112 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BK T. G. tESSENDKS. 



"Better is a dinner of herbs where lore is, than a stalled 

 ox and hatred thereivtth^^'' 



Love relishes the coarsest fare, 



And makes the bitUrest morsel sweet ; 

 But hatred taints the viands rare 



Of those who exquisitely eat. 

 If an»er, envy, discontent, 



Lower o'er your delicate repast, 

 You'd better in the woods kept lent, 



AVitli nought but nuts to break your fas!. 



6ooncr than sit at meat with pests, 



Where smother'd hate torments the mind. 



Let hungry Harpies* be your guests. 

 Like those that with tlie Trojan's din'd. 



On beggars' fragments dine and sup, 

 Your beverage draw from Sodom's lake. 



Or seek from Tantalus' cup,t 

 Intolerable thirst to slake. 



The poorest pot-luck, serv'd with smile?, 



And eaten with a thankful heart. 

 Is better than your roasts and broils, 



And all French cookery can impart. 



Thus Daniel, and his friends of yore, 

 Who made on pulse their smiple feast, 



For comeliness were rank'd before 

 The pamper'd minions of the East. 



For love can relish coarsest fare. 



And make the bitterest morsel sweet ; 



But hatred taints the viands rare 

 Of those who exquisitely eat. 



* Harpies weie winged monsters of heathen mytho- 

 logy, who invited themselves to a family dinner with 

 the Trojans. Their intrusion is thus described by 

 Virgil : 



Turn litore curvo 

 Extruimusque toros dapibusque epulamur opimi«, 

 At sul-iita; horrifico lapsu de montibus adsunt 

 Ilarpyia; et magnis quatiunt clangoribus alas, 

 Diripiuntque dapes contactuque omnia focdant, 

 Immundo. 



Then on the winding shore the tables plac'd, 

 We sate indulging in the rich repast ; 

 When from the mountains, terrible to view. 

 On sounding wings the monster-harpies flew, 

 They taint the banquet with their touch abhorr'd. 

 Or snatch the smoking vicinds from the board. 



Pitt. 

 + The Cup of Tantalus is a philosophical contriv- 

 ance, so denominated from a character in fabulous his- 

 tory, called Tantalus, and said to be king of Phrygia. 

 This personage was condemned by Jupitt-r to suffer 

 perpetual hunger and thirst amidst a profusion of deli- 

 cacies, which always receded when attempted to be 

 applied to his lip". To imitate this punishment a cup 

 is made with a syphon fixed inside in such a manner 

 that when nearly filled with any liquid, if one inclines 

 it a little for the purpose of drinking, the syphon draws 

 off the contents ; which appear to recede from the lips, 

 as if in mockery of the person attempting to drink from 

 the Cup of Tantalus. 



From the Old Colony Memorial. 

 In Rees' Cyclopedia, under the article Cock 

 Clwffrr, is a perfect description of the insect 

 which has committed such unprecedented de- 

 vastation on the vegetable productions of the 

 earth in a g:reater or less degree through this 

 county. " Cock Charter, the Scaralnrus melolon- 

 tlia of Linneus, and intlolnnlha vulgaris of Fabri- 

 cius.* The color is testaceous brown, with 

 the thorax hairy ; tail inflected, and a triangu- 

 lar white spot at each incisure of the abdomen. 



* When in the beetle state. 



" Inhabits the northern parts of Europe, and 

 is highly itijunous to agriculture.! The larva 

 is soft and gray, with the head and legs protect- 

 ed by a shelly covering of a yellow brown col- 

 or. While in the larva state, which continues 

 for the space of three years,| it devours the 

 roots, corn, and other vegetables. This mis- 

 chievous creature subsists also on leaves and 

 tender buds of trees, and is from that circum- 

 stance denomaiated the (rcc-6fc?/e." 



" They are eagerly sought after, and devour- 

 ed by crows, rooks, and other birds, as well as 

 animals ; it is the larva of this insect that is so 

 frequently turned up in ploughing, and in quest 

 of which the crows are often seen following 

 the track of the ploughshares."^ 



In Willich's Domestic Encyclopedia, under 

 the same article (Cock Chaifer) is a more de- 

 tailed and minute description of the insect, 

 agreeing in all the essential points with the 

 preceding ; so that to my mind, the insect that 

 has annoyed us so extensively, is identified with 

 the larva of the Cock Chafler ; and what re- 

 mains for us, i«, I think, to endeavor to devise 

 the means to destroy the enemy, or so to coun- 

 teract its ravages, in some degree to render it 

 innoxious. 



In the first place, 1 will suggest the policy of 

 ceasing our hostility to the crow, and the rest 

 of the feathered tribe which subsist on the 

 larva, and grubs of such insects as prey on our 

 fields ; and even to extend to them the protec- 

 tion of legislative provision. It is true they are 

 an impudent and mischievous race, and are fre- 

 quently trespassers on the cultivated fields of 

 the husbandman ; but their mischief is limited 

 to a iew days after planting, and seldom extends 

 to the ripe corn, as they have at that time other 

 means of subsisting ; and should they be driven 

 to resort to onr corn fields when nearly ripe for 

 the harvest, is it not far easier to guard against 

 the ravages of an enemy, tangible and that an- 

 nounces his approach by the sound of trumpet, 

 than against the one which is invisible, is prey- 

 ing at the roots of all our hopes, of all our 

 means of subsistence, and m such " iunumerable 

 multitudes as no man can number." 



