OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 



55 



them. Among special applications, soot has been found 

 useful, and in England kerosene oil mixed with water in 

 the proportion of half a pint to six gallons has been ap- 

 plied to the plants from a watering-pot with a fine rose. 

 Salt applied when the plants are three or four inches 

 high, at the rate of three bushels to the acre, has been 

 used by some of the Connecticut onion growers with 

 benefit. 



PARSLEY AND EELATED PLANTS. 



In July, in the New England and Middle States, and 

 earlier further South, there will be found upon Parsley 

 especially, and sometimes upon other cultivated umbel- 

 liferous plants, as the Carrot, Parsnip, and Celery, and also 

 on Caraway, Fennel, etc., a showy caterpillar, known as the 



Parsley-worm." This, when full grown, is an inch and 

 a half long, largest near the head and tapering behind; 

 at this time the caterpillars are of a delicate apple-green 

 color, paler at the sides, and on each segment, or ring of 

 the body, is a band consisting of alternate bright-yellow 

 and black spots. This coloring would be sufficient to 

 identify the caterpillar, but if disturbed it at once arrests 

 attention by appealing to the sense of smell, as it gives 

 off, what has been called a scent," but is better de- 

 scribed as a stench, which pervades the air for some dis- 

 tance. This odor comes from a pair of soft, orange-col- 

 ored horns, which are united below like a letter Y. These 

 are projected from a slit just back of the head, and are 

 not, as many have supposed, stings, but merely organs 

 for diffusing this odor. They attain their full size late 

 in September or early in October, when they seek some 

 sheltered place on a fence or a building; hang themselves 

 by a loop of silken threads and form greenish, yellowish. 



