A N D II O K T I ( U L T \J R A F. R E fi I S T K R . 



PUilLISHKD BV JOSEPH BRECK * CO., NO. ta NORTH MAUKET STUKKT, (Aoiuculturai Warimou**.)- ALLEN PUTNAM, EDITOR. 



nOSTON, WRDNRSDAY F-VKS'ING, JUNR 22, 1842. 



\^sn. SI 



FARMER, 



.>in Hrirria's Rpportnn the Insocis orMassachiMetta 



CATF.RPIU..\RS O.N THK rL.MS. 



miinj tlio numerous insects that infesl oiir no- 

 elms, the largest is a kinJ of Sphin.x, whiuli, 

 the f'nir short horns on the fore part of tlie 

 I liave nameil Ctnilomia quadrirornit, cir 

 -home J Ceratoiiiio. On some trees lliesi' 

 njos I'xist in great numbers, and their ravages 

 become very obvious; while a few, thoui;li 

 ble of doing cohsidernble injury, may escape 

 ce among the thick foliage wliicli constitutes 

 r fiMid, or will only be betrayed by the copious 

 reiiularly fornicd pellets of excrement beneath 

 trees. They are very abundant during the 

 llis of July and August, on ihu large elms 

 h s'jrroiind the ucrlhern and eastern sides of 

 Common in Boston; and towards the end of 

 list, when they descend from llie trees for the 

 oso of going into the ground, they may often 

 •en crawling in the mall in considerable niiiii- 

 Tliese cati'rpillars, at this p'Tiod of their 

 ence, are about three inchfs and a half in 

 .h, are of a pale green color, with seven ob- 

 white lines on each side of the body, and a 

 f little notches, like saw-teeth, on the back, 

 four short horns on their shoulders arc also 

 ed, and like most other Sphinges, they have a 

 and stiff spine on the hinder extremity of the 

 They enter the eartli to become chr^salids 

 )ass the winter, and come forth in the winged 

 ill the month of June following, at which 

 :he moths may often be found on llio trunks 

 es, or on fences in the vicinity. In this 

 their wings expand nearly five inches, are of 

 It brown color, varieg.ited witli dark brown 

 thitf, and the hinder part of the body is inark- 

 th five longitudinal dark brown lines. A 

 friend of mine, in Boston, captured on the 

 •u|-3 of the trees a large number of these moths 

 7 a morning's walk in the mall, the past sum- 

 Jthough oblig<>d to be on the alert to cscipe 

 •.lie guardians of the common, whoso duly it 

 J prevent the grass from beinc trodden down, 

 y all of these specimens were females, ready 

 losit their eggs, with which their large bodies 

 completely filled. On being taken, they 

 scarcely any efforts to escape, ond were 

 carried away. It would n<it bo difficult, by 

 nenns, very considerably to reduce the num- 

 these destructive insects ; in addition to 

 it might be expedient, during the proper 

 eali, for our city authorities to cmp.oy persons 

 f) I her and kill every morning the caterpillars 

 may be found in those public walks where 

 bound. 



GRAPE-VINE CATERPILLAR, 

 m the genus Sphinx I have separated another 

 to which I have given the name of Philam- 

 from the circumstnnce that the larve or 



; literal significatiou o( this word it, /lore the vint. 



caterpillars live upon the grape-vine. When 

 young they have n long and slender tail recurved 

 over the back like that of a dog ; but this, after 

 one or two changes of the skin, disappears, and 

 nothing remains of it hut a suiooih, ( yi-like, riii>ed 

 spot oil (he top of the last scgiiii'iit of the boily. 

 Some of these caterpillars are pale green and olh- 

 ers are brown, and llie sides of their body are orna- 

 mented by six cream-colori'd sp<it.«, of a broad 

 oval shape, in the species which ;)ro<liii:cs llie 

 Sdltlliliii of Liniia;us, narrow oval and scalloped, 

 in that which is traiislormed to tlic species called 

 .lehemon by Drury. They have the power of witli- 

 draiving the head and the fir.st three cegmeiits of 

 the body williiii llio fnuiih scirment, which gives 

 them a short and bUiiil apficarance when at rest. 

 As they attain to the length of three inches or 

 more, and are thick in proportion, they consume 

 great quantities of leaves ; and the long leafless 

 branches of the vine too often afford evidence of 

 their voracity. They .-Iso devour the leaves of the 

 common creeper (.impiln/jsis quinquefolia) which, 

 with lliose of our indigenous vines, were their only 

 food till the introduction and increased cultivation 

 of foreign vines afforded lliem an additional supply. 

 They come to tlicir growth during the inonlli of 

 August, enter the earth to transform, and appear 

 in the winged or moth stale the following summer 

 in June and July. The Su/e/A'/ia Ilawknioth ex- 

 pands from four to five iiichi^s, is of a light 

 olive color, variegated wtth •pratches of darker olive.' 

