546 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. - 



Dec. 



A writer in one of the agricultural journals, 

 in course of observations on Strawberry Culture, 

 after asserting his opinion that most persons 

 allow tlieir vines " to run themselves to death,'' 

 gjiy;^ ; — " If you would obsei've the plants that 

 bear the best in the fields, you will see that they 

 are tliose which have but few or no runners ; 

 while those which have run very much, and be- 

 come matted, bear little or no fruit. This is a 

 lesson worth observing, when you come to culti- 

 vate the ^-awberry in the garden. Where the 

 wild plant nas not sent out much runner, from 

 some cause or other, you will find the stock large 

 and strong, the leaves broad and healthy, and the 

 fruit, which has tlie benefit of both sun and air, 

 is large and high flavored. If you have straw- 

 berry plants in your garden, keep the runners 

 down to a foot in lengtli, and you will make them 

 healthier and more fruitful." Gardener. 



INaUIEY AND OBSERVATION. 



It is not expected that the farmer shall have an 

 exact knowledge of the construction of the trees 

 and plants which he cultivates with so much care ; 

 or of the anatomy and physiology of the animals 

 which he rears. lie cannot learn the precise hab- 

 its of the insects whicli destroy his crops, their pe 

 riods of coming and retiring, or the office which it 

 is designed they shall fill in the economy of nature. 

 Yet a general knowledge of the laws which govern 

 them, and a constant observation of their habits, 

 will divest us of much of the repugnance felt to- 

 wards them, and lead us to a profound contempla- 

 tion of the wisdom and goodness of the Great Ar- 

 chitect of all. 



We plant the seed, and behold the germ springs 

 to the light and air. What wonderful operations 

 are still carried on ! The tree assumes the most 

 stately, as well as graceful forms — the buds, the 

 leaves, blossoms, and fruit appear, surpassing in 

 beauty all art of the most skilful hands. It fur- 

 nishes fuel, shade, fragrance, sustennn'^^- -■'^'^- 



, ,. . u-uuimer heats, or winter 



times nrr.w.f'— -^ ^ . „ , ^ 

 winds, and always beauty to tlie landscape. 



But th« farmer too often stands in the midst of 

 hie trees, his plants, and flowers, of his corn, and 

 grass, and grain, which he has caused to grow, 

 and looks upon them as the result of a mere me- 

 chanical operation. He overlooks that wonderful 

 and mysterious agency which prepares the food, 

 diversified as it is, and sends it to the farthest 

 bud and leaf of a monarch of the forest, or the 

 minutest tendril of the tiny vine. He plosvs, be- 

 cause it is easier to plfvnt and hoe in a loose soil, 

 fogetting that, in a fine tilth, there are millions 

 more mouths to receive the food which the plant 

 requires than in a compact soil ; that these open 

 mouths catch fertilizing substances from every 

 passiAg breeze, and drink them in from the cool- 

 ing dews and genial showers. He forgets that 



the sand which he applied to the clay land, has 



found potash in the soil, become soluble, been ta- Z:Z^ ^"^' -----,—- uuua.y u« wen -^^ 

 ^ ' 'ourselves, enjoy their brief existence and die. Our 



ken up by the roots of the plant, carried to its 

 utmost extremities, and now covers the straw of 

 his wheat-field, with a delicate and beautiful coat- 

 ing of sand, or enamel, which gives it strength 

 to stand erect, and thus present its seeds to the in- 

 fluences of the sun and air, and bring them to 

 perfection. 



While he reaps, shall he not inquire how this 

 came, and compare it with another field, which 

 fell to the ground and failed to perfect its grain 1 

 Will he not investigate these causes and thus ac- 

 quire more knowledge of the operations of na- 

 ture, and more power over his crops ? 



By an accurate knowledge of the times when 

 insects appear, and the kinds of plants on which 

 they prefer to feed, the time of planting and sow- 

 ing may be varied, so that it may be possible to es- 

 cape their ravages in some degree in this manner ; 

 or as their period of existence is often very brief, 

 we may learn their time of retiring to a winter 

 home, and destroy them there by late plowing or 

 other means. The season of their coming and 

 retiring, the food they require, and the length 

 of time they remain, being accurately understood, 

 will, at least, give us a power over them we do 

 not now possess. But this is not all we gain. 

 This knowledge admits us to some of the secret 

 and wonderful operations of irrational life, and 

 thus leads us, by successive steps, "through na- 

 ture up to nature's God." 



The Rose Bug, for instance, has received its 

 name from its annual appearance coinciding with 

 the blossoming of that plant, and this fact may 

 operate as a note of preparation against its rava- 

 ges ; and so it may aid us against the Caterpillar, 

 Cankerworm, Curculio, and Beetles. The latter 

 insect sometimes proves exceedingly destructive. 

 The discoverv wo- ^«,a^ hj a gen-tleman, that 

 th^j ,/3iced and defoliated his cherry trees in the 

 night. When this habit was known, they were 

 shaken down and destroyed in large numbers, and 

 the trees afterwards saved. This fact was learned 

 by reference to a work on insects, and will illus- 

 trate what it has become too fixshionable to con- 

 demn as Book-Farming, as if facts recorded in a 

 book or newspaper were not as valuable a? though 

 declared by the tongue. To be consistent, the 

 scoffer at Book-Farming should reject many of 

 the best j^ractices of the farmer now, because Vir- 

 gil wrote of them ; or Cato, or Columella, or 

 Jetliro Tell, commended them. 



The insect race has its part to fill in the great 

 plan, and that part is undoubtedly an important 

 one. We accuse them of encroachments when 

 they select, as their favorite food, the plants we 

 are cultivating for our own pleasure or profit. It 

 may be, that in their deliberations and conventions, 

 if they hold any, they look upon us as the aggres- 

 They feed on the common bounty as well as 



