AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
209 
1878.] 
and shows very plainly that the much and justly dreaded 
“ Hog-Cholera,” is to be regarded as an avoidable disease. 
The appearance of this fatality among swine, is, in many 
caseB, an indication that years of neglect have produced 
their legitimate results, and though when it once ap¬ 
pears, it may be communicable, swine in a proper sani 
tary condition are not liable to its spontaneous out¬ 
breaks, and are much less subject to take it from others, 
than those which have been systematically neglected. 
This work is by a large breeder of swine in Kansas, and 
gives in full the Western methods with these animals... A 
work not the less valuable of its kind, is “ Harris on the 
Pig,” which takes up the subject in a different manner, 
and is full upon the origin of the different breeds of 
swine and thefr characteristics. It gives special atten¬ 
tion to the value and management of thoroughbred ani¬ 
mals, and while its author as unmistakably gives prefer¬ 
ence to the Essex, as Mr. Coburn does to the Berkshire, 
other breeds have their merits fairly set forth. This 
■work gives much in the detail of pig management that 
the other does not touch, and the two works together 
may be regarded as a library , embodying the present 
knowledge on “ Swine, Pigs, and Pork,” as set forth by 
two eminently successful breeders in widely separated 
localities. Both works are published by the Orange 
Judd Company, and are sent post-paid, Coburn's for 
$1.75, Harris’ for $1,50. 
TJie —Paris Green— 
An Englishman on.— The Colorado Potato-beetle 
or Potato-bug, being a genuine native American, of 
course the proper place—as such things go—to find the 
latest intelligence concerning it, is in an English 
Journal. That most excellent monthly, “ Hardwicke’s 
Science Gossip,” had a few months ago a letter from one 
W. V. Andrews, “ Corresponding Secretary of Long 
Island Entomologists Society, U. S. A.,” in which are 
statements of such a remarkable character that the author 
hardly needs to state “I am an Englishman;” for no 
American familiar with the subject could have made 
them. This “ Secretary ” advises his “ countrymen," in 
case the Potato-beetle should appear there, to “ use no 
Paris green.” The reasons for this advice show that he 
knows nothing about Paris green, and that whatever 
entomological knowledge he may have of Doryphora , he 
has had little practical experience with 'tater-bugs in the 
field. Hear him: “For larger lots [of the beetle] the 
ordinary butterfly bag-net, swept gently along the potato 
tops, will capture more beetles in an hour than Paris 
green will kill in a week 1 ■” Will the “ Secretary,” when 
he goes out hunting with his “ ordinary butterfly drag- I 
net,” state how many larvce he finds in his ordinary en¬ 
tomologists “ drag-net ? ” Those who have any practical 
knowledge of the beetle, as an agricultural pest, will be 
prepared for the absurdity which follows. This Secre¬ 
tary says: ‘‘Mr. Rye tells you that Paris green is a 
favorite remedy here, but he does not understand the 
American way of doing things. Some State entomolo¬ 
gist, or other, probably had a friend in the oil and color 
business, and gave a friendly puff to Paris green Then 
the oil-and-colorman advertises in some agricultural pa¬ 
pers that he has the ‘ never failing exterminator of 
potato-bugs, Paris green,' and the editor of that journal 
at once strongly recommends it. You do not do things 
in that way in honest old England, but we do here.”— 
This Andrews is both impudent and ignorant. As to 
“some State Entomologist or other,” we can now recall 
but two “ State Entomologists,” both of whom are prac¬ 
tical men, who are known for their services to agricul¬ 
ture, and could no more advise the use of Paris green, or 
any other article, from interested motives, than they 
could malign another by the indirect method shown in 
the quotation. The dig at “ the editor ” of “ some agri¬ 
cultural papers,” (though “an Englishman,” this Secre¬ 
tary’s English is none of the best), is something that is 
so bewilderingly stunning that we do not know what the 
effect may be when it becomes known that there is such 
a man as Andrews, and he has written all that. As one 
of the “editors ” we say—if it is the last scratch we are to 
write, we will say it—“Now, Andrews, don’t I—No, they 
do not “do things in that way in honest old England.”— 
Here, if one finds a useful Temedy, he tells what it is, and 
allows every one to use it, knowing just what he is 
handling; and if dangerous, he knows how to guard 
against its injurious effects. In that ’onest h’old H'Eng- 
land they have not—and more’s the pity—“ the American 
way of doing things.” In that beloved country—Oh, 
“ W. V. A.,” why did you leave it?—if one finds any¬ 
thing that will kill a plant louse even, does he publish 
the remedy ?—Not much 1 He first writes to the papers, 
and tells the public that he has discovered “ Suthink.” 