 The .-Ichtmon expands from three to four inches is 

 of a reddish ash-color, with two triangular patches 

 of deep brown on the thorax, and two square ones 

 on each fore wing; the liiiid wings are pink, with 

 a deeper red spot near tlio middle, and a broad 

 ashcolored border behind. 



The grape vine suffers still more severely from 

 the ravages of anoiiier kind of Sphinx catirpillars, 

 smaller in size than the preceding, and like them 

 solitary in their habits, but more nuiiieious, and, 

 not content with eating the leaves alone, in their 

 progress from leaf to leaf down the stem, they 

 stop at every cluster of fruit, and, either from stu- 

 pidity or disappointment, nip off the stalks of the 

 half-grown grapes, and allow them to fall to the 

 ground iintiistcd. I have gathered undir a single 

 vine above a quart of unripe grapes thus detached 

 during one night by these caterpillars. They are 

 naked niid Meshy like those of the .khemon, and 

 Sntettilin, niid are generally of a pale green color, 

 (sometimes, however, brown,) with a row of orange 

 colored spots on the top of the back, six or seven 

 oblique darker green or brown lines on each side, 

 and a short spine or horn on llie hinder extremity. 

 The head is very small, and, with the ;'ore part of 

 the body, is somewhat retractile, but not so com 

 pletely as in the two preceding species. '1 bo 

 fourth and fifth segments being very large and 

 swollen, while the three anterior segments taper ab- 

 ruptly to the head, the fore part of the body pre- 

 sents a resemblance to the head and snout of a 

 liog. This suggested the generical name of Chcero- 

 cnmpa, or hog caterpillar, which has been applied 

 to some of these insects, 'i'lie species under con- 



sideration is found on the vine and the cieepcr in 



July and August ; when fully giown it dcsccndf 



to the ground, conceals itself under fillen leaves, 



which it draws together by a lew threads so ns to 



form a kind of oocon, or coicrs itself with grains 



, of earth and rubbish in tl|i; same way, and under 



^ this imperfect cover it changes to a piipa or chrye- 



; alls, mid finally appears in the winged state in the 



j month of July of the fidlim iiig year. The moth, to 



"liicli Sir James Edward Smith gave the name of 



Piimpimitrii, from its living on ihe shoots of the 



vine, expands from two and a half to three inches, 



I is of an olive gray color, except the hind winga, 



j which are rust-colored, and the fore wings and 



shoulder covirs are traversed with olive-green 



bands. 



From llic New Gcnosec Farmer. 



INDIAN CORN AND WHEAT ALTER. 

 NATKLY. 



Mr Colma.n — I do not send you a description 

 of the manner in which I have raised my corn for 

 a few years past, because I think my crops have 

 been ovtr lur^e, but rather from their uniformity in 

 yield, which is a desirable object for every farmer 

 ill all his crops. 



For the last five years I have alternated corn 

 and wheat, drawing from my barn-yard in the 

 spring, from ihirtyfive to forty wagon loads ol long 

 'mcnure lo the acre, putting it upon »vhoat stubble, 

 spreading it evenly, and plowing it under at least 

 right inches deep ; then harrowing lengthwise of 

 the furrows, and marking rows three feet apart 

 each way, planting six to eight quarts of seed 

 {Dutlou) to the acre, from the 8th to the 20th of 

 May, according to the season. When up, I leave 

 biit four stalks in a hill. I tilled with a cultivator, 

 and hoed twice during the summer without hilling, 

 and harvest by cutting up al the ground from the 

 first to the tenth of Sepleinber, and draw it off and 

 set it lip to cure. 



The lond is then plowed once and sowed to 

 wheat ; one and a half bushel of seed to the acre, 

 and well harrowed in. From the above manage- 

 ment, my corn has yielded for the five years, at 

 least sixty bushels to the acre, as ascertained by 

 accurate measure ; besides giving about two tons 

 of stalks to the ocre, which I calculate to be worth 

 at least three-fourths as iiiuch as hay. 



My soil is a gravelly loam, dry and warm; sub- 

 soil differing very little from the surface, except & 

 little more tenacious. One advantoge in planting 

 corn on wheat sl'jbble is, that it is not as liable to 

 be injured by worms as when planted on sward 

 land. My wheat that I have sowed after corn, has 

 yielded from twenty to twentyfive bushels to the 

 acre, except the past season, which was quite a 

 failure, owing to the badness of the season. 



Gtneste Co. M. N. 



Good Fleece. — Mr Henry Bascom, of Gill, re- 

 cently took a fleece of wool from a stall-fed weth- 

 er, which weighed 12 lbs. and 3 oz. — Greenfield Gaz. 



