NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



401 



SIBERIAN CRAB APPLE. 



This tree forms a dwarf, and is very beautiful 

 in its habits, as the foliage is large, luxuriant and 

 pendent, and usually forming a contrast in color 

 with other apple trees around it. In spring it 

 makes a splendid appearance from its large as well 

 as beautiful blossoms, and in fall it is ornament- 

 ed with large clusters of red fiuit which continue 

 through the season. 



The Red Siberian Crab apple is not only orna- 

 mental but useful, as it produces valuable fruit 

 which is good for preserves, sauces, tarts, &c. 



FARM WORK FOR DECEMBER. 



Insects. — There may be days in this month 

 when the weather will be mild and the ground 

 open so as to admit the plow. If such should be 

 the case, it will offer a good opportunity to disturb, 

 and perhaps destroy, some of the enemies who have 

 escaped your vigilance through the summer. 



Wire Worm. — This is an old depredator — 

 everybody knows the hard, snapping rascal, better, 

 perhaps, than they know how to get rid of him. 

 He is about an inch long, a yellowish color, and 

 travels upon six legs; he is probably the same 

 worm so often noticed sticking in the potatoes 

 when they are dug. He is found in large num- 

 bers, on grounds which have remained a long time 

 without being plowed. They may have turned up 

 their noses at your nostrums of every kind, but if 

 you turn them up to a good sharp frost, their day 

 of desolation is ended. 



Cut Worm. — This is another destructive insect, 

 sometimes destroying considerable portions of 

 large fields of corn. They come up in the night 

 and eat off the tender shoot, usually just above the 

 surface of the ground, and then return below to 

 digest their booty in peace. They also cut off 

 other young and tender plants. We have "been 

 the death" of great numbers of them, but unfor- 

 tunately, not till after they had given us unmis- 

 takable evidence of their whereabouts, by destroy- 

 ing our corn. Freeze them, then, — it is too deli- 

 cate an operation to "put salt on their tails," so 

 we recommend the use of the plow to expose them 

 to the frosts of winter. 



Weeds. — While you are after the insects, by 

 plowing, you will destroy great numbers of weeds 

 and foul grasses. It is said that by harrowing 

 over a piece of ground in the winter that was 

 plowed in the autumn, witch grass can be killed. 

 If so, we know of no easier way to do it. Mr. 

 Delafield says, in the New York Transactions, 

 that insects will die when exposed to a tempera- 

 ture at from 16° to 14° above the freezing point, 

 and that autumnal plowing should be resorted to, 

 that insects may be turned up from their resting 

 places, exposed to a low temperature, and thus be 

 destroyed. Very early spring plowing would have 

 the same effect ; that is, during the time when the 

 frosts are sharp. We have never been under the 

 ground to see how these fellows operate there, but 

 suppose that as the temperature above becomes 

 lower, they sink deeper into the earth, and rise 

 again as the sun penetrates and warms it. If you 



