312 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVIER. 



JvtY 



posed that many of the disorders to which they 

 are sulyect arc caused by the excrements, &c., of 

 their predecessors. The People's Practical Poultry 

 Book goes so for as to say that "in the climate of 

 this country there is no need of having any dis- 

 ases among our domestic poultry, if proper care 

 and judgment in the treatment of the same were 

 manifes-ted on the part of the breeder." A remark 

 that will probably be received by most poultry 

 l)reeders as based on a diflercnt experience in prac- 

 tical poultry raising from their own. Such declara- 

 tions furnish a very unsatisfactory reply to in- 

 quiries like those of our correspondent and her 

 neighbors, and a poor consolation for their losses 

 and disappointments. 



A CREAM-STRAIXER THAT I'KEV 

 IN lUTTEll. 



A Cream Strainer or Cru.-her 

 in thi^ section that ert'cctually 

 rencc of white sjiecks in butter, 

 several trials with and without 

 of butter is increased by its use, 

 milk is impoverished." But 1 

 advertise the invention. 



ENTS WHITE SPECS 



has been invented 

 prevents the occur- 

 and I think from 

 it, that the amount 

 though the butter- 

 do not propose to 



CHEESE FLIES. 



I wish to tell eveiy cheese making woman, who 

 has been trouljled as I was two summers ago with 

 these Hies, which were not only a nuisance but a 

 torment, that immediately after putting cobalt in 

 the room where I kept ni}' cheese, these tiies were 

 impotent, — I never saw another egg. Last sum- 

 mer you know the world was full of old and new 

 things to trouble and destroj-, but not an egg or a 

 skipper did I see, for I kept my plates of cobalt 

 wet with sweetened water all the time. There 

 were plenty of flies ; we killed as many cheese flies 

 as the common house flies, but what cared I for 

 the one more than the other as long as it could do 

 me no harm. You will see I am not accustomed 

 to writing for any one to read Critically, — I never 

 write onl}' to friends who I .am sure care more to 

 hear from me than to criticise, and I would not 

 now, only I did hope to tell some hard working 

 woman something to do her real good. 



Though I live on a farm, I am not a farmer's 

 wife, but I hope some day to be. My husl)and is 

 trying to earn money enough in another business, 

 before he settles on a farm, to avoid being pinched, 

 as many farmers are, for want of means. I am 

 quite a farmer myself. I read all that is reported 

 of the sayings and doings at farmers' conventions, 

 but being a woman I must not attend them. I 

 wish Dr. Nichol's lectui"e could have been reported 

 in full. And, by the way, do you think his Jour- 

 nal of Chemhtnj would be interesting to me ? 



Johnson, Vt., 1871. mks. a. m. b. 



Remarks. — With a wife thus interested in farming, 

 — one who cares more for the discussions at agricul- 

 tural conventions than for love stories, — we think 

 your husband would be safe in making you a far- 

 mer's wife at once. You are entirely wrong in 

 saying that you may not attend agricultural meet- 

 ings because you are a woman. Women not only 

 maj' attend,, but they may take part in the exer- 

 cises. An essay — and a sensilile one too — on farm 

 horses was read by one at a meeting in New York, 

 not long since. Ladies have taken part in the 

 talks of several fanners' clubs on dairy subjects, 

 and on topics involving household management. 

 Everywhere the presence of the ladies at these 



meetings is desired by the gentlemen, not simply 

 as listeners, but as actors. We think you would 

 be interested and benefited by reading the Journal 

 of Chemistry, which is published at one dollar a 

 year. 



But whether j'ou go to conventions or not, we 

 warrant you a welcome, now and always, with a 

 congregation of as many thousands as you will 

 And hundreds at any farmers' meeting — with the 

 New England Farmer's Club, which meets 

 every week, — at the homes of the members, male 

 and female. 



the COLORADO POTATO RUG. 



This year 1 planted some of the Early Rose pota- 

 toes April 6th. They came up well and grew 

 splendidly, and until last Sunday I never saw a 

 field of potatoes that looked handsomer. Last 

 Sunday I noticed some bugs on them, and now 

 the.v are so numerous and ravenous that the vines 

 must soon be striiiped if the bugs are not checked. 

 I enclose samples of them. What are they and 

 what can I do to save mj' potatoes ? 



Joseph Barber. 



South Bend, Ind., May 15, 1871. 



Remarks. — On comparing the insects received 

 with the cuts and description of the Doryphora 

 10-lineata, or Colorado potato-bug, in the Ameri- 

 can Entomologist, we have no hesitation in saying 

 that this terrible scourge has reached your farm in 

 its gradual advance to the East. 



The bugs were somewhat crushed in the mail 

 bags while on their way to Massachusetts, and for 

 ought we know are the first specimens ever seen in 

 New England ; but unless their march is checked 

 they will be here in force in the course of a few 

 years. Prof. Walsh saj-s that they move eastward 

 at the rate of about fifty miles a year. He also 

 remarks that, like Sherman's march to the sea, 

 they crossed Illinois in separate columns, the 

 southern portion of the grand army lagging con- 

 siderablj' behind the northern columns. So far as 

 is known, the Rocky Mountains were the original 

 home of these creatures, where they fed on a wild 

 species of potato peculiar to that region. A bug 

 very closely resembling the Colorado bug has long 

 been known in various parts of the country, but it 

 does not meddle with potato vines. The two have 

 been confounded by natui-alists, but the Entomolo- 

 gist points out differences by w^hich they may be 

 distinguished. 



Various means have been tried to destroy this 

 potato bug, with only pai-tial success. Various 

 poisons have been used ; hand-picking has been 

 tried ; they have been swept from the vines to be at 

 once covered by a furrow of earth, and it is said 

 that they may be destroyed by sweeping them 

 from the vines on a hot day on to the hot earth. 

 Persons have been poisoned by the fumes from 

 the bugs thrown into hot water, &c. A Michigan 

 correspondent of the Western liural of June 3, 

 after asking, Will potato-bugs kill sheep and 

 lambs ? says : — 



The above inquiry is suggested by finding a few 

 days since, several lambs and one old sheep dead, 



