98 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 9.0. 1P0«. 



and distnbnte J throughout the upper part of the them, as they lly off on the vines being touchea. 

 hranch, ina greater portion than it cnuld other- They are yellow, striped with brown across the 

 wise be, and the branches and fruit will both in- back. The moment the smoke ascends, tlie wing- 

 crease in she much more than any of those that ed insects quit the leaves and fall to the ground ■ 

 are not thus treated, and the maturity of the fruit dead or alive: the young ones perish, but the old-| 

 will be advanced very much. er ones will revive if not destroyed in their torpid , 



This has been denominated Girdling. If the state. To effect this, you have only to cover the I 

 plant is very vigorous and the season very favoura- ground under the tent with a piece ot wet cloth 

 ble, the wound will soon be closed, so that it may before you begin to smoke, to which they adhere 

 be necessary to open it a second time. This pro- until the tent is removed, and they are revived by 

 cess does not injure the plant, as you only girdle the atmospheric air ; to prevent which you will 

 the fruit bearing branches, which you would in roll, or twist, the cloth each lime that you remove 

 any case cut outsat tlie FmII pruning, to make room the smoke-house, or tent, and replace it again each 

 for the branches which you have been bringing time before you smoke, by which means they will 

 forward to give you fruit the succeeding year.— be effectually destroyed. This simple and cheap 

 This may be kept up from year to year, and give operation will keep your vines clear of this trou- 

 you a succession of ripe fruit from the 1st of Sept. blesome and destructive insect,and you may, if the 

 to the close of the season. The fruit on those season be warm, insure a good harvest ; if other- 

 branches which are not girdled will ripen the lat- wise, you will le sure, if the vines be girdled, to 

 est of coyrse, but neither these, nor those which j ripen a portion of your fruit, at least. — Mass. Ag. 

 have been girdled, should be shortened, as is cus- 

 tomary on vines not thus treated. 



By this practice, which was first suggested in 

 the transactions of the Horticultural Society of 

 London a few years since, and first brought into 

 use in this country with success by the correspond- 

 ing secretary of your society, I have raised grapes 

 in the open air this year, the bunches of which 

 weighed from eight to twenty eight ounces ; and 

 the berries measuring from two to three inches in 

 circumference. On one vine which I planted a 

 few years since, a ctitting in the spot where it now 

 grows, I had seventy bunches of fine chasselas, 

 weighing from eight te eighteen ounces each. 



But the grape vines have of late years been at- 

 tacked by a small insect which makes its appear- 

 ance first in June — but is most abundant in Au- 



meadows and fields situated without the line tm 

 Paragreles, there only fell upon the vines soinl 

 flakes of snow, or rather of a watery substanc^ 

 softer than snow. An hour afterwards anothe; 

 .cloud crossed the same vineyards, and presentei 

 the same phenomenon. 



'4 



Repository, vol. vi. p'lge 66. 



PARAGRELES. 



Paragreles when made in the simplest manner, 

 consist of wooden poles from 3.5 to 50 French feet 

 high, fixed in the firmest manner in the ground ; 

 on the top of which is fi.xed a sharp point of yel- 

 low brass wire, about the eighth of an inch in di- 

 ameter ; to the bottom of this is fixed by means of 

 a ring, another yellow brass wire, about a si.x- 

 teenth of an inch in diameter, continued all the 

 way along this pole to three or fonr feet under the 

 groun'], and fixed to the poles by small wire sta- 

 ples. 



By this description it will be seen that Paragre- 

 les are merely lightning rods made in the simplest 

 and cheapest form, by which it is proposed to dra 



;. mi ■ • . Ti ri 1 • J 1 ii down the electric fluid Irom the clouds, and by 



gust. This insect, if left to increase, destroys the "'"" ""' '■" . , r •■ n -i 



^ ' .< |.]^gj means to prevent the formation ot hail. 



