m THE SOUTHE 



quarters of this science, and where almost every 

 inch of the ground has often been examined with 

 ibe greatest care and the most searching scrutiny, 

 my esteemed friend and correspondent, Dr. Signo- 

 ret, has recently discovered a new insect, which, 

 from the specimens he has been so kind as to send 

 rae I find to be almost identical with the chinch 

 bug of this country. This species he proposes to 

 name the Micropus SphioUr., in honor of the distin- 

 guished entomologist who founded the genus to 

 which it pertains, and who has done so much to 

 elucidate this important Order of insects. In view 

 of such facts, who can refrain from devoutly ex- 

 claiming with the inspired Pslalmist, " How man- 

 ifold are thy works, Lord !" And what an 

 amount of close observation and patient, perse- 

 vering research will it require to render our know- 

 ledge°of the insects of our own country tolerably 

 complete. Asa Fitch. 



June 4, 1855. 



PEACHES. 



This fruit has always found a large market in 

 New York, and one which has encouraged the 

 cultivation on a large scale. The soil of New 

 Jersey seems to have been well suited to their 

 growth, and very great quantities in ordinary 

 years were thence exported. In some years the 

 quantity was so great that they sold for fifty cents, 

 or little more than the cost of their freight and 

 baskets. In other years choice varieties have 

 sold as high as $5 and $Q per basket. Last year 

 rhe frosts of May cut off the whole crop— no 

 good ones, and very poor ones were to be had at 

 any price. The severe cold of the past winter has 

 again proved destructive in many localities. In 

 Connecticut, in the northern part of this State and 

 at the West the crops have been cut off, and the 

 frees killed out. In some parts of New Jersey 

 the crops are good, and speculators are already 

 seeking to forestall the markets. The growers, 

 however, appear to be on their guard, since great 

 numbers of orchards have been pulled out, the 

 great uncertainty of the crops being a bar to 

 its profits in the long run. The peach does not 

 bear until its third year, and then alternate years 

 for four years, seven years being the average life 

 of the tree. The grower is fortunate if he gets in 

 that time one crop that will pay. The usual 

 distance of planting is 16| feet apart— an acre 

 holds 160 tree.:. For the first three years green 

 crops may be planted among the trees. If the 

 frees then bear a large crop, the prices will be 

 so low that they will not pay to send to market, 

 fn the next year they may, as last year, fail 

 altogether. The chances of profit are then that 

 during four years the grower may have crops 

 when they have failed elsewhere. If he -Iocs, it 

 will reimburse his expense. At the end of seven 

 years he pulls out the trees, which leaves his 

 ground so utterly exhausted that a great expense 

 is requisite to renovate it- The?e discouragements 

 hav«*preatly curtailed their culture. 



ECONOMY IN FEEDING ROB.SES AND 

 MULES. 



When coti2 sell:- at a dollar and- a quarter •■ a 

 bush«l, a planter has pretty- • strong mdmvnieiits 

 to study economy in . feeding thy,- grain to his 

 horses and mules. • The writer has recently- been 



experimenting a little in the way of testing the 



UN PLANTER. 



relative value of bailed and dry corn for the 

 nourishment of a working horse. The result is a 

 gain by boiling varying from 20 to 25 per cent. 

 We had rather feed four bushels of soaked and 

 partly cooked corn than five bushels of the grain 

 dry, particularly where one has very little hay, 

 straw, blades, or other "roughness," to give with 

 the corn. 



It is well worth while to heat water boiling hot, 

 and pour it over cut feed and ground grain to 

 facilitate the extraction of their alimentary pro- 

 perties in the stomachs of working animals. It 

 is not enough to fill the digestive apparatus with 

 coarse forage, or the seeds of cereals, if we would 

 secure the best attainable results for the food con- 

 sumed, it must be so prepared as to yield up its 

 life-sustaining virtues in a speedy and perfect 

 manner. As a general thing, grain fed to horse? 

 is quite imperfectly digested; so much so, indeed, 

 that not a few hogs and cows In and near villages 

 and cities, subsist mainly on the droppings of 

 horses that travel the streets. 



Over 60 per cent, of corn is starch, which is 

 insoluluble in cold water, and not very soluble in 

 juices of the stomach. By boiling or baking, 

 starch is transformed into a kind of gum, which 

 dissolves readily in water, and is easy of digestion. 

 If grain keeps up to anything like its present 

 market price it will soon be as common to bake 

 bread for horses as for men. Unlike the ox, the 

 horse has a small single stomach ; and these is not 

 one argument in favor of cooking food for persons 

 that does not apply to its equal preparation for 

 horses. Scotch farmers have been some years ir 

 the practice of baking bread for their plough teams 

 when hard at work. It is soon eaten, agrees well 

 with the stomach, and gives a fatigued animal the 

 maximum or time to lie down on a good bed and 

 rest. This kind of feed, designed to make good 

 blood, and a plenty of it, does not supercede the 

 necessity of cut hay, fodder, or straw, whote bulk 

 is important for the due expansion, and vigorous 

 action of the digestive organs. 



Our practice is to boil corn some three or four 

 hours, and salt it about as much as for hominy or 

 bread. It swells to twice its original volume, 

 which is no inconsiderable advantage. Horses fed 

 mostly on green rye, barley, corn, clover, or 

 lucerne, do best when a part of the water in such 

 succulent plants is dried out before they are eaten. 

 Even cows giving milk like half cured new hay 

 better than perfectly green grass. A young com 

 plant two feet or so in height, has about 90 parts 

 of water in 100 of its stem and leaves. This fact 

 does not prevent its being nutritive at that early 

 stage of its growth, for it has very little wood, or 

 woody fibre, which is indigestible. Dry matured 

 plants vied their nutrient elements sparingly to 

 horses/as compared with oxen and other rumi- 

 nants. 



Corn alone is too heavy feed for both horses and 

 oxen ; and among the thousand and one inventions 

 for crushing and grinding corn in the ear, we doubt 

 whether there is anything equal to the " Little 

 Giant Corn, and Cob Mills," advertised by Messrs, 

 Ganniehael & Bean, in the pages of this journal. — ■ 

 Lore experience in feeding corn and cob meal has 

 demonstrated its economical value.. .The cobs f\(* 

 not yield any notable amount of positive sustenance; ■ . 

 but' they serve to render all nutritive element* ir>. 

 the corn available for the support of animal 

 and when fodder is scarce, as it now is, crushed 



