NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



61 



:he li!?ht seeds, which float, and perhaps of de- 

 jtroving: some insects which may adhere to 

 Ihem ; the sprinkling: some kinds of seeds with 

 lime may also he of advantage for the purpose 

 of destroying insects, if such adiiere to ^ them, 

 and of attracting moisture from the air, or lower 

 parts of the earth, or for its other useful prop- 

 erties ; but where the seed, soil and season, are 

 adapted to each other, none of these condiments 

 are required. 



•' It may nevertheless, on other accounts, be 

 very advantageous to steep many kinds of grain 

 in the black liquor, whicli oozes from manure 

 heaps. Mr. Cliappcl, in the papers of the Bath 

 Society, found great benefit by steeping barley 

 in thetluid abr.ve mentioned, for twenty-four 

 hours, and skimming olY the light grains. On 

 taking it out of the water, he mixed wood ashes 

 sifted witii the grain to make it spread regu- 

 larly, and obtained a much liner crop, than 

 from the same corn, sown ivithout preparation. 

 To this we may add, that to steep the seed in 

 a solution of dung in water, as in the draining 

 from a dung-hill, is believed in China both to 

 forward the growth of the plant, and to defend 

 it from a variety of insects, according to the in- 

 Ibrmation given by Sir G. Staunton." 



PRESERVING SEEDS. 



'• Seeds of plants maybe preserved, for many 

 months at least, by causing them to be packed, 

 either in husks, pods, &:c. in absorbent paper 

 wllh raisins, or brown moist sugar ; or a good 

 way, practised by gardeners is to wrap the seed 

 in brown paper or cartridge paper pasted down, 

 and then varnished over." 



SOWING FRUIT WITH SEEDS. 



When the fruit, which surrounds any kind of 

 seeds, can be sowed along with them, it may 

 answer some useful purpose. Thus the fruits 

 of crabs, quinces, and some hard pears, will be 

 all the winter uninjured covered only with their 

 autumnal leaves, and will contribute much to 

 nourish their germinating seeds in the spring. 



Phijtologia. 



TO GENERATE THE BEST KINDS OF SEEDS 



The most healthy plants must be chosen, and 

 those which are most early in respect to the 

 season ; these should be so placed, as to have 

 no weak plants of the same species, or even 

 genus, in their vicinity, lest the fecundating 

 dust of weaker plants should be blown by the 

 winds upon the stigmata of the stronger, and 

 thus produce a less vigorous progeny. — ibid. 



A SUBSTITUTE FOR RINGING SWLNE. 



Mr. Tubb, an English breeder of stock, has 

 recommended a mode of dealing with these 

 mischievous animals, which it is said may su- 

 percede the necessity of putting rings into their 

 noses. It consists simply in shaving oft, with a 

 razor or sharp knife, the gristle on the top of 

 the noses of young pigs. The place soon heals 

 over, and the pigs are thus rendered incapable 

 of rooting. 



BREEDING SWINE FOR SALE ON THE FOOT, FOR STORE 

 FIGS, ROASTING PIGS, &C. 



A breeding stock of Swine is said, by some 

 writers on husbandry, to be more profitable to 

 the farmer than keeping /(tiling stocks of the 

 same animal. This will no doubt be the case 

 on a dairy farm, as whey and skimmed milk 



can, perhaps, be applied to no other purpose so 

 prolitablv ; and those substances arc not suffi- 

 cient to fat grown hogs for the market. The 

 pigs may be sold at any time from three wi^eks 

 to six months old, and their places suj)plicd by 

 fresh litters. A practice of this sort is recom- 

 mended in Hunter's Georgical Essays, vol. vi, 

 p. 183. 



From tfie Old Colony Memorial. 

 In answer to the inquiry of Agricola, " Whe 

 ther young apple trees are not sometimes de- 

 stroyed by taking all their top branches ofi' in 

 the operation of grafting ?" By nursery men, 

 the operation of grafting is generally perform- 

 ed upon seedlings in the nursery while very 

 small, and then the whole to]) is taken off with- 

 out an} injury or danger;* but when it is de- 

 sired to change the fruit of a standard tree, or 

 one that has attained nearly the size of bearing, 

 the knife ought to be applied with caution — 

 the head of the tree ought to be opened, by 

 pruning the lateral branches of their upright 

 limbs, so as to let in the light and air freely, 

 and then cut off the leading branch, or the two 

 leading branches, as there frequently are two, 

 and sometimes three, and graft the desired 

 fruit, leaving the lateral branches, cit least one 

 year, when you may graft one or more of the 

 lateral branches as you may wish to form the 

 head ; and the second year you may with safety 

 cut off the remaining superfluous branches — the 

 necessity or utility of leaving on the lateral 

 branches I conceive to be, the preservation of 

 the circulation of the sap — in my own experi- 

 ence I have lost several trees by cutting off the 

 whole head, and inserting several grafts at a 

 time ; I found they failed the second year by a 

 sort of ccnfcer, beginning where the amputation 

 was made, and descending so as to cut off all 

 nutrition from the scion, while suckere would 

 shoot up from the stump. 1 will not say that 

 failure universally follows the cutting off the 

 whole head at once, for I have seen it succeed 

 in some instances, as I have travelled the road, 

 but I have also seen many others that have 

 failed. These facts are the result of many 

 years experience and observation. 



