V!>l.. IX. XO. «S 



AND HORTIC U LTIT R A I. REGISTER, 



37» 



!i«s hern etijgMteil that the melted rubber might 

 »|i[ilieil irniiiciliately lo the bark without injurinj; 

 pj. A little coiiicnl mouiiil of land »ur- 

 ndmcj the baio of the tree is found to be impas- 

 lo to the moiha, so lon^ as the sand remains 

 ; but they easily pass over it when the sand is 

 , and thoy come out of the ground in wet, br 

 n «s in dry weather. 



Some attempts have been made to destroy the 



kfr-wornu after thty were hatched from the 



js, and were dispersed over the leaves of the 



It is said that some periions have saved 



r trees from these insects by freely dusting air- 



ked lime over them while the leaves were wet 



h dew. Showering the trees with mixtures that 



fiiiind useful to destroy other insects, has been 



d by a few, and, although attended with a good 



1 of trouble and expense, it may be worth our 



le to apply such remedies upon small and choice 



s. Mr David Haggerston, of VVatertown, Ms., 



used, for this purpose, a mixture of water and 



oip ^»n article to be procured from the manu- 



iries where whale oil is puritied,) in the propor- 



of one pound of the soap to seven gallons of 



or ; and he states that this liquor, when thrown 



he trees with a garden engine, will destroy the 



Kcr.worm and many other insects, without inju- 



thc foliage or the fruit. Jarring or shaking 



inibs of the trees will disturb the canker- 



ms, and cause many of them to spin down, 



n their threads may be broken off with a pole; 



if the troughs around the trees are at the same 



replenished with oil, or the tar is agoin ap- 



1, tho insects will be caught in their attempts 



rcop up the trunks. In the same way, also, 



that are coming down the trunks to go into 



iround will be caught and killed. If greater 



3 were to be taken to destroy the insects in the 



rpillar state, their numbers would soon greatly 



nish. 



veil after they have left the trees, have gone 

 the ground, and have changed their forms, 

 aro not wholly beyond the reach of means for 

 oying them. One person told nie that his 

 ^, which he was in the habit of turning into 

 rchard in the autumn, rooted up and killed 

 t numbers of the chrysalids of the canker- 

 is. Some persons hare recommended dig- 

 or plowing under the trees in autumn, with 

 lope of crushing Borne of the chrysalids by so 

 , and of exposing others to perish with the 

 of the following winter. If hogs are then al- 

 d to go among the trees, and a few grains of 

 are scattered on the loosened soil, these ani- 

 will eot many of the chrysalids as well as the 

 ai:d will crush others with their feet. iMr S. 

 iwler* thinks it better to dig around the trees 

 ly, while the shells of the insects are soft and 

 ■r. lie and Mr John Kenrick, of Newton, 

 ., advise us to remove the soil to the distance 

 jr or five feet from the trunk of the trees, and 

 2 depth of six inches, to cart it away and re- 

 it with an equal quantity of compost or rich 

 In this way, many of the insects will be 

 vcdalso; but, unless the earth thus carried 

 , is thrown into some pond-hole, and left cov- 

 with water, msny of the insects contained in 

 1 undergo their transformations and come out 

 the next year. 



n Yankee Farmej, of July 18, 1840, and New Eng- 

 r Farmer, of June 2, 1841, tor some valuable remarks 

 y r Fowler. 



Canker-worms are snhjccl to the attacks of many 

 enemies. Great niiuibcTS of lh«ni are devoured by 

 several kinds of bird?, which live n!nio»t entirely 

 upon them during their season. They ore also 

 eaten by ■ very lirge nnd splendid grmnd beetle 

 [Calosoma scrutator,) that appears about the lime 

 when these insects begin to leave the trees. These 

 beetles do not fly, but they run about in the grass 

 after the canker-worms, nnd even nuiuiil upon the 

 trunks of the trees to seize them ns ihey come 

 down. The latter are also slung by a four-winged 

 ichneumon-fly, which deposits nn egg in every 

 canlvCr-worm thus wounded. From the egg is 

 hatched a little maggot, ihnt preys on the fatty 

 substance of the canker-worm, and weakens it so 

 much that it is unable to go through its future 

 transformations. I have scon one of these flies 

 sting several canker-worms in succession, and 

 swarms of them may be observed around the trees 

 as long as the canker-worms remain. Their servi- 

 ces, therefore, arc doubtless very considerable. 

