VOL. IX. \«>.M. 



AND H O R T I C IT L T U R A L R ?: G I S T E R . 



2(51 



1 \.-nrM i)l<l. Ihoir luirnnvn i-xlomi iipvrnriU of | 

 lit 'T Ion inclics in ll>u milul «iiih1 of tlic (roes, i 

 I nl tlip iippor end Ihpy iipproncli to, niij lire cov- i 

 «] only by ihc bnrk. Wlion tliose nro finished, | 

 d iIm- borers tiavo attnined their full site, lli<* j 

 liT li-iivo off eBlin;;, snd, nfler resting » little 

 ile, lliey throw off their Bkins nnd tnkc'.ho pupa ' 

 chry*nlis form. Tlio insect, in this condition, j 

 neither a grub nor a beetle, but is inlcrnicdiale ' 

 iwein both, in its nppenmnrc. It is still soft. 

 shy. Slid of a whitish color, but ii provided ivith 

 )rt h';;s, winfjs nnd horns, wliicli ore folded upon 

 breast, and ore too «»eak and imperfect to be 

 d. t)n each of the rings of it.i back there is a 

 n'vorse row of sharp points, like the teeth of a 

 p, nnd several more of these points anuind the 

 id'T extremity of its body ; and, by the help ol 

 '■, the insect can move slowly backwards niul 

 ards in its burrow. When the time of its final 

 lu'e approuclius, slripes of brown oepin to bo 

 ibie throusrh the thin nnd transparent skin that 

 vers ilic wing-shells nnd the top of the thorax, 

 iho month of June, the skin of the chrysalis 

 rsts open on ttio bncic. and is thrown off, the lib- 

 »led insect crawls to the ino'itli of its burrow, 

 «ws a round hole through the bark, and comes 

 t upon the trunk of the tree a perfect beetle. 

 For other particulars respe .'ting this insect, iil- 

 i» nie to refer you to my " Piscuurse before the 

 araachiisctis Horticultural Society," in the year 

 •il. and to my "Report on the Insects injurious 

 Vegetation," — and believe mo to be, very re- 

 eclfullv, Your friend and aerv'', 



T. \V. HARRIS. 

 Catnhriilgt , Mat)., Jan. 7, 184"3. 



CONNECTICUT CORN ROOT. 



liie Editor of tlic New England Farmer ; 



Dkar Sir — In your paper of the l'2tli of Janiia- 

 , is an article from the Connecticut Fanner's Ga- 

 tte, which gives on account of a root found in a 

 ramp in the town of Hrookfield, Ct., and which 

 e people there call Corn Root ; and according to 

 alements made, must be an exceedingly rare 

 id womierful root. Now, sir, I would ask you, if 

 is probable the facts are as slated ? Why would 



not be a good plan for some of our Societies of 

 armers to send some suitable person to get a few 

 'these valuable roots, so as to stock some of our 

 wet swamps in this section of the State, and 

 ereby render them more valuable and productive 

 an it they were converted into fine Knglish mow- 

 g lands .' Or do you think this statement of " S. 



" of Brookfiuld, a great humbiig ? 

 Yours, with respect, 



Heaton, Ma33., Feb. 7, 16U. h. G. 



We last winter saw a gentleman from Connecti- 

 ul, whose name and residence we do not now re- 

 leniber, from whom we received an account simi- 



r to the one copied from the Farmer's Gazette. 



he impression upon our inind then was that the 

 lan was telling us truth — and that he was ac- 

 uaiiitcd with this "Corn root." We cai. imagine 

 o reason why he should attempt lo play the "hum- 

 ' The suggestion of our correspondent is a 



ood one. We hope at least that the editor of the 



aniier's Gazette will not fail to get possession of 

 he root he has described. — Ed. 



Knowledge is treasure, but judgment is the trca- 

 lury. 



COMI'Altl.SKN tt|' .M AM'KKS, 

 Messrs. lloiiMsingiiiilt nnd I'nyen have lately 

 produced an elahoralc memoir upon the compara- 

 tive value (if different kinds of mnniire. An ab. 

 htrnct only of it has as yet reached us, the sub- 

 stance of winch is as follows: — These chemists 

 regard nitrogen o« tho element whose presence is 

 of the greatest importance in manure, and every 

 substance capable of furnishing it, becomes valua- 

 ble ill an agricultural view, provided that substance 

 can extricate azolised products in a soliibh: or vol- 

 tttizable state. If, however, the nitrogen is incapa- 

 ble of entering into putrid fermentntiuii, and of so 

 furnishing niiiinoniacnl salts und other nzotised 

 combination, tho substance contnining it can be of 

 no use for uinnure, as is proved by the shale of the 

 coal measures, which contains considerable quoiili- 

 tics of nitrogen, and yet has absolutely no ofTect as 

 a manure. Hence the value of a manure is lo be 

 Icleriiiined by the power it possesses of yielding 

 ammonia; putrid urine, for instance, one of the 

 most energetic of fertilizing principles, yields car- 

 bonate of ammonia; nnd guano, that lieh com- 

 pound which for centuries has given fertility to 

 the arid 8;ind& of the Peruvian coast, consists al- 

 most entirely of salts with an nmmoniacal base. 

