1861. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEH. 



269 



must be of great value in strawberry culture to 

 loosen up the soil after the heavy rains of winter 

 and spring. Mr. Knox is a resident of Pittsburg, 

 Pa , an! does an extensive business in the grow- 

 ing of the small fruit shrubs for sale, and is well 

 known throughout the west in this speciality. 



That tbey will succeed we have little doubt, 

 though we think they havo not made the best se- 

 lection of soil for their experiments, but they 

 have gone to work with an energy that will ac- 

 complish success. 



A STP.AWBEREX PATCH. 



On the western slope of the sand ridge before 

 alluaei to, Messrs K. & K. have seven acres of 

 bearing strawberry vines, all Willson Albany, 

 luxuriant as need be. On account of the dry 

 weather at the time of cropping, the yield was 

 light, thus agaiu assuring us that without an 

 abundance of water at that time, that a straw- 

 berry crop is net the most certain in the world. 

 The plants are cultivated in drills or hills about 

 two feet apart, the rows of plants covering half 

 the spac'-'. They are raked with ahorse Loe, and 

 the ^^eeds pwlled cut of the rows by hand ; they 

 are ii; ex:el!eut orJer, and it would appear, to 

 Ioo'k at tliem at this time, that they could not fail 

 of a large crop next season. 



On ;he east, or opposite side of the ridge, di- 

 vided 'y the highway, is the experimental gar- 

 den wt^er e varieties are tested ; here we had a 

 feast of Brinklys' Oranj^e, Yellow Antwerp and 

 other r f-pberries. The Brinklys are fast gain- 

 ing tavor end as they produce an abundant crop 

 with slight protection will soon be among the 

 common garden stnples of good living, tiefore 

 we cloSii with the ubject we will say that m my 

 varieties of email fruits can be had of thi« firm 

 at low rates, especially of strawberry, ra-pberiy 

 and blackberry plants. Mr. K. has no confidence 

 in the mole ditches for his soil. 



To he continued in next No. 



-••►- 



Baked Pobk axd Beans. — Have rice, clean, 

 white beans, put to soak in cold water overnight 

 Take a piece of fat, side pork, parboil fifteen 

 minutes ; then place it in the pot with the beans, 

 which ought to h ve been cooking an h> ur Boil 

 the pork and beans tiigether until the beans are 

 perfectly soft, then remove them with a skimm'r 

 to the drippiog-jian, and make an island of the 

 pork, in the center, having first cut the rind with 

 a sharp knife a quarter of an inch deep, in deli- 

 cate, parfillel liner*. Bake three hours in a mod- 

 erate ove", and serve hot. — Mrs. £. D. Kendall 

 in American Farmer. 



fFor the Illinois Farmer.] 



"The Army Worm." 



Ed. Faemes: I had intended some time since 

 to have prepared an article on the -Army Worm 

 for the Illinois Farmer, but a long and severe 

 spell of sickness has hitherto prevented me. 



As I desire, in this article, to give a full ac- 

 count of my investigattous of this insect I may 

 have to repeat in substance some things I have 

 already written ; but this cannot be objectional, 

 as my desire is simply to do all I can to aid the 

 farmers in warding off the attacks of this inju- 

 rious insect. 



THE LAEYA, OK WORM, 



Is the state in which this insect commits all its 

 depredations, therefore we will begin with a de- 

 scription and history of it in this state or portion 

 of its life. 



The worms when full grown are about, or 

 slightly over one inch and a qu;irter long, some 

 of them even reached one inch and a half in 

 length ; the diameter of the thickest part is sel-« 

 dom as much as one fourth of an in> h. They 

 have sixteen legs placed as follows ; six true 

 legs, two placed on each the first, second and 

 third segment.8 back of ihe head ; {hy true legs 

 I mean, legs that ttiper to the point and have 

 claws, and represent the legs of the insect in its 

 future state.) Eight ncutr.-.l legs (called proo 

 legs) situated two on each the sixth, s<=venth, 

 eighth and ninth segments : and two anal legs 

 situated on the last segment ; these neutral and 

 anal legs are thick and not tapering, but termi- 

 nate in broad feet. The color of these worms is 

 not exactly 'iniform, ihe gr(,und color varying 

 from a dirty ochre to a very dusky brownish col- 

 or almost approaching a black : yet through all 

 these shades the markings are quite uniform. I 

 will describe the most ctmm.n siade. Striped 

 lengthwise thus : Along the b-fck is a broad 

 dusky stripe darkest in the uid lie, fading to- 

 wards the borders and edged with black. Next 

 below this on each side comes a narrow whitish 

 stripe; next below this comes a narrow dark or 

 dusky stripe; and next be'ow this comes another 

 whitish stripe a little wider than that just above, 

 this stripe frequently has a red lish tinge r nar- 

 row reddish spots, it is immediate^ above the 

 legs and along the line of the tireathing pores. — 

 The underside of the worm including the legs is 

 a pale green : the legs art> often mnrkid with 

 dusky spots or rings. The head is eqnnl in di- 

 ameter to the segment it j-iiis: two dark I'nes 

 arise (one from each side) from the sides of the 



