412 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



GRUB WORM. 



A proerfwtinatin^ farmer saves the Uvi:s of millions offfruhs. 

 It sneins to be a law of nature, that populalicin 

 should keep pace with the means of subsistence, 

 and this law appears to be faithfully maintained 

 throuf;hout the animal kingdom, even down to the 

 lowest grade of insects and worms. The grub 

 worm, which is so dcslnictive to Indian corn in the 

 early stages of its growth, was much less numerous 

 and injurious previous to the introduction of red clo- 

 ver. At that period, corn was generally planted 

 where there had not been a sufficient quantity offen- 

 der, succulent food fur it to subsist upon in any 

 considerable numbers, and consequently its propa- 

 gation and support was so precarious, that its in- 

 crease was so slow as not to be observable. But 

 when clover was generally cultivated, and by the 

 most skilful arrangement of the rotation of crops, 

 Indian corn succeeded it when the clover began to 

 run out, the increase of tlie grub worm keeping pace 

 with the means of subsistence, (for it feeds with 

 avidity on the green, succulent stalks of clover,) 

 propagated to a most alarming e.xtent ; and the 

 sod being ploughed down in the spring for corn, 

 and the pasture of the worms being by that means 

 destroyed when the young corn began to vegetate 

 and show itself above ground, the worms following 

 out the law of self-preservation, and from no mis- 

 chievous propensity, commenced feeding upon it 

 more ravenously, and for some years it was almost 

 doubted whether its culture would not have to be 

 abandoned in some neighborhoods. 



During tliis state of suspense, some observing, 

 reflecting person, who no doubt had taken the trouble 

 to e.vamine into the character, habits and instincts 

 of the grub, discovered thiit early in autumn it 

 Bought retreat some inches below the surface of the 

 earth, and there prepared itself a domicil where it 

 might repose in safety from storms and tempests 

 till the vernal season arrived and with it its accus- 

 tomed food. 



It was very rationally suggested, that if the sod 

 was ploughed down late in the fall, and the habita- 

 tions of the enemy turned topsy-turvoy, that the 

 walls might be broken in pieces by the winter 

 frosts, and that the inhabitants being turned out of 

 doors would perish, and the young corn be preserv- 

 ed from its greatest enemy. This was at first sug- 

 gested as a theory ; it was soon put to the test of 

 practice ; and every farmer knows the benefit that 

 resulted from it. The grub soon became a much 

 less formidable enemy ; every one knew how to 

 vanquish it, provided a pretty severe winter came 

 to his aid. But fanners sometimes have treacher- 

 ous memories as well as other folks, and the enemy 

 having been supposed to have been completely rout- 

 ed, there was a strong propensity felt to resume 

 old habils, and postpone ploughing corn ground 

 till spring again, in accordance with ancient ciis- 

 tom ; this has often been done, and generally wich 

 the same result; the enemy not being entirely e.\- 

 terminated, increases his forces and proceeds again 

 to the work of destruction. 



A few years since, from winter setting in early, 

 or some other cause, very little corn ground was 

 ploughed in the autumn ; the following spring the 

 corn suffered severely from the depredations of the 

 grub; hut w^here portions of a field had been turn- 

 ed down in the fall, it furnished the usual protec- 

 tion : this was observable in numerous instances. 

 The succeeding autumn, many farmers having a 

 very short allowance of corn, and smarting under 

 the infliction, went to turning up the ground in 



good earnest, and overturned the quarters of the 

 enemy without compunction. The conseciuence 

 was a general exemption from injury ; it was pret- 

 ty well followed out for a year or two afterwards, 

 but last fall many began to relax and to forget the 

 things that they had suffered, and nuich corn ground 

 was permitted to remain undisturbed till this spring, 

 and those thus circumstanced are now going on in 

 the old traek, that did very well before clover was 

 brought into genera! cultivation and the sod plough- 

 ed down for corn. 



Now let us observe and see if the laws of nature 

 have been reversed to accommodate those who neg- 

 lect full ploughing. — Farmers' Cabinet. 



FEEDING AlILCH COWS. 



Natural grass is the first and best of all food for 

 cows ; and where this can be obtained in sufficient 

 quantities nothing further can he desired. Sweet 

 and nutritious, grass gives a richness and flavor to 

 milk attainable from no other source ; and which 

 milk ])roduced from grains, distiller's wash, or roots, 

 can never equal. Of the grasses, lucerne is con- 

 sidered the best, and the clovers the next; and as 

 lucerne cannot with propriety be considered one 

 of our cultivated grasses, perhaps we have nothing 

 in this country that excels white clover for impart- 

 ing a peculiar richness and even fragrance to milk. 

