COCUS ON ORANGE-TREES.—SUBSOIL PLOWING. 
69 
down should be immediately set up again; other¬ 
wise, by lying on the ground the hops rot and be¬ 
come worthless. 
Picking.— For this purpose a box is used 10 to 
15 feet long, 3 feet high, 2 feet wide at the bottom, 
and 3 feet wide at the top. This is formed by 
making a light frame first, and then nailing pine 
hoards to it. A handle is placed at each end of 
the box so as to be able to move it easily about. 
At the time of picking, this is carried into the 
field, and a naked pole placed on the middle of 
each end, running the whole length of the box, 
for the hop poles to rest on crosswise when pick¬ 
ing. 
In September, as soon as the hops begin to turn 
a little brown, and before the heavy frosts set in, 
the picking commences. Cut off the vines near 
the ground, pull up the poles as fast as wanted, 
and commence picking, taking care to keep the 
hops in the shade as much as possible, otherwise 
they wilt rapidly and lose strength and color. 
For the same reason the poles ought not to be ta¬ 
ken up faster than wanted for picking. Pile the 
poles in convenient heaps with the vines on as 
fast as stripped of the hops. At noon, all the hops 
which have been picked in the morning are taken 
to the kilns for drying; and at night, all those 
picked in the afternoon. If left longer than a few 
hours before being put to drying, they are apt to 
heat and become injured. 
The season of picking is a very jovial one among 
the rural population. It must be done in fine 
weather, and as it is light, pretty work, all the 
girls of the neighborhood turn out for this purpose ; 
their part of the work being to pick the hops from 
the vines, while the young men pull up the poles, 
pile them away when stripped of their burden, and 
move the boxes from place to place. Songs and 
tales lighten the labor, and a general merriment 
prevails. We have known quite as many sturdy 
swains’ hearts lost, and fair maidens, too, during 
the hop-picking season, as at apple-parings, husk- 
ings, and quiltings. 
COCUS ON ORANGE-TREES. 
We hear of the continued ravages of these little 
insects at the south, and are again called upon by 
our correspondents for remedies. We know of 
nothing more effectual than syringing as recom¬ 
mended page 54 of our second Volume, and for 
this purpose pure water is said to be just as good 
as that mixed with ley and soap, or ammoniacal 
liquor. All that is necessary is a good garden en¬ 
gine, with which one person can throw a column 
of water 60 feet horizontally, or 50 feet perpen¬ 
dicular, and completely inundate a large orange- 
tree in five minutes. The cost of these here is 
$45, and they are very strong and complete, and 
will last a long time—being worth a dozen of those 
sold from $15 to $20, in their effect and duration. 
A correspondent from Florida informs us that 
saltpetre destroys them, when sulphuric acid has 
been tried in vain. He does not give the method 
of applying it. We request the attention of our 
southern friends to smoking, as applied by S. S. on 
peach-trees. See page 74 of this No. Syringing 
we believe the most effectual method if followed 
up perseveringly with the garden engine. 
SUBSOIL PLOWING. 
We are highly gratified to observe an increased 
attention to subsoil plowing, for we consider if it 
could be generally introduced among us, it would 
be found one of the greatest agricultural improve¬ 
ments of the age. In volume I, page 199, we 
gave full details of the successful operation of the 
subsoil plow in England, where it was shown, that 
by its use, crops may be doubled without adding a 
particle of fertilizing materials to the land. Two 
years subsequent experience by the farmers of that 
country, corroborate the benefits to be derived by 
the free use of the subsoil plow, for grain as well 
as root crops. Mr. Tilley recently asserted before 
the Cornwall Agricultural Association, that he 
had the past year raised hundreds of roots of man¬ 
gel-wurzel, weighing 25 lbs. each; that the crop 
of these per acre, as well as carrots and turneps, 
was at least doubled by subsoil plowing. 
Five years ago we had a piece of land contain¬ 
ing 2\ acres of a hard clay soil, which, with the 
best management we could bestow upon it, yield¬ 
ed less than 150 bushels of potatoes to the acre, 
and 400 of sugar-beet—while parsneps, carrots, or 
any long roots, it would scarcely grow. We had 
just heard of Mr. Smith’s subsoil plow in Scotland, 
and determined upon an experiment. We had 
no plow of this description, nor could we then ob¬ 
tain one; we accordingly took the mould-board 
off from a large, strong road plow, and used the 
point of the share alone for subsoiling. We plow¬ 
ed the land in the fall of the year, by taking a com¬ 
mon plow and one yoke of cattle, and turning over 
a surface furrow six inches deep. We then follow¬ 
ed directly after this in the same furrow, with 
three yoke of cattle attached to the road plow, 
stirring the soil eight inches deeper, making four- 
