1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



581 



the Golden Age. and so a child was gilded all 

 over with varnish and gold leaf. The child 

 died in a few hours. If the fur of a rabbit or 

 the skin of a pig be covered with a solution of 

 India rubber in naptha, the animal ceases 

 to breathe in a couple of hours. — Manufac- 

 turer and Builder. 



The National Swine Exposition. — The Wes- 

 tern Bm-al saj'S that this exhibition bids fair to sur- 

 pass the exv^ectation of its projectors and friends. 

 We are pleased to learn that very many breeders 

 and stock men from distant States have signified 

 their intention to be present with stock. Letters 

 have been received from breeders and stock raisers 

 in Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, West Virginia, 

 Pennsylvania, New York, New England, and the 

 Canadas, apprizing the managers of the Exposi- 

 tion, that accomodations for stock will be required 

 from those sections of the country. And it is now 

 definitely understood that nearly every prominent 

 breeder in the North-west will be represented. 

 The opportunity to contrast the merits of different 

 breeds, and different strains of blood of the same 

 breeds, will thus be afforded, and the very best 

 means presented for arriving at a correct judgment 

 upon many important questions relating to the 

 breeding and management of swine. 



Mulching Winter Wheat. — Two experiments 

 in spreading coarse strawy manure as a mulch, 

 in November, on land sown to winter wheat 

 in September, were tried at the farm of the Uni- 

 versity of Wisconsin, last season, and the result is 

 published in the Western Farmer. The product of 

 the White Touzelle variety was 13.51 pounds to 

 one of seed, or 23.38 bushels per acre; of the Red 

 Soisette variety, 13.76 pounds for one of seed, or 

 22.01 bushels per acre. Though similar plots were 

 not tried without the mulch, to test the compara- 

 tive increase of yield from its use, the results are 

 regarded as encouraging. The superintendent of 

 the fann, Mr. Henry H. McAffee, says : "Care 

 should be exercised to not get the mulch too thick 

 in spots, as that cause killed out quite a lot of the 

 young plants in the above experiments." 



Depreciation in Crops. — ^We doubt the cor- 

 rectness of the conclusions of many agricultural 

 writers as to the great depreciation in the amount 

 of wheat and other crops of modern times as com- 

 pared with the golden period of "forty years ago." 

 We apprehend that the assumed average of the 

 olden harvests is over-estimated, and that of our 

 day is rated too low. We see notices of crops of 

 wheat this year in Michigan that would compare 

 well with the celebrated production of Genesee, 

 when that country was new. James H. Graham, 

 of Mason, had a yield this season of thirty-five 

 bushels and a peck per acre on a field of five acres. 

 Mr. C. T. Beck, of Monroe, thirty-seven bushels 



and six quarts per acre from five and a half acres. 

 As the mould of forty years gathers on these state- 

 ments, will not the agricultural writers of those 

 days cite them as evidences of the crops of wheat 

 which wei'e harvested by the ancients of 1871 ? 

 "Distance lends enchantment to the view." 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



THE SPANISH OR BLISTER-FLY POTATO BEETLE. 



I enclose two bugs which I found on my pota- 

 toes. They do not appear to me like the kind 

 described in the Farmer of July 1. If they are 

 not like them, please describe them and tell us 

 what will keep them off the vines. T. E. Loomis. 



j^orth Amherst, Mass., July 17, 2871. 



A nest has made its appearance in different local- 

 ities in the form of a potato bug, the like of which 

 has not been known among us. Of its origin and 

 habits there is but little known. They seem to 

 herd together, and make clean work as they go. 

 At first but a few hills will be infested, and when 

 these are stripped of their leaves they move on. 

 Tliey appear very lively, in companies of hundreds 

 on one hill, but when disturbed they "play pos- 

 sum," dropping to the ground and make believe 

 dead. They appear to be particularly fond of the 

 "Early Rose," for it is the first to be attacked. 



I herewith send you a specimen, and would like 

 to hear from you respecting the "baste." 



Vienna, Me., Aug. 19, 1S71. W. R. Brown. 



Remarks. — A reply was prepared to the inquiry 

 of Mr. Loomis, and put in a book in which we 

 marked an extract descriptive of the insect re- 

 ceived, and was thus forgotten. We at once recog- 

 nized Mr. Brown's "baste" as a near relative of 

 Mr. Loomis's bug, and on turning to our book for a 

 description of the insect last received, we found Mr. 

 Loomis's letter and our reply lying snugly between 

 its leaves. 



Both of these insects belong to the Blister-beetle 

 family, known in the books as Cantharidce or 

 Meloidce. The variety from Mr. Loomis is named 

 Cantharis cinerea, by Fabricius. Mr. Harris says 

 "this is the most destructive Cantharis found in 

 Massachusetts. It is about six-tenths of an inch 

 in length. The word cinerea means ash-colored ; 

 the insect being covered with a very short down of 

 that color. When it is rubbed the ash-colored 

 substance comes off, leaving the surface black. It 

 begins to appear in gardens about the twentieth of 

 June, and is very fond of the leaves of the English 

 bean, which it sometimes entirely destroys. It is 

 also occasionally found in considerable numbers 

 on potato-vines ; and in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 

 it has repeatedly appeared in great profusion upon 

 hedges of the honey -locust, which have been en- 

 tirely stripped of foliage by these voracious insects. 

 They are also found on the wild indigo-weed. In 

 the night, and in rainy weather, they descend from 

 the plants, and burrow in the ground, or under 

 leaves and tufts of grass. Thither also they retire 

 for shelter during the heat of the day, being most 

 actively engaged in eating in the morning and 

 evening. About the first of August they go into 

 the ground and lay their eggs, and these are 



