THE GENESEE FARMER. 



299 



WIKE WORMS IN WHEAT. 



Wiee Worms are not as destructive to wheat in 

 this country as in England, owing, probably, to 

 the severity of our winters. Occasionally, how- 

 ever, they do considerable damage to our winter 

 wheat. 



The true wire 

 worms are the off- 

 spring of the click- 

 beetles (Elateridce), 

 commonly known in 

 this country as 

 " snapping bugs." 

 They lay their eggs 

 in the soil, where 

 they hatch and be- 

 come larvaj or wire 

 worms. These 

 worms eat into the 

 stem of the young 

 plant just above the 

 root, as it rises from 

 the ground, and de- 

 stroy it. At the ap- 

 proach o f winter 

 they bury them- 



1 Wire Worm, 2. Wire Worm At 

 tacking Young Wheat Plant. 



selves deep in the ground, as they cannot support 

 much cold or much drouth. 



Many remedies have been suggested to counter- 

 act the damage they inflict on our crops. Among 

 the most popular in this country is to sow buck- 

 wheat on the land infected with them. If sown 

 two years in succession, no doubt this is efficacious* 

 and even one crop will do some good. 



Plowing the land deep late in the fall, and thus 

 turning them up to the frost, will destroy many of 

 them. 



To destroy them while they are attacking the 

 wheat is not an easy task. In England, salt is 

 sometime sown on the parts of the field most 

 affected. We have heard of instances where it 

 was thought to have done good ; but as a general 

 rule it is not effective. Rolling the crop, especially 

 with a grooved roller, is thought to obstruct their 

 ready passage through the soil and thus force them 

 to the surface, where they are more likely to be 

 destroyed. Dropping slices of potatoes or turnips 

 on the land is sometimes resorted to. The worms 

 feed on the slices, which are picked np and car- 

 ried awav. 



WINE MAKING. 



All fattening animals should be fed with re<m 

 larity, enough, but not too much. 



John E. Mottier, a well-known vintner, of Cin- 

 cinnati, Ohio, writes as follows in the last Horti- 

 culturist : 



In order to make good wine it is necessary to 

 have a good cellar, clean casks, press, etc. First of 

 all, have your grapes well ripened ; gather them in 

 dry weather, and pick out carefully all the unripe 

 berries, and all the dried and damaged ones ; then 

 mash and grind them with a mill, if you have a 

 proper mill for the purpose. Be careful not to set 

 your mill so close as to mash the seed, for they will 

 give a bad taste to the wine. If you wish to have 

 wine of a rose color, let the grapes remain in a 

 large tub a few hours before pressing. The longer 

 time you leave the grapes before pressing after 

 they are mashed, the more color the wine will 

 have. 



For pressing the grapes, any press will answer, 

 provided it is kept clean and sweet. 



After you have collected the must in a clean tub 

 from the press, have it transferred into the cask in 

 the cellar. Fill the cask within ten inches of the 

 bung ; then place one end of a siphon, made for 

 that purpose, in the bung, and fix it air tight ; the 

 other end must be placed in a bucket containing 

 cold water. The gas then passes off from the cask 

 without the air coming in contact with the wine, 

 which would destroy that fine grape flavor which 

 makes our Catawba so celebrated. When properly 

 made, the must will undergo fermentation. Keep 

 the end of the siphon that is in the water fully four 

 inches deep, so as to exclude the air from the wine. 

 When it has fermented, which will be. in fifteen 

 days, fill the cask with the same kind of wine and 

 bung it loosely for one week ; then make it tight. 

 Nothing more is needed till it is clear, which, if all 

 is right, will be in January or February next. 

 Then, if perfectly clear, rack it off into another 

 clean cask, and bung it up tightly till wanted. If 

 the wine remains in the cask till fall, about Novem- 

 ber, it will improve by racking it again. ' Be sure 

 to always have sweet, clean casks. Do not burn 

 too much brimstone in the cask ; I have seen much 

 wine injured by excessive use of brimstone, gen- 

 erally by new beginners. For my part, I make 

 little use of it. 



You can make different qualities of wine with 

 the same grape by separating the different runs of 

 the same pressing. The first run is the finest, if 

 you want to make use of it the first season ; but 

 it will not keep long without losing its fine 

 qualities. 



To make good sound wine that will improve by 

 age, the plan is to mix all up together. The very 

 last run will make it rough, but it will have better 

 body and better flavor when two or three years 

 old, and will improve for a number of years. The 

 first run will not be good after two or three years. 

 I have fully tested the different ways of making 

 and keeping wine these last twenty-five years. 



The London Florist, for August, has a very 

 beautiful illustration of two Chinese Primroses. 

 One is Rubra grandifiara, and the other Delicate. 

 They are double, and have the property of reprOj 

 ducing themselves from seed. 



