104 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Mabch, 
paying for his own. They are to be used in our 
vineyards and orchards at various times during the 
Fig. 1.—AN INSECT LAMP. 
summer, to destroy insects flying at night. We 
propose to cooperate in this matter, and thus more 
effectually abate the insect nuisance.” [Mr. M. 
sends a sketch of a lamp, figure 1, which em¬ 
bodies the ideas shown in various samples, and 
something like this will be adopted.— Ed.] 
“The trap consists of a small lamp (X), so con¬ 
structed that wind will not blow it out, placed in 
the center of a broad shallow pan (P), to which the 
lamp is held from upsetting from wind, by three 
clamps, A double reflecting shade (s) of tin is to 
protect the lamp from rain, and check the flight of 
insects when attracted beneath it by the light, 
■causing them to fall into the pan. An inch of 
water is kept in the pan, with a film of coal-oil 
(kerosene) on it, for the destruction of victims. 
The reflection of light from the oil Mill attract 
many insects directly into the large, shallow pan. 
“An atomizer was also exhibited, which is de¬ 
signed to throw a fine spray of some offensive or 
poisonous solution, through the tops of trees, every¬ 
where among the leaves, to drive out curculio and 
Fig. 2.— THE ATOMIZER. 
codlings, kill canker worms in fruit-trees, to spray 
the foliage of vines, cabbages, etc.; to drive out 
or kill ‘ thrip,’ 1 leaf-rollers,’ ‘plant-lice,’ etc., using 
strong solutions of carbolic acid, coal-tar, tobacco, 
or Paris green. It will far more quickly and 
efficiently do the work, and with a great saving of 
materials and labor over the force-pump common¬ 
ly used for such purposes. A can (C) holding the 
desired solution,has a slanting tube (T ),which starts 
on the inside near the bottom, and passes out a short 
distance near the edge of the top, with a small 
V shaped notch in side next to tube (P), which is 
soldered on top of can. This outer or top-tube 
tapering like a blow-pipe, has its small end just 
opposite the V shaped notch in tube (P), and about 
i inch back from it. When air is forced through 
the outer pipe (P), liquid is drawn up from bottom 
of cup (X) through the inner tube (P), and blown 
to the distance of several feet, forming a cloud of 
fine mist (S). By attaching a hose (if), a power- 
fan (P) with a hand-crank-wheel (W), and suita¬ 
ble frame-work (which is not shown) to be support¬ 
ed on the shoulders by a strap, a continuous stream 
of mist can be blown; and the cup(C) support¬ 
ed upon a staff ( B ) held in the hand can be 
elevated and applied anywhere in the top of a tree. 
A bellows could be used in place of the fan. A 
working model of this was shown before the So¬ 
ciety at its last meeting by the writer.”—To our 
correspondent’s inquiry we reply that we have seen 
no such apparatus offered, patented or otherwise; 
the nearest approach to it is one in which a bel¬ 
lows carries the atomizer at the end of the nozzle. 
The Onion Smut. 
A few localities in the Eastern States have long 
been known as the centers of the onion crop. In 
some of these, where the onion has been the chief 
crop for the last half century, the culture has, with¬ 
in a few years past, greatly diminished, and in some 
cases it has been altogether abandoned. This 
change is due to the appearance of a destructive 
pest in the form of a fungus known as the Onion 
Smut. This smut makes its appearance while the 
onions are quite small, and if they are not entirely 
destroyed, are of very little value. A careful ex¬ 
amination of a diseased plant in the early stages of 
the smut, shows that the fungus consists of a mul¬ 
titude of small filaments, or threads, collected in 
knots and stringy masses within the substance of 
the onion leaves and bulbs. At 
a later period a vast multitude 
of dark particles are found; 
these are so flue that they can 
only be seen in a mass as a black, 
dusty powder. At this time the 
skin of the leaves becomes 
broken, usually in long, narrow 
lines, and this dust, which is 
really the spores of the fungus, 
are set free. Figure 1 shows a 
young onion plant with the rup¬ 
tured skin, or epidermis of the 
base of the leaves and the black 
powder—the smut —seen in lines 
upon the surface. Under the 
microscope, each of the dusty 
particles resolves itself into a 
somewhat spherical body, upon 
the surface of which are numer¬ 
ous small projections. Two of 
these spores are shown in figs. 2 
and 3. The Onion Smut belongs 
to a group, or division, of fungi 
better known to most farmers 
by the common representative, 
the Corn Smut. Unlike the 
Rusts, the smut fungus is not 
believed to pass in its develop¬ 
ment through distinct states or 
forms, upon widely separated 
plants, and, therefore, for its 
prevention we do not have to 
look outside of the onion plant. 
