170 



THE ILLmOIS FAEMER. 



June 



mon iii?ect glass for observation. At length he 

 fixed himself on the perpendicular side of the 

 instrument, and no shaking or jarring would bring 

 him down. This may illustrate the necessity of a 

 sudden jar, taking the creature off his guard; while 

 a shake only gives him notice to cling. Will Dr. 

 Fitch tell us whether the curculio has claw feet, 

 like the bee, or pump feet, like the fly ? If the 

 latter, we can easily see the need of a sudden and 

 violent blow to land him. 



The greater difficulty of perforating clayey soils, 

 is the reason given by the late Mr. Downing for 

 the less abundant haunts of the curculio in tenacious 

 soils, compared with soils sandy and loose. This 

 may be true as far as it goes. Another reason has 

 appeared to me probable. The animal is easily 

 drowned ; and soils retentive of water tend inevi- 

 tably to his destruction. This may explain the 

 statement made in respect to trees on one of the 

 islands in a western river, the land being occasion- 

 ally inundated ; good fruit and no spoilers of it 

 before maturity being the result. 



Pea Bik;. — Unlike the curculio, the pea bug w-i!I 

 recover from almost any ext.-nt of drowning. I 

 have found pretty strong and rnther warm soap 

 suds on washing days, the most cflcetual in cpielling 

 the pea depredator. E. S. E. Piuxirs. 



Checktowiiga, N. Y. 



P. S. — If every one will give his observations 

 upon this enemy of the fruit culturist — may we 

 not hoj.e for new modes of combat in the war 

 against him ? 



Dish-washing Machine. 



We knew somebody would invent a dish-washer. 

 Assured our lady friends oi it long ago— in fact' 

 told them we wouid invent the thing ourself if it 

 were not produced by somebody else within a rea- 

 sonable length of time. The idea of a housekeep- 

 er being required, in this tnbghtened nge, to do 

 penance after every meal over a pan of steaming 

 hot soup and water, is absurd. Clean, bright, 

 glistening crockery is very attractive, it adorns 

 even the humblest board, but what right-minded 

 husband or father can enjoy the sight without the 

 painful recurrence to the fact t])at his wift; or 

 daughter has achieved that immacuhite purity of 

 delf through great dishwater tribulations. 



A. M. & J. J. D. Bristol, Detroit, Mich., has in- 

 Tented and patented a dish-washer, which also 

 cleans lamp chimneys, sharpens and scours knives, 

 etc. For the benefit of our lady friend.s we copy 

 the following from the Messrs. Bristol's circular, 

 which will hiform them of what is promised by the 

 invention : 



The Dish-washer accomplishes the washing of 

 dishes in a safe, pleasant and agreeable manner, 

 saving a great deal of disagreeable and "detested" 

 labor. The degree of heat necessary to be given 

 to the water to dissolve grease upon a plate, the 

 hands cannot bear, and a dish cannot be cleansed 

 without using *ery hot water. When water not 

 Lot enough is used, as is usually the case, the 

 grease is not dissolved, being spread over the 

 dish with the "dish-cloth." Such dishes, after 

 washing, especially pUtes, can be finger-marked, 

 la u<ing a dish-washer there are no curning of hands 

 h. hot water, no changing of dresses and no "greas- 

 .'•■ dish-cloths." The dishes come from the ma- 

 i'.ine perfectly clean, because perfectly hot water 



can be used, and they are washed much better than 

 can be possibly done by hand. They are then 

 wiped upon a large, clean cloth, and are really 

 clean. Knives can be sharpened very easily on 

 the machine and scoured with very little labor. — 

 The lamp chimneys need not be smoky and dirty 

 — in fact the Dish-washer is a peace maker and 

 should be in every family that can afford to have 

 it. It is a peaceful, quiet domestic, doing its work 

 without grumbling, never bi caking any dishes, and 

 never "falling out with the ladv ot the house." It 

 is ahnost incredible that the Dish-washer, a little 

 machine two feet square, should really do, in so 

 short a time a.'id in so perf<;ct a nninner, all that it 

 is designed to perform ; yet such is the simple 

 fact. — Sorg9 Jowr. 



Sorgo Names. 



It matters little what we call a thing if the name 

 be convenient and generally understood. If diffi- 

 cult to speak, no matter how correct and author- 

 atative a name be, it will not acquire general use 

 — it is vocally inconvenient and the vocal organs 

 win find a substitute for it. Tlie man who after 

 using up the names of all the evangelists christened 

 his fifth son Acts of the Apostles, we may be sure 

 found A convenient nick-name for the unfortunate 

 youth before loi'g. The term, "sorgo-grower" 

 can not be uttered without an exhausting vocal 

 effort. All, however, recognise the necessity and 

 propriety of using names which convey a correct 

 idea of the object. The modifications of terms 

 which find their way into general use, always 

 appear by a gradual transit or change, impercep- 

 tible even to those who assist in producing them. 



W^ith reference to our noithem canes, ccdlect- 

 ively, we have as yet no convenient and appropri- 

 ate term by which to designate them. iSorghum is 

 neither correct nor convenient. It is a generic 

 name which includes a great variety of grasses, 

 many of them, such as the millets, broom-corn, 

 doura and others, quite unlike our cane. It in- 

 cludes, prob. bly, both the Chinese and African 

 varieties, though Mr. AVray, to maintain the superi- 

 ority of the Imphecs over the Chinese, claims that 

 the latter is botanically holcus sacckaratus. But in 

 the absence of any other generally understood col- 

 lective term we have applied the word Sorghum 

 to all the varieties of caue cultivated in the North 

 for sugar. For specific terms we use the word 

 Sorgo when speaking of the Chinese and Imphee 

 when referring to the African cane. The so-called 

 Otaheitan we regard as an Imphee, but the pre- 

 tumed new variety, called by Mr. Smith, of Quincy, 

 "Red Imphee," we have for greater distinction 

 called " Liberian cane." It may properly belong 

 to the Imphee family, but the term " Red Imphee" 

 does not distinguish it sufficiently from other varie- 

 ties of the same, and we therefore think best to 

 apply the title to which its immediate origin gives 

 it a claim, at least until it sh.all be located or shown 

 to belong to the Kaffir or Imphee group. 



While upon this subject, we willl just say that 

 our use of the word Sorgho minus the h- -Sorgo, 

 has subjected us to not a little railery from a few 

 friends who accuse us of succuming to Webster 

 and Worcester. It is not very clear that a "bad 

 spell " should be persisted in simply to display a 

 defiance of such respectable lexicographers as the 

 above named gentleman, and we do not feel humil- 