 The authors do not undervalue the importance of 

 other substances, such as alkalies or earthy sails ; 

 on the contrary, they admit their presence to be 

 indispensable to the growth of plants ; nevertheless 

 it is to ammonia that they assign by far the most 

 importance. The following tuble gives the result 

 of their inquiry in respect to a considerable num- 

 ber of substances, and showing how many loads of 

 each are required in order to produce the same ef- 

 fect as 100 loads of common farmyard dung. We 

 have omitted from these tables a few substances 

 which, not occurring in this conntry, have no inte- 

 rest for farmers and gardeners in (Jrcat Britain. — 

 English Gardeners' Chronicle, . 



A Tabu of Manures, 

 Showing the numbers of loads required in both the 

 moist (or ordinary) nnd dried (or prepared) states, 



to equal 100 loads of farm yard dung, so far as 

 the quantity of nitrogen is concerned : 



Moist. Dried. 



Pea straw, 22 100 



Sainfoin straw, 83 361 



Vetch straw, 39 174 



Wheat straw, ]66 6.50 



Do. 81 367 



Do., lower joints, 97 453 

 Do., upper joints, with the beads after 



thrashing, ."^O J37 



Rye straw, 235 '.175 



Do., of 1841, 95 390 



Oat straw, 142 541 



Barley straw, 173 7.'>0 



Wheat chaff, 47 207 



Jerusalem artichoke straw, 108 453 



Broom, 32 142 



Green beet leaves, (fanei,) 80 43 



Potato leaves, 72 84 



Carrot leaves, 47 G(i 



Heath leaves, 22 102 



Sea wrack, 46 138 



Do. 42 123 



Do. 28 85 

 Do. fresh from the eea, 74 



Malt dust, 8 39 



Buried clover roots, 24 110 



Flax cake, 7 32 



R.ipo cake, 



Fish cuke, 



Grease rake. 



Heel root pulp, 



Do. 



Potato pulp, 



Starch water, 



Do. 



Starch refuse. 



Do. 



Dunghill drainings, 



•Sawdust of acacia, 



Do. 



Do. of fir wood, 



Do. 



Sawdust of oak. 



Solid cow dung. 



Cow urine, 



Mixed cow dung, 



Solid horse dung, 



Horse urine, 



Mixed horse dung, 



Do. pig dung. 



Do. sheep dung. 



Do. goat dung, 



Pigeon dung, 



Liquid Flemish manure, 



T)o) 



Belkini's poudrette, 



Oyster shells, 



Marl, 



Dry muscular flesh. 



Cod salted, 



Do. pressed and dried. 



Blood soluble, 



Do. liquid, 



Do. 



Do. coagulated .ind pressed, 



Do. dry insoluble, 



Feathers, 



Cow's hair. 



Woollen rags, 



Horn raspings. 



Bones, boiled (fondus) 



Do. moist. 



Do. fat. 



Glue refuse, 



Glue dross, (niare de coUe,) 



Graves, 



Cost of EnrcATiON. — The large amount which 

 is annually expended in Massachusetts for the sup- 

 port of our free schools, is often a subject of re- 

 mark ; but few people, however, are aware of the 

 value of the sums lost tn the State, by the exemp- 

 tion of literary institutions from taxation. Tho 

 Boston Courier says that " about ten years ago, a 

 gentleman whose researches into the subject had 

 enabled him lo arrive at a pretty accurate conclu- 

 sion, estimated that nearly one fifth of all the prop- 

 erty of the Commonwealth then escaped taxation, 

 from the circumstance of its being invested in 

 funds for the support of religious and literary in- 

 stitutions." — Mercantile Journal. 



Jlclion before words. — " I did 'nl like our minis- 

 ter's sermon last Sunday," said deacon Doze to 

 his neighbor Higgins. (The deacon had slept all 

 sermon lime.) " Did 'nl like it! Why, deacon, 

 I saw you nodding assent to every proposition he 

 made." — Selected. 



Never go to bed with cold feet or « cold heart 



