NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



295 



TO DESTROY THE APHIS ON ROSE- 

 TREES OUT OF DOORS. 



In the Ladies' Companion to the Flower -Garden, 

 under the article of Aphis, Mrs. Louden advises to 

 make a decoction of quassia, in the proportion of an 

 ounce of chip to a pint of water, and dip the infected 

 branches of roses into it. This cannot be done on a 

 large scale ; but I have found the use of the decoc- 

 tion so valuable, that it ought to be more generally 

 known. My mode of using it is as follows : 



Having made in the outset a small quantity in the 

 above proportions, and tested it as a guide for my 

 future use, I now make from two to three gallons at 

 a time in a large iron boiler. When cold, on a line 

 day, throw it on your rose-bushes by means of a 

 garden syringe, taking care to wet the under as well 

 as the upper surface of the leaves. Li two days' 

 time, you Avill see thousands of the insects adhering 

 to the leaves, but quite dead. Then syringe the 

 bushes with i^lain water, using considerable force, to 

 wash off the dead aphides. You will no doubt ob- 

 serve many still living, as it is almost impossible to 

 wet them at one operation. Repeat the syringing 

 with the decoction, and afterwards Avith the water. 



Rose- Garden, by Wm. Paul. 



Remarks by Editor N. E. Farmer. — In our en- 

 deavors to destroy insects, or prevent their depreda- 

 tions, it is important to learn Avhat substances are 

 most destructive or offensive to them. In some case^, 

 corrosive substances are used with success, as potash 

 water for lice in the bark of apple-trees. Again, a 

 substance of this nature Avould sooner kill the tree 

 than the insects that prey uijon it. 



We prepared a very strong solution of potash, 

 probably too strong for washing the trunks of trees. 

 We put rose bugs in it, carried them eight or ten 

 rods, and then took them out. They Avere kept in a 

 glass, and appeared well the next day. We then 

 diluted the potash water, by adding as much more 

 water, and applied it to the foliage of various trees 

 and vegetables, and it killed every leaf it touched. 

 This showed that some offensive substance, such as 

 whale oil soap, tobacco, quassia, aloes, &c., must be 

 used, rather than corrosives. Insects breathe tlirough 

 lateral pores, and oily substances close these pores 

 and kill them. 



Wc present for consideration the nature of the 

 substance best adapted to the destruction of each 

 species of insect that preys on our herbage ; whether 

 it should be corrosive, or offensive, or oily. Oily 

 substances may be used in connection with an alkali, 

 forming a saponaceous compound. Some offensive 

 substances will only drive insect* from one plant to 

 another ; others, as tobacco liquor, may destroy them 

 by strangulation. 



' MUSIC OF INSECTS. 



A sound like the humming of bees is often heard 

 in lonely, rural retreats, among mossy dells and leafy 

 solitudes ; the poet hoard this music of the groves as 

 he penned the following coujjlet : — 



'; Not undelightful is the ceaseless hum, 

 To him who, musing, walks at noon." 



Sounds like the humming of bees are frequently 

 heard, though not a single insect is to be seen. The 

 existence of these diminutive creatures — who only 



appear in the evening — is said to terminate be- 

 fore the dawn of day : though short, it is a life of 

 incessant pleasure. By naturalists they arc now 

 classed as coral flies, who congregate in millions, as 

 Gardner suj^poses, for the pleasures of music and the 

 dance. 



It is related of Beethoven that those imitative 

 sounds in his celebrated Pastoral Symphony were 

 caught from nature ; that he employed the violin, in 

 that extraordinarj' composition, to represent the soft, 

 fluttering stir of the insects, — the hum in a noon- 

 tide warmth of a summer's day. He used to sit 

 upon a stile in the environs of Vienna, a lovely, se- 

 questered spot, and listen to the ceaseless sound of 

 unnumbered winged insects dancing in the air. 



Plutarch tells us that when Terpander was playing 

 upon the lyre, at the Olympic games, and had enrap- 

 tured his audience to the highest pitch of enthu- 

 siasm, a string of his lyre broke, and a grasshopper 

 immediately perched on the bridge, and by its voice 

 supplied the loss of the string, and saved the fame 

 of the musician. 



The Athenians kept those delicate creatures in 

 cages for the sake of their song, and called them the 

 nightingales of the nymphs. As in the case of birds, 

 the males oulv sing. 



PLEASURES DERIVED FROM THE CULTI- 

 VATION OF FIELDS AND GARDENS. 



The cultivation of fields and gardens is one of the 

 most delightful of all occupations, and perhaps the 

 only one the toil of which is recompensed with much 

 pleasure. The greater part of laborious employments 

 confine man to his shop, or v.'ithin his house ; whil-it 

 he who devotes himself to agricultural pursuits 

 always breathes a pure au', and enjoys continually 

 the grand spectacle of nature. The azure sky is his 

 canopy, and the earth, embroidered with flowers, his 

 carpet. Far removed from the murky atmosphere 

 of towns, a thousand beautiful objects present them- 

 selves to his view, and he need never want a pure 

 spring of delight or real banquet of pleasure. Soon 

 as the first rays of morning beam light on the earth, 

 he rises with the lark, and hastes away to his fields, 

 brushing, as he passes, the giisteiy-ng dew-drops, and 

 inhaling the fresh air, sweeter than the rose's per- 

 fume. 



The joyful songs of the birds gladden the skies, 

 and the)^ express their loves in a thousand sportive 

 sallies. Their sweet carols mark the pleasure they 

 feel in the new day, and the full chorus swells with 

 the praises of the God of nature, whose blessings 

 they again receive in the returning influence of the 

 sun, in their food, and in the sweet attractions of 

 love and gayety. And s-urcly, no heart can remain 

 unmoved amid this scene of joy and festivity ; nor 

 can the mind contemplate a more august spectacle 

 than the perfection of God in the grandeur of his 

 designs and the beauty of his works. 



What contributes to render agriculture and gar- 

 dening more particularly pleasing is the constant 

 variety and succession of objects always presented 

 to us, which relieve the wearisomeness of continued 

 uniformity and undeviating sameness. We contin- 

 ually observe a vast variety of plants, fruits, herbs, 

 and trees grow up under our auspices, and assuming 

 every diversity of appearance. Nature leads her 

 followers through a thousand flowery paths, ever 

 diversified by new changes and fresh delight. One 

 while we see plants just peeping above the ground, 

 at another those which have arisen and are fuUj 

 developed, and others which are in full bloom. 

 Whichever way we direct our views, we sec new 

 beauties. The heavens above and the earth beneath 

 con'tain exhaustless treasui-es and boundless delights. 



