1880.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
23 
swamp muck. The bulbs had each been thoroughly 
covered when the earth was moist and plastic; 
this was worked around the bulb by the hand, to 
fill all the interstices among the scales, then well 
formed and smoothed, and afterwards dried. When 
this covering was removed, the perfect condition 
of the bulb showed that the Japanese well under¬ 
stood what was required for their safe transporta¬ 
tion. The engraving shows the appearance of the 
bulb, with a portion of its covering removed. 
Woodchucks in the Garden. 
The woodchuck, (Arctomys Ifonax), is one of 
the most troublesome pests of the farm and garden. 
Though exceedingly shy, he not infrequently pre¬ 
pares his burrow in some corner of the garden. 
His favorite food, in the meadow, is clover, and the 
amount of this food a community of woodchucks 
will destroy, is enormous. In the garden, his fav¬ 
orite food is lettuce, cabbage, and beans. His pres¬ 
ence is generally indicated in the early spring, by 
the mysterious dissapearance of the leaves of young 
cabbage, just transplanted, so that the gardener is 
in doubt for a time, whether the woodchuck, or the 
worms have been foraging. A little watching at 
noon, or just at evening, from a safe distance, gen¬ 
erally reveals the intruder with head erect, on the 
lookout for his enemies. There is no safety for 
anything in the garden, while this pest is abroad. 
The mouth of his burrow is usually in a bank, or 
side-hill, or stone-wall, has many apartments^ and 
several openings, so that it is almost impossible to 
drown him, or smoke him out. It is not easy to 
trap him, and his ear is so quick to catch the slight¬ 
est sound, that it is difficult to get near enough to 
shoot him. Having suffered much from these vis¬ 
itors in years past, we determined, this season, 
to try a new remedy. Noticing that the young cab¬ 
bage disappeared regularly every day, we trans¬ 
planted a large cabbage, with leaves six or eight 
inches long, in his favorite feeding ground. The 
leaves were dusted over with Paris Green. The 
second day after the transplanting, the most of the 
heads disappeared. The third day, we found near 
the mouth of the burrow, a large female woodchuck 
dead. We continued the experiment for a few days 
about the mouths of the burrow, and the depreda¬ 
tions entirely ceased. This is altogether the cheap¬ 
est, and surest method of destroying the pests, that 
we have ever tried. Paris Green is in almost uni¬ 
versal use for destroying potato bugs, and every 
farmer can avail himself of this remedy, with very 
little trouble. Of course the same precautions are 
to be used in poisoning woodchucks, as potato bugs. 
A dime expended in Paris Green, will save many 
dollars worth of vegetables. Connecticut. 
The Plant Individual. 
When we look at one of the higher animals, it is 
evident that we see an individual—a single unit of 
the kind—a whole not capable of living in a di¬ 
vided state. We get our idea of an individual from 
such forms of life because here it is the most dis¬ 
tinct and therefore evident. As we descend in the 
scale of animal life, the evidence of individuality 
diminishes,until we come to forms where it is entire¬ 
ly swallowed up, and only communities or congre¬ 
gations of individuals are seen. For example, in 
the coral we find a number of units joined together 
through life. Among plants the individual is still 
more difficult to observe, and is a point upon which 
there has been considerable discussion. Some have 
held, that all which comes from a single seed is an in¬ 
dividual. This would make some units very large in¬ 
deed. All plants not propagated by seed,as the vari¬ 
ous varieties of apples, pears, potatoes, etc., etc., ac¬ 
cording to this view, would consist of single indi¬ 
viduals. All Baldwin apple-trees would belong to 
the same individual. This limit for the plant unit 
is too broad, and will not answer. Another, and 
the generally accepted, view is that a plant indi¬ 
vidual consists of the smallest part which in general 
will live and grow when separated from its former 
pfcce and giveu fitting conditions for growth by 
itself. The gardener, in making a cutting of a 
geranium or verbena, for example, takes a portion 
of the stem containing a bud—it may be very small 
—and places it in the sand. A man in grafting, 
fastens a similar portion of one kind of plant in 
another. Such a portion is now considered the 
plant individual. In this light a tree or shrub is 
not a plant unit, but rather a single plant com¬ 
munity in which the individuals are united in a 
common work, and in great measure dependent on 
each other, because a division of labor is maintained. 
