116 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



be glad to have them analyzed, but I am too limited 

 in means to forward them wliere it could be done 

 scientifically. 



Should tiie association to promote agriculture — of 

 which you said somethhig in the November number, 

 and again in the January number in reply to i'riend 

 NEnixoEP. — go on, set ray name down as one of the 

 thousand. 



I have often thought of giving you a cure for the 

 distemper in horses, which proved very beneficial a 

 numlier of years since. I now give it. I had a mare 

 which -was so far gone that I gave her up, but it oc- 

 curred to me that lime water might do some good. 

 Accordingly we drenched her with one quart of lime 

 water ; in a few seconds the mucus so flew from her 

 nostrils and the excrescence from behind against the 

 wall, that we burst into a laugh. The mare recovered 

 perfectly. She had a colt which had not yet been 

 weaned, and which was so far gone it could just walk. 

 I told my little boys to lead it to the woods and shoot 

 it, to save the trouble of hauling it away. But my 

 boys asked whether it should be theirs if they cured 

 it ? to which I quite readily assented. They gave it 

 nearly a quart of lime water, and it recovered and 

 became quite a hardy animal. Since that time I 

 have had no case of that disorder, or I should have 

 tried the same remedy. 



Most respectfully your sincere friend, 



Abraham Baer. 



West Carlisle, Coshocton Co., 0. 



POTATO INSECT. 



Mr. Editor: — Having a few names to send for 

 your valuable journal, I thought I would inform you 

 of a discovery I made, that I Ijclieve to be the cause 

 of what is generally called the " potato mildew." In 

 1852 I had a patch of potatoes that looked very fine, 

 and grew luxuriantly. Sometime in August I ob- 

 served that they were turning yellow, and some of the 

 vines quite dry. I examined the dead vines, and 

 found that they were all hulled out. I then examined 

 some of the sickly vines ; in them I found a small 

 white worm, from five-eighths to three-fourths of an 

 inch long, which had bored a hole not larger than a 

 fine knitting needle from the root to near the toj) of 

 the vine; it then went downward again and hulled 

 out the vine, and then worked a net around itself 

 like a silk-worm. Some that I examined were white, 

 and the shape of a small bug. I put one in a vial, 

 and in a few days it escaped from its shell like a locust, 

 and became a small brown bug. My potatoes were 

 all afflicted the same way, yet the yield was good, 

 although the vines had all wilted and died a month 

 before we raised them. Last year they were attacked 

 the same way with the bug, but the yield was not 

 over one-half as good as in 1852. If I am not mis- 

 taken, it is the same bug that congregates by thou- 

 sands in the months of September and October on 

 horse droppings, &c. I wish some of your scientific 

 subscribers would investigate the matter more closely, 

 and give us their opinion on the subject. 



Very respectfully, yours, Thos. Harper. 



Berrysburgh, Daujjhin Co., Pa. 



We first discovered the larvm of this insect at 



work in potato ^^nes in July, 1845 ; and we gave 

 some account of their ravages in the August number 

 of the Genesee Parmer of that yeai'. Since then 

 several gentlemen have seen and parlially described 

 this depredator, and some have supposed that it is 

 the sole cause of the premature rotting of potatoes. 

 Such, however, is not the opinion of Dr. Harris, of 

 Carabrido^e. — Ed. 



CHIMNEY SWALLOWS. 



Mr. Editor : — Among the " Items from the Patent 

 Office Report for 1852-3," published in the January 

 number of the Farmer, I discovered a recommendar 

 tion for the propagation of swallows, jjarticularly 

 chimney swallows, with the view of securing wheat 

 crops from the ravages of weevils and Hessian flies. 

 Says the writer: "Now, if these birds can be multi- 

 plied to any desirable extent on every farm, I submit 

 whether their being so multiplied would not insure 

 our wheat crops against the ravages of all insects?" 

 After speaking of the care and favor shown them, 

 the writer further adds: "My colony of swallows has 

 become quite respectable in numbers, amounting to 

 something like one hundred in October last. I have 

 been but little, if any, troubled with the fly, and with 

 such an effective corps of champions I feel quite secure 

 from the ravages of the vandal insect." 



Now, for the last two or three years I have been 

 much annoyed with the chimney swallows, having a 

 much more formidable colony than is boasted of by 

 the writer in ((uestion — numbering, as I supposed, near 

 three hundred, the two past years — still my wheat 

 crop was nmch injured by the fly the past summer, 

 and I doubt not it would have shared a similar fate 

 with ten times the number spoken of by him. That 

 the swallows are busy birds all must admit, yet at the 

 same time I can not harbor the thought for a mo- 

 ment that they alone have been instrumental in 

 bringing about the general good luck spoken of by 

 the writer, so far as wheat raising is concerned. 



Yours, respectfully, John P. Brady. 



Whitcomb, Franklin Co., Ind. 



Mr. Editor: — Having at a former period been en- 

 gaged somewhat extensively in distilling, I am enabled 

 to say to " M. W." and to all others whom it may 

 concern, that the slop from the distillery will make 

 seven pounds of pork for every bushel of grain used. 

 I worked one bushel of rye to two of corn. After 

 twelve years' experience on a farm, I estimate one 

 bushel of corn to make eight and one-third poimds 

 of pork, when fed in its raw state. To obtain good 

 results in every case, your hogs must be kept com- 

 fortable and healthy, and not allowed to M'aste their 

 feed. 



The inquiry of " A. B." in the February number 

 of your paper, is one of interest, and not very easy to 

 answer. Much, however, I think avouUI depend on 

 the kind of timber occupying the land. An acre of 

 Maple and Elm timber would contain more than a 

 ton of potash, which left on the ground could not fail 

 to be of great and lasting benefit to the soil ; while 

 an acre of Hemlock timber contains very little, if any 

 thing, that would benefit the soil, and much that is 



