THE GENESEE FARMER. 



269 



An Insect that destroys Geasshoppers. — The 

 Cdbourg (0. W.) Star says considerable attention 

 has been devoted lately, in that neighborhood at 

 least, to the observation of a parasitical insect 

 which is proving a most efficient and vrelcome des- 

 troyer of the grasshopper. Our attention was first 

 drawn to it by iVsa A. Burnham, Esq., who shewed 

 us two or three specimens on the bodies of defunct 

 grasshoppers. We have since examined two under 

 a 300 power microscope, but find it rather difficult 

 to describe a creature so utterly destitute of limbs. 

 It is of a bright vermilion color, and possesses a 

 sort of sucker by which it fastens on to the body 

 of its victim with a bull-dog tenacity. It appears 

 to eat away the body of the unfortunate grass- 

 hopper, sometimes tearing out comparatively large 

 pieces. We noticed a sort of horn in the neighbor- 

 hood of the sucker, but no other definite limbs of 

 any kind. It appears simply a fleshy mollusc some- 

 what longer than broad. The bright crimson was 

 relieved, in the specimens we saw under the micro- 

 scrope, by a foreign silvery substance which covered 

 the surface of the body in different places like 

 gauze of exceedingly fine frost-work. Its favorite 

 locality is just under the wings. We heartily wish 

 it a keen appetite and a good digestion ! 



How TO prevent Sore Shoulders in working 

 Horses. — The Boston Journal says, the plan we 

 have tried and never found to fail, is to get a piece 

 of leather and have it cut into such a shape as to 

 lie, snugly, between the shoulders of the horse and 

 the collar. This fends off all the friction, as the 

 collar slips and moves on the leather and not on 

 the shoulders of the horse. Chafing is caused by 

 friction; hence this remedy is quite a plausible one, 

 and is much better than tying slips of leather or 

 pads of sheepskin under the collar. 



Carrots foe feeding Poultry. — Some one in 

 the Southern Homestead strongly recommends the 

 use of carrots, chopped fine in a sausage cutter, 

 for poultry. 



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Weather, Crops, &c., in Maine. — The month 

 of July, 1859, was one of the dryest recorded; 

 there was no rain storm for the month, nor has 

 there been any up to this time. We have had oc- 

 casional showers, but the crops are suffering for 

 moisture, particularly corn. We have experienced 

 one of the best seasons for securing the grass crop 

 it has been our lot to receive for years. It was got 

 in in good order and time, and is of superior value 

 for feeding. The crop has been equal to former 

 years. Potatoes are as yet free from rot. Grain 

 looks fair. Fruit, poor. The monthly mean of 

 heat for July at this place was 72 deg. ; hottest 

 day, 12th, 82 deg.; coolest, 4th, 61 deg. Hottest 

 day yet of August, 5th, 81 deg. ; noon to-day ther- 

 mometer indicated 82 deg. — G. E. B., Bdfcuty Me. 



GBOW GOOD GBASS AND KEEP GOOD STOCK. 



We make the following extract from an article in 

 the Southern Field and Fireside^ a new and spirited 

 journal recently started in Augusta, Ga., the agri- 

 cultural department of which is edited by our old 

 friend Dr. Daniel Lee : 



"At no t'me within the memory of man have 

 wool-growing, and the rearing of horses, mules, and 

 neat cattle been so remunerative in tliis coun- 

 try as they now are ; nor is the supply likely to 

 equal the demand for generations to come. All 

 our national habits and customs operate against the 

 systematic improvement of land. Tljis will render 

 the profits of such as act wisely in the matter of 

 stock husbandry, both large and certain. No one 

 should wait till his fields cease to produce good 

 crops of cotton, corn, and wheat before he seeds 

 them down to tlie best European grasses; for if he 

 does, it may be too late to realize any profit. No 

 one can stop too soon the bad practice of wearing 

 out the land he cultivates. By keeping breeding 

 mares and raising fine colts, or by keeping sheep, a 

 farmer may easily improve a farm without plowing 

 a tenth part of it. After the soil is nearly exhausted, 

 the faiDily must still get their bread from it, and as 

 at the North, live stock will be driven off the prem- 

 ises. When one raises no more corn than the 

 children need, it is easy to see that but few hoga 

 will be fatted on this grain. Something like this 

 state of things reduced the number of swine nearly 

 two million head from 1840 to 1850, where there 

 ought to have been an increase of a like number. 

 Similar causes reduced nearly twelve million head 

 of sheep to a fraction over five million. 



"It is choice cows, sheep, horses, and mules, that 

 yield the greatest returns to skilful husbandmen. 

 The production of scrubs, or mean stock of any 

 kind, is rather a mean business in a pecuniary point 

 of view. Raise superior animals on rich peren- 

 nial grasses, if you seek a good income from your 

 farm in stock husbandry. Such animals may ob- 

 tain a part of their living from unimproved old 

 fields, particularly sheep; but they want good 

 clover and pea hay in the winter, or hay made 

 from the English grasses. The most prominent 

 error in stock growing is the attempt to rear fine 

 hogs, cattle, and sheep, on scanty and defective 

 food. Some want a good deal of meat, milk, or 

 wool, from little or nothing. They ask nature to- 

 make them rich, while they lie in the shade in sum- 

 mer, and set by the fire in winter, and leave their 

 poor animals to nearly or quite perish from neglect. 

 Give stock the same diligence and care bestowed' 

 on a crop of cotton, and the profit will be far 

 greater, because the one branch of business is novv: 

 pushed rather too far, while the other is sadly neg- 

 lected. Hence, there is more money in growing 

 horses, mules, and wool than in growing our great 

 commercial staple. Let us diversify our agricul- 

 ture, and learn to make a little labor go a great 

 way by pursuing a system of wise husbandry." 

 ^ 1 11 • 



Heating New Milk. — I have practiced heating 

 new milk in cold wea»her for ten years. It makes 

 the cream rise better and churn with less trouble, 

 and greatly improves the butter. — N. W., Eor- 

 nelliville^ If. Y. 