After a while the stuff appears in papers or Dottles, la¬ 
belled “Gishurst's Compound,” "Fowler’s Insecticide,” 
" Abysinnian Compound,” or some such thing, and we 
are sorry to say that respectable papers not only allow 
such arrant quackery to be advertised in their columns, 
but actually recommend the use of the stuffs, of the com¬ 
position of which they probably know nothing. This 
Secretary so dislikes “ the American mode of doing 
things,”—things are done so much better in “ honest old 
England”—that we advise him to take his “ ordinary 
butterfly bag-net” and go home. He will never be 
missed from the scientific circles of the country he has 
maligned. For the benefit of those Englishmen who 
may be in search of information concerning the Potato- 
beetle (we do not suppose it possible to teach the “ Sec¬ 
retary ” anything), we will say that the best , fullest , and 
most reliable account of the insect, its natural foes, and 
its proper treatment, is to be found in a work called 
“Potato Pests,” published by the Orange Judd Company, 
and to be had of Trubner, London, and no doubt of other 
booksellers. This work is by Prof. C. Y. Riley, who is 
one of our first scientific entomologists, and easily the 
first in the practical application of entomology to agri¬ 
culture and horticulture. It is true that he has the mis¬ 
fortune to be “some State Entomologist,” still he is not 
only “an Englishman” but at the same time a man of 
science, and a gentleman, and he is not, to our knowl¬ 
edge, the “Secretary” of any thing. 
Poultry literature. —None of the “mi¬ 
nor economies ” of the farm are more important than the 
poultry-yard. It not only supplies eggs and fowls for 
the table, but is often the chief reliance of the house¬ 
wife for pocket-money. But there is no point on the 
farm in which the difference between good and bad man¬ 
agement is more strikingly manifest, and the difference 
between success and failure is an important one. After 
a careful examination of the various works on poultry 
management, we found none so clear and concise, or of 
which the teachings were more strongly marked by com¬ 
mon sense, than Wright’s “ Practical Poultry Keeper,” 
and what is very unusual in an English work, it ap¬ 
peared to be quite as well adapted to our conditions as 
those of English poultry keepers. Arrangements were 
made by the Orange Judd Company for its publication 
in this country, and it remains the best general standard 
work on the subject. [Sent by mail for $2.] A smaller, 
more compact, and very useful work is Saunder’s “Do¬ 
mestic Poultry,” by a gentleihan who has been a very 
successful exhibitor of poultry. [Sent by mail in paper 
for 40c., and bound in cloth for 75c.] An important se¬ 
ries of articles written for the American Agriculturist, 
by H. H. Stoddard, now editor of the “ Poultry World,” 
Hartford, Conn., has been collected and published un¬ 
der the title of “ The Egg Farm.” While the teachings 
of this are directed toward the greatest production of 
eggs, it contains much that is useful to those who raise 
poultry for their flesh. Indeed it is a real store-house of 
practical hints and suggestions. [Sent by mail, in paper 
covers, 50c., in cloth, 75c.] In his “Poultry Yard and 
Market,” Mr. Corbett gives his experience with his style 
of incubation, and artificial mother, and various other 
matters of interest to the poultry-raiser. [By mail, in 
paper, for 50c.; in cloth, 75c.] These works are all by prac¬ 
tical men, and together cover about every aspect of 
poultry-management. Those who wish highly ornament¬ 
al works, in which the breeds are illustrated by fine col¬ 
ored plates, can for $9 procure Tegetmeier’s Poultry 
book, a standard work by the most eminent English au¬ 
thority on the subject. 
An Index to lA’orth American 
Plants is a more popular title than “ Bibliographical 
Index to North American Botany,” and we choose here a 
popular title to commend to Nurserymen, Florists, and 
others, a work which, though compiled especially in the 
interests of botanists, can not fail to be of the greatest 
utility to all who have to do with plants and who care to 
refer to original sources of information. Every one inter¬ 
ested in native plants, whether herbs, shrubs, or trees, is 
aware how widely scattered is tho information relating 
to them. Botanists will understand its value from its 
proper title, which we have given. We can best give an 
idea of its utility to nurserymen and others who wish to 
know about plants, by a single illustration. We turn at 
random to our common Tulip-tree (incorrectly “ Poplar ” 
in some States), and find 41 references to works in which 
it is described or noted ; and it is moreover indicated, by 
the use of full-faced type, that in 18 of these places there 
are figures of the tree, or some portion of it. The refer¬ 
ences are not confined to botanical works alone, but hor¬ 
ticultural books and periodicals are also quoted. What 
is done for this one tree, is done for all other trees and 
plants, and it will be seen from this example, that this 
index is a key to all the sources of information concern¬ 
ing every North American plant. The. work is by that 
acute and pains-taking botanist. Mr. Sereno Watson, of 
the Herbarium of Harvard University, who has done an 
eminently good thing for not only botanists, but horti¬ 
culturists generally. Of course such a work, so brain- 
wearing and time-consuming, can never “ pay,” and we 
doubt if it could ever have found a publisher, had not that 
most useful Institution, the Smithsonian, assumed the 
publication, as one method of “diffusing knowledge 
among men.” The first vol., extending through the poly- 
petalous families, is now out. A limited number of cop¬ 
ies, at $2.00 in paper, and $2.55 in cloth, by mail, post¬ 
paid, may be had by addressing “ Curator of Harvard 
Herbarium,” Cambridge, Mass. 
