276 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMER. 



Sept. 



eaid, there must be some foundation for the pro- 

 verb ; the sun is too hot and scorching, and if 

 chickens are entirely exposed to it, they will die. 

 Put the coop, with the hen into it. In a shady 

 place, but near the sun. As in April, you gladly 

 turn it to the sun, wherever you can find it, so in 

 June turn it away. Let it be near covert for the 

 chickens, shrubs, artichokes, pears, anything 

 that produces shade and harbors insects. You 

 will find your chickens live there a great part of 

 the day, and always when the sun is most power- 

 ful. They find there the insects thai have deser- 

 ted the parched grass. Let them be well and 

 frequently supplied with fresh and cool water. 

 If you can do it, or have it done, you will find a 

 great advantage in having a few pails of water 

 scattered every evening on the ground, they u«e 

 in the day. It freshens it and keeps it cool. To 

 sum Uf give your chickens shade, clean and 

 cool water, with a run affording them covert ; 

 and we promise you, you shall say and prove 

 that the prejudce against June chickens is a 

 popular error. 



Leaf-Curling Caterpillars. 



The curling of the leaves of the shrubbery 

 and some of the trees in our gardens, is quite 

 annoying to many people at this time, and the 

 question is often asked what can be done ? This 

 is one of the minor evils, and seldom requires 

 personal attention except in gardens where the 

 birds have no chance. The expanding buds of 

 your grape vines are often knotted and tied to- 

 gether so that the leaves come out irregularly. 

 Open one of these and you will find it has been 

 fastened together by minute silken cords, finer 

 than the threads in the Aveb of a spider — examine 

 closely and you will see a light-colored little 

 caterpillar, less than half an inch in length. It 

 ties these growing leaves together so that they 

 shall not spread out naturally, and this forms a 

 place of concealment from many of her enemies 

 where she feeds in fancied security. 



The leaves on your rose and currant bushes 

 are sometimes very much deformed — the sides 

 folded together or formed into rolls — open these 

 and you find a dark-colered worm, with a black 

 head — this is a lively squirming little fellow, 

 that will probably spin a thread and let itself 

 down some distance, and be co-cealed amongst 

 the leaves below. A similar little worm will be 

 found upon some pear and plum trees, sometimes 

 so numerous as to deform the foliage and even to 

 injure the fruit. The canker worm, sometimes 

 in such vast numbers in the app^e orchard, has 

 been a serious injury. This last appears irregu- 

 larly like the plagues of old, beyond human con- 

 trol. 



If you have induced the wrens to take up 

 their abode in your garden, by preparing cozy 

 little places for them to build their nests in, they 

 will soon clear your shrubbery of these leaf- 

 curling caterpillars. If you are in the neigh- 

 borhood of some of the large trees of the city, 

 and especially the grand old elms, where the Bal- 

 timore Orioles make their nests, your fruit trees 

 will suffer but little from this class of insects, 



but if you cannot have the assistance of the 

 birds, the best plan to subdue these pests, is to 

 crush them between the thumb and finger as fast 

 as the expanding buds or leaves show signs of 

 their presence. The washes and powders recom- 

 mended are very troublesome, and very few, if 

 any, are eflFectual. — JVeivark Mercury. 



A Successful Ice House. 



C. B. of Chester, Pennsylvania communicates 

 the following to the Gardeners' Monthly : 



Ten years since I built an ice house. After 

 inquiry and reflection, I adopted the following 

 details of construction, which has proved a com- 

 plete success, the supply rarely failing until ice 

 forms again. 



I chose as a location, a north-lying bank of 

 sandy formation, made the excavation a cube of 

 thirteen feet, or so that the earth removed would 

 bank up that height, put in an eighteen inch dry 

 wall, except the top foot, which was mortared 

 inserted on each side three pieces of three by 

 four inch scantling, to which perpendicular one 

 inch pine boards were nailed as lining ; put on a 

 light shingle roof of double pitch; let the spaces 

 at the eaves between the rafters open for a draft 

 of air to enter, and placed a small Venetian win- 

 dow near the top of the north gable for its es- 

 cape Before putting on the shingles, and after 

 nailing lath on the underside of the rafters, the 

 intervening space was tightly packed with 

 straight straw ; the roof is kept whitewashed. 

 The south gable consists of two doors, one of 

 which answers for general use, but when filling, 

 the ground being level on that side, both are 

 opened, a small phtform placed in front of them, 

 and the ice is shot directly in from the cart. 

 The bottom was made about one foot deeper in 

 the middle than at the sides, and eight to ten 

 inch chestnut logs laid across it close together ; 

 the ice is thrown on these. 



I fill only to the squrre with ice, and the re- 

 maining space with wheat straw, which I am 

 careful always to keep covered over the ice and 

 packed down the sides a foot or two as it melts, 

 leaving a spice of about one foot between the 

 ice and the lining. The bank was well sodded 

 up to the wall, so as to throw off rain water fall- 

 ing on the roof and prevent its ingress to the 

 house. Free daily use is made of the ice during 

 all the warm season, for a family of nine, and 

 there is usually about a load or two over. The 

 capacity of the house is about twenty well filled 

 ox-cart loads; with side board's. Almost any 

 farmer can erect such an iee house at but little 

 expense. 



-«•»- 



Jl^'-Most of us spend so much time in learn- 

 ing the opinions of others, that we Lave no leis- 

 ure to form any of our own. 



J®^The devil and the rebel confederacy are 

 the rival fathers of lies, and the latter has much 

 the larger family. 



