Vol. 1.— No. 24. 



AND GARDKNRIt*S JOURNAL. 



187 



racing calculations, are so nicely regulated 

 to correspond with age, that no advantage 

 could be given to Henry, as has been said : 

 on the contrary, according to the long estab- 

 lished usage of weights on the southern cour- 

 ses, no* introduced at New-York, Eclipse 

 had an advantage of 8 lbs. — mote than a 

 distance — 7 lbs.=240 yards. 



On the day previous to the race, a num- 

 ber of gentlemen visited the Course with a 

 surveyor, and finding it thirty feet over a 

 mile, reduced it as nearly to a mile as could 

 conveniently be done, leaving it still eight- 

 een inches over. It is said, however, from 

 the nature of the ground, to he four or five 

 seconds quicker than the Tree-Hill Course. 



Immediately after the race, Col. R. W. 

 Johnson challenged J. C. Stevens, Esq. 

 and the friends of the Eclipse, to run Henry 

 against the Eclipse the ensuing fall over the 

 Washington Course, for any sum from 20 

 tc $50,000. The challenge was declined, 

 and the resolution then announced has been 

 adhered to, " never on any consideration to 

 risk the life or reputation of the noble ani- 

 mal whose generous and almost incredible 

 exertions, have gained for the North so sig- 

 nal a victory, and for himself such we'll earn- 

 ed and never-fading renown." 



Eclipse was accordingly withdrawn from 

 the turf and put to covering. He stood one 

 season at Boydton in Virginia, at $75, and 

 $100 to insure; and one or two short sea- 

 sons at Baltimore, at $50, and since then we 

 believe in New-York. 



LOCUSTS. 



These devouring insects have made their 

 appearance in various places in this neigh- 

 borhood in vast numbers, and much dam- 

 age is anticipated. We are not informed 

 yet as to their extent, but shall endeavor to 

 procure as many facts as possible respecting 

 them. As the history of the periodical ap- 

 pearance of these insects is somewhat invol- 

 ved in darkness, we shall not attempt at 

 present to lay down any thing like theory 

 respecting it. We find that different per- 

 sons have different views upon the subject, 

 some limiting the time to seven, others to e- 

 leven years. A gentleman living in one of 

 the infested districts, says they made a simi- 

 tar appearance in 1820 ; since which time 

 he has not discovered them. Any detail of 

 facts respecting them would be gladly re- 

 ceived at our office. 



Mr. Editor — While I was preparing a 

 short article for publication on the subject 

 Of the Locust, I received a letter from my 

 brother in Victor, Ontario County, giving 

 the following short account of the time of 

 their first appearance, and some circumstan- 

 ces of their history, which you are at liberty 

 to publish if you think them deserving your 

 notice. Yours, &c. E. S. M. 



" It has been two weeks (June 10th) since 

 the Locust first made its appearance ; from 

 that time till the present, they have been 

 rapidly increasing, and now our woods and 

 orchards are thronged with them, presenting 

 scenes both of curiosity and astonishment. 

 As yet, they are only found on upland where 

 the oak and chesnot is the principal timber 

 growing, and in orchards of the same or a 

 light soil, bat will spread probably, and soon 



be seen in all places. They are just begin- 

 ning to fly, though only from tree to tree, 

 but it is expected soon to see them sailing 

 throi gh the air like swarms of bees, com- 

 mitting depredations on such trees and ve- 

 getables as happen in their way. They eat 

 the bark, leaves and juices of young twigs, 

 but how extensive their ravages will be, is 

 not known. They come out of the ground 

 generally in the night, a large oval bug (the 

 chrysalis) of a yellow brown color, and crawl 

 up whatever comes in their way, a few feet 

 from the ground and then remain till a 

 transformation takes place, which is general- 

 ly in a few hours. If placed in the sun they 

 soon begin to swell and become nearly 

 transparent, but remain so only a short time 

 when a change takes place, and soon the 

 shell that encloses the bug begins to burst, 

 commencing at the head and running down 

 the back, disclosing as it opens, a well for- 

 med locust, which crawls out leaving the 

 bug-like shell adhering fast to the stump or 

 tree. They presently become vigorous and 

 commence singing and flying, and seem 

 full of merriment the whole day. 



Their music though different in kind, e- 

 quals in confusion the notes of myriads of 

 black birds. 



Seventeen years have elapsed since their 

 last appearance in such numbers ; though 

 every year very few have been seen. 



The song of the feathered tribe is nearly 

 ost or suspended amid their constant roar. 

 They did some damage to orchards and tim- 

 ber when they last visited us, but nothing 

 very serious. Poor creatures ! let them sing 

 and flutter on — they will soon die. It is the 

 ast, (imago) or perfect state of the insect 

 that has probably undergone the four trans- 

 formations of insect 'ife, and now about to 

 deposit their eggs and disappear. 



