]NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



TuBLlsmrirH"\^Tru.ur^TcH01>r ROGERS' lil 1 1 I.uTnGS, C0.\G REtfS STKKET, (FOURTH DOOR FltOM STATE ST1!P-.ET.> 



Vol. H. 



BOSTON, SATURDAY, JUNE 2G, 1824. 



No. 48. 



©orrcs^joirtrncr. 



LICE ON Ain'EE TREES. 

 To the Editor of the Xtic England Farmer, 



Sir, — In your paper, Vol. ii. No. ! 4. 1 saw 

 gome inquiries respecting Lice on Apple Trees. 

 Upwards of thirty years .igo, I sowed a nursery. 

 and when nearly of size for setting- out, tliey 



after they aro di^seitcJ by tlieir tenants 

 perceive no reason why hot watennay not prove as fa- 

 tal to them as scorehinj them by lire, and the hot wa- 

 ter may be applied without taking- up the tree, and we 

 i should think with less risk of injuring it. Butperhaps 

 ere attacked "by those lice, the first I liad ! the persevering application of white wash composed of 

 ever seen. 1 was surprised to tiiul they wore .i quick lime and water, may be as grood a remedy as any 

 living insect, I scraped off abundance, but ihey |(jiscovered. See New England Farmer, vol. ii. page 

 increased for three years, and covered the hmbs'35g_ 



to the ends of the Uvigs that scraping or rub- v^»~ 



bing with corn cobs was no longer of service./ CATERPILLARS. 



fo^ind no washes that would check Ihe'iv Ui- To the Editor of the jXiW England Farmer, 

 crease, and I tried them with lire and found the Sir, — We farmcis are indebted tq y©u and 

 following mode effectual. — I dug up sucK .t?| your correspondents for much valuable informa- 

 ere of size to set out, made fires of straw lit jijon, from time to time ; but occasionally we 

 ler or dry leaves and drew them quickly ihro j^^g sadiv hoaxed by some schemers, who never 

 the blaze ; turning them round so as to scorch 

 he lice, and not injure the bark. After setting 



of their leaving the tree, which would seem to be from I small, 1 couid have annihilated them in on.- 

 about the 25th of May to the 5th of July. Burning or j quarter of the time, with the brush invented 

 soaldingthehabitationsoflheinsectscanbeof noavail by the v,cnerable Pickering, to whom all far- 



But we can ' niers are much indebted. 



hem out they flourished very well, and no more 

 lice appeared on them, and about the fourth 

 leason they all fell off by the course of nature, 

 ind I have not seen any since. They are peri- 

 tdieal, and may perhaps like the locust appear 

 •gain at some future day. They killed and in- 

 ured abundance of trees ; such as died appc.ir- 

 ;d to be black and defective at the heart ; such 

 ts survived grew over with moss, that I foiinJ 

 lecessary to scrape off. 

 Since which time 1 have been informed by i 

 entleman of observation that he readily clenf- 

 d them all off' his trees by cutting or poaliv< 

 p a small piece of bark and putting uncler it 



held or drove a plough. This ought not to be, 

 for the other day one of my neighbors refused 

 to subscribe for your paper, because he had 

 once read in print, that the best way to make a 

 ditch on hilly land, was to begin at the top. 



Last summer you published George Webster's 

 communication to the Board of Agriculture of 

 the State of New York, on destroying caterpil- 

 lars with sulphur. George told his story so 

 well, that I was half inclined to think it true ; 

 but fearing 1 might injure a tree by boring in- 

 to it, I concluded to test satisfied with Pick- 

 ering's brush, which I had always found effectu 

 al, until I should hear more about the sulphur 

 method. On reading your paper of the 5th 

 current, now, thinks I to myself, it must 



A BROOKLINE FARMER 



June 22, li!24. 



BY THE r.DiTOB. One of the advantagrs, whicli it it 

 hoped will accrue to the agricult«ial comrauniiy by 

 the publication and circulation of an agricultural news- 

 paper consists in the facility, which it affords of contra- 

 dicting and refuting erroneous opinions, which may 

 have been generally or partially diffused, with regard 

 to Agriculture and Rural Economy. We always enter- 

 tained, and have several times expressed, doubts re- 

 specting the efficacy of sulphur, applied in the manner 

 above adverted to, as a preservative against the cater- 

 pillar. But w^c wished the experiment might be made, 

 so that we might oppose matter of fact to what appear- 

 ed impossible in theory. It is oftentimes useful to lay 

 before the public .an account of experiments, which 

 have not succeeded, as it prevents useless, but trouble- 

 some and ej^pensive repetitions. We think that the 

 well written article by Dr. Thacher, published in our 

 last paper, page 370, together with the above pal-in- 

 point remarks of " A Brookline Farmer"' will prevent 

 farmers from placing any confidence in a remedy, which 

 notwithstanding plausible statements and respectable 

 authority, it now seems, will not endure the test of ac- 

 tual experiment. 



