1862. 



THE ILLmOIS FARMER. 



265 



tention to farming and the reading of agricultu- 

 ral works, my farm has quite another aspect, 

 and so changed is its appearance that the seasons 

 seem to be more favorable. 

 DoNQOLA, Union County, 111. N. C. M. 



— Our remarks in regard to clover were more 

 especially intended for the Basin of Egypt, or 

 that part lying north of the grand chain. We 

 are well aware that clover makes a good growth 

 all south of the Big Muddy river, though compar- 

 atively little is sown. We would never need offer 

 a premium for bad farming among the old set- 

 tlers in that part of the State, for south of Car- 

 bondale we can find as many specimens as we 

 need. Though the soil is rich, yet from its fine 

 texture requires vegetable fibre to keep it loose 

 and porous, so that the roots of plants can pene- 

 trate it, and for this reason no soil in the world 

 will show such wonderful effects from the use cf 

 manure. In that climate soiling must be resort- 

 ed to, and as fast as the grass is cut for that 

 purpose the cut surface must be at once top- 

 dressed, as the burning sun will destroy th« 

 exposed roots. We have advised our friends of 

 this fact years since, but they will for the most 

 part follow the practice of the natives, to allow 

 their stock to run in the woods pasture; 



We know that a better day is dawning for this 

 Italia of the West. If we cannot have the 

 oranges of Seville, we shall have the fine peaches 

 of the Si'uth of France, with the delicious 

 cream of the North. Nature has done much for 

 Egypt, but up to a late day man has done but 

 little. From this day forward we may look for 

 a more intelligent display of man's skill. We 

 need more men as our valued friend N. C. M. in 

 that part of the State, and we are glad to know 

 that they are forthcoming. No part of the con- 

 tinent can surpass it for strawberries, peaches, 

 and several other fruits, and now that the world 

 knows it, we shall soon see its resources more 

 fully developed. 



-••»- 



The Loss in the Battlb of Cedab Mountain. 

 — The Washington correspondent of the Mis- 

 souri Democrat, says : 



OflBcial returns of killed and wounded in the 

 battle at Cedar Mountain, have been footed up 

 to over twenty-three hundred. They were un- 

 doubtedly swelled, however, by including many 

 in the list of missing, who have since returned. 

 Gen. Pope, therefore, returned the list for re- 

 vision, which will materially reduce the grand 

 total. 



Hard Ways of Doing Things. 



The cultivator cf fruit should always bear in 

 mind that the host way to get rid of destru-ctive 

 insects is to kill them. The various remedies, 

 short of this course, are often more expensive or 

 laborious than direct slaughter, and commonly 

 inefficient at best. As an instance, we see the 

 old remedy of tansy for the peach grub going 

 the rounds of the papers again. This remedy 

 may be efficient, yet while the owner of a thous- 

 and peach trees is setting out a thousand tansy 

 plants at the foot of his trees, and nursing and 

 protecting them, to say nothing of the impedi- 

 ment they would constantly occasion to good 

 cultivation, he might go over an orchard of ten 

 thousand trees and with the point of his knife 

 destroy every grub in the bark, the external in- 

 dication of which, by gum and sawdust, quickly 

 enables him to know where to look. We know 

 by experience that a single qand will effectually 

 clear many hundred trees in this way in a single 

 day , and a repetion of the work to two or three 

 times a year will keep an orchard clear, where 

 the insects are abuudlnt. 



There are many other illustrations of the 

 same principle, such, for example, as syringing 

 young fruit trees with lime, tobacco, etc., to re- 

 pel the curculio, the labor of such repeated 

 application being generally greater than that of 

 killing the insect by the jarring and pinching 

 system. There are a few instances where 

 insects may be destroyed by wholesale, as, for 

 instance, the aphis by soap suds, and the cur- 

 rant worm by dry caustic lime ; but there are 

 also many others where it would be more profit- 

 able to hire a man to pick worms and bugs 'by 

 the day, with his thumb and finger, than attempt 

 to frighten them away by outside influence", 

 whether it is scare crows for birds, miasms for 

 mosquitoes, or pellets of soft grass for pilfering 

 boys. An active man man or boy will capture 

 singly twenty insects a minute when they numer- 

 ously infest shrubs and bushes, which is 1,200 

 an hour, or 12,000 a day, and is more efficient 

 than offensive nostrums, that often do more harm 

 to vegetable growth than to thick-skinned 

 worms, and bard-shelled beetles. Where insects 

 may be shaken into vessels of hot water by 

 wholesale, such a mode is, of course, to be pre- 

 ferred. We have nearly always found direct 

 attack the best way, and very few day's work in 

 the aggrpgate will keep most gardens clear of 

 them. — Country Gentleman. 



^f"The career of one military charlatan has 

 finally been cut short. General Benham's 

 name has been stricken from thts rolls of the 

 army. Those who have known him will have 

 only wondered that the result did not come 

 sooner. — Cor. Mo. Democrat. 



-<•»- 



^„ /ance, the conservative candidate for 

 Governor in North Carolina, is reported elected 

 by 25,000 majority. If it were not for the tyr- 

 anny of the Confederate rule, this would be 

 called a Union victory. 



