304 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
left long enough at rest to develop itself in suf- 
ficient numbers to produce any great injury ; and 
the luxurious growth resulting from the con- 
tinued aud heavy manuring seems to be less in- 
viting to the butterfly to deposit her eggs than 
the feebler growth of less fertile soils. Or it may 
be that the increase of Euglish sparrows is help- 
l'£LLOW ASPHODEL. 
ing us in both these cases, by destroying the fly 
that produces the maggot, or the small white 
butterfly that produces the caterpillar, or it may 
be that they feed on the caterpillar itself, as I 
know they do with the rose-slug. At all events, 
the farmer will gain by encouraging and caring 
for the sparrows. A few years ago the street 
trees of New York, Brooklyn, aud Jersey City 
were festooned 4 by myriads of the " measuring 
worm ;" now, since the advent of the sparrows, 
they are scarcely ever seen. The sparrows will 
live in ally section of the country if properly 
housed and fed in winter, and if such care was 
general, we would hear fewer complaints of in- 
sect ravages. True, they might exact wages 
for their services in requiring a little grain, but 
of the two evils, better submit to that done by 
the birds than to the insects. 
I will relate an experiment to destroy the 
cabbage caterpillar, which occurred during this 
month, in my immediate neighborhood. One 
of rny neighbors, no less a man than the noted 
John Eeilly, found that the pest was attacking 
his cabbages; he came to me, and asked what I 
thought of his using slaked lime to dust over 
them. I told him I had but little faith in it. 
But he was resolved to try it, and put it on at 
the rate of four or five barrels to the acre, care- 
fully dusting it on each plant. This was about 
the 1st of June; on the 17th he came to me in 
triumph, saying that the remedy had been ef- 
fectual, and that there was hardly a caterpillar 
to be seen. But, unfortunately for the experi- 
ment, but fortunately for truth, Patrick Smith's 
cabbage patch, that had been also attacked when 
Reilly's was, but had received no lime, was also 
entirely clear of the caterpillar 1 The cure was 
traceable to another cause: 
we had had a deluging rain, 
that swept off the caterpillars 
and started the cabbages into 
luxuriant growth at the same 
time. Had the insect come 
in the legions it comes in 
some places, had there been 
no rain, and had the dry, 
hot weather continued, the 
lime dust would have failed. 
Last summer I had with 
great care nursed along in my 
greenhouses for many weeks 
a collection of rare varie- 
ties of German Stock Gilly- 
flowers, a plant belonging to 
the same natural order (Cru- 
ciferce) as the cabbage. Up- 
wards of two thousand plants 
.were set out in June, on 
rather poor soil ; by the mid- 
dle of July they had made 
splendid plants, one foot in 
diameter, and just as they 
were bursting into bloom 
we observed the little white 
butterfly moving amongst 
them, and knew what 
might be expected to fol- 
low. Lime dust, solutions of 
carbolicsoap, whale-oil soap, 
and sundry other things 
were used, all to no effect, 
and by middle of August the 
plants were literally eaten 
up by the caterpillar. There 
is nothing more unpleasant 
than to tell any one suffering 
under a calamity that there is 
no tangible remedy; but it 
is infinitely better to do so 
than to delude them with a false one. I have 
been a worker of the soil since my boyhood, and 
every year's experience convinces me of the 
helplessness of remedies against insects or other 
blighting plagues that attack vegetation in the 
open field. It is true that the amateur garden- 
er may save his dozen or two of cabbages or 
roses by daily picking off or destroying; but 
when it comes to broad acres, I much doubt if 
ever any remedy will be found to be practica- 
ble. We have one consolation in knowing that 
these pests are only periodical, and never con- 
tinue so as to permanently destroy. 
[The views of an* experienced cultivator, like 
Mr. Henderson, are always worth}' of consider- 
ation. "While his attempts to destroy insects may 
not have proved successful, we think effort in 
that direction should not be discouraged. — Ed.] 
The Fraxinella. — (Dictamnus Fraxinella.) 
A well-known horticulturist and a great lover 
of herbaceous plants once said to us that if he 
could have but one herbaceous plant it would 
be the Fraxinella. While we can not place so 
high an estimate as this upon it, we regard it as 
a valuable occupant of our border. It has been 
for along time in cultivation, and in antiquity it 
is worthy to stand by the side of the Asphodel. 
In good soil the Fraxinella grows to the hight 
of two or three feet. The leaves are pinnate, 
and from their resemblance to those of the Ash 
(Fni.iinus), the plant has received its common 
name. The flowers are produced in a terminal 
raceme, and have five petals, four of which arc 
erect, while one is bent downward, giving the 
fkaxinella.— (DUIamuus Fraxinella. ) 
flower an irregular appearance. The stamens, 
which are long and conspicuous, are bent down- 
wards and curved. The flowers are white, and 
there is a variety with the petals pale purple, 
marked with darker veins. All parts of the 
plant are highly aromatic ; the stem, leaves, and 
the flower-stalks, particularly, are famished 
with glands which secrete a volatile oil, having 
an odor something like lemons, or rather be- 
tween that of oil of lemon and turpentine. 
This aroma is very agreeable to some persons, 
while to others it is offensive. At flowering 
time this secretion is produced iu such abund- 
ance and is so freely diffused in the air around 
the plant, tlfat it will burn with a flash when 
light is applied. We have never thought to try 
this experiment when our plants were in flower, 
but it is stated by so many reliable persons that 
we have no doubt of its truth. It is said to be 
most successful upon a mild, warm evening, 
when the air is perfectly still. The Fraxinella 
does not produce seed very abundantly, and 
the plants are several years in coming into 
flower. It is generally multiplied by division of 
the roots, which are very large and tough, and 
require care in dividing them in order to secure a 
bud to each piece of root. Formerly the roots 
of the Fraxinella were used in medicine, but 
like many other things of the kind, they have 
been dropped from the list of Materia Medico. 
