268 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



in consequence of being too loose or sandy or cal- 

 careous, or too compact and stiff. This is called 

 tempering the soil. "When a soil is too loose and 

 porous, or too stiff, the mixture of the opposite 

 kind in just proportions will bring it to a more suit- 

 able condition. In this way a body is given to 

 those lands that are deficient of it, and those which 

 are too heavy and tenacious are made more light 

 and loose. This process brings no nutriment to 

 the plant directly, but only mediately by attaining 

 a retentive power in the right degree, and thus 

 furnishing nutriment by a proper supply of water ; 

 and it also acts favorably on the health and quali- 

 ty of the plant. Irrigation is the most beneficial 

 mode of applying water to plants, for the reason 

 that in running over the ground it takes up and 

 holds in solution the mineral matters required. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 MANURES. 



Many a farmer possessed of acres of cultivated 

 land, which in its present state is a source of 

 aeitlier pleasure or profit, is convinced of the ne- 

 cessity of increasing its productiveness, but is in 

 the dark as to how the work is to be done. 



He may be unable to purchase specific manures ; 

 or from the many in general use, not know which 

 to select. Or — as many have done — he may have 

 erred in applying foreign fertilizers. Perhaps 

 gypsum, sown on low, wet land, proved less valu- 

 able than sand from the wayside; and guanOj 

 placed in the hill, killed the young corn. 



Now, to all who, in the use of specific manures, 

 have foiled to reap the anticipated reward, we beg 

 leave to speak of a way, in which your farms can 

 be made more productive, and that, too, at a very 

 trifling expense. And the expenditure is an item 

 which should enter the account of every farmer, 

 for economy is essential to prosperity. 



And first — i/ou?- barn-yard, in which, perhaps, 

 for want of a cellar, all your manure is thrown to 

 be dried by the sun, and drenched by the rain, 

 till little is left, except the worthless vegetable 

 fibre, with which to dress your soil. Cannot some- 

 thing be done here ? As it is, it may be the high- 

 way or .the brook receive the liquid manure, for 

 which your fields are languishing. And is not 

 the air, for rods around, surcharged with ammo- 

 nia, which conduces to the destruction of animal 

 life, instead of contributing to the support of the 

 vegetable kingdom? 



Why not drain that unsightly bog, or dig the 

 turf from beside that wall, where brakes and bri- 

 ars grow, deforming the whole field ; and cart the 

 sods and muck to your yard 1 The muck and loam 

 may be of little worth if spread upon your land in 

 their crude state ; but incorporate them with your 

 manure heap, and they become valuable by ab 

 sorbing what now escapes. 



And your pig-stye ! Is it not a fit companion for 

 the barn-yard 1 Is it not often flooded with water 1 

 Does not your hog, for want of better employment, 

 undermine his fence, and break forth from his en- 

 closure, to the serious injury of the garden or corn- 

 field? 



Give your hog plenty of leaves, potato-tops, and 

 grass sods, and his labor will be turned to some 



account. He will earn you from ten to twenty 

 dollars in the course of the season, and in the fall 

 fill just as large a barrel, as if he had spent his life 

 in idleness or mischief. 



But perhaps you say, "the substances above 

 spoken of, as materials from which to manufac- 

 ture manure, are worthless, — that spread upon the 

 field they will not increase the crop." In their 

 present or natural state they may be indifferent 

 fertilizers ; and so is hay, before eaten by stock, 

 and wood, before reduced to ashes. m. 



Chester, April 18, 1853. 



For the P/ew England Farmer. 

 THE CURRANT BORER. 



Mr. Editor : — There is an enemy of the horti- 

 culturist which is very destructive in these parts, 

 and as I have reason to believe, is not unknown 

 elsewhere, although I have not met with a notice 

 of it in your valued periodical. I allude to an in- 

 sect known as the currant borer. Forty years ago, 

 there were luxuriant crops of most excellent cur- 

 rants produced in this neighborhood, almost spon- 

 taneously. At the present day they cannot be 

 obtained of good quality by any degree of trouble 

 and attention. This change has been brought 

 about by the borer, a worm or rather maggot, 

 very similar in size and appearance to the apple 

 worm, which also has long been destructive to the 

 produce of our orchards. For neither of these 

 pests is any available remedy known ; nor is it pro- 

 bable that any will be discovered, until the nature 

 of the insects be sufficiently understood. 



Possibly some of your contributors may be able 

 to impart the requisite knowledge of their origin, 

 and of their habits during the several seasons of 

 the year. Independently of its effects, the currant 

 worm is only known to me by observation, when 

 pruning the bushes in the spring. I find the stems 

 and branches hollow, the pith being destroyed, 

 and a black powder occupying its place ; while at 

 the termination of the hollow part, and sometimes 

 at each end of the tube, a white maggot, of half 

 or three-quarters of an inch in length, occupies 

 the place of the pith that has been consumed. — 

 There is generally perceptible a small puncture in 

 some part of the twig, by which it would appear 

 the worm made its entrance ; but whether it even- 

 tually drops into the ground, or undergoes its 

 transformation into a fly Avithin the twig, or what 

 description of fly it becomes, are points that have 

 not been ascertained, and which it is evident must 

 be determined in order that a remedy may be ap- 

 plied with reasonable hope of success. 



The same uncertainty rests upon the proceed- 

 ings of the apple worm. Impressed with the idea 

 that the worms, on their exit from the apple, en- 

 tered the earth, I caused sea-weed to be laid un- 

 der the trees, early in the summer, to the depth 

 of a foot, and extended it over all the ground near 

 the trees, and allowed it to remain until after the 

 bloom was well over ; supposing that if the flies 

 were not by these means destroyed, their maturi- 

 ty would be delayed, so that they would not rise 

 out of the ground until the time for mischief should 

 be passed. However, little or no effect was visi- 

 ble from this proceeding. Wormy apples were 

 as plentiful as in former seasons. I know not 

 what to think of the failure in this matter. It 

 can hardly be that the worms become chrysalids 



