1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



263 



commendations are suggested for application where 

 only a small portion of land is occupied, and -where 

 it is desired to secure the largest possible product. 

 On a large scale, for market purposes, it is ques- 

 tionable whether this course would be the most 

 profitable. 



The strawberry, more than most other plants, 

 needs a large amount of water, — and some culti- 

 vators who have been quite successful, state that 

 they produce heavy crops on indifferent soils, by 

 the use of large quantities of water alone. The 

 best course is, to set the plants on a soil that would 

 bring fifty bushels of corn per acre, supply water 

 plentifully and keep the soil light and clear. 



Fur the New England Farmer. 

 THE PARSNTP WORM. 



Mr. Editor: — In the April number of the 

 Farmer you give quite a long account of the pars- 

 nip ; speaking of the value of that root and the 

 carrot as feed for stock. You figure a tortrix 

 moth with the chrysaHs and caterpillar, but only 

 refer to it, without giving any of its history. I 

 think that pui-e science and the application of sci- 

 ence to use ought to assist each other ; and often 

 if you should give the history of a pernicious in- 

 sect, it would help on agriculture, and at the same 

 time furnish useful material to the scientific man. 

 If you can, I should like to have you write the 

 history of tliis moth. 



In raising any crop, it is of great importance to 

 consider what will endanger it ; as sometimes a 

 crop is completely lost, by neglecting to foresee 

 and provide against its enemies. Very conspicu- 

 ous among the enemies of our crops are the in- 

 sects which feed upon them ; and I think any in- 

 formation about them is valuable. The most im- 

 portant insect feeding upon the parsnip lives on 

 other plants of the same family — the carrot, cele- 

 ry, caraway, parsley, &c. It is a caterpillar, at 

 first of a black color with two wide white bands 

 encircling it, afterwards it changes its color with 

 successive moultings, and becomes green, with 

 cross bands of black spotted with yellow, one stripe 

 to each segment. When full grown they measure 

 about an inch and a half in length, tapering from 

 the fourth ring towards the head and tail. When 

 disturbed they thrust out two orange-colored 

 horns, of a soft substance, which diffuse a disa- 

 greeable odor, probably protecting them from mo- 

 lestation. The first brood of these caterpillars come 

 to maturity about the middle of July, and change 

 to chrysalides after suspending themselves by the 

 tail, and a loop around their body, to a fence or 

 anything that will give them support and protec- 

 tion. The chrysalis is generally of a straw-color, 

 spotted with green and black. After remaining 

 in this state about a fortnight the chrysalis bursts 

 open and the butterfly appears. It is black, with 

 two rows of yellow spots on the margin of the 

 wings ; the inner row often being absent on the 

 fore wings of the female. Between the rows of 

 yellow spots on the hind wing there is a row of 

 blue ones, with a deep orange one on the inner 

 margin. They expand about three and a half 

 inches. These lay their eggs, which form a brood 



of caterpillars in September and October, changing 

 into the chrysalis state in October, to remain thus 

 through the winter, coming out in the spring to 

 lay eggs for the summer brood. A full descrip- 

 tion of the insect can be found in Harris' "Trea- 

 tise on Insects Injurious to Vegetation," under the 

 name of "Parsley-worm ;" the scientific name is 

 Papilio Asterias. 



L)o the best we can, our efforts would be of lit- 

 tle avail in checking these insects, but we are not 

 left alone to do the work of extermination ; this 

 caterpillar is attacked by an ichneumon of a brick 

 red color with black wings, about three-fourths of 

 an inch long and ex]:)anding an inch and one- 

 fourth, which lays one e^g in a caterpillar ; which 

 egg contains a grub that, as soon as hatched, feeds 

 upon the caterpillar, eating at first the fat and 

 other parts not necessary for the life of the cater- 

 pillar, but after that has thrown off its skin and 

 become a clu-ysalis, it devours all the rest, leaving 

 nothing but an empty shell. When the time for 

 the butterfly to come forth has come, the ichneu- 

 mon eats through the wing of the chrysalis and 

 goes forth to destroy other caterpillars in its turn. 

 To show how much aid these ichneumon flies are 

 to the farmer, I will state that out of sixteen 

 chrysalids I obtained last fall, two have come out 

 butterflies and fourteen have come out ichneu- 

 mons ; take off a few such checks, and the results 

 would be a host of caterpillars next summer, al- 

 most equal to the army worm of the last season. 



But to secure the present crop, it will be seen 

 that we must search for the caterpillars and des- 

 troy them ourselves, for the ichneumon do not kill 

 them until they have done all the mischief they 

 can ; they prevent them from increasing the num- 

 ber next brood. Harris does not speak of this 

 ichneumon in his book, so I thought some of your 

 readers would like to know its history, and I de- 

 scribed the butterfly for those who did not have ac- 

 cess to the book at all. 



Carleton a. Shurtleff. 



BrooMine, April, 1862. 



MIQlSrONETTE AS A TREE. 



Buy a pot of ordinary mignonette. This pot 

 will probably contain a tuft composed of many 

 plants produced from seeds. Pull up all but one ; 

 and, as the mignonette is one of the most rustic 

 of plants, which may be treated without any deli- 

 cacy, the single plant that is left in the middle of 

 the pot may be rigorously trimmed, leaving only 

 one shoot. Tliis shoot you must attach to a slen- 

 der stick of white osier. The extremity of this 

 shoot will put forth a bunch of flower-buds, that 

 must be cut off entirely, leaving not a single bud. 

 The stalk, in consequence of this treatment, will 

 put out a multitude of young shoots, that must be 

 allowed to develop freely until they are about three 

 inches and a half long. Then select out of these 

 four, six, or eight, according to the strength of the 

 plant, with equal spaces between them. Now, 

 with a slender rod of white osier, or better, with a 

 piece of whalebone, make a hoop, and attach your 

 shoots to it, supported at the proper height. 

 When they have grown two or three inches long- 

 er, and are going to bloom, support them by a 

 second hoop like the first. Let them bloom ; but 

 take off the seed pods before they have time to 

 form, or the plant may perish. It will not be long 



