1864. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



117 



and grass, three or four feet high, near its edge. 

 These are not their breeding-places, though young 

 are sometimes found in them in late freshets, but 

 rather their hunting-lodges, to which they resort 

 in the winter with their food, and for shelter. 

 Their food consists chiefly of flags and fresh-wa- 

 ter muscles, the shells of the latter being left in 

 large quantities around their lodges in the spring. 

 The Penobscot Indian wears ihe entire skin of a 

 musk rat, with the legs and tail dangling, and the 

 head caught under his girdle, for a pouch, into 

 which he puts his fishing-tackle, and essences to 

 scent his traps with. — Thoreau. 



JBARK-LOUSE PARASITES. 

 The editor of the Wisconsin Farmer wrote to 

 the Entomologist of the United States Agricultu- 

 ral Department inquiring if there were any para- 

 sites of the bark-louse of apple trees known to 

 naturalists, and suggesting, if there were in any 

 other countries any insects that preyed upon these 

 destructive scales, that they be imported. The 

 following is the reply, dated Department of Agri- 

 culture, Washington, D. C, 11th Dec, 1863. 



Dear Sir : — In answer to your query as to 

 whether there is any parasitic insect which des- 

 troys the apple bark-louse or scale insects, I can 

 mert'ly state that I have seen scales perforated by 

 some parasite, but have not as yet found the per- 

 fect fly. Dr. Fitch, however, in his valuahje re- 

 port (see first report, p. 36,) states that under the 

 scales he has repeatedly met with a small maggot, 

 feeding upon the eggs, which are deposited un- 

 derneath the case or shell, and supposes it to be 

 the larva of some minute Hymenopterous insect, 

 which, when fully developed, eats its way out of 

 the empty shell. You most probably have seen 

 the same parasite In your neighborhood, and can 

 readily find out by examining the coccus with a 

 magnifying glass. If there are any with a small 

 round perforation on the upper side, you may rest 

 assured that there will be no necessity to import. 

 Townsend Glover. 



Depth of Coal Beds. — Heath's mine in Vir- 

 ginia, is represented to contain a coal bed fifty feet 

 in thickness ; a coal bed near VVilkesbarre, Pa., is 

 said to be twenty-five feet thick ; atMauch Chunk 

 is a coal bed forty to fifty feet deep ; and in the 

 basin of the Schuylkill are fifty alternate seams of 

 coal, twenty-five of which are more than three 

 feet in thickness. In Nova Scotia is a coal for- 

 mation fourteen hundred feet deep, and contain- 

 ing seventy-five alternate lavers of coal. The 

 Whitehaven coal mine, in England, has been work- 

 ed twelve hundred feet deep, and extends a mile 

 under the sea ; and the Newcastle coal mine, in 

 the same country, has been worked to the depth 

 of fifteen hundred feet and bored to a similar ad- 

 ditional depth, without finding the bottom of the 

 coal measure. — Mineis' Journal. 



Poultry. — Give poultry warm, dry, sunny, 

 well whitewashed quarters, clean straw in their 

 nests, and a good feed of grain, once a day ; scraps 

 from the frying-pot, and unchilled water, or trough 

 of running water ; keep an ash-box in one corner, 

 always dry and dusty, and throw in fresh ashes 

 or lime occasionally. 



SINGULAR ACCIDENT TO A HORSE. 



While Col. J. S. Keyes, U. S. Marshal of the 

 Boston District, was riding through one of the 

 streets in Concord, on Saturday, Feb. 13, his mare 

 stept upon the end of a stick, about four feet 

 long, with one of her forward feet, which brought 

 the other end up against her side, near the fiank, 

 penetrating through the skin and thin layers of 

 muscles lying under it, and cutting a place about 

 six inches long in the delicate membrane that 

 covers the intestines. The mare reared, plunged 

 and kicked fearfully for a time, and fell to the 

 ground, a mass of the intestines as large as a 

 man's hat protruding from the wound. She was 

 taken as quickly as possibly to the stable, put un- 

 der the influence of chloroform, and the wound 

 properly cleansed and sewed up. She continued 

 to eat and drink pretty well until the following 

 Tuesday, when spasms ensued and she died. 



This mare was one of the finest roadsters in 

 Middlesex county, and was valued almost beyond 

 price by the Marshal. She was elegant, mild in 

 temper, courageous, enduring and splendid in 

 stylormd action. 



We notice this as a caution to persons not to 

 drive horses over loose sticks that lie in the path. 

 It is always dangerous, though such serious acci- 

 dents as this do not often occur. 



Is Poultry Profitable ?— The Springfield 

 Republican of Friday discusses this subject and 

 cites the experience of a gentleman of that city, 

 who, from a lot of fifty-two hens and five ducks, 

 netted a total profit in six months, from January 

 to July, of $21.96. We have a friend who has 

 kept, during the past three or four years, an aver- 

 age of twelve or fourteen hens. His yard is 

 small, and the hens are kept shut up nearly the 

 whole year round, and with the exception of what 

 comes from the table he has bought all their food. 

 The result of his experience for the three years 

 has been as follows: Cost of keeping, $4'.). 67. 

 Eggs — crediting them at the market price — $79.- 

 37. The Springfield man credited his eggs at 

 from 22 to 36 cents ; our Boston friend credited 

 his at from 20 to 25. There is no doubt but a 

 few hens, well cared for, will pay well and keep a 

 family constantly supplied with what is a real lux- 

 ury — fresh eggs. 



To Cure Sheep from Jumping. — A corres- 

 pondent of the Ohio Farmer gives the following 

 curious account of the method adopted by him 

 to prevent his sheep from jumping the fences of 

 his pasture : "I want to tell you about my jump- 

 ing sheep, and how I broke them. I got them in 

 a pen built sufficiently to hold them ; I then 

 caught the ringleaders one at a time, and made a 

 small hole in each ear. I then took a cord or 

 string and run through the holes in the ears to- 

 gether close enough to keep them from working 

 the ears ; I then let them out and they are as quiet 

 as any sheep." 



The cranberry crop of Cape Cod amounts to 

 3,899 barrels, valued at $38,660 25. 



