1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



629 



grasshopper with which we are acquainted, and so 

 do many different kinds of beetles. But it is not 

 true that they can spit out this tiuid even to the 

 distance of a quai'ter of an inch, much less to the 

 distance of fifteen or even of three inches ; and es- 

 pecially it is not true that the fluid is poisonous. 

 If it were so, we should have been in our graves 

 long ago 5 for we have had it repeatedly daubed 

 over our fingers, but without the least ill effects 

 therefrom, and so have scores of other entomolo- 

 gists in this countiy." 



Of the green fly spoken of by Mr, Hutchinson 

 we have little knowledge. S. Hayes, M. D., of 

 Saranac, N. Y., published a statement of a patient 

 of his who was bitten on the thumb while hand- 

 ling tomatoes, by a green fly, which caused the 

 thumb to swell as large as three or four thumbs, the 

 swelling extended to the hand, ai-ms, glands in the 

 hollow of the ann, and finally to the head, and 

 even the side of the body, causing much pain. The 

 insect had a long bill and legs something like a 

 mosquito. The bite of a mosquito has occasionally 

 caused much inconvenience. 



WHAT AILS THE FRUIT TREES. 



The query of your correspondent in the Far- 

 mer of August 19, suggests a longer communica- 

 tion than I have time to write, or probably you the 

 patience to publish. Nearly a quarter of a century 

 of fruit culture has convinced me that our system 

 is, at least a great deal of it, utterly at war with 

 vegetable growth. 



Take for example a pear tree, as bought and de- 

 livered, naked trunks from two to four feet high, a 

 shining mark for disease. All should branch from 

 the ground. I believe it to be impossible to keep a 

 tree with a long naked trunk healthy for any con- 

 siderable length of time. Probably not one fruit 

 tree in ten is properly set; i.e. the ground in proper 

 condition to receive the tree. Then add to this ne- 

 glect, with one or two years' over stimulation, and 

 we have all the elements necessary to kill anything 

 that grows. 



The object sought in planting a fruit tree, is to 

 get fruit, and a system is as essential in this con- 

 nection as in any matter of business. We must 

 watch and wait. After planting, the tree should 

 be sustained by judicious application of compost; 

 very rarely should the knife l)e used, and the saw 

 as often as it is on the human fiimily, and for like 

 reasons. A tree under the most favorable condi- 

 tions for its perfect development will continue to 

 grow until it arrives to a certain size, say twelve to 

 eighteen feet, the variety governing this to some 

 extent, without showing a strong tendency to fruit. 

 This growth should be encouraged. Be sure and 

 get at least nine inches of new wood every year. 

 Sometimes it will be four times that, but get the 

 growth. Neglect will throw it into fruit. This 

 normal growth is the strongest guarantee of life. 



Trees are no exception to the law that governs 

 growth in all things. They must grow or' die. If 

 a young tree sets its fruit, pick it all off, or leave 

 one or two for a specimen, if desirable. Let the tree 

 groio. When it is in a condition to properly ripen 

 the fruit, the indication will be plain to almost 

 every one. Nearly all trees are benefited by thin- 

 ning the fruit, say from one-third to one-half. It 

 improves the size and quality in a wonderful man- 

 ner, and this means pleasure to the tongue, and 

 money in the pocket, if the fruit is sold. Plant a 

 small, low branched tree, in well prepared soil, 

 give it as good care as you do your vegetable gar- 



den, though not as much stimulation, and my wrod- 

 for it, you will not be troubled to any great extent 

 with dead limbs. L. W. Puffer. 



North Bridgexoater, Mass., Sept. 4, 1S71. 



How TO GET RID OF Ants. — The Boston Jour- 

 nal of Chemistiy gives several plans of getting rid 

 of ants in gardens ; entrap them by means of nar- 

 row sheets of stiff paper, or strips of board, covered 

 with some sweet sticky substance. They will then 

 be attracted and will get stuck fast. When you 

 have caught a goodly number you can kill them 

 and set the trap again. Or lay fresh bones around 

 their haunts ; they will leave everything else to at- 

 tack these, and when the bones are well covered 

 with them they can be dropped into boiling water. 

 If you wish merely to drive them away (with the 

 prospect of having them settle elsewhere within 

 your own borders) a few spoonfuls of coal oil put 

 into their retreats or a few slices of raw onion 

 buried there, will be taken by them as a strong 

 hint to migrate. If ants are troublesome in the 

 pantry, or other parts of the house, wet a sponge 

 with sweetened water, and when a large number of 

 ants are in it, throw the sponge into hot water and 

 squeeze it out. Then wet with sugar water again, 

 and go on so. 



CHESS. 



The growth of chess among winter wheat has long 

 been a mystery to me, and I have endeavored to 

 watch as closely as possible the circumstances of 

 its production. Some four years ago, as I said in 

 ray last communication, my wheat crop was nearly 

 a failure. Believing that what little I had, although 

 very poor, would answer for seed, I sowed it by 

 the" side of good seed ; supposing that if the yield 

 from the poor seed was not as great as that from 

 the good seed, there would be no more chess in it. 

 In this I was disappointed. There was much less 

 chess among the good seed than among the poor. 

 This satisfied me that chess is more likely to grow 

 from poor than from good wheat seed. I have 

 also noticed that where I have sown wheat on 

 green sward there was more chess than when after 

 corn, because, as I suppose, the compost applied to 

 the green sward is not evenly spread, and the turf 

 not being decomposed, some of the plants do not 

 get hold of the needed nourishment, for a proper 

 growth of the plant in the fall, and, something like 

 a stunted calf, it is not fully developed, and turns to 

 chess. Another cause of wheat becoming chess 

 is the freezing and thawing of the ground in fall 

 and spring, which by weakening the roots checks 

 the growth so far that chess instead of wheat is the 

 result. The present season I have more chess than 

 usual among my wheat, which I ascribe to the 

 warm spells last winter and spring, followed by 

 sudden freezing; much bare ground; little rain, 

 and a cold spring, causing the abortive growth of 

 the wheat that results in chess. 



From my own experience, then, I would advise 

 farmers to sow the best seed they can obtain. 

 Chess ground with wheat gives the flour a dark col- 

 or. After running my wheat through a winnow- 

 ing mill, I take the wheat in a half-bushel meas- 

 ure, when there is a steady, strong wind, and hold- 

 ing as high as I can reach, sift it slowly into a tub; 

 the chess and imperfect wheat is separated from 

 the good. Whatever is thus blown over should be 

 saved as it makes good provender for hogs. 



Two years ago I gave a part of my seed wheat a 

 thorough cleaning, and a part was sown full of 

 chess. At harvest time there was, as far as I oould 



