ; and that she pre- 

 pares the shelter by wounding the leaf, and 

 causing it to curl, before the lice (whether they 

 be the aphis, or the ova) appear. I have been 

 able to find no remedy so good as the knife, 

 wherever I find them, by the curling of the 

 uppermost leaves, I cut them off and grind them 

 under the foot, which in no wise injures the 

 tree or graft, and has no other eflert than head- 

 dour I doubt not will appreciate the motive of] jng down ; where the growth is exuberant, I 



the writer, which is no other than to promote 

 the cause to which he has devoted his heart, 

 and his discriminating talent. 



In the N. E. Farmer, . I uly 17lh, page 402, 

 Mr. Osgood observes, " Those Lice (as 1 shall 

 call them) I find upon young shoots and grafts 

 of Apple-trees, always accompanied with pis- 

 mires, which sometimes destroy the tender 

 part." 



The Editor observes, those insects are of the 

 Genus Aphis, and are generally known by the 

 name o( plant lice. They are the same which 

 cause what is called honey dew, and the pis- 

 mires which accompanied them, were probably 

 attracted by that sweet substance.* In the 

 same paper, page 40G, is a paragraph headed 

 " another remedy against lice on apple-trees." 



" An intelligent cultivator assures ns, that 

 theie is nothing more effectual against the in- 

 sect which attaches itself to the bark of trees, 

 like a barnacle, &,c. than a strong ley of potash 

 dissolved in water." We ought not to confound 

 two subjects so utterly dissimular in appearance 

 in situation, and in their mosius operandi as 

 these animnlcida , under the same name, while 

 one is attached to the bark of the tree, and ap- 

 pears to be a pnri of tlie tree itself, the other 

 is enclosed in the tenderest leaves »f the latest 

 grouth, and is almost impalpable to the touch.! 



* NOTES BY THE EDITOR. — In assertin? that the Aphi- 

 des " are the fame which cause what is called honey 

 dew,^' we placed reliance on the statements of several 

 writers of rcspectalility, some of whose productions we 

 have quoted in a note on the fu'st page of this day's 

 paper. Dr. Oarwin, however, attributed the honey 

 dew to a di/lereiil source ; and the observations of our 

 correspondent " S." on the same pafje go to confirm the 

 theory of Dr. Darwin. Perhaps the Abbe Boissier, 

 (whose opiiiiun is alluded lo in the note al>ove men- 

 tioned,) is correct in supposini.^ that '^ there are two 

 kinds of hoTici/ di in ; the one ])roduced by transpiration, 

 durint; a sultry heat, from the leaves ol jiai'ticular «rf - 

 nera of trees, while the other is the excrement of the 

 small insect known by the name of puceron or vine 

 fretter," one of the names by whidi the' A])his is 

 distin^uishe-d. 



t We intended to be very can ful " not to confound 

 two subjects HO utterly dissimilar in appearance, in si- 

 tuation, and in their modus opuandi" as the .Aphides, 

 or I'laut Lice, (as tliey are tailed hy Dr. Itets, Dr. 

 Deane, and other wrilur^.) and the " animalculse under 

 the same name," \\liich attach themselves to the bark 

 of trues. Although they are both commonly called 



have rather thought it beneficial than other- 

 wise. 



That the Aphides were the procuring cause 

 of the honey dew, has been for a long time as- 

 sented to, but is now thought questionable ; as 

 the cause is hy no means equal to the effect — 

 that they may, hy perforating the leaves of the 

 Maple, the Birch, or the Walnut, cause them 

 to exude sap similar in sweetness, find on which 

 other insects as well as they, may feed ; and 

 which the bees are thought lo collect for ho- 

 ney, is probable. But the writer of this, as 

 well as others, has seen a forest o( oaks, the 

 upper surface of the leaves of which were cov- 

 ered with honey dew, and in such quantify, 

 that after the sun had dried the leaves, that 

 they were glazed with a substance as pure as 

 honey, and shining as copal varnish. This sub- 

 stance hovvever inexplicable its appearance, 

 could not have been produced from the oaft 

 whose sap is excessively corrosive — and wher- 

 ever the artificial honey dev has been observed 

 it has been small in quantity and on the under 

 side of the leaf, where the insect which causes 

 it is protected from the sun and rain. Yours, P. 



/iff, they have little more resemblance to each other 

 than "chalk lb cheese,"'' or a "horse chesuut to a 

 chi snut horse." If mankind will give the same name 

 lo very different objects, we cannot help it. In order 

 to prevent, as we hoped, the possibility of any error as 

 it respects the kind of insects for whose mischievous 

 efl'ects we pr( posed a remedy, page 40G, vol. 11. of the 

 New England P'arraer, we gave such a definition of 

 the 'animalcula;,' which attach themselves to the lark 

 of apple trees," &c. that it would seem as difficult lo 

 " confound" them with the .Aphides as to mistake a 

 mouse for a mammoth, because they may both come 

 under the general denomination of animals. 



* " .\nt eggs is a name populurly given to a kind of 

 little white balls Ibund in the banks of nests of ants, 

 ordinarily supposed to be the ova [eggs] of this insect. 

 These are not properly the eggs of ants, but (he young, 

 brood in tluir incipitnt state, when tluy appear like 

 vcrmieUs, or little worms, wrapped up in a film or 

 skin, composed of a sort of silk, which thty spin out 

 of themselves in the manner of silk worms and cater- 

 pillars." — Ktes C'yclopidia. 



MR. dixon's steam APPARATUS. In oup papcp 

 of the 21st of February last, vol. ii. page 238^ 

 we took notice of some newly invented machi- 

 nery, by Mr. Joseph Dixon, of Lynn, Mass, for 