We speak of a maple tree as an individual, but it 
is so only, as a swarm of bees is a unit of life ; in 
fact, we can find considerable similarity between the 
tree and the hive. The bulk of the plant is made 
up of the ordinary foliar units, which have no sex¬ 
ual organs developed, and are for the elaboration, 
formation, gathering so to speak, of the nourish¬ 
ment of the whole community—the plant hive— 
they are the workers, and neuters. Other individuals 
are devoted to the work of producing new colonies, 
namely, the stamens in the flowers, which perish as 
soon as their work of fertilizing the pistils is ac¬ 
complished ; these are the drones. The queen of the 
plant hive is the pistil, in which seeds develop, and 
when mature, are ready to separate from the parent, 
and form a new and independent plant colony. A 
large growing tree is a vast and constantly increas¬ 
ing community of plant units, each consisting of 
a bud and a portion of the stem which bears it. 
Impeachment of the Robin. 
The robin (lurdus migratorius ) is the favorite bird 
of the Northern States, coming early in the spring, 
and leaving only with the killing frosts of autumn. 
He is not infrequently seen in wid-winter, in mild 
seasons, amid the boughs of red cedar, or other 
evergreens in sheltered places. We hardly know the 
secret of his popularity; for he is not more beauti¬ 
ful than many other birds, has no sweeter song, is 
no more useful, but the greatest pest. We are sorry 
to disturb the confidence of cultivators in this favor¬ 
ite bird, but after the observation of several years, 
we are obliged to put him down among the pests of 
the garden. Last springs flock of robins settled in 
the vicinity of my garden. Their first depredations 
were upon the strawberry bed, where they gorged 
themselves with luscious Monarch of the West, and 
picked and marred more than they ate, until I in¬ 
vested in an old fish seine, which covered the bed. 
As the green peas swelled in the pod and became 
large enough for a side dish with roast lamb, they 
tore open the pods, and scooped the contents. I 
admired their taste, but was vexed at the daily 
thefts. When the cherries turned red they perched 
in the tree tops and sung their songs as gaily as if 
they never looked at the cherries below. They de¬ 
voured pecks of them and never said a word about 
the theft. When the currants ripened the robins 
seemed to invite all their neighbors to the feast, 
probably because I had fought currant worms for 
three years, and had a good crop, while my neigh¬ 
bor’s bushes had been killed by these insects. The 
birds took the better half of my crop. I thought 
there might be some rest after the small fruits were 
gone. But when the Beurre Giffard pears ripened 
in early August, the robins punctured every red 
cheek, selecting the handsomest fruit, with the eye 
of an epicure. They followed the pears steadily 
for three months, living upon the fat of the land, 
and only spared th§ winter pears because they were 
too hard for their taste. They visited the grape 
trellises as soon as the fruit was ripe and followed 
them until frost came. What have I in return for 
this wholesale depredation ? Absolutely nothing 
which I cannot get cheaper elsewhere. Insects 
destroyed, you suggest ? Not much. They did not 
clean my currant bushes of worms. Hellebore did 
that. They did not clean my apple, cherry and elm 
trees of canker worms. Tar did that, effectually. 
Well, they sung, you say. Yes, but I have better 
and cheaper music in the house. I see no good 
reason why this pest should be spared and cultivat¬ 
ed. So next season when it is inquired: Who killed 
Cock Robin? the answer will not be “I, said the 
Sparrow, with my bow and arrow,” but “I, Con¬ 
necticut’s son, with my two-barreled shot-gun.” 
rails bdusddiud. 
{g* For other Household Items see “ Basket ” pages. 
Holder for Wisp Broom. 
A design for making a handy and useful article 
is here given. It is a holder for the wisp, or short- 
handled broom-corn clothes brush, so generally in 
use. The holder is cut from Bristol board ; it may 
be all in one piece, and folded in the middle, or of 
two similar pieces, each forming a side, with their 
edges fastened together with ribbons or any other 
way that fancy may suggest. It is then hung 
for use by two or four strings. In figure 1 is 
shown the appearance, as regards general shape, 
etc., when complete. It will be seen that the holder 
is open at the top and bottom, and that the brush is 
put in at the top, handle down, and when desired it 
is drawn out through the bottom. The side may 
be ornamented as one may fancy. We saw some 
at a recent fair, with the injunction, “ Brush your 
clothes,” wrought in letters and curves upon the 
side. But this is rather superfluous, and suggests 
that the person addressed is not neat in his habits. 
We see no reason why the holder could not be 
fastened to the wall by one side, and thus do away 
with the strings. A case for carrying the broom 
when travelling is shown in the second engraving. 
Those who are puzzled what little present they can 
make for a friend, who is going away, have here a 
very simple thing, easily made, and which will be 
in daily use. It is merely two pieces of paste¬ 
board of the same size, fastened together by past¬ 
ing strips of cloth over their long edges. It is then 
to be papered neatly, and trimmed as one fancies. 
It may be ornamented by cutting initials from paper 
of another color and pasting them on, or these may 
be put on with water-colors. The size will be ac- 
