1881.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
523 
4 inches deep. I took a yoke of oxen, and 
went to work at breaking it over; finding 
that one yoke could not pull the plow at a 
depth of seven inches, I put on a second yoke, 
and with them broke my land. Later in the 
season I found that my neighbors only 
plowed the crop twice; I gave mine three 
plowings, laying by on the second of July. 
The result is, that I have made 18 bushels of 
com to the acre, while an adjoining neighbor 
made eight bushels on some of his land, and 
on other land even less. One acre that I 
plowed three times, harrowed twice, and 
manured, gave 25 bushels. This shows that 
while the dry weather may reduce the crop, 
it is the lack of proper cultivation that makes 
farmers disheartened and anxious to sell out. 
What we need in this section, which is 
healthful and has everything necessary to 
make it one of the most prosperous counties 
of the State, is Labor! We need men who are 
not afraid to work, and at the same time 
practice economy. For such men we have 
plenty of room, and willingness to assist. All 
men who own land are learning that the 
only road to success is to work hard, manage 
carefully, and last, but not least, to sell and 
buy only for cash, and run no accounts. 
[Those who have heard so much of the fer¬ 
tility of Texan lands, will be surprised at the 
small yield of corn. We infer, though it is 
not directly so stated, that the yield is so 
small on account of drouth; however, the 
effects of good cultivation are shown as -well 
in a poor season as in a good one. In those 
portions of the State with which we are most 
familiar, irrigation is necessary for a crop, 
and the yield is very large, though we have 
no figures at hand showing the amount. 
There are some “principles of agriculture” 
that Mr. S. evidently understands, and they 
are nowhere more advantageously applied, 
than in a new State like Texas.— Eds.] 
Carbolic Acid versus Insects. 
BY PROP. A. J. COOK, MICHIGAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 
Few insect pests are more annoying to the 
gardener than the Eadish Fly (Anthornyia 
raphani), and the Squash Moth {Algeria cu- 
curbitce). This has been the more true as 
the remedies heretofore offered have not 
been satisfactory. The hot water remedy 
suggested by the late Dr. B. D. Walsh, per¬ 
haps the best, proved too inefficient to make 
it desirable for general use. These enemies 
are becoming widespread in our country, and 
a sure preventive of their mischief is greatly 
to be desired. 
For the past two years I have been experi¬ 
menting with Bisulphide of Carbon to destroy 
subterranean insects. This substance has 
proved effectual, but in case of the insects 
in question, especially the Eadish Fly, its 
expense is an objection to its use. The past 
season I have tried a new remedy with grat¬ 
ifying success. This consists of a prepara¬ 
tion of Carbolic Acid, The material which 
I used was prepared as follows : Two quarts 
of common soft soap was added to one gal¬ 
lon of water, and all heated until it com¬ 
menced to boil, when it was removed from 
the stove, and while yet hot, one pint of crude 
Carbolic Acid was added, and all thoroughly 
mixed. This was then set away in a close 
vessel, and was ready for use as occasion 
might require. To repel the insects in ques¬ 
tion, one part of this mixture was added to 
from 50 to 100 parts of water, and the new 
mixture was sprinkled on the plants as soon 
as they were up, and after that once every 
week. In case of the Squash Algerian the 
first application need not be applied earlier 
than the first of June. This same prepara¬ 
tion will serve to repel the Cabbage Fly ( An - 
thomyia brassicce). But for the latter, my 
experiments go to show that Bisulphide of 
Carbon is cheap, efficient, and does not sim¬ 
ply drive the fly away, but destroys the mag¬ 
got. As “ he that fights and runs away, 
may live to fight an¬ 
other day,” the Bisul¬ 
phide of Carbon reme¬ 
dy is, I think, to be 
preferred to the Car¬ 
bolic Acid mixture for 
use against the cab¬ 
bage maggot. We 
sprinkled the Carbol¬ 
ic Acid preparation 
directly upon the 
radish plants, with¬ 
out injury to the lat¬ 
ter, but if it is found 
to injure the plants, 
from too great 
strength, it will serve 
as well to turn it in 
a trench made close 
along beside the rows of plants. The pecu¬ 
liar odor of the acid which repels the flies 
as they come to deposit their eggs, so far 
escapes, that it is necessary to apply the 
liquid as often as once a week to insure 
perfect success. Caution is required also that 
the preparation is not so strong as to injure 
the plants when placed immediately upon 
them. From one season’s trial I can strongly 
recommend the above application. 
Probably the- apple orchard suffers in no 
other way so seriously as from the borers 
(Saperda Candida and Chrysobothris femo- 
rata ). These destructive pests are wide 
spread in our country. For this reason, no 
one can afford to neglect to protect young 
orchards, especially against these borers. I 
have known whole orchards to go to ruin 
the first year after planting, when a very 
slight expense would have saved them. Soft 
soap applied to the trunks and larger 
branches of the trees, about three weeks be¬ 
fore, and again seven weeks after the blos¬ 
soms appear, is usually enough to repel the 
beetles so that no eggs are laid. Occasionally 
the repulsive character of the soap fails to 
persist sufficiently to be perfectly effectual. 
The carbolic acid mixture, undiluted with 
the 50 parts of water, will retain its ob¬ 
noxious qualities longer, is nearly as cheap, 
and is to be preferred to the soap alone. A 
white-wash brush or a common shoe-brush I 
have found convenient, with which to make 
■ the application. It will pay to try this liquid 
to repel the Peach Algerian, and such other 
insects as do damage just beneath the sur¬ 
face of the earth, and lay their eggs just 
at the top of the ground. 
Though not pertinent to the question now 
under discussion, it may not be amiss to 
state that some of our most able fruit grow¬ 
ers think that the best way to fight pear 
blight is to cut away affected branches as 
fast as they appear, and dip the cut end of 
the branch in Carbolic Acid. Prof. W. W. 
Tracy, Superintendent of D. M. Ferry’s Ex¬ 
perimental Garden, thinks he once cured an 
orchard of blight in this way. Surely if 
this evil is of fungus origin, as Prof. T. J. 
Burrill thinks he has demonstrated to be 
the case, this view would seem reasonable. 
Safety at the Machine. 
No doubt the young man who prides him¬ 
self on his activity on thrashing day may 
sneer at the engraving. In no country is 
there such a disregard of safety as in ours. 
The French, on the other hand, go as far in 
the opposite direction, and surround their ma¬ 
chines with various safe-guards. The accom¬ 
panying engraving illustrates a very simple 
method of preventing accidents to those who 
feed thrashing or cutting machines, by so 
confining the arm that it can not reach the 
point of danger. This engraving and the 
talk about it occupy a whole page of the 
Journal dl Agriculture Pratique, to which is 
added a note of commendation by the edi¬ 
tor. After all, the excessive caution of the 
French is preferable to our own utter disre¬ 
gard of it, as many who have lost a finger or 
a hand by machinery will testify. 
A Device for Raising Beeves. 
Mr. “ H. W. V.,” Western Australia, has 
noticed in the American Agriculturist, at 
different times, ways and means of raising 
the carcass of a bullock, but none of them 
seemed to him to be so effective as the one 
he has always used. He sends a sketch of 
his device, from which the accompanying en¬ 
graving has been made, and he writes ; “ The 
