1861. 



THE TLLmOIS FAEMEE. 



167 



Signs of Rain. 



Addressed by Dr. Jenner, 1810, to a young 

 lady who asked him if he thought it would 

 rain to-morrow. 



The hollow winds begin fo blow, 

 The clouds look black, the glass is low ; 

 Tue soot falls down, the spaniels sleep. 

 And spiders from their cobwebs creep. 

 Last night the sun weftt pale to bed, 

 The moon in halos bid h^r head ; 

 The boding shepherd heaves a sigh. 

 For see, a r.'iiubow ^pans the sky ! 

 The walls are damp, the ditches smell, 

 Closed is the pink eyed pimpernel ; 

 The squalid toads at dusk were seen, 

 Slowly crawling o'er the green; 

 Lr.ud quack the ducks, the peacocks cry, 

 The distant hills are looking nigh. 

 Hark ! how the chairs and tables crack ! 

 Old Betty's joints are on the rack ; 

 And see yon rooks, how odd their flight, 

 They imitate the gliding kite, 

 Or seem precipitate to fall, 

 As if they felt the piercing ball. 

 How restless are the snorting swine ; 

 The busy flies disturb the kine; 

 Low o'er thegrfiss theswallow wings; 

 The cricket, too, how loud she sings 3 

 'Twiir surely rain, I see with sorrow. 

 Our jaunt must be put off to-morrow. 



[From Field Notes.] 



Remedy for the Curculio. 



We are again at the opening of the fruit set- 

 ting season, and as the (dum trees are showing 

 a profui-ioa of bloom, many persons who have 

 such trees, will b? glad to know whether there is 

 any remedy for this great pest, which has so suc- 

 cessfully baffled all attempts to prevent his fatal 

 ravages. The most effectual remedy thus far 

 practised, is the jarring process, by which the 

 rascals are made lo drop upon a sheet, when they 

 are gathered up and destroyed. But this in- 

 volves the same expense as is usually charged 

 up against liberty, viz. : eternal vigilance, and 

 only the few who have the virtue of perseverance, 

 ■win the day. 



Next to this is an unsavory drench appl'ed to 

 the tree, either in form of a powder dusted iipon 

 the foliage, or in the form of a slush, showered 

 over it. This last has proved in some hunds, a 

 full indemnity One of the editors of the N. Y. 

 Observer, who is something of a horticulturist, 

 has for several years set forth the advantages of 

 a drench composed as follows : 



To one pound of whale oil soap, add four 

 ounces of sulphur, mix thoroughly and dissolve 

 in twelve gallons of water. Take one half peck 

 of lime, and when well slacked, add four gal- 

 Ions of water, and stir it well together, when 

 settled and clear, pour off the transparent 

 part and add it to the soap and sulphur 

 mixture. To this mixture add four gallons 

 of strong tobacco water. Apply this com- 



pound when thus incorporated, with a garden 

 syringe to your plum and other fruit trees, so as 

 to drench all parts of the foliage. If no rain 

 succeeds for three weeks, one application will be 

 sufficient, if washed by rains it should be re- 

 newed. 



We believe this wash is equally efficacious fo'* 

 shade and ornamental trees, which are troubled 

 with insects or caterpillars. 



As many persons in the country will not be 

 able to procure whale oil or other fish oil ; and 

 who knows but the new cure-all — coal oil, will; 

 do the business better than either? Somebody 

 try them with a tincture of coal, and tell us how 

 they made out. 



We have removed all our bearing plum 

 trees to the hen grounds, that neutral land 

 between the house and barn, in which the 

 hens have free range. The trees will give 

 them shade and protection Irom hawks and 

 owls, while they will in turn protect the 

 fruit. At the same time we have faith in 

 the above mixture, and hope it will be ex- 

 tensively tried this season. There must be 

 some mode devised to get rid of this Curcu- 

 lio, or in a few years our plums, peaches, 

 cherries, apricots, nectarines, and even ap- 

 ples will become a matter of history. Can 

 some one tell us how many pounds of tobacco 

 stems or leaves will make four gallons of 

 strong tobacco water ? " Ed. . 



To Prevent Skippers in Hams. — In a com- 

 munication to the 'M'otton Planter," Mr. W. 

 McVVillie says; "There is, according to my ex- 

 perience, nothing easier than to avoid the skip- 

 per and all worms and bugs that usually infest 

 and destroy bacon. It is simply to keep your 

 smokehouse dark, and the moth that deposits the 

 egg will never enter it. For the past tweniy-five 

 years I have attended to this, and never have had 

 my bacon troubled with any insect, I am not 

 aware of other causes for the exemption of my 

 bacon from insects, but simply the fact that my 

 smoke-house is always dark. Before adopting 

 this plan, I had tried many experiment?, but al- 

 ways either without success or with injury to the 

 flavor of my bacon, I smoke with green hick- 

 ory ; this is important, as the flavor of bacon Is 

 often utterly destroyed by smoking it with im- 

 proper wood." 



—»- 



The poorer a man is, the more he pays for 

 what he uses. As Franklin very justly observ- 

 ed, necessity never made a good bargain. The 

 smaller the quantity we purchase, the larger 

 the profit is charged for it. How true the poor 

 find this. 



