1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



3Gc 



work the Shadoofs in company, for their common 

 benefit. But, on the other hand, a land of rains 

 requires better building materials than are found 

 in Egypt, and especially shingles, for which this 

 country furnishes no wood, unless the barks and 

 leaves of the palm could be made a substitute. 

 The statement that land could be boiight for one 

 dollar twenty -five cents per acre, and held in per- 

 petuitj' by the purchaser, sounded strangely in a 

 land where the greater part of the soil is held in 

 fee by the Pasha, and can be bouglit only at from 

 twenty to thirty dollars theacre, subject to a gov- 

 ernment tax of three dollars. — Rci\ J. Thompson, 

 in Independent. 



For the New England Farmer. 



CANKER WORMS. 



Siiiox Brown, Esq. : — Dear Sir, — A writer in 

 the Niw England Farmer of the 24th inst., has 

 alluded to tlie glass collars invented by Mr. George 

 Everett, of Roxbury, and to my use of them. 

 He also expressed a desire to hear from me "on 

 this point, or any other that might profitably be 

 a.vailed of, as a curative for the increase and rav- 

 ages of canker worms." 



Fourteen or fifteen years ago, when canker 

 worms were very plentiful and destructive in this 

 vicinity, the use of tin collars, applied around 

 the trunks of the trees, in the form of inverted 

 funnels, was recommended to prevent the ascent 

 of the female insects. In the autumn of 1852, 

 they were employed in this place by several per- 

 sons, who have reported favorably concerning 

 them. The feet of the female insects are not pro- 

 vided with suckers or claspers like those of flies ; 

 and their structure seems to be such as would 

 necessarily prevent their walking or retaining 

 their foothold, against gravity, beneath a perfect- 

 ly smooth, polished, and dry surface. Hence, 

 when Mr. Everett first showed to me liis glass col- 

 lars, I was very favorably impressed with the con- 

 trivance, and accepted his offer to a,pply them to 

 some of my trees, in order to test their efficacy. 

 Two of my cherry trees and two small plum trees 

 were provided Avith glass collars in the autumn of 

 1853 ; and these four trees have almost entirely 

 escaped injury ; while some other trees in my 

 garden, not protected with collars or with tar, 

 have been more or less seriously injured by can- 

 ker worms. I do not consider this experiment as 

 conclusive, because there have been some canker 

 worms on the protected trees ; those on the cher- 

 ry trees may have come from two infested elm 

 trees, growing near the fence in a ncigliboring lot, 

 and 80 close as to interfere with some of the branch- 

 es of my two cherry trees ; the plum trees, on the 

 contrary, were sufficiently distant from infested 

 trees. Moreover, a friend tells me that he saw a 

 female insect pass over the glass collar on one of 

 his trees last autumn. The glass in all cases 

 may not be eufEciently smootli ; or perhaps 

 moisture on the feet of the female or on the glass 

 may enable the insect to stick to the glass. Fur- 

 ther experiments in the use of this contrivance 

 seem therefore to be wanting before an uncondi- 

 tional verdict can be given in its favor. It is my 

 intention to apply tlieso glass collars to other 

 trees in my garclen next autumn ; in the expecta- 

 tion tliat, if effectual as a preventive to the as- 

 cent of the female insect, tliey will prove in the 



course of time cheaper and better than any oth- 

 er remedy hitherto employed. 



Applications of tar, or of oil, according to the 

 well-known method?, if made in season, and re- 

 newed as often as necessary, have proved good 

 remedies against the depredations of canker 

 worms. My own confidence in them not only re- 

 mains uninipared, but is confirmed hy continued 

 exp 'rience. The use of these remedies is attend- 

 ed with much trouble and considerable expense, 

 against which arc to be taken into account the 

 satisfaction and profit arising from the preserva- 

 tion of the foliage, the fruit, and even the con- 

 tinued health of the trees. 



In an enumeration of remedies we are not to 

 forget the services of the feathered race. The 

 warblers, buntings and other small l)irds devour 

 great numbers of canker worms. Even the cher- 

 ry bird earns a sliare of our early cherries ))y the 

 havoc he makes among the canker worms. 1 wish 

 as much could be said in favor of the robins ; but 

 candor obliges me to confess that insects form but 

 a very small portion of their food, while they are 

 unsparing in their attacks upon our cherries. Do- 

 mestic fowls, if allowed to go at large among the 

 trees during the seasons when the female insects 

 are rising from the ground, devour great numbers 

 of them. During the present summer, some cher- 

 ry trees growing in a yard where fowls are kept, 

 have entirely escaped the attacks of canker 

 worms ; while trees in an adjacent yard from 

 which the fowls were excluded have had . ^^lieir 

 leaves wholly destroyed by the insects. 



TiiADDEus William IlAKais. 



Cambridge, June 20, 1854. 



A RAY OF LIGHT. 



BV AAKON SMllll. 



A traveller in a weary lanj, 



Benighted ou his way, 

 liOne In a pathless wiM did stanJ, 



And wished the break of day. 

 The moon rose ia the eastern sky, 



And chased the shades of night ; 

 The traveller raised his thankful eye, 



And hailed the ray of light. 



A weary heart on life's rough sea 



Was sinking in despair ; 

 The waves rolled on remorselessly, 



And darkness gathered there. 

 A prayer went up to Heaven, and love 



I'oured radiance on the sight ; 

 The heart, reviving, looked above, 



And blessed the ray of light. 



And so it always is, in life — 



Joy's cup is mixed with eare ; 

 And spring the noisome weeds of strife 



Amid love's blossoms fair. 

 But mercy gilds the darkest scene — 



Shines through the dreariest night ; 

 And beauteous is earth's robe of sheen, 



When gleams a ray of light. 



Mark Lane Express. 



Setting out Evergreens.— A subscriber says lie 

 has had no hiek in transplanting evergreens, and 

 inquires the best time and mode of doing it. The 

 best time for setting out evergreens is in the spring 

 and fall, when other trees are set out. As for 

 luck, that deiKjnds upon yourself. Wc used to 

 have no luch in this business, until we fi.nind out 



