THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



41 



PROTECTION AGAINST FLOODS. 



There is little aclvaiitage lobe derived from 

 discussing tlie question whether the destruc- 

 tive overflows in the Ohio River arc caused 

 by cutting down the forests on the lieadwaters 

 of that river or not. The defoliation of the 

 country is certainly a calamity, as the naked 

 and parched condition of tlie treeless regions 

 in Asia Minor and Southern Europe suflicient- 

 ly demonstrates. But even if the sudden and 

 disastrous inundations in the Ohio Valley are 

 due to this cause it is too late to remedy the 

 evil. :The destroyed forests cannot bo re- 

 placed in a hundred years, even if under ex- 

 isting conditions it can ever be done. We 

 may as well recognize these inundations, not 

 only in the Ohio, but in the Mississippi also, 

 as annual probabilities which cannot be pre- 

 vented. All that we do is to prepare for 

 them, and the question how to prepare for 

 them is the one of practical concern. 



The river Nile overflows every year, and 

 has done so for ages ; and not only are no 

 measure ever taken to prevent the inunda- 

 tions, but they are joyously welcomed on 

 account of the enriching deposit they leave 

 on the ground. They never do any damage, 

 because there are no farm houses scattered 

 promiscuously over the country here, and the 

 few villages to be found are built upon ele- 

 vated spots above the reach of the floods. 

 The richest lands in the West are to be found 

 along the streams where they are subject to 

 overflow, and their fertility is perpetually 

 maintained by the overflow sediment. In 

 many cases these rich districts cannot be pro- 

 tected, and, if they could, they should not. 

 But when the overflow comes there ought to 

 be harbors of refuge for man and beast, and 

 these might be provided by adopting the 

 French and German practice of having farm- 

 ers live together in hamlets instead of on their 

 farms. These hamlets, compactly built on 

 areas, and holding fifty or a hundred families 

 each, could be fortifled by thick embankments 

 high and strong enough to resist the water, 

 and in the inclosure the cattle from the sur- 

 rounding farms could find safety till the flood 

 subsides. This arrangement, or some one 

 similiar to it, if adopted on the Lower Mis- 

 sissippi, would possess other advantages than 

 a mere protection in inundations ; it would 

 group the scattered people into compact and 

 strong communities, and give them social and 

 industrial i)rivileges they do not now possess. 

 It would be much cheaper than to build a 

 levee round every plantation house, and the 

 plantations could be almost as effectively 

 worked and looked after from the central 

 hamlets as they are now. 



AVOIDING THE HESSIAN FLY. 



In a paper read before a scientific associa- 

 tion at Jlinneapolis, Minn., last fall, it is 

 stated that, contrary to general belief, the 

 earliest sowings of winter wheat are not lia- 

 ble to so great injury by the Hessian fly as 

 later sown crops. A large number of obser- 

 vations were made in Perry county. Pa., and 

 the farmers there are said " to maintain that 

 the earliest sown wheat— that put in during 

 the first week of September— often yields a 

 good crop, while that which is .sown between 

 the loth and 22d is badly infested, and the 



latest— that sown in the last week of the 

 month — again escapes." According to the 

 report of the paper, in the Amerimm yfatural- 

 ist for February, the author thinks that the 

 early sown wheat does not escape the fly, but 

 it grows strong, and tillers much more than 

 the late wheat, and the number of insects is 

 not sufticient to weaken so many stalks so 

 that they will fall. That later sown has less 

 and the number of larvjc to stalks is necessari- 

 ly so increased that the straw is sure to break 

 down, or even die outright, during the winter, 

 V)efore the straw has been formed. The author 

 of the paper states that the spring brood does 

 the mischief seen before harvest, hence many 

 farmers never observe the attacks of the fall 

 brood. He says that the death of wheat roots 

 during winter from the attacks of the fall 

 brood causes a great reduction in the num- 

 bers of these insects, which are in the " flax- 

 seed " or pupal form, and are frozen in their 

 winter quarters. The absence of vitality In 

 the wheat seems in some way to render the 

 insects more liable to danger from severe 

 cold, although there does not seem to be any 

 more appreciable warmth in a living plant 

 than in a dead one. It appears to the writer 

 of the paper that the insects, by killing wheat 

 roots, become in some measure the means of 

 their own destruction, and that this is an 

 "efticient cause checking to a great extent 

 the excessive multiplication of this pest." 



HOME COMFORTS FOR FARMERS. 



The comfort of the farmer's family should 

 not be overlooked. Very old farm-houses, 

 and those that are cheaply built for temporay 

 use until a better can be afforded, are often 

 most uncomfortable in severe weather. Win- 

 dows and doors admit the external air more 

 freely than is required for ventilation. 

