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19 
SOME INTERESTING NOTES. 
Limestone, E. Tenn., July 13, 1883. 
Friend Til! inghast: I have just come in from 
my garden which is growing- finely. While 
looking at the sweet corn I found a large green 
worm half as long as my finger at the head of 
the ears. Some of it also has a smaller worm 
which is a dark striped fellow. In one ear of 
corn I found four or five. Is it a bug that lays 
the egg or does it create in the corn ? Last sum¬ 
mer we lived in Indiana and grew a large amount 
of cabbage. By hard work we fought the green 
worm with black pepper mixed with Hour and 
ashes, but here in Tennessee we find a gray 
worm which is more destructive to the cabbage 
than the green worm. They seem to like their 
cabbage seasoned. We tried black pepper pure 
without effect; also cayenne pepper, carbolic 
acid and bran, without much effect. For a few 
days the white butterfly was not so bad, but 
the bran moulds on the cabbage and the grav- 
back works along and spins his web from one 
leaf to another. To-day I counted twenty-eight 
on tsvo leaves. They looked as though they 
were twenty-four hours old. Sometimes I find 
four or five abreast as though they were on a 
march. I tried one of them in pure turpentine, 
poured it on a board and put the worm in it. 
It lived quite a while, then crawled out and 
died. Tney seem to have a web around them 
that resists anything that we put on them. 
What makes the root of a cabbage turn hard 
like wood? When it does is is sure to die. 
There is a flowering plant here called Black- 
snake plant. I have seen one bloom. It is in 
shape like the Calia Lily, but a dark royal pur¬ 
ple, well sprinkled with white spots. The sta¬ 
men looks like the tail of a black-snake aud has 
a very bad smell. The flower which I saw was 
about twelve inches long; leaves dark green 
with darker spots on them. It grows from a 
bulb. If you wish one I will send it to you in 
the fall with several other novelties from this 
section. Yours Respectfully, 
Sarah M. Crawford. 
Answer: Many thanks for your interesting 
descriptions. Of course we should be much 
pleased to receive the novelties. We have never 
been troubled with either the cor n worm or the 
web cabbage worm which you describe. If any 
of our readers have learned to baffle them we 
shall be pleased to hear from them. We should 
try Dalmatian Insect Powder on them. It is 
claimed by Professor Cook that this powder may 
be eaten with impunity by man or the higher 
animals, and yet we know from actual test that 
it is very destructive to all insects. 
NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 
The object of plowing is not merely to 
invert the soil but to pulverize it. Old ground 
is like mortar when plowed wet, and will not 
break up and become meilow; hence it might as 
well be planted without plowing at all. Sward 
ground will be partially pulverized by the 
elements evolved by the decomposition of the 
grass roots in the soil. 
A VERY little superphosphate in the hill will 
kill the germ of the seed, especially of kinds of 
fertilizers that are rich in potash. Some grain 
planted early in dry weather is thus killed this 
year, but a portion is sending up weak shoots 
since the heavy rains began. When corn is put 
in with a drill, 200 pounds per acre may be 
evenly distributed without injury to the seed. 
We have found a little salt sprinkled on a 
manure heap one of the best applications both 
for Summer and Winter. In warm weather it 
attracts moisture and keeps the manure from 
fire-f&nging or burning from excessive fermen¬ 
tation. In Winter it keeps the heap from 
freezing solid, and at any season it makes the 
manure more soluble. 
It costs so much to test different varieties of 
fruits, especially those that are long in coming 
into bearing, that average farmers cannot afford 
to do much of it. The safe rule is to plant the 
sorts that have been found productive and good, 
and only adopt novelties on the assurance of 
nurserymen in whom the buyer has implicit con¬ 
fidence. 
The experience of many farmers this year 
shows that corn frozen solid while yet damp has 
its vitality destroyed. The losses are not so 
great as they would have been but for the fact 
that corn was suspected of being poor seed, and 
shrewd farmers tested it before planting. It is 
probable that unnoted losses ■ in the corn crop 
occur from this cause every year. 
A shovelful of dry earth thrown daily over 
the floor of the hen house will absorb foul odors, 
and by Fall the whole mass may be worked fine 
and applied to the wheat. It makes a valuable 
manure, and by sifting to exclude sticks and 
stones, it may be drilled with the seed, or mixed 
with other fertilizers thus applied. 
In cultivating orchards the trees are 
more import ant than auy crop that can be grown 
under them. If they are not, cut them down. 
The hills of potatoes or beans close to the trees 
never amount to much, and it is not worth while 
trying to save them at the risk of injuring the 
trees. 