 .\mong a large number of canker-worms, taken 

 promiscuously from various trees, I found that 

 nearly one third of the whole were unable to finish 

 their transformations, because they had been at- 

 tacked by internal enemies of anorher kind. These 

 were little maggots, that lived singly within the 

 bodies of the canker-worms, till the latter died 

 from weakness ; after which the maggots under- 

 went a change, and finally came out of the bodies 

 of their victims in the form of small two-winged 

 cuckoo-flies, belonging to the genus Tar.hina. Mr 

 E. C. Herrick, of New Haven, Connecticut, has 

 made the interesting discovery that the eggs of the 

 canker-worm moth are pierced by a liny four-wing- 

 ed fly, a species of Plaltj^nsttr, which goes from 

 egg to egg, and drops in eiuh of them one of her 

 own eggs. Sometimes every canker-worm egg in 

 a cluster, will be found to have been thus punc- 

 tured and seeded for a future harvest of the Ptaty- 

 gaster. The young of this Ptntysraster is an ex- 

 ceedingly minute maggot, hatched within the can- 

 ker-worm egg, the shell of which, though only one 

 thirtieth of an inch long, serves for its habitation, 

 and the contents for its food, till it is fully grown ; 

 after which it becotiies a chrysalis within the same 

 shell, and in due time comes out a Plntygasler fly, 

 like its parent. This last transformation Mr Her- 

 rick found to take place towards the end of June, 

 from eggs laid in November of the year before; 

 and he thinks that the flies continue alive through 

 the summer, till the appearance of the canker-worm 

 moths in the autumn aflbrds them the opportunity 

 of laying their eggs for another brood. As these 

 little parasites prevent the hatching of the eggs 

 wherein they are bred, and as they seem to be very 

 abundant, they must bo of grc;il use in preventing 

 the increase of the canker-worm. Without doubt 

 such wisely appointed means as these were once 

 enough to keep within due bounds these noxious 

 insects ; but since our forests, their natural food, 

 and our birds, their greatest enemies, have disap- 

 peared before the woodman's axe and the sports- 

 man's gun, we are left to our own ingenuity, perse- 

 verance, and united efforts, to contrive and carry 

 into effect other means for checking their ravages. 

 Apple, elm, and lime trees are sometimes injured 

 a good deal by another kind of span-worm, larger 

 than the canker-worm. As they resemble the lat- 

 ter in their habits, and often live on the same trees, 

 they can be kept in check by such means as are 

 found useful when employed against canker-worms. 

 — Harris's Report on the Instcli of Massachusetts. 



For the N. K. Fnrmcr. 



WARTS ON PI.UM TRKR9. 



Mr Eiiitoii — I read n piece in yoiir paper, a 

 short lime sinci', respecting the plum blight, which 

 if not prevented, is aonn likely to destroy this valu- 

 able fruit. I have a larL'e and beautiful tree, 

 which I have kept in a healthy condition, while 

 those of my neighbors ore nlm'i»t entirely destroy, 

 ed. I object to the practice of cutting off the 

 limbs, ai the extract in your paper directs, unless 

 they are very small — as this would soon hurt the 

 looks of the tree. Take a sharp knife, when the 

 excresences first nppoor, and sluve them close to 

 the wood, being particular to scrape out every par- 

 ticle of the gummy substance. Cover tho wound 

 with grafting composition, and it will soon heal 

 over. I know of no other remedy so cffectuol ai 

 this, and doubt not if your subscribers will fjith- 

 fully ity this method, that they will preserve their 

 trees from this terrible disease. 



Now is about the time they [the warts?] make 

 their appearance. They are nearly the same color 

 of the bark, and if not closely examined, are not 

 easily detected. 



Yours, respectfully, 



LAWRENCE SMITH. 



MiJdleJUld, May 18, 184-.J. 



RUTA BAGA. 



A respected correspondent in Peru, makes the 

 following remarks on the culture and preservation 

 of rutabaga. — Alb. Cult. 



" Some of my neighbors object to raising this 

 root, on the ground of the expense and trouble. I 

 presume they do not consider that in the I'lrst place 

 the seed, compared with that of potatoes, is a mere 

 trifle; that the sowing of an acre is but a morning 

 walk, provided they are supplied with a drill bar- 

 row, which every one should have ; and that when 

 sown in drills, a great share of the work can be 

 performed with a small plow. Tho harvesting can 

 be accomplished in one third of the time required 

 for potatoes ; if you are not provided with a regu- 

 lar turnip hook, a common hoe will answer if made 

 sharp. The easiest way of keeping them through 

 the winter, is to level a piece in a dry place, build 

 them up in the form of a house roof, covering them 

 with a light coat of straw, and six or eight inches 

 of earth, not more. I have kept them in this way 

 a number of ^yinters, and always found them very 

 nice in the spring. I!c sure not to put on too much 

 earth, since if kept loo warm they will decay. 1 

 know this from experience. W. K." 



A hole made by a crowbar or etake, through the 

 top of turnip heaps, and kept open, will allow the 

 heated air to escape, and prevent the decay apoken 

 of by W. K. 



Old Recipes. — " A atick o* brimstone wore in the 

 pocket is good for them as has cramps. 



" A haddock's back bone carried in the pocket, 

 is beautiful in the rheumatiz. 



"If you've got the hiccups, pinch one of your 

 wrists, and hold your breath while you count sixty 

 — or get somebody to make you jump by sudden 

 fright 



" For the ear-ache, put an ing'un (onion) in your 

 ear, after it is well roasted." 



Grated horse-radish is said to be excellent to eat 

 in case of hoaraeness from a cold. 