It is generally supposed that it 
has come from the wild onion, 
or garlic, and, therefore, in the 
extermination of all such wild 
plants in the region a remedy 
may be found. The spores of 
the smut being very small, may cling to the sur¬ 
face of the onion seed and be planted with 
the onions ; it is, therefore, a precaution to soak 
the seed, that the water may remove the spores 
from their rough surface. When the smut has 
been allowed to perfect itself, the soil is more 
or less filled with the spores, aud gives truth to the 
Fig. 1. 
Fig. 2. Fig. 3. 
expression among afflicted onion growers, that “ the 
disease is in the ground.” The question of rid¬ 
ding the soil of the onion smut resolves itself into 
simply this : “ How kill the spores therein ? ” 
Manuring the land, and giving it the highest cul¬ 
ture and continuing the growing of onions will not 
do it. It may be that by so doing the smut will not 
be very troublesome, simply because strong, 
healthy plants are better able to withstand its 
attacks. This is a law 
which holds good with dis¬ 
eases in general: the bet¬ 
ter the health ; the more 
vigorous the subject; the 
greater the vitality, the 
less disposed is the subject to disorders. But this 
is not the best way to treat the onion fields that 
have been smutted, because they are usually already 
under good culture. There seems to be but one 
way—cease growing onions on the land for a term 
of years sufficient to exhaust the vitality of the 
dormant smut spores in the soil. Grow other crops, 
and in the course of four or five years the smut 
spores will have died. At present the trouble is 
not widespread, and knowing the fatal nature of 
the pest, every precaution should be taken that its 
limits be not extended.- Those buying and selling 
seed should bear this in mind, for a little care in 
not taking seed from a smutty locality, may make 
thousands, if not millions of dollars, difference in 
the great aud growing onion interest of our country. 
Greens For Everybody. 
The real value of all food is not to be judged 
by the amount of nutriment it Contains. Many of 
the green vegetables we consume contain so little 
of actually nourishing matter, that if one were con¬ 
fined to a diet of them, he would soon starve, as 
the digestion could not extract from them enough 
to sustain life. Still, their utility as articles of food 
is not doubted, and the very general desire for 
them, especially in spring, when most persons have 
been long deprived of them, is sufficient evidence 
that they are needed, did not physiologists tells us 
that the salts they contain are required by the 
system. Many, especially farmers, depend upon 
various wild plants for their first greens. The boys 
are sent over the meadows for Dandelions, to the 
brook sides for “ Cowslips,” as the Marsh-marigold 
is improperly called in this country ; besides these, 
Nettle, Dock, Poke, Milk-weed, and numerous other 
wild plants, are used as pot herbs. Indeed, almost 
any plant that has no unpleasant taste and no in¬ 
jurious properties, and will cook tender, appears to 
be used in some part of the country. It is rarely 
that a farmer raises anything to serve as greens, 
unless he may have kept his cabbages in a cellar, 
and has saved the stumps to set out in the spring to 
give a crop of sprouts, and very good indeed they 
are. The trouble about the w T ild supply of greens 
is the time it takes to gather them, and the uncer¬ 
tainty of finding them when wanted. Moreover, 
they are generally not so tender as the more rapidly 
grown products of the garden. There is, perhaps, 
no useful plant seen in farmers’ gardens so seldom 
as Spinach. During the past mild winter there has 
been hardly a day that it has not been abundant in 
the city markets, and in a mild winter like the past 
it may be had almost daily on the farmer’s table, 
while in ordinary winters he can have it whenever 
the snow is off and the ground thaws. For this early 
supply the sowing must be made in September, and 
it is well to “ stick a pin ” just here in the memory, 
to make a sowing. Our object at present is to 
urge a spring sowing. While the crop from this 
will not be so early it will be most acceptable, and 
vastly superior to any wild plant, and those who 
become accustomed to it now will be sure to pre¬ 
pare next fall for an early supply next spring. Sow 
the seed in the richest soil in the garden in drills 15 
inches apart; as it is a hardy plant the seed may he 
sown as early as the soil can be worked. In two 
weeks make another sowing, and two other sowings 
at intervals of a fortnight will not come amiss*; 
this will bring the latest sown into hot weather 
when it soon runs up to seed and other things take 
its place. When the largest leaves of the spring 
