126 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



wooden type, door knobs, and every other species 

 of fancy carving. It i3 said that the machine -will 

 do the work of ten men, and can be tended by a 

 girl. — American Artisan. 



Gutta Porcha has been used ^vith great success in 

 making hats. Hats that are made with this composi- 

 tion are lisht and delicate. 



HORTICULTURE. 



BY MRS. LYDIA H. SIGOURXEY. 



If the admiration of the beautiful things of nature 

 has a tendency to soften and refine the character, the 

 culture of them has a still more powerful and abiding 

 influence. It takes the form of an affection. The 

 seed which we have nursed, the tree of our planting, 

 under whose shade we sit with delight, are to us as 

 living, loving friends. In proportion to the care Ave 

 have bestowed on them is the warmth of our regard. 

 They are also gentle and persuasive teachers of His 

 goodness who causeth the sun to shine and the dew 

 to distil ; who forgets not the tender buried vine 

 amid the snows and ice of winter, but bringeth forth 

 the root, long hidden from the eye of man, into ver- 

 nal splendor or autumnal fruitage. 



The lessons learned among the works of nature 

 are of peculiar value in the present age. The rest- 

 lessness and din of the railroad principles, which 

 pervade its operations, and the spirit of accumulation 

 which threatens to corrode every generous sensibilitj', 

 are modified by the sweet friendship of the quiet 

 plants. The toil, the hurry, the speculation, the 

 sudden reverse which mark our own times, beyond 

 any that have preceded them, render it particularly 

 salutary for us to heed the admonition of our Savior, 

 and take instruction from the lilies of the field, those 

 peaceful denizens of the bounty of heaven. 



Horticulture has been pronounced, by medical men, 

 as salutary to health, and to cheerfulness of spirits ; 

 and it would seem that this theory might be sus- 

 tained, by the placid and happy countenances of 

 those who use it as a relaxation from the excitement 

 of business, or the exhaustion of study. And if he 

 who devotes his leisure to the cultiire of the works 

 of nature benefits himself, he who beautifies a 

 garden for the eye of the community is surely a 

 public benefactor. He instils into the bosom of the 

 man of the world, panting with the gold fever, gen- 

 tle thoughts, which do good like a medicine. He 

 cheers the desponding invalid, and makes the eye of 

 the child brighten with a more intense happiness. 

 He furnishes pure aliment for that taste which 

 refines character and multiplies simple pleasures. 

 To those who earn their substance by laboring on his 

 grounds, he stands in the light of a benefactor. The 

 kind of industry which he promotes is favorable to 

 simplicity and virtue. With one of the sweetest 

 poets of our mother land, we may say, — 



" Praise to the sturdy spade. 

 And patient plough, and shepherd's simple crook ; 

 And let the light mechanic's tool be hailed 

 With honor, which, encasing, by the power 

 Of lona; companionship, the laborer's hand. 

 Cut ofi'tliat hand, with all its world of nerves, 

 From a too busy commerce with the heart." 



Lady's Book. 



THE GADFLY IN CATTLE - INQUIRY. 



I have a cow which I value highly, and she is 

 troubled with grubs in her back, which I suppose 

 are caused by the gadfly depositing its eggs, in the 

 summer, in the animal's back ; and they are now 



undergoing a change preparatory to their exit and 

 transfoi-mation into a fly, to torment anew the cattle. 

 In the present state, they seem to create great un- 

 easiness, the animal constantly licking herself; and 

 although well fed and sheltered, she falls away in 

 flesh, which I have no doubt is caused whoUy by 

 the irritation of these animals. 



Now, what I want to know is, what is the remedy ? 

 Can any thing be applied which will destroy these 

 grubs, and do no injury to the cow? 



Feb. 18. G. R. P. 



Remarks. — These grubs arc undoubtedly the 

 larvse of the gadfly, {ccstrus hovis.) This fly, which 

 somewhat resembles a small humblebee, deposits 

 its eggs in the skin of the backs of cattle during the 

 latter part of summer ; and these worms, or grubs, 

 live during winter in or under the skin, causing 

 bunches or lumps easily felt by the hand outside, 

 and, Avhcn at all numerous, injuring the health and 

 growth of the animal. Each of these bunches will 

 be found to have a small opening, to admit air for the 

 insect, or to allow matter to escape. Vv'e know of 

 no way to destroy these vermin but to extract thera 

 by hand, squeezing them with the thumb and finger, 

 and aiding their exit with the point of a knife. 

 When the orifice is well open, a drop of turpentine 

 will do the work more easily. In no case should 

 they be allowed to remain long after their presence 

 is discovered. — Editor of Ohio Cultivator. 



POTATOES. 



We copy below, from that valuable paper, the 

 Dollar Newspaper, published in Philadelphia, an 

 excellent article on the general .subject of cultivation, 

 and it accords with the views of many on the potato 

 rot ; but although the state of the weather has great 

 influence in regard to this disease, and so has manure, 

 or the want of man\u-e, yet we do not regard these 

 as the original or principal cause. For they have 

 operated, as they now do, for a long period, without 

 potatoes being affected as they have been by the late 

 malady. 



As far as I can, I will give the result of my obser- 

 vations on the effect of manure in the culture of 

 potatoes, in the hope of Icadiiag some one to the 

 analytical investigation of the difficulty. Having 

 made some experiments with manures, all the differ- 

 ence I could observe between those with rotted ma- 

 nure, those with unrotted, and those without any 

 manure, was, that those manured were much larger 

 and more numerous than those not manured. They 

 were planted at different times in March and April. 

 They wore tended with the utmost care, and grew as 

 finely as I ever saw, promising a fine yield, until 

 about the 2oth of July. At that time, for several 

 days, heavy rains and hot sunshine alternated, pro- 

 ducing a state of fermentation in the root, which 

 ended in the destruction of half the crop. Obser- 

 vation warrants me in saying that the rain or hot 

 weather was the inducing cause of the rot, for it 

 ceased with clear, cool weather. 



The real cause was the lack of - some agent 

 necessary to its full formation, and which would 

 have rendered it proof against the exciting cause. 

 Says one, "Did you not manure some of them?" 

 So I did ; but did" the manure contain aU that was 

 necessary to the growth of the potato ? If it con- 

 tained enough for ordinary weather, did it contain 

 enough to be in proportion after the immense fall of 

 rain ? For it must be remembered that oxygon and 

 hydrogen, the component parts of water, enter into 

 vegetables by first dissolving other agents, and then, 