 Weather-strips mads of India rubber are verv 

 eftf'ctive, but they are not to be had every- 

 where, and require more of an outlay than is 

 always convenient. A little ingenuity will 

 provide substitutes. For windows, place small 

 wedges between the upper and lower sashes, 

 to prevent rattling, then paste on strips of 

 brown paper to close all the cracks, using 

 stiff flour paste, or that made from rye meal 

 with a little alum added. It is well to leave 

 one upper sash to be let down, as may be re- 

 quired for ventilation. Doors may be made 

 tight by tacking tailor's listing or folded 

 strips of woolen cloth along the sides and 

 tops. The opening at the bottom of doors is 

 usually the largest. For this, take pieces of 

 small scantling, of the proper length, and 

 covers with old carpet or other convenient 

 fabric, stufling the side which goes against 

 the door, with wool, cotton, or even with hay, 

 to make a sort of cushion. While it is well 

 enough to have the kitchen door open directly 

 into the room in summer, it is very uncom- 

 fortable for the inmates in winter. If possi- 

 ble, a storm door which can be closed before 

 the kitchen door is opened, should be pro- 

 vided. This may be made in such a manner 

 as to be taken away in warm weather and 

 stored for future use. Sleeping rooms in 

 farm houses are usually cold. Those who 

 suffer from cold feet should not be deterred 

 from making themselves comfortable through 

 fear of being thought "old womanish." If 

 one cannot sleep on account of cold feet, be 



should warm them. Bottles of hot water 

 will answer, but are not so good as blocks of 

 soap-stone. Blocks of hard wood, that have 

 no turpentine, if placed in the stove oven 

 early in the evening, will be found excellent 

 foot warmers. In driving in the country in 

 very cold weather, a foot warmer of some 

 kind will add greatly to the comfort of those 

 making the'journey.— .4wtenca7i Agriculturist. 



TSETSE, OR POISON-FLY. 



This great barrier to African traveling was 

 first met by the Boers and other travelers on 

 the Limpopo ; and though most peoi»le on 

 their first encounters felt doubts regarding its 

 repute of the sting being fatal to horses and 

 cattle, too painful experience of its ravages 

 has left no doubt on the subject. We find 

 again, the insect rising here, after we had 

 completed more than a thou.sand miles of our 

 explorations towards the unknown interior of 

 Central Afi-ica, crossing our path and stop- 

 ping our progress in every direction. The 

 tsetse is, in extreme length, half an inch, or 

 very little more, and has very much the ap- 

 pearance of a young bee just escaped from its 

 cell, or a bee half-drowned in honey, the 

 wings being always closed when stationary. 

 The body is not quite so long as that of a bee, 

 and much more slender. 



The bite of the tsetse is something like that 

 of the mosquito, but the pain not so lasting. 

 It assails different animals in their most de- 

 fenceless parts : a man behind the back be- 

 tween the shoulders, and an ox on the back 

 or under the belly ; a horse in the same 

 places, and inside the nostrils ; and a dog on 

 the forehead, &c. With the proboscis they 

 penetrate a pilot cloth coat and whole suit of 

 underclothes. The bite of this insect is fatal 

 to cattle, horses, sheep and dogs ; but there 

 is a peculiar breed of the latter known as 

 Makoha dogs, which are exempt from the ef- 

 fects of its poison, the breed having from time 

 immemorial been reared in the " fly" country, 

 and escaped a cnw milk diet, as the natives 

 say. It has no ill-effects whatever on game 

 or upon men, except that being bitten by 

 numbers is likely to induce headache, as with 

 the irritation of mosquitoes. The symptoms, 

 as I have observed them, are, first, in the ox, 

 a swelling under the throat, which if lanced 

 emits a yellowish fluid. The hair stands on 

 end, or is reversed. The animals become de- 

 bilitated ; and, though the herbage be ever so 

 luxuriant, refuse to eat their fill, and become 

 thin. The eyes water, and at length, when 

 the end is approaching, a continual rattling 

 in the throat may be heard at a few paces' 

 distance. It sometimes happens that a fly- 

 bitten ox will live, but very rarely, and only 

 when it has no work to perform. Work and 

 rain are great precipitators of their end. In 

 horses the symptoms are swelling about the 

 eyes and nostrils, the hair is reversed, and, 

 though they have the best of food, they be- 

 come thin, sleepy, and, pining gradually, at 

 length die. 



Both cattle and horses live from fourteen 

 days to six months after having been bitten 

 by tsetse, but they generally die after the 

 first rain has fallen. A dog dies in ten or 

 twelve days, or two or three weeks at latest. 

 It is perceptible in the eyes, which are swollen 

 and protruding. After death the heart of an 