 The grasses are be-;t for the cow, when fed green; 

 but the best method of feeding the grass to the 

 animal has been matter of some dispute. '1 he 

 common method of turning the cow into the field 

 at once, occasions the least trouble perhaps, but it 

 is also the most wasteful ; and where economy is 

 to bo consulted, some other method of feeding may 

 be found preferable. Curwen found by experience 

 that three acres of good grass, cut and fed to the 

 cows, supplied 30 milch cows with 28 lbs. each, 

 during 200 days. Their other food was hay, of 

 which they consumed little, and their health was 

 excellent, and their milk superior. Mr Curwen 

 observes, " that to have supplied a similar number 

 of cows with a like quantity for the same period, 

 would, in the usual way of management, have re- 

 quired 75 acres of land for its production. And to 

 have grazed such a number of cows at liberty, that 

 length of time, must, it is obvious, have taken a 

 very considerable number of acres." 



If such is the saving that may be made by sub- 

 stituting labor for land in feeding cows, we think 

 the subject well worthy the attention of dairymen 

 and milkmen, especially in the vicinity of our cities. 

 If by employing the labor of one man through the 

 summer months in carrying the grass to the cows 

 instead of allowing them to gather or trample it 

 down for themselves, twenty cows could be kept on 

 land that now supports only ten, we think there can 

 be no (picstion as to the profit. Only the best and 

 sweetest grasses can be used for carrying; but 

 where meadows of this kind exist, and by jiroper 

 attention to draining, manuring, and seeding, all 

 may be made such, the quantity of grass that may 

 be taken fiom them by successive cuttings is great. 

 Because our meadows, the grass standing till near- 

 ly ripe before mowing, does not spring up at once, 

 it by no means follows that when cut green, while 

 the circulation is active and the roots vigorous that 

 such would not be the case. Indeed tiie rapidity 

 with which the grasses spring up in our rich pas- 

 tures after being fed down by cattle, is sufficient 

 proof of what nature is able to accomplish, when 

 her efforts are not checked but aided by the skill 

 of the husbandman. — Genesee Farmer. 



Eggs. — Almost every body loves good fresh eggs, 

 and with or without glasses or silver spoons, can 

 contrive to cat them ; whether boiled or fried, raw 

 or roasted, made into custard with sugar ami spi- 

 ces, or swallowed gently with a bordering of old 

 Port, they agree with the palate and the stomach, 

 and neatly laid out with fair slices of bacon, they 

 form a repast within the reach of all and to be de- 

 spised by none. But though most farmers keep 

 fowls and raise their own eggs, there are many 

 who have not yet learned the difference there is in 

 tl e richness and flavor of eggs produced by fat and 

 well-fed hens, and those from birds thai have been 

 half starved through our winters. There will be 

 some difference in the size, but far more in the 

 quality. The yolk of one will be large, fine color- 

 ed, and of good consistence, and the albumen or 

 white, clear and pure ; while the contents of the 

 other will be watery and meagre, as though there 

 was not vitality or substance enough in the parent 

 fowl to properly carry out and complete the work 

 that nature had sketched. In order to have good 

 eggs, the hens should be well fed, and also provid- 

 ed during the months they are unable to come at 

 the ground, with a box of earth containing abun- 

 dance of fine gravel, (if of limestone, so much the 

 better,) that they may be able to grind and prepare 

 for digestion the food they receive. Fowls form 

 no small item in the profits of the small farmer, and 

 few creatures better repay the care and attention 

 they receive. Of eggs, those of the domestic hen 

 are decidedly the best; but those of both ducks 

 and geese may be used for some of the purposes of 

 domestic cookery. Eggs can be kept any length 

 of time, if the air, is perfectly excluded, and the 

 place of deposit kept at a low temperature. — Gen- 

 esee Farmer. 



Fruit Trees protected from Spring Frosts. — In 

 France a practice has long been successfully adopt- 

 ed, by which tender trees are secured from the ef- 

 fects of frost in the same manner that a house is 

 secured from lightning — by means of a conductor. 

 In these days of science, every fatiner as well as 

 every gardener, may, by a recourse to his barome- 

 ter and his thermometer, and by the meteorological 

 experience incident to his calling, detect a proba- 

 ble change in the weather, and a consequent in- 

 crease or decrease of temperature. When, there- 

 fore, he apprehends a frosty night, or by way of 

 precaution to secure against blight his tenderest 

 and most valuable trees, let him entwine among the 

 branches of each tree in full bloom, and from the 

 top to the bottom, a thick hempen rope, the lower 

 extremity of which must be immersed in a vessel 

 of water. In the morning the surface of the water 

 will be covered with a cake of ice, though water 

 placed in a vessel by its side would not have been 

 frozen; and the blossoms will be found uninjured. 

 This is a very simple and has proved in France a 

 very conclusive experiment, which may be adopted 

 in England with great advantage. It would prob- 

 ably be difficult to apply it as here described in 

 large orchards, although the same conductor, and 

 the same water, might serve for several trees situat- 

 ed close to each other. But modifications might 

 doubtless be found by the ingenious agriculturist, 

 which would admit of its being used in orchards, 

 on the most extensive scale, and without much ex- 

 pense. — British Farmer's Mag. 



The great steam ship British Queen is expected 

 at New York about the 15th of July. 



