392 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



Aug, 



dairy room with a marble floor; the milk, from 

 fancy -priced and highly fed Jersey cows, is strained 

 into porcelain pans; the cream is skimmed into 

 glass jars ; the temperature of the room is kept at 

 a fixed point, — whether the mercury on the out- 

 side falls below zero or rises one hundred degrees 

 above, — by pipes for hot or ice-cold water ; and no 

 soiled shoes or tainted clothing ever enter the apart- 

 ment. The butter is delivered three times a week, 

 mostly to customers secured bi/ the manufacturers 

 themselves. It is brought to market in neat stamps 

 of from one pound to one-eighth of a pound each, 

 as desired by the customer, which are wrapped in 

 separate pieces of smoothly ii-oned cloth, and all 

 covered bj' a napkin of beautiful diaper, and packed 

 in a tin box. Of course, the appearance and flavor 

 of butter thus made and packed, and thus fre- 

 quently marketed, is all that can be desired. 



"We have no doubt that many dairy women in the 

 countrj' can and do make butter about equal to 

 tliat sold as "gilt-edged," but their distance from 

 market renders it diflicult if not impossible to de- 

 liver it in the fresh and perfect condition which 

 can be dpne by the few fancy daiiymen who live 

 near the city; and this distance also, in a measure 

 at least, excludes them ft-om the "ring" of gilt- 

 edged butter buyers. Still we believe that with 

 extra care in manufacture and extra pains in hunt- 

 ing up customers, a much better price might be ob- 

 tained by those who aim to "make a good article 

 or none." We read about flowers that "waste 

 their fragrance on the desert air ;" and if the his- 

 tory of butter should ever be written, we presume 

 that many a "gilt-edged" lump would be described 

 that was sold for much less than one dollar a pound, 

 or was consumed by those who would be unwilling 

 to pay that price. 



THE THUEE-LIXED POTATO-LEAP BEETLE. 



I enclose two kinds of bugs which I find on ray 

 potato tops. Can you tell me what thev are ? A 

 neighl)or tells nic one of them is the Colorado po- 

 tato bug, but I hardly think it is so. f. 



£asi Shel.burne, Mass., June 12, 1871. 



Remarks.— Your "two kinds of bugs" are one 

 and the same creature in difl'crent stages of its ex- 

 istence, and is called by Mr. Harris the "Three- 

 lined Leaf-beetle— Crioceris trUineata, — Olivier." 

 It is not the Colorado potato bug, but an old ac- 

 quaintance, and somewhat resembles the common 

 striped cucumber bug. The Colorado has ten dark 

 lines with intermediate stripes of much brighter 

 yellow; the one you sent has only three dark 

 stripes on a very dull yellow or brown ground, and 

 is much smaller than the ten-liner, of which we 

 have specimens sent from Indiana. If our striped 

 beetle is the perfect insect. It passed the winter in 

 the pupa state. After eating holes into the potato 

 leaf a few days, it lays its oljlong oval golden 

 yellow eggs, which are glued to the leaves, in par- 

 cels of six or eight. In about two weeks grubs 

 hatch from these .eggs of a dirty yellowish or 

 asheii white color, of a cylindrical form. They 



have the filthy habit of covering themselves with 

 their o^\•n excrement, perhaps to shield their ten- 

 der hide from the hot sun, or as a protection from 

 their enemies. This is the other kind of bug j'ou sent 

 to us. >Vhen about two weeks old it creeps down 

 the potato stalk, goes into the ground, and about 

 the last of July or first of August throws off its 

 pupa dress, becomes a beetle and lays its eggs for 

 a second brood of grubs, which like the first brood, 

 go into the ground where they remain till about 

 the first of June of the next year. 



POTATO BUGS. — SEASOX AXD CROPS IX WIXDSOR 

 COUXTY, YT. 



Enclosed you will find specimens of bugs that 

 are infesting our potato fields. What are they ? 

 They are pretty numerous in some places, and I 

 think them new in these parts. 



Yesterday was a rainy day ; the first since snow 

 went ort' on which it has rained all da.y. It has 

 wet the surface of the earth two or three inches. 

 The grass crop will be very light this year; not 

 more than one-half as much as last year, unless 

 we have rainy weather so as to keep farmers from 

 cutting it. 



The prospect for fruit is not very good ; the in- 

 tensely hot and dry weather having killed the 

 young fruit. 



Not being used to writing for the press, I shall 

 not be disappointed if this finds a place in the 

 waste basket. Hexry B. Howard. 



Iiandol2Jh, Ft., June 10, 1671. 



Remarks. — Your potato bugs are the same as 

 those received from "F.," of EastShelburne, Mass., 

 and we refer you to our "remarks" in replj^ to his 

 inquiry. These beetles may be more numerous 

 this year than usual, but they are no new-comers. 

 More attention is probably given to insects on po- 

 tatoes than heretofore, on account of the well- 

 grounded fears of the appearance at the East of 

 the Colorado ten-lined beetle, which is committing 

 such fearful havoc in Ohio, Michigan and other 

 Western States. 



CRIBEIXG H011.SES. 



Having had the care of horses, more or less, for 

 fifty years, I have had pretty good opportunities to 

 watcii both old and new cribbers, and have given 

 the suliject considerable thought and study. Most 

 of the books on horses call cril)l)ing a haliit or vice 

 and not a disease. Some speak of it as contagious ; 

 othci's say that it maj^ be acquired, and some that 

 it may be inherited. If I understand what these 

 writers mean by these expressions I cannot agi-ee 

 with them, for I am satisfied that cribbing is caused 

 by inflammation of the throat. This inflammation 

 is produced, in my opinion, by compelling the 

 horse to cat from a high crib, by ol)liging him to 

 wear martingales, and by not giving him proper 

 exercise. 



By feeding from a high crib, the horse swallows 

 his food with his neck curved unnaturally, and 

 consequently with his throat more or less cramped; 

 thus propucing an etfect somewhat analogous to 

 that experienced by ministers, lecturers, &c., who 

 cramp their necks and throats into the position 

 which is necessitated by the attempt to speak and 

 read at the same time. 



One thing that confirms me in the opinion that 

 cribliing is the result of intiammation or irritation 

 of the throat caused by swallowing food with the 

 neck in an unnatural p<)siti(jn, is the fact that I 

 have cured cribbers in the first stages by lowering 



