372 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



AFFECTION'S TBIBUTE. 



BY B. P. SHILLABER. 



'Twa9 busy ceod-time, yet in many .1 field 



Labor was stayed, and tluise whose sturdy hands 



Beckoned to thrift by timely ministries 



Had li ft tlieir calling, and, in decent garb, 



Throntred onward where the nudancholy bell 



Proclaimed the doings of relentless Death, 



To give their sympathy to those who mourned, 



And shed, tliemselves. a tributary tear 



For one among them who had bowed bis head 



To the stern summons, painfully delayed. 



And th-n, amid the; blooming sweets of spring — 



The trees unfoldiig in the bright array 



That clothes the joyous season — swept along 



The sombre hearse, and the long train of those 



Who mourned, as relatives and friends, for him 



Whose loving eyes had closed to scenes of earth 



To open on the brighter ones of heaven. 



Thoy came from far and near, tender aud sad, 



The last kind offices on enrlli to pay. 



And Nature seemed to hush, and hold her breath, 



As on the solemn pageant swept to where 



The grave was waiting, and funereal rites. 



It was no hero that they honored thus — 



No statesman, scholar, bard, nor one whose voice 



Had thrilled the public ear by trick of words ; 



Nor one who'd thrust himself before the gaze 



Of crowds to win fame's meed by other means. 



A simple farmer — this and nothing more — 



An unpretending, plain, and honest man, 



AVith no ill brooding in his truthful heart. 



And none to utter by his manlj- lips ; 



Loving the good and true, aud doing good and true 



In all Tiis dealings with his fellow man. 



I gazed upon the pageant, and of one 



Who was of those that formed the waiting group, 



I asked the meaning of the tribute shown — 



Tempting the answer that I knew before: 



'•Why this display of grief." I said, "for him 



Whose lot was cast in such a homely mould — 



Why do the farmers leave their fields for this ?" 



He was a man uncouth — to sentiment unused — 



But brushing otf a tear that dimmed his eye. 



He said, half sternly, "Why the fact is here; 



We honor pay because we loved liim so." 



Ye grand and mighty, where is honor found 



80 glorious in its offerings as this. 



That rests its giving on the simple claim 



For honor's tribute that it foveth so ? 



CUBCULIO TRAPS. 



A correspondent of the Praitie Farmer, after 

 having tried the plan of destroying curculios by 

 trapping them with bits of bark, cobs, &c., comes 

 to the conclusion that not more than one in twenty 

 can be caught in thi,s way. With the thermom- 

 eter in the sun at 70°, he dropped a number of cur- 

 culios on the ground within three feet of the trunk 

 of a tree under which there were cobs and pieces 

 of bark lying close aroimd the trunks. These 

 curculios, instead of travelling towards the tree as 

 he expected they would, seemed to go in search of 

 a crevice in the ground or cover under which they 

 could secrete themselves. All, within ten minutes, 

 took shelter under bits of earth, some of which 

 were not larger than hazle nuts, where they ap- 

 peared to be quite as contented as though they had 

 been under pieces of bark. He next put some on 

 the ground near the trunk of a tree ; some of these 

 crawled directly under the pieces of bark and cobs, 

 others crawled down into an open space between 

 the earth and tree. 



At another time on repeating these experiments 

 when the thermometer in the sun indicated 115°, a 

 dozen curculios were put on the ground a little 



way out from the trees, and all soon flew away, 

 except two; these two went under a cob where 

 they were found several hours later. Nine others 

 dropped at the foot of the tree near the cobs and 

 bark ; all took to wing except one ; this one crawled 

 under the bark to the tree and into the crevice be- 

 tween the earth and tree made by the swaying of 

 the tree. 



lie mentions one fact which suggests the possi- 

 bility that they may be trapped by some kind of 

 food or bait, and thus be destroyed. A few years 

 since, in the month of June, he stripped the bark 

 otf the body of a small honey locust tree which 

 was standing near plum trees. A day or two after- 

 wards, on passing this tree he found quite a num- 

 ber of curculios feeding on the alburnum or newly 

 forming layer of wood. For some days after this 

 or until the end of the curculio season, he daily 

 picked about as many curculios otf this tree as 

 were caught by jarring some eight or ten plum 

 trees which were near. 



He concludes that at present there is but a single 

 mode known by which curculios can be kept under 

 control, and that by capturing and killing them. 

 This may be done on sheets, or in small gardens 

 the ground may be made hard and perfectly smooth 

 under the trees by treading and levelling it, after 

 which trees may be jarred every morning, and the 

 fallen fruit and insects swept up and destroyed. 

 The proprietors of quite a large number of plum 

 trees with whom he is acquainted, have for a 

 number of years, saved a large crop by this simple 

 process. After the ground is once compacted and 

 smoothed otf, the sweeping will keep dowTi weed 

 growth, and ten minutes per tree, each morning, 

 will be ample time in which to do the work. 



Mosses in Pastures. — The New York Far 

 mers' Club was asked a few weeks since, can land 

 on Mhich mosses are taking the place of grass be 

 economical]}- reclaimed, and grass be made to grow 

 by any top dressing other than barnyard manure ? 

 or by any other process than that of ploughing and 

 resceding ? The use of lime was suggested. Mr. 

 Colton knew of a lawn that was improved by lime; 

 Mr. Smith had a low mossy meadow; he under- 

 drained it, limed a part of it, with good results ; to 

 another part he applied manure ; but the thing 

 which proved most etfectual was the turning on of 

 the wash from the roadside. Now the surface that 

 starved one cow, keeps three horses and two cows, 

 and they are sleek all summer. Mr. Gregoiy had 

 known good etfects from the application of soot to 

 mossy pastures. Mr. Bragdon knew a piece of 

 mossy land which was thoroughly scratched over 

 with a sharp-pointed harrow and top-dressed with 

 plaster and strong bone manure, and with good 

 effect. He said anything which supplies ammonia 

 will kill out the moss. Mr. Read had succeeded m 

 killing it only by ploughing at least three times, 

 sowing, after the third ploughing, grass seed to 

 form a sward. In six years the process needed 



