98 



THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



Vol. 2; 



The Cuiculio. 



We niG but partially RCi-iuainlcd \viih the Curculio. 

 Its manner of iiroviding for its young by depositing 

 the nit in our stone fruit, mny be familiar to most of 

 our readers, — together with sem;.! other particulare; 

 but its food afier it has passed into the perfect state, 

 its place of abode during the autumn and winter, and 

 ih J age it may attain, are things which appear to be 

 Tery imperfectly linown. 



If the life of this insect extends to several years, the 

 chief advantage to be derived from having hogs and 

 geese under the trees, must be to prevent its incrcace. 

 A itw of the old ones indeed, mtty be trampled to 

 death; but in a large fruit garden, it is likely that 

 most of the young ones \vill escape; and if to these 

 ■wo add such as immigrate from other places, there 

 •will be an increasing array of them in the trees, be- 

 yond the reach of the hogs, geese, and poultry. 



That such has been the case in our fruit garden, we 

 are much inclined to believe. Six years ago, the hogs 

 were not permitted to run there; and vfithout doubt 

 inany hundreds of young curculioa were adt'cd to 

 those already in poesesaion. We have lately under- 

 taken to lessen their number by catching them on 

 fiheets; and we now have rbout 1700 on the list. 



From their difference in size, wc infer a diflerenee 

 in age. Further proof indeed, is wanted; but some 

 of them are not less than four or five times as large as 

 others. If they live through n period of years, they 

 liinst continue to provide frr their onspring in some 

 kind of stone fruit. If we exclude them from the 

 plum tree, the apricot, and nectarine, tlu-y will attack 

 the peach Rnd the cherry. The latter indeed suffers 

 annually to some extent; and a few years ago, owin" 

 to a scarcity of other fruit, our peaches were almost 

 entirely destroyed by them. 



These considerations have induced us this season 

 to pay more attention to therii than in years pi:st; and 

 we have been surprised to find then', so numercus. In 

 a late article on this subject, we proposed to jar the 

 trees before the tin troughs were put up; but one, or 

 even a dozen jarringa are not sufficieiit to jet them all 

 down. Tae troughs therefure, should be fixed and 

 filled, very early in the season, befoic the insects as- 

 cend the trees, or t'jo labor may be Tain. We offer 

 some proof of this remark: For nine mornings in suc- 

 cession, some ol our trees had been repeatci'ly nruck 

 with an axe, so as to produce violent concussions, 

 each time obtaining a goodly number uf ciirculios; and 

 yet on the tenth morning, from the same trees, we 

 caught more than duu'ile the number that we had at 

 any other time, owing to the CvM \vhi<-h benumbed 

 them, and rendered them less able to hold on. From 

 the same trees we hr.ve since obtained many more. 



Some persona have doubted the efficiency of water 

 troughs; but from what we have seen of them, our 

 confidence has not been diminisjied in the least. We 

 have frequently caught cmculios on the rim, as ii 

 waiting for a passage; and have sometimes found them 

 in the water perfectly helpless. Now to prevent them 

 from climbing up, ia all that we can reasonably expect 

 from a water trough. It cannot bring them down. 



For lar^e trees, the expense of these fixtures will 

 be greater than on small trees, the amount of maieri- 

 bIs to make thera being greater. If n sufiieient spate 

 be lel't between the trough and the tree hiiwever, it 

 may remain several years without being taken 

 down — a hole being made in the bottom as soon as the 

 curculio season is over, to let off the water which 

 might collect there, from rain or from melting snow. 

 A small chisel, cutting through the tin into a block ol 

 Tvood held firmly under, would make a sufficient 

 aperture, which might be closed the next spring, and 

 secured by a drop of soder. Tliree or more wedges 



by small nails, support the trough; and rags or tow 

 stop up the remaining vacancy. We cap the whole 

 with a coat of mortar to prevent the insects from 

 working their W!:y through the crevices. 



Hogs sometimes neglect to eat the fallen fruit when 

 it is very green; but shorter commons will generally 

 bring them to their duty. If the fruit lieslong un- 

 der the tree, the worm escapes into the ground. t 



ILocality of the Canker Worm. 