The Plants of North America, or of 
any other country, taken together, are called its “ Flora." 
just, as the animals constitute its "Fauna." When we 
speak of the “ Flora of North America 1 we may refer 
cither to the plants themselves, or with equal propriety, 
to a work describing these plants. “ North America,” so 
far as its “Flora ” is concerned, starts from our southern¬ 
most boundary, and extends northward as far as vegeta¬ 
tion of any kind exists. We frequently see mention 
of the varied agricultural capabilities of our country, 
affording sugar-cane, and the banana, and extending 
through various zones, until we reach a point where the 
only crop is ice. Quite as wonderful in its extent and va¬ 
riety is the native vegetation. Let one start from South¬ 
ern Florida with its tropical and subtropical plants upon 
one side, or from Western Texas, Arizona, and Southern 
California, with their almost Mexican vegetation, on the 
other, and pass northward along the Atlantic coast, or 
along the Pacific coast, or starting part-way (though not 
mid-way), between, along the great mountain ranges 
which form the “ back-bone” of the Continent, and con¬ 
tinuing upon either line until the Arctic regions are 
reached, the number and variety of native plants that 
such a traveler would meet with, is immense. Yet one 
must enumerate and describe all these plants, growing in 
such a variety of climate and locality, if he would record 
the plants of our country—or in other words, write a 
“ Flora of North America.” Several Europeans, in the 
early part, of the century, undertook this task, but “ North 
America ” as here defined, was unknown to them. About 
4u years ago, the lamented Doct. Torrey, together with 
his then young associate, Doct. Asa Gray, made a noble 
beginning at the “ Flora of North America,” and carried 
it well along, but just then North America increased too 
rapidly, and among other reasons, the want of settled 
boundaries made it necessary for them to suspend the 
work. Our boundaries being now well established, the 
newly acquired territory having been well explored. 
Doct. Gray has now undertaken the task of recording the 
plants of this vast country, and we have already received 
the first instalment of “ The Flora of North America.” 
Botanists will learn of this work and its peculiar features 
from other sources; but there is a large class of persons, 
not scientific botanists, who are interested in knowing 
that a work, in which every native plant of-the whole 
country is recorded and described is in course of prepara¬ 
tion and publication. The work will be in two volnmes 
of about 1,200 pages (large 8vo.) each. For reasons 
which botanists will appreciate, the new work begins 
where the earlier work of Torrey and Gray, just alluded 
to, left oft'. Tlie present part, one-third of the second 
volume, includes the Monopetalous Exogens ( Gamo - 
petalce ) beyond Compositae. The unbotanical reader will 
better understand its scope when we say that this part in¬ 
cludes, among other large families, the Heath Family, 
with so many highly ornamental plants; the Milk-weeds 
and the Gentians; the Phlox and allied families, rich in 
garden species; the Borage, the Morning Glory, the 
Solannm, the Fig-wort, and the Mint Families. For the 
botanical character of the work, it is sufficient to say that 
it is by Doct. Gray, and indeed we may say the same of 
its mechanical aspect also, for being printed under the 
critical eye of the author, it presents that judicious ar¬ 
rangement, and convenient grouping that will be best 
appreciated by those who most frequently consult the 
work. New York: Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co., 
p p. 402, price $6.00. Supplied from this office. 
- ~ —- 
Basket Items continued on page 233. 
Bee Notes for June. 
BT L. C. ROOT, MOHAWK, N. T. 
This, in most sections, is the general swarming month. 
Those who practise natural swarming, should have hives 
ready, and kept in a shady place. After the bees are 
hived, protect the hive from the rays of the sun, witli a 
roof, or other cover. Swarms are often lost by going to 
the woods, if these directions are not followed. I much 
prefer artificial increase. Where but few swarms are 
kept in hives with movable frames, an occasional ex¬ 
amination may be made, and if queen cells have been 
made, it will indicate the proper time to divide the bees, 
which may be done as follows: Remove the hive from 
which the swarm is to be taken to a new position, several 
feet distant, and put a new hive in its place. Take one 
comb, containing brood, the old queen, and all the bees 
that will adhere to it, from the old hive, and place it in 
the center of the new one. All queen cells should be re¬ 
moved from this comb, or one selected that has none 