Imall quantity of quicksilver or strong 'mircKraiii be true that sulphur -.vill kill worms on trees. 



intmenl. Since hearing of the above remedy 

 here are no lice here to try the experiment. 

 At all events they are a very pernicious in- 

 ct, not described by naturalists. They must 

 ome naturally out of the earth, for the ground 

 fray nursery was new, never had apple trees 

 in it before. Their continuance here was four 

 3asons, and they all disappeared about twenty 

 ears ago. Such trees as I scorched in a blaze 

 if fire flourish and do well. Such as survived 

 ithout fire, are defective, slow of growth, ane/ 

 lOl worth cumbering the ground. 



SAMUEL PRESTON 

 Stockport, Pa. June 10, 182-i. 

 EV THE EDITOR. It has been asserted that water, 

 aiding hot, applied to trees infested with lice, by a 

 op or swab will destroy these insects, provided '.his 

 plication is made at a proper season of the year. Mr. 

 erley says that the blisters or barnacles on the trees, 

 hich are called lice, but are in fact only the tene- 

 ents, or habitations of the insects, " contain froir, ten 

 thirty nits or eggs each, which in a common se.ison 

 jin to hatch about the 2oth of May, and finish about 

 le 10th of June. These nits produce a white animal- 

 ile, resembling a louse, so small they are hardly per 

 ptible to the naked eye ; which, immediately afte 

 ley are hatched, open the passage at tho end of the 

 ister, and crawl out on the bark of the tree," &c 

 appears further that all remedies are ineffectual un- 

 |ss applied between the time m which the animalcule 



for a yankee farmer in Connecticut, says the 

 •' process has been found infallible." So 1 

 sent to neighbor B.'s and borrowed an inch au- 

 ger. 1 selected one of my best cherry trees, 

 a: least thirty feet high, and ten inches through 

 the trunk, three feet from the ground, (having 

 three large flourishing nests on it, one above an- 

 other) and bored a hole six inches into it. — 

 This hole 1 filled with flour of sulphur, rammed 

 it in well, and plugged up the hole tight. In 

 all this I was " very particular," as the quack 

 doctors say, (not Dr. Caustic) and expected 

 soon to see caterpillars, canker worms, weevils, 

 &,c. Sic. scampering for their lives. In twenty 

 four hours after the deposit of sulphur, I visited 

 the said free, and sure enough, the reptiles 

 were walking briskly up and down the trunk 

 Now, says 1 to the vermin, you are in trouble. 



The next day, exactly forty-eight hours after 

 1 made the deposit, I repaired to the cherry 

 tree, to witness the total discomfiture of my en- 

 emies. If you can, Sir, guess my siirprise, on 

 finding the caterpillars all snugly housed, (ex- 

 cept a few sentinels left to keep guard) as if 

 nothing had happened below. I thought i 

 could see the said sentinels laughing at me for 

 my pains. Four days after, I t'oimd that gras? 

 (sulphur) would not bring tliem down, and pelt- 

 ed them well with stones (the brush.) So 

 much for ihr-ir temerity, and my folly. 



After all, Mr. Editor, suppose the sulphu 



K-e enclosed in the blisters or barnacles aud the period jjj^jj destroyed every caterpillar, great and 



From the Old Colony Memorial. 

 IMPORTANT ptseoVERY. 

 .2 jietu ind expeditious method of milking coxi's. 

 I '. .•", ^id the satisfaction of witnessing, in 

 presence of a number of gentlemen, a cow 

 evacuating the whole of her milk by the fol- 

 lowing simple contrivance. A rye straw was 

 introduced into the orifice of each teat through 

 which the milk flowed spontaneously in a full 

 and uninterrupted stream, until the udder was 

 completely emptied. In exactly five minutes, 

 between 5 and 6 quarts were thus drawn off. — 

 After the straws were withdrawn the udder was 

 collapsed and empty, and not a spoonful of milk 

 could be obtained by the efforts of the hand. 

 It is well known to anatomists, that the numer- 

 ous milk tubes or canals are so formed as to 

 communicate with each other, and all terminate 

 in the extremity of the teat, and the milk is re- 

 tained by a power similar to the contraction of a 

 sphincter muscle. The straw or any tube being 

 introduced removes the contraction mechanical- 

 ly, and allows the milk to flow freely. The dis- 

 covery of this novel process was reserved for 

 a simple rustic boy in the town of Middlebo- 

 rough. His father, by the name of Bent, hav- 

 ing a cow that did not yield her milk without 

 great strength and effort, was induced to sell 

 her to a neighbor, but she was for the same 

 reason returned again to the original owner. 

 The boy always dreaded the milking as a very 

 liborious and fatiguing 'task, \yhile his brother 

 finished milking another cow in half the time. 

 After some time, however, the boy, who had 

 the most liuTicult task assigned him, brought in 

 , his milk before the other. Mr. Bent inquired 



