THE CULTIVATOR. 



this duB to the fact that thoirsoiln are ilayey, nud thu« 

 oppose tho rapid decomposition of manure 1 



Tlius fur wo havo consiilered the manure loirvlv as 

 direct food to tho plant, but tho quesiiou is by no nuana 

 fo simple. Tho texture, and what besides is included 

 under the term " physical characters" of the soil, are 

 ofton much changed by a large application of coarse 

 yard-manure. It may happen that a heavy soil will 

 derive more benefit from tho loosening effect of incor- 

 porating with it a large amount of vegetable matter, 

 than from the rapid nourishing action of leriucnted 

 manure. Nay, it may bo that the latter notion can- 

 not exhibit itself until in some way the tejturo of the 

 soil has been improved. On light soils, which suffer 

 from too ready drying up of tho surface, the applica- 

 tion of coarse manure may well assist to rectify this 

 fault, as the power of tho humus which would accumu- 

 late in the soil by this treatment, to retain moisture, is, 

 according to Schublcr, seven times greater than that 

 of ssnd, and throe to four times groator than that pos- 

 sessecl by medium loams. 



The advantages of fermenting manure are chiefly, 

 1st, Lessoning its bulk and weight, whereby the ex- 

 pense of transportation is diminished by one-third or 

 one half— 2d, Converting the crude matters into solu- 

 ble and available forms of nutriment to the plant, thus 

 quickening the action of the manure — 3cl, Convenience 

 of incorporation with the soil, tho coarse, long litter 

 being broken up and made fine. Rotted manure is best 

 on soils or crops which demand a (jukk fertilizer, and 

 under circumstances where an immediato rather than 

 permanent benefit is desired, and would seem espe- 

 cially advantageous on soils so rich that they only need 

 a little active manure to produce good crops. On the 

 whole it is chiefly a question of time. Long manure 

 acts slower on any given soil than fermented manure; 

 hut its effect is correspondingly more durable. The 

 matter of time is, however, one of the greatest impor- 

 tance. We want the manure available at just those 

 periods when the plant may derive the greatest ad- 

 vantage from it, and we want it to become available 

 just as fast as the Tapidly-growinif plant requires. 



Thus far wo have not raised the question — Docs 

 fresh manure suffer loss by fermentation 1 We have 

 assumed that the manurial value of both is not mate- 

 rially different in amount hut only in activity. We 

 have sought to account for the differences of opinion 

 and experience with reference to the use of fresh or 

 rotted manure, by differences of soil, Ac. 



With this, as with many of the great topics of Ag- 

 riculture, there are two sides to the question, and when 

 we approach it from opposite points, wo may well take 

 a lesson from the story of tho Knights, who met where 

 a shield was placed in the highway, and ns they halt- 

 ed to admire its costly workmanship, one cried out, 

 " Who raised this silver shield 1" to which the other 

 rejoined, "Sir Knight, «ro you blind to say this is sil- 

 ver 1 By my good sword, it's the purest gold !" A 

 violent dispute arose, and shortly the warriors flow ot 

 each other with such fury that they both were wound- 

 ed and unhorsed. A good Somaritan who came that 

 way, staunched their wounds and revived them, and 

 then inquired the cause of their dispute. They began 

 to renew the battle of words, but he bade them hold 

 their peace, which they did, and wore ashamed as he 

 said, " The shield u silver on one side and gild on the 

 other." 



What loss there may be in fermenting manure, will 

 be tho subject of a future paper. S. W. J. YaU 

 Laboratory, New-Haven, Ct. 



The Codnthy Gekti.eman — And hero I wish to say 

 for your encouragement, and for the benefit of those 

 who want a sound agricultural paper, that in my opin- 

 ion the " Country Gcotlemnn'' is at the head of tho 

 list, and that its sound practical teachings, if read, can- 

 not fail to produce a salutary influcnco upon the agri- 

 cultural interest* of our country. L. A. B. 



ENTOMOLOOT. 



No. XrV.— Insects Imbedded in the Interior of Wood. 

 Mr. N. of Shrewsbury, Vt , in ft letter written on the 

 25th of last March, encloses three specimens of " some- 

 thing" of which he says he had that day found 15 or 

 20 specimens. Ho wishes to know their " name, habits, 

 and whether they are injurious to agriculturists or hor- 

 ticulturists." Mr. N. ought to have stated, what wo 

 doubt not was the fact, that in splitting some fire-wood 

 at his door, he camo upon these insects imbedded in 

 tho interior of the wood, without any vUiblo orifice by 

 which thoy could either enter or crawl out of the cells in 

 which thoy were lying, in a torpid stote. Ho ought also 

 to have informed us that in some places this wood was 

 decaying, and contained a number of large white grubs 

 which ha<l perforated it in holes the size of pipe- 

 stems, which holes were stuffed full of a powder of the 

 samo color with the wood ; and he ought also to have 

 told us the kind of wood in which he found them. All 

 these are important facts, which we presume were well 

 known to Mr. N. when he wrote this letter. Why he 

 is wholly silent with respect to them, and asks us to 

 " publish " what the habits of this insect are, and 

 whether it is injuriou.s to field crops or gardens, when 

 he himself knows that it is to forest trees that it is in- 

 jurious, we cannot divine. It certainly looks as though 

 he was covertly aiming to draw from us an account of 

 this insect, which he can show to bo incorrect. But we 

 do not wish to judge him thus harshly, and are there- 

 fore willing to suppose, that, being surprised to meet 

 with these insects in such an unusual situation, he sim- 

 ply wishes to ascertain whether any body else has ever 

 seen the same phenomenon, and therefore avoids giv- 

 ing any clue to tho circumstances under which he mot 

 with these specimens. However commendable his cau- 

 tion miiybe, in not proclaiming that he has discovered 

 " a unique specimen of a very curious charictor, unliko 

 any thing over before seen in the world," until he has 

 ascertained whether it really is such a rarity, ho still 

 should havo told us, frankly and candidly, what he 

 knows in the premises, before asking us to giyo him 

 what we know. Our object in writing these articles is 

 to add to our own knowledge, as well ns that of our 

 readers. AVith tho extended circulation which the 

 Country Gontleman enjoys, we hope by this series of 

 communications to induce its readers to notice the habits 

 of every interesting insect, and especially every inju- 

 rious one, which makes its appearance in any part of 

 our country, and send us an account of it accompanied 

 with specimens whereby wo will be able to ascertain its 

 name and describe it, so that such insect and its Imhits 

 will be definitely known through all coming time. From 

 the information thus communicated to us we have al- 

 ready been able to place on record tho Hunter weevil, 

 the wheat Thrips, tho Prickly Leptoftylus, and other 

 insects, whoso history was before unknown. And by 

 continuing this course wo hope to gradually obtain an 

 acquaintance with all the more important insects of our 

 country. We trust that no now and unknown depre- 

 dator of this class will be permitted to make its ap- 

 pearonce in any district or neighborhood without an 

 account of it being communicated to us. 



The insect to which allusion has been made above, is 

 the Pigeon Tremex {Tremex Columba), which nnino 

 appears to have been bestowed upon it by Linnwus 

 merely from fancy, as other f pccies related to this have 

 been also named the sparrow, tho bat, tho camel, *c., 

 although they are in no respect nnalagous to these ani- 

 mals. They pertain to the Family DnocEBin* of the 

 Order nvwExoi'TERA. This insect has some resem- 

 blance to ft large wasp, but its abdomen is closely join- 

 I ed to tho thorax, without any such interval between as 