The Nr.shville Agriculturist (as quoted in an ex- 

 change paper^ recommends taking up the earth round 

 fruit trees to the depth of six or eight inches, and to 

 the distance of eight or ten inches, for the purpose of 

 burning it, in order "to destroy the germ of the can- 

 ker worn." Is the canker worm an inhabitant ol 

 Tennessee ? Perhaps some of our readers can inform 

 US in regard to tiiis particular ; and also the bounda- 

 ries of that district on which ths genuine canker worm 

 (PhaUna vernataj is found. 



Deone in his New England Farmer or Georgical 

 Dictionary says, " It is not less than about fitly years 

 since this insect began ita depredations in New Eng- 

 land, in the ports which had been longest cultivated. 

 But perhaps there is some reason to hope that Provi- 

 dencc is about to extirpate them : for a little bird has 

 lately made its appenrance in some parts of the coiin- 

 tiy, which feeds upon the canker worms. Should 

 these birds have a rapid increase, the insect will be 

 thinned, so as to be less formidable, if not wholly de- 

 stroyed." 



The second edition of that work was issued in 1797, 

 "soon after the first," and perhaps we may set the 

 time of their first appearance about one hundred years 

 ago. It will be safe to conclude they were not newly 

 created about that time, however ; and we may ask 

 whence they came ? or what other tree supplied them 

 with food before that period ? 



The little bird was doubtless the cedar bird — one of 

 the greatest marauders of our land ; but having no 

 canker worms for him to feed on in this dielriet, we 

 should be gliidto send him where he might find use- 

 ful employment. + 



Fr(/m TVeslcrn Farmer. 

 Best Method of Jtaproviisg New Farms. 



If heavily timbered with oak, maple, beach, bass 

 wood, ash, &c., together with a heavy growth of un- 

 derwood or brush, the best method in the opinion of 

 the writer, or at least that hss fallen under his obser- 

 vation, to clear such land is, if it be undidaling and 

 diy, to enter in the months of June, July or August, 

 upon the land to be cleared, when the leaves ore large 

 r.nd full, with axe and busk hook in hand, and cut 

 dowii all the trees and brush of and less in size than 

 six or eight inches in diameter, on the first five, ten, 

 twenty, or more acics, according to the means at com- 

 mand, leaving the larger trees standing. 



Trim up the fallen trees by lopping off the branch- 

 es, and then cut up their branches into £,uitnble length 

 for rads, or tobe thrown together into piles for burn- 

 ing, leating the brush scattered over the surface of 

 the ground to dry. The next step recommended, 

 will be, aiiat the leaves have fallen from the trees in 

 the fall of the year, and belore the buds start out in 

 the spring, to girdle the timber or trees left bianding 

 so efleclually as to kill them ; and as soon thereafter 

 ns the weather will permit, (if the season be favorable, 

 the Inst of April or first of May,) put fire to your 

 "fallow," and the probability is, you will get a "good 

 burn." When once cleared off, put on a brisk team 

 of young cattle or horses, and harrov.' up your land 

 th&.oiigly till it becomes mellow and pliable to the 

 hoe ; you mny then plant it in corn or potatoes, or 

 sow it lo onts or other spring grain, at your option, or 

 as your M.mts may dictate. If you sow to oats, you 

 can innnediately seed down after them to "timothy 

 grass," "red top" or "clover," which will soon fur- 

 nish your farm with hay for your stock of cattle, &c. 

 Nor will the 'girdlings' become dangerous to your 

 cattle, or prove detrimental to your crops for the first 



almost any season of the year when he may have theS 

 most leisure time Xu do it. 3 



It being generally the ease with those hardv indue.; ^ 

 triouemenvvho most frequently break in upon new' 

 farms, that they are limited in their means, and hav 

 ing families to support, and soVne of them large ones , 

 too, they require a quick return of the outlay of their.' 

 small capitals And this method of clearing the first' 

 forty acres of timbered land, if pursued, will place a 

 family in circumstances to raise their own fuod for 

 consumption, soonei' than any otiier, as much labor, 

 time and expense are thereby saved the first year or 

 two, while the now beginner is beginnirg anew with 

 every ihins; new around him. If "openings," "prai- 

 ries,'' or "plains," are to be v.'orked, where there ia 

 a heavy coat of herbage upon the ground, and no ob- 

 stacles in the v. ay of the plough, in the m.onth of Juno 

 or July enter upon the land to be broken up with a 

 sufficient team to turn over the sward with case, while 

 the wild grass and herbs are yet tender and vegetating. 



