NO. 1. 



THE FARMERS CABINET. 



soil is not naturally rich; it is poor, such as 

 we should denominate very poor. It is most- 

 ly a flat, wet, cold, sandy district. Whence 

 then its productiveness? The answer which 

 may be gathered from our notes may allord 

 useful lessons in American husbandry. Its 

 productiveness arises, 



1. From the small size of farms, and keep- 

 ing them constantly in crop; no man attempt- 

 in<r to manasre more than he can manatje 

 well. 



2. From a just estimate of the value of 

 manure, the food of plants, and a judicious 

 husbanding and application of it, fre(|uently 

 for years in succession to the same field. — 

 The urine, sweepings, and other animal and 

 vegetable matters, which we waste or disre- 

 gard, contribute more to the fertility of their 

 soil, than all tlie manure we apply, does to 

 the fertility of our soil. 



3. From a rotation of crops, two of the 

 same kind never following each other, found, 

 from long experience, lobe best fitted to pro- 

 mote the farmers' ultimate profits. 



4. From the extensive introduction of clo- 

 ver and root crops, which meliorate the 

 soil, feed and fatten the farm stock, and make 

 large returns in the form of manure. 



5. From the cutting the forage, and grind- 

 ing the grain, for their cattle, thereby great- 

 ly lessening the expenditure. 



6. From the farmers giving their individu- 

 al attention to their farms; and from their 

 industrious, frugal habits of living. No lum- 

 bering, no fishing, no speculation, no hanker- 

 ing after office. 



In the work under consideration, there 

 is one sentence worth quoting entire, for the 

 good example it holds out to us, viz : " No 

 farmer is without a well cultivated garden, 

 full of the best vegetables, which all appear 

 at his own table." "A beggar is scarcely to 

 be seen, except in the towns, and but few 

 there." 



Manure is an article of commerce; and the 

 demand for it is so great, that every material 

 for it is sought after with avidity, and the 

 towns and pavements are hourly resorted to, 

 with brooms and wheelbarrows, as a source 

 of profit, and even the chips which accumu- 

 late in the formation of wooden shoes, are 

 made to constitute a part of the compost dung 

 heap. Hence the towns and farm buildings 

 are remarkably clean and neat. In winter, 

 cows receive sixty pmmds of turneps, some- 

 times boiled with straw, per diem. 



Destructive lusects. 



Not only thorns and thistles, bnt hosts of 

 noxious insects have been inflicted on dege- 

 nerate man. My attention has beea chiefly 

 •directed against the latter evil. 



The character of some of these insects will 

 be described in treating of my warfare against 

 them. 



The first in my scries, is probably of Ame- 

 rican origin, as in no system of entomology 

 can I find a description of the insect which 

 has proved so destructive to our peach trees. 

 I liave to rely on my own observation for its 

 history and description. It was probably 

 unol.'served by us prior to the present cen- 

 tury. 



In the autumn of 1800, I first saw the fatal 

 malady in the peach trees about Philadelphia; 

 the next year it had reached Burlington, and 

 thence continued its march northward about 

 twelve or fifteen miles a year. In 1807, in a 

 choice collection of fruit of my own, every 

 tree had the premonitory symptoms of the 

 yellows: a few miles north escaped that year. 

 Having made a careful dissection by splitting 

 and barking several trees, I could discover no 

 cause, but ravages of the worms between the 

 hark and wood. Collecting a number of the 

 worms, I confined them in glass and hatched 

 from them the perfect insect; a moth or mil- 

 ler, small in comparison with the worm; 

 white or light grey, with dark spots, wings 

 convolute, like the section of a crow-quill 

 split longitudinally. This phaleua or moth 

 lays its eggs on the leaves of the peach tree; 

 when hatched, the larva or maggot subsists 

 itself first on the leaf, until it has acquired 

 sufficient size and energy to migrate to a 

 more suitable and permanent home for win- 

 ter: this is between the bark and wood of the 

 tree, near the ground. Here it enlarges its 

 domicil; a sickly state of the tree follows, 

 and if they congregate in suflScient numbers to 

 circumvent the tree, certain death is the con- 

 sequence, by intercepting the communication 

 between the root and body of the tree. 



The larva of the peach insect is herbivo- 

 rous, and in this state of existence subsists 

 on the tender lining of the bark; living in a 

 cleanly manner, it deposits all filth outside 

 the door, by the dark powdery appearance of 

 which its abode may be detected. In its 

 chrysoiloid slate, its appearance is smooth and 

 glassy. It frequently happens when seek- 

 ing these worms, a chrysalis very different is 

 found; this is the sirex or tailed wasp, the 

 natural enemy of the peach worm; the sirex 

 is a restless, fidgety insect, resembling the 

 wasp; its young, like that of the other wasps 

 and hornets, is carniverous. It may be ob- 

 served about the neighborhood of the peach 

 worm's habitation, at the door of which it 

 lays its eggs; the product, a worm, creeps 

 into the bowels of the peach worm, feeds on 

 its carcass and occupies its coat. Its chry- 

 salis, unlike that of the peach worm, is rough 



