1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



497 



thoroughly ripened, and would be fit for use in the 

 spring on any crop. 



But if the summer manure was plowed under in 

 the foil, in its crude s*-ate, it would pass through 

 the process of fermentation and decomposition m 

 the soil, where it would have an excellent influ- 

 ence in lightening and enriching it. There is no 

 other way, we think, in which manure can be so 

 judiciously applied as in this ; where there is so 

 little loss, and where the manure is so soon re- 

 moved out of the way to the places where it is to 

 be used. We should adopt this practice as a rule, 

 wherever manure is to be used on hoed crops. 

 Apply crude manure in November to the garden, 

 for instance, plowing it in just deep enough to 

 cover it with two or three inches of the soil, and 

 on plowing the same piece in the spring, the soil 

 will be found almost black — if the dressing was 

 liberal — and so light and porous that the tendcrest 

 roots of plants may roam in it in search of food 

 with the greatest ease. Such a soil will remain 

 light for a long time, will resist a drought bravely, 

 and will always be easy to work as long as it re- 

 mains in this condition. 



Your plan is liable to no serious objection, yet 

 we should prefer to have the winter's stock of 

 manure in the ground, and ferment there, than to 

 have it remain in the cellar through the summer. 



Your practice of the use of hen manure and of 

 bedding the stock, is excellent. 



With regard to the wheat, we are inclined to 

 think that it would be better to allow the land to 

 lay in grass another j'ear, than to follow a wheat 

 crop with wheat. 



Your practice and your questions, both Indicate 

 that you are determined to be ^progressive farmer, 

 and one who means to make the soil remunerate 

 him abundantly for all the skill and labor be- 

 stowed upon it. We wish you gi-eat success in the 

 noble calling, and shall find pleasure in being use- 

 ful to you in your efforts. 



WEB-WORMS, OB, FALL CATERPILLARS. 



Can you inform me what sort of a pest is at 

 work on the apple trees ? It is about an inch long, 

 and spins a web not unlike a spider's. The leaves 

 within the wel) look as if they had been scorched. 

 The critter looks something like the tent caterpil- 

 lar, the color being similar, but it is not half as 

 large. A. W. Greeley. 



Nashua, N. H., Aug. 14, 1867. 



Remarks. — This is undoubtedly the insect that 

 is known in this section as the Fall Web- worm, or 

 Fall Caterpillar. They are very troublesome upon 

 shrubs and trees during the summer and fall. 

 They are named from their habit of feeding to- 

 gether in large numbers, and spinning a web that 

 envelops the leaves and the whole branch, as they 

 devour the foliage. The New England Farmer 

 has the honor of publishing the first description of 

 this species, Aug. 22, 1828, written by the late Prof. 

 T. W. Harris. He then said it belongs to the genus 

 Arctia, and the species had not, to his knowledge, 

 been described. From its habit of weaving he 



called it Hijphantria (a Greek name for weaver) 

 textor. He says, the eggs, from two to three hun- 

 dred in number, are deposited on the under side 

 of a leaf, near the end of a twig, which hatch at 

 different times in July and August. The young 

 catei-pillars begin to provide a shelter for them- 

 selves, by covering the upper side of the leaf with 

 a web, which is the result of the united labors of 

 the whole brood. They feed in company beneath 

 this web, devouring only the upper skin and pulpy 

 portion of the leaf, leaving the veins and lower 

 skin of the leaf untouched. As they increase in 

 size they enlarge their web, carrying it over the 

 next lower leaves, all the upper and pulpy parts of 

 which are eaten in the same way, and thus they 

 continue to work downwards, till finally the web 

 covers a large portion of the branch, with its dry, 

 brown and filmy foliage, reduced to this unseemly 

 condition by these little spoilers. These caterpil- 

 lars, when fully grown, measure rather more than 

 one inch in length ; their bodies are slender, and 

 very thinly clothed with hairs of a greyish color, 

 intei'mingled with a few which are black. The 

 general color of the body is greenish yellow, dot- 

 ted with black ; there is a broad blackish stripe 

 along the top of the back, and a bright yellow 

 stripe on each side. Towards the end of August 

 and during the month of September, they leave 

 the trees, disperse and wander about, eating such 

 plants as happen to lie in their course, till they 

 have found suitable places of shelter and conceal- 

 ment, where they make their thin and almost trans- 

 parent cocoons, composed of a slight web of silk, 

 intermingled with a few hairs. They remain in 

 the cocoons, in the chrysalis state, through the 

 winter, and are transformed to moths in the 

 months of June and July. These moths are 

 white, and without spots ; the fore thighs are 

 tawny yellow, and the feet blackish. Their wings 

 expand from one inch and a quarter to one inch 

 and three-eighths. As soon as the webs begin to 

 appear, the leaves should be stripped from the 

 branches, with all the caterpillars, or the branches 

 cut off entirely, and the worms crushed under 

 foot. 



TWO YEAR OLD SQUASHES. 



I noticed in a late number of the Farmer, that 

 an Essex, Vt., correspondent has a pumpkin that 

 was grown in 1866. I have two winter squashes 

 that I I'aised in I860, that are as sound as Avhen 

 taken from the vine. The largest one weighed, 

 when picked, 37^ lbs. Its present weight is about 

 35 lbs. Capt. Joel Parker. 



Northfield, Vt., Aug., 1867. 



FAST COLT. 



The same dam that has had three remarkable 

 colts during the three last years, dropped another 

 stud colt June 12, 1867, which measured 37.J inches 

 in height, and as I could lift him easily, I judge 

 he then weighed al)out 150 ll)s. August 12, he 

 weighed 356 lbs., and measured 46 )s inches ; Aug. 

 19, '374 lbs ; Aug. 26, 396 lbs., and measured 48 in., 

 or 12 hands high. From this it seems he has gained 

 an average of about 3 lbs. 4 oz. in weight, and one- 

 eighth of an inch in height ^per day ! ! He is withal 



