262 
AMERICAN AGrRIO ULT J RI» 
encloses a stock farm or ‘ ranch’ of 3,000 acres, and 
we consider steel-barbed wire fence, with oak or 
iron posts, the best fence for Kansas.—In putting 
up the fence, we run the wire off from the spools, 
from a wagon, stretching from a half to a mile at a 
time, with blocks and tackle. Corner posts should 
be well braced. The 
best plan is to bore two 
holes in the bottom of 
the post, and drive two- 
iucli sticks through (as 
shown in the sketch, 
fig. 37). These posts, 
well put into the 
ground, and braced 
from the top wire, can 
not be pulled over.”— 
fin fig. 38 we suggest 
a simple method of 
bracing corner or 
stretching posts which will frequently be conveni¬ 
ent. At a distance of 4 to 6 feet drive a short stake 
of a length required by a loose or compact soil. 
From this extend a short wire, or a double one, to 
the post. Where there is much strain, this wire will 
need to be heavy, or it will break or stretch. If 
needed, a bracing wire may be put on each side, as 
shown in the engraving, fig. 38. These short stakes 
will not be in the w T ay, as they will be directly un¬ 
der the running fence. The horizontal wires may 
Fig. 38.— METHOD OF BRACING THE POST. 
be given one turn around the post, and a staple 
driven to prevent slipping up or down, or they may 
be put through a hole bored in the post and secure¬ 
ly fastened by driving in a spike or large nail. Ed.] 
R. A. Steele, of Douglas Co., Kansas, writes to 
the American Agriculturist: “I have been using 
barbed-wire for the past year; was previously 
prejudiced against it; have now over one mile— 
three wires, with posts one rod apart. It answers 
the purpose ; that is, it turns stock. I had in pas¬ 
ture over 200 Colorado cattle, last year, ‘ stamped- 
ers,’ and they broke the fence once only. Stone¬ 
wall is the fence for this region ; costs $1.25 per 
rod, and turns hogs, etc. We consider barbed-wire 
lence, when properly constructed, safe, but not so 
cheap as stone.—My plan in putting up wire is : 
posts one rod apart, every tenth post to be well set, 
to strain the wire. Use a clamp around the wire 
attached to a lever ; fasten to the first post, and roll 
out to the tenth post, apply the lever, and draw the 
first wire, which should be the lower one, the tight¬ 
est (no team can equal this way); put the remain¬ 
ing ones on the same way, but not quite so tightly. 
It will not do to tack wire on to trees, unless you 
first nail on a strip or board, which will save the wire 
from rusting and breaking, as it would do in a few 
years. I have seen this tried, and it is no theory.— 
In a word, poorly constructed fences are the ones 
which usually cripple and maim stock. I would 
recommend the posts not over ten feet apart. 
Where timber is scarce, plant an osage orange be¬ 
tween the posts, and let them grow to make a small 
tree, and when of sufficient size, saw off 1 say five 
feet from the ground, nail on a strip to fasten the 
wire to, and you have a post which will last. This 
is the only use I would have for osage orange. I 
prefer the four-barbed rather short; the long ones 
cut severely. I have no interest in any particular 
wire, but have my preference, and my object in 
writing to you is, this wire fence is bound to be the 
rage, and for certain localities, will be the only 
fence, provided they can suspend it in the air ; but 
lor a large portion of Kansas, stone is so conveni¬ 
ent that it is far cheaper; the only thing is time. 
With stone fence we can let hogs run, which is a 
great consideration. Six wires