1867. 



NEW ENGLAND EAEMER. 



341 



its roots, stem, or leaves, is not occasionally 

 infested by some one of these species. The 

 most common color is a light green, nearly 

 correspsnding with the color of the plant on 

 which they are found ; though the Aphis Cerasi 

 — cherry louse — is nearly black, and the Aphis 

 Avence — oat louse — is of a reddish brown 

 color. 



The most careless observer of apple trees 

 must have frequently noticed the Aphides Mali 

 — apple tree lice — and their effects, the curled 

 leaves, on the previously rapidly growing twigs. 

 He must have noticed, also, that such twigs 

 are frequented by a host of busy ants, passing 

 up and down the tree. The almost invariable 

 association of these two very different insects 

 on the apple tree, has furnished proof positive 

 to some, that the lice, so called, were the off- 

 spring of the ants ; but a closer examination 

 of the louse, especially with a magnifier, will 

 disclose two processes projecting obliquely up- 

 ward, one from each side of the upper half of 

 the abdomen. These projections are called 

 honey tubes, because from them the little ani- 

 mal at short intervals excretes a sugary fluid, 

 in taste and consistence not unlike honey. We 

 suppose that this excretion is not true fecal 

 matter ; for the like appendages on the grain 

 louse, according to Dr. Fitch, excrete no honey, 

 and as we infer, nothing else. Again, these 

 abdominal appendages are said by entomolo- 

 gists to secrete the sugary fluid ; and this would 

 be an improper expression if these tubes were 

 mere outlets of ordure ; and it would also be 

 strange indeed, to find in any animal, two or 

 three such outlets. We are told that Aphides 

 sometimes colonize on the leaves of high trees, 

 or in other situations, undiscovered by ants, 

 where the accumulation of their saccharine ex- 

 cretions takes the name of honey-dew ; but 

 this should not be confounded with another 

 honey-dew which was such a mystery to the 

 ancients, but is now believed to be an extra- 

 vasation of sap, condensed by the air and heat 

 of summer. 



But to return to the apple tree lice. The 

 organism for secreting this sugary fluid is prob- 

 ably in the honey tube itself or near its base. 

 The common small black ants of the fields, 

 which have a large sugar-tooth development, 

 are careful that none of that insect honey dew 

 shall be left on the apple trees to puzzle mod- 

 ern observers. 



We are not surprised at the remark of Reau- 

 mur that, "It appears that nature rears Aphi- 

 des on plants for the purpose of feeding other 

 insects, which without them, would perish with 

 hunger," for this in accordance with an obvi- 

 ous law of nature ; nor are we surprised that 

 an animal should have an organism for secret- 

 ing irom the fluids of its own body nourish- 

 ment for its young, for such an organism per- 

 tains to all the mammalia ; but that an animal 

 should have an organism for no other assign- 

 able use but that of secreting nourishment for 

 other animals, ia most strange and anomalous. 



Other anomalies pertaining to this insect 

 will be noticed in our next number. 



I. B. Hart WELL,. 

 Wilkinsonville, Mass., 18G7. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE SALT HAY CROP OF ESSEX CO. 



Essex county, Mass., in the vicinity of the 

 ocean, is somewhat noted for the crop of salt 

 hay which it produces naturally and without 

 cultivation. It is an interesting subject of in- 

 quiry whether this spontaneous production is, 

 in reality, a source of much profit and wealth 

 to the county. 



All other kinds of grasses, except fresh 

 meadow, or what is called swale, require some 

 outlay and labor in their cultivation ; and un- 

 less something is continually added to the land 

 as well as taken away, it will eventually run 

 out and hardly pay for the labor of getting the 

 the crop. But the salt marsh needs no ma- 

 nuring or working. The deposits from the salt 

 water by the tides being suflicient to enrich it, 

 and keep it in the same condition from year to 

 year. Indeed, it seems to be incapable of im- 

 provement to any great extent. All that has ever 

 been done to improve its condition, that I know 

 of, being to dig ditches about one foot wide, 

 and two or three feet deep, to take off the 

 water quicker, both salt and fresh. This is a 

 great unprovement on such marshes as are in- 

 tersected by creeks, and where the hay is re- 

 moved by boats. It takes off the water from 

 low places and "salt-ponds," where it would 

 otherwise remain all the time during a course 

 of high tides. It also prevents the formation 

 in low places of a sort of crust, something like 

 hard leather, which, when dry, completely kills 

 out the grass. On shore marsh it has been 

 doubted by some whether ditching, on the 

 whole, was productive of any good results. 

 Although it increases the crop frequently two- 

 fold, it causes the marsh to produce another 

 kind of grass which is lighter, less salt, and 

 inferior in value to what it bears naturally. 

 It is said further, that while it increases the 

 quantity for a few years, it does not hold out, 

 but grows less again. 



The towns of Essex, Ipswich, Rowley, New- 

 buryport, Gloucester and Lynn, are the most 

 distinguished localities for this kind of land ; 

 but the inhabitants of all the adjoining towns, 

 to the distance of twelve or fifteen miles, own 

 perhaps nearly one-half of the land, and make 

 a business of getting the hay annually. The 

 harvest commences about the middle or last of 

 July ; and holds out till the frosts render the 

 hay worthless. As the land will not admit of 

 ordinary carting, various ways are practiced 

 to get the hay ashore from the marsh. On 

 shore-marsh, where the distance is not great, 

 it is generally carried off on hay poles. Where 

 the distance is greater, it is carted off by 

 horses, furnished with a peculiar kind of broad 

 shoes made for the purpose, on racks with wide- 