The depth of ploughing should be regulated accord, 

 ing 10 the depth ef the soil. And as a general rule, 

 prairie can be ploughed deeper than either openings 

 or the willow plains. "Oak openings," the first 

 ploughing should be turned over lo t!ie depth of ebout 

 Six inches, and great care must be taken to turn a 

 "t7cr/7i, handsome furrow,'* so as to cover entirely 

 the vegetable matter, for one acre well ploughed and 

 tilled, is better to the farmer than five but half done, 

 and if the whiskey lotllc is suffered never to enter the 

 habitation nor the field, and proper care be taken, the 

 farm work is sure of being not only seaEonnbly, but 

 well done. The land thus ploughed should be suf- 

 fered to lie in fallow, undisturbed until the following 

 spring, when it may be cross ploughed, harrowed and 

 prepared for spring crops. 



It may be well, perhaps, here to advert to one reason 

 why the first ploughing in openings or plains, where 

 the sub-soil tends to clay should not be made too deep. 

 ArgillousBoil, in ita natural undisluibcd slate, lies in 

 a compact firm layer, and is of a cold sour nature ; 

 and as new beginners are somewhat impatient for 

 eaily crops, tbey cannot wait for the seasons with 

 their accompanying attributes of heat and frost, show- 

 er and sunshine, to modify and subdue the natural 

 sourness of a clayey soil if ploughed to the depth of 

 ten or twelve inches at first: so theiefore, as soon as 

 the vegetation and mould which were turned under at 

 the first ploughing, have sufficiently rotted to mix with 

 the under soil that was turned up, and which being 

 thin, (if ploughed but six inches,) and lying over a 

 compost formed of the vegetable matter soon mace- 

 rates, by exposure and the air changes of the v.'eather, 

 and will if planted or sowed, yield a tolerable crop, 

 the time is improved by the new beginners, to avail 

 themselves of the earliest possible harvest. And fur- 

 thermore, as all newly cultivated lands, if pro;:erIy 

 inanaged, will yield a yearly increase of the products 

 of the soil for the first five or six years ; the depth of 

 ploughing can be gradually increased without materi- 

 ally lessening the productiveness of the crop. At the 

 same lime the faimer ia receiving a rich reward for his 

 care and labor. As 1 have already occupied a larger 

 space of your useful columns than may be interesting 

 to most of your readers in partly answering a short in- 

 quiry, I shall close by observing that if your "Tus- 

 cola" correspondent, " O. S." needs any further in- 

 formation on the subject, after be shall have cleared 

 or broken up the first ten acres of land, by so intima- 

 ting through the medium of the Western Farm.er, ho 

 can be accommodated by 



" CINCINNATUS." 

 Lapeer Covntij, March 20th, 1841. 



three or four years, and in the mean time they can be 

 cut down and used for rail timber, or tire wood, and 



pushed up bslweeu ike tioiigl; and the tree fastened | being dry, mn be bmned out of the faimer's way st 



MiUet. 



Ctdtare. — This plant will grow upon any soil of 

 tolerable richness, though it does best on loam. The 

 ground should be prepared as for ordinary crors. Tlie 

 seed should be sown broad-cast, and coveted with the 

 harrow. If sown early, the crop may be gathered in 

 August, though if sown any time before the 25th of 

 June, It will come to mnturiiy.* If seed is the object, 

 four quarts of seed to tlie acre will be enough; but if 

 intended principally for cattle feed, the quantity of 

 seed may be increased to eight quarts. It grows to 

 the height of from two to six feet, according to the 

 quality of the soil. Birds are fond of the seed, and 

 devour it as soon as it begins to ripen. The crop 

 shotdd be therefore cut before the whole bas matured, 

 and while the straw is green. It may be cut with a 

 syckle, scythe, or cradle, and should be housed as soon 

 as it is sufficiently dry. 



* When fiidder i.9nhe cliief olject. JiliUst nii'y ''« Bown ijj 

 July.— Ees. N..O.FARaEg. 