The Editor of the Cyclopedia remarks, " the 

 crow feeds on grain and sometimes trespasses 

 on cultivated fields ; but his good services over- 

 balance those little depredations, in the extir- 

 [lation of the maggot of the Chaffer Beetle, 

 which feeding at the roots of the corn, would 

 oftentimes destroy whole crops, were theij not 



+ This applies to the early period of its existence ; as 

 it increases in size it becomes whiter, and when fully 

 grown is perfectly white, or yellowish white, except 

 its head and legs which retain their primitive color, as 

 also a small spot on each side at each incision of the 

 abdomen. 



^ In the Domestic Encyclopedia the author says — 

 " more than four years" — again, " in the latter end of 

 May they burst from the earth after having lived from 

 four to five years under ground." 



} This applies in England where they are in a degree 

 cherished, and are so tame as to build on the ornamen- 

 tal trees of halls and seats ; in this country they are a 

 pirsecuted race, and are rendered so shy of man that 

 they can rarely be approached so as to be shot. 



P. S. — Those of the larva which are half grown or 

 less have disappeared, probably gone deeper into the 

 ground ; the full grown remain stationary — ^just under 

 the sod, are very heavy and inactive — probably about 

 changing to the chrysalis state ; and when they emerge 

 from that state I presume they will assume neither the 

 Ibrm or costume of the "ujolh or butterfly," but that 

 of the beetle. P. 



destroyed by these uscftil birds." It is also 

 marked by Mr. Marshal, in his Rural Econoijk 

 of Norfolk, "that the method of frigh'eni» 

 rooks in practice there, is simply to stick uji 

 tall bough in the field infested, and to fire 

 gun near the place; this simple expedient si 

 dom fails of being effectual ; they being seld% 

 shot at in .Xorfolk ; where a notion prevai, 

 that rooks are essentially useful to the farmer t 

 picking up worms and grubs, especially \; 

 grub of I he Cock Chaffer, which it is believed) 

 frequently injurious to the meadows. Tl 

 opinion also prevails in other districts, as th 

 are often seen to follow the plough close, 

 pick up such grubs." 



In confirmation of this opinion, I will stt 

 the fact, that this season, since the prevalen 

 of this grub, there are now in this town, (ai 

 small distance from the habitation of men) aci 

 that were in the state of sward the last sprit 

 which are now so turned up by the crows a 

 skunks, that they have the appearance as tl 

 they had been a pasture for hogs. 



The second expedient I will suggest is tl 

 of making free use of the plough ; although 

 cannot be anticipated as a security, it will r 

 be without its use. The Cock Chafler, guid 

 by instinct, avoids the ploughed ground to ( 

 posit its eggs, and has recourse to the sward 

 affording greater security for them and mc 

 certain subsistence for the larva ; in proof 

 this we observe, that the crops of corn and \ 

 tatocs on those fields which were in tilth t 

 last season, and more especially those whi 

 bid been two years under cultivation, have ; 

 ceived little or no injury, while those that wt 

 broken up from the sward are nearly or qu 

 destroyed. I am aware this can be only an i 

 pcdient to secure a crop, but not a mean of « 

 tirpation of the insect ; it is impracticable 

 plough to the extent of their ravages ; but i 

 ked as our fields must be the next season, i 

 cessity and prudence will compel the farmer 

 cultivate more than he would have done unt 

 other circumstances ; therefore any field thai 

 destined for cultivation the ensuing season, 

 it be ploughed this autumn — it will open to t 

 view of the bird of prey many of the grubs tl( 

 are now the tenants of the soil — it will prevt 

 a new deposit of eggs — and perhaps intern 

 the whole economy of their system, and disci 

 cert their plan of securitj', as they appear 

 be a dull and heavy moulded race, incapable 

 exertion or expedient ; and should the plou 

 effect little or nothing as regards the dcstri 

 tion of the insect, the farmer does not lose i 

 laborer expense; he will find himself amj 

 rewarded in the amelioration of the soil, and 

 the abridgment of his labor in that season wh 

 he is fully occupied. PLYMOTHEUS. 



In passing through the north part of tl 

 town, the other day, we observed a chest 

 tree, on which there were ripe chesnuts, a 

 the tree was in blossom for a second growl 

 On noticing this fact, an old gentleman in t 

 company stated that he saw fresh strawberni 

 in his meadow a day or two before. 



Lake Guardian.' 



The difficulties formerly existing in crossij 

 the Connecticut, at JSaybrook, are now remo: 

 ed by the operation of a sale and conimodi&' 

 Team Boat, 



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