The Paragreles ought to iie placed at the dis- 

 tance of 450 Flemish feet from one another. — 



vegetating principle in the leaf, and the plant 



languishes, the fruit mildews, and the labour and 



care of the cultivator is lost. Some gentlemen 



have abandoned their vines in consequence of the 



depredations of this insect, and others with great 



labour, and expense of time, have attempted, but 



in vain, to destroy them with alkalies and tobacco 



juice. This has to be sure operated to check them , , , j . .u . 



•^ .. „ , . . (T . 11 m 1 .1 • „„ii , wherever they are placed, to warn the country 



partially, but not effectually. To remedy this evil , ■' .i , ■ .. 



^ , ■' ,' , 11 1 I . r . 1 „ 'people not to go too near them during storms. 



vou have only to make a small light frame twelve r'- i' , T , . , ■ r. i ■ n 



' e > f . 1 -.If r u;„,.' Repeated trials in America, in Italy, in France, 



or fourteen teet long, in the lorra ot a soldier si '^ . ' , _ 



tent — but with hinges of leather where the top 



When any tall trees happen to be growing where 

 the pole ought to be placed, the trees may be made 

 use of instead of erecting a pole. It is not neces- 

 sary to say that as the Paragreles are intended to 

 draw do'vn electricity, care ought to be taken, 



I and in SwitL-.erlaud, rec'onimend strongly Paragre 



.,..,•.. u L . „ allies tothc attention of agriculturists. Mr Thol- 



loiDs so that this tent may be shut up, or openeil I, , _ . , ,, i n. -i i * m i 



■',,,,,, , •,;, ' • „ ,„ I lards, Prolessor of Natural Piiilosophy at Tarhes, 



at the bottom to any width you may require, ac- , . , ' , „ .u . i u i 



1- , .1, u • u. (• . 11- rru- V u. I in the Upper Pyrenees, says that he has seen d.ur 



cording to the height of your trellis. This light i ! "> ^[y i ,■■. , i .u 



c L-u 1 ^11 J rii rui ine SIX successive stoiins whicn took place there, 



frame, which should be made ot slats ot boards >= , „r , ,^ , 



,. ' . ^ . , , , , 1 ! 53d of Arrll, 8th of May, 3d, 15th, 16th, and 1-th, 



from one to two inches broad, may be covered! ' /' '^u n 



• ,. ij -1 u 1 1 .. 1 t\ June, 1624, some districts, covered with I'aragre- 



with an old sail, or some cheap glazed cotton cloth ! , > '-^ ') ; ' ^ ■ ». ij, 



,•■,•„'., 1 1 ■ 1 ., L 1 es, preserved, as 11 by enchantment, lu the middle 



which will stop the smoke, leaving cloth enough <=> (""="<=• ""^ i ■',.,, ■ , lm . u j 



1 » 1 J . 1 1 ...V of other districts in which the inhabitants had not 



loose at each end, to close over, and iirevent the I , , . , , ■ . , .. 



■ J. • 1, .1 t » ■ ,„„„, I taken the same precaulion, and which latter were 



smoke from escaping when the tent is spread over ,, , . , ^ ,, . . n- 



.i.„..„ii:„ 'totally laid waste. Mr Astolfe, engineer, saw in 



the monfli of June, 1824, two frightful stormy 



RULES FOR ASCERTAINLNG A HORSE'S^ 

 AGE. 