Yours, P. 



* There is a beautiful young orchard of about 250 

 apple trees in the town of Hanson, set out a few years 

 since by its present owner, Charles Cushing, Esq. All 

 the trees were grafted the two first years. The tops 

 were wholly cut away ; not a limb or sucker was 

 spared. All the scions were set in the trunks of the 

 trees. Not one of the number died, and the orchard is 

 now rcmarkalily thrifty, and no doubt fixes the eyes of 

 travellers in that part of our country. 



From the same Paper. 

 To the Editor — 



Sir — In the New England Farmer, Sept. 7th, 

 a writer over the signature of '• A Farmer," 

 refers to a publication in the O. C. Memorial, 

 signed " Monumet ;" adverting to the destruc- 

 tive ravages of the worm upon the grass and 

 corn in this vicinity. The Farmer regrets that 

 Monumet, while announcing the enemy, did not 

 attempt a description of Inm, and he observes, 

 " If he has ascertained, that it was a worin^ 

 which produced this devastation, he might have 

 described its length, its color, its first appear- 

 ance, and duration. Is it the same worm which 

 attacks the grass and the corn ? A worm that 



should destro}', or injure Indian corn in August, 

 must be an important enemy, and should be de- 

 scribed." 



To supply the deficiency of Monumet, and in 

 some imperfect manner to meet the desire of 

 the Farmer, I will attempt a description of the 

 worm, and as far tis facts will enable me, its 

 first appearance ; its duration cannot be ascer- 

 tained, (for it continues in full activity at the 

 ])resent time,) nor as yet, its generation, or its 

 liabitudes. 



The worm was first discovered about the 

 middle of June, its presence was suspected from 

 the sickly a|q)earance of the corn, about the 

 time oi half hillings the leaves turned red and 

 wilting. On examination the worm was found 

 depredating on the fibrous roots. It was then 

 about tiiree quarters of an inch in length, it has 

 continued increasing in size until it has attained 

 ;lic length of one inch and a quarter or half'. 1 

 shall not attempt a scientific description, but 

 perhaps I may be able to make myself under- 

 stood by those who have made natural history 

 their study — its colour is white or a yellowish 

 white, except the exterior part about one third 

 its length appears bluish, from the contents of 

 the abdomen, which, when emptied, is wholly 

 whitish. Its head is large and beetle-shaped, 

 copperas-yellow, near its mouth are two horns, 

 similar to those of the beetle, but not so large 

 in proportion to its size, immpdiately ovfer these 

 were a pair of antenme. I could discover no 

 eyes on each side — on the anterior part, are 

 three principal legs, resembling (when viewed 

 through a microscope) those of a crab or lobster 

 and are placed within an eight of an inch of the 

 head — forward of these, and near its mouth, arc 

 two smaller legs, similar in appearance to the 

 other, but of which he makes no use in moving, 

 but appear to be placed so as to assist him in 

 conveying food to his mouth ; the rest of his 

 body is without legs, and in moving is dragged 

 along — the whole body consists of distinct folds, 

 I did not count them, but I think there may be 

 10 or 12 — the size is that of the largest goose- 

 quill, or rather larger. 



That it is " the same worm which feeds on 

 grass and on the corn'''' is demonstrable, and on 

 the potatoe also, which in some fields are more 

 than half devoured. 



With respect to its generation or its habits wc 

 have not had experience, or an opportunity to 

 observe them, so as to form even a conjecture. 

 In digging the earth last March, they were dug 

 up three feet below the surface, and in digging 

 a post-hole in June they were found two feet 

 down. Their lodgment now, is about two in- 

 ches below the sward, which may be separated 

 from the earth and turned over like a carpet, 

 and so numerous that in one instance 128 were 

 counted on the area of one yard, in another 12 

 on a square foot. 



They first made their appearance here in 

 1819, they did much damage then to the grass, 

 especially pastures, but not to be compared to 

 that of the present season ; — and those fields 

 that were devoured then, have nearly escaped 

 now. In the spring of 1820, there was an un- 

 usual appearance of what are called the May 

 Bee ; the conclusion then was, that they were 

 connected with these worms, but this theory 

 wants confirmation. 

 Yours, 



PLYMOTHEUS. 