It is an interesting inquiry, which can 

 doubtless be answered by some of your read- 

 ers, whether these locusts are from the eggs 

 deposited seventeen years ago ? does the 

 farre or little worm winter in the twig where 

 deposited, and wait for the death and falling 

 of the limb before entering the ground, or 

 crawl out of its nest and enter the earth the 

 first season ? J. M. 



scried a nest of caterpillars busily at work on 

 one of my young fruit trees. I immediately 

 placed a fresh sod, grass down, in the first 

 crotch of a limb below the nest. The ensu- 

 ing day, I was rejoiced to find my experi 

 ment, if I can so call it, had succeeded foi 

 the nest was in a manner shivered intc- 

 shreds, and not a living inhabitant appear- 

 ed ; but the whole was clustered in a solid 

 mass, as I supposed — dead ; but a strong 

 gale had during the night cast oft" the sod, 

 and the caterpillars re-appeared, repairing 

 their shattered web. I again applied a fresh 

 sod, and this morning I find the work com- 

 pleted — their habitation literally annihila- 

 ted, and nothing but a mass of dead remain- 

 ing. 



I am indebted to the late Chancellor Liv- 

 ingston for the first suggestion. Walking 

 with me in my garden at Pittsfield, Mass. a- 

 bout 20 years ago, observing a man busily 

 engaged in the odious task of destroying 

 these vermin by hand, he informed me he 

 had noticed the experiment I have alluded 

 to, practiced in Italy with complete success. 

 I hope many of your readers and the public 

 generally, may through the medium of your 

 press, profit by the hint." 



ELKAKAH WATSON, ESQ,. 



The readers of the Farmer will be gratifi- 

 ed to find this veteran agriculturist still living 

 and enjoying the decline of life. Though 

 now 74 years of age, he has lost none of his 

 desire to benefit his country. He has been 

 among the most active and zealous in his 

 exertions, to awaken the people of Vermont 

 and the northern part of this State, to the 

 importance of a Rail Road from the St. 

 Lawrence to Port Kent, on lake Champlain, 

 and from Burlington, opposite Port Kent, 

 to Boston. We hope he may live to see the 

 accomplishment of this great work — a work 

 of vast importance to that section of our 

 country. The following is an extract of a 

 letter from him, dated Port Kent, May £2, 

 1831, from which it will be seen that he 

 still seems anxious for the interest of the 

 Farmer. 'Tis the voice of experience, gui- 

 ded by talent and science : 



" 1 will state an interesting fact on a small 

 scale, and yet a very important discovery as 

 to its results. Three or four days ago, I de- 



TO DESTROY INSECTS. 



Extract of a letter from a gentleman of 

 Auburn, to the Editor of the Genesee Far- 

 mer : — "I have heard much of the destruc- 

 tion of melons and cucumbers, by the stri- 

 ped bug and black insect. I have found a 

 perfect and never-failing remedy in the ap- 

 plication of a strong solution of red pepper. 

 Break and boil the pods and apply the liquor 

 with a small handful of grass. One single 

 application has always succeeded with me." 



A gentleman of this village informs us, 

 that he dined with a friend at Lyons on the 

 15th inst. who had on his table new potatoes 

 of this year's planting: green peas of thi 

 first crop, which were too old ; young beets 

 of this year's growth, and strawberries in 

 great profusion : all from the garden of My. 

 ron Holley, Esq. This shows how far a lit- 

 tle attention to horticulture will promote 

 good living and add to the comforts of life. 



INQUIRY. 



Mr. Editor — Will any of your Hortioul 

 tural correspondents give information as to 

 which is the best stock for dwarfing apple 

 trees upon ? Also whether the Rhamnus 

 catharticus or Buck-thorn is to be found in 

 this section of the country : It is mentioned 

 in the New-England Gardener as superior 



for hedges. W. 



Errata — No. 18.— p. 137. col. 1. 



For Bemperoirens, read semperuireDS — for oculcatus, 

 read oculeatus- for Legustrum, read Ligustrum— for A 

 cuba, read Aucuba. 



Proof Spirit — If oil, which rises to the 

 surface of water, be mixed with alcohol 

 or some other spirit, it will settle at the 

 bottom. A weaker spirit is heavier, 

 bulk for bulk, than a stronger one, and 

 its strength is so far reduced that it will 

 no longer float on the surface of oil, but 

 will sink below it ; this is the test which 

 fixes the strength of proof spirit. All 

 spirit which floats upon oil is said to be 

 above proof. — Lardnefs Cycio. 