Yearlings aod two jearolds are alike in thi 

 mouth, and must be .judged by general appearance 

 At three years old the horse has four horsi teeth 

 two above and two belovv-, in front of the mouth, 

 which supply the place of the sucking teeth. A^ 

 four he has eight horse teeth, four above and four] 

 below, having the corner teeth only sucking teethJ 

 Al five years old these are gone, and the mouth i& 

 up — that is, all the teeth are horse teeth, and thm 

 tusk is up on each side of the mouth. A darW 

 mark, or hollow, is generally observable in all th* 

 teeth in the bottom jaw at just five years old, anO^ 

 the tusks are concave in the inner surface. At 

 six, the middle teeth have quite lost this mark, ani 

 the tusk is higher up, and longer, and not so con-fl 

 cave. At seven, the next two teeth have lost U,J 

 and the corner teeth only have the mark left in., 

 them. At eight it has grown out of these, and no 

 mark is left at all. The tusks are also become 

 longer, and instead of being concave in their inner: 

 surface become convex — the horse is then termed' 

 aged. There is a great deal of difference in the> 

 mouths of horses — some have lost the mark in a\\,^ 

 except tlie corner teeth, even as early as five yearsj 

 old — others have the front teeth in the top jaw' 

 projecting over the bottom teeth, at the same agef 



» 



^H 1 

 rJHf 



i 



the trellis 



A few tobacco stalks moistened and put on some 

 coals in a pan, will be sufficient to smoke the vines 

 thoroughly : and as the tent is easily moved along 

 the trellis on some small wheels, one man may, in 

 a few hours, extirpate this enemy of the vineyard. 

 Vines that are already attacked by this insect to 

 any great degree should be smoked in June, July, 

 and twice in August, or ottener if yon find the iu^ i 

 sect is not completely destroyed. ' 



The insects are first seen on the under part of; 

 the leaf, without wings — very active but easily j 

 destroyed if touched. TJiey afterwards assume the , 

 winged state, wljcn it is very difficult to get at | 



clouds, wliich poured down an immense quantity 

 of hail upon a considerable extent of country, 

 which passed harmlessly over a space furnished 

 with Paragreles. There only fell some large hail 

 stones between the first and second line of Para- 

 greles, but in the interior there was only seen, to 

 the great astonishment of the spectators to fall in 

 the place of hail stones, drops of the consistence 

 of snow. The Journal du Commerce of Lyons, of 

 3d August 1825, contains a fact precisely similar, 

 which happened to the vineyards of Corsier. — 

 Whilst tjie hail fell in great abundance upon the 



— and I have seen horses at seven years oltl, with; 

 the corner teeth appearing like those of a five»t 

 year old. You may form some idea of the agei 

 from tiie appearance of the mouth in general,! 

 when the marks are no longer visible. If the cor-* 

 ner teeth do not appear long, and running forwardl 

 as it were, to the front of the mouth — if they re- 

 tain their square shape, and shut well together— 

 if the tusks are not blunt, and have the least con- 

 cavity in their inner surface, you may conclude 

 that the horse is not very old, particularly if hia 

 head is not grey, and not very hollow above the 

 eyes — though this latter shape sometimes exist) 

 in youni^ horses. A concnve tusk is the most cer- 

 tain criterion of youth, and as mares have no tusi 

 at all, they m:ist be judged with reference to wha' 

 i we have said about the corne.' teeth. It is hero > 

 I necessary to rcention that the difficulty of acquir- ' 

 I iiig an accurate knowledge of the age of horses by 

 ! their teeth, is very much increased by the tricks, 

 that are practised. ' 



It is generally allowed that no horses are fit to 

 work tiU at least five years old ; and it is a com- ' 

 mon custom with great breeders in the north of- 

 England, and with many dealers, to pull out the 

 sucking teeth when the animal is rising four years 

 old — the mouth is forced by these means, for the . 

 horse teeth succeeding soon after the operation, 

 the animal appears to be a five-years-old. To de- 

 tect such deception regard must be paid to the 

 tusk. Every horse, upon attaining the full age of 

 five, has the tusk completely up on each side of ' 

 the mouth ; hut in forcod five-year-old mouths the 

 tusk is only just making its way through the gums. 

 There frequently exists also in the latter an ir- 

 regularity in the front teeth, as well .as a back- 

 wardness in the g'owth of the tusk — Forced 

 mouths vary in their appearance according to the 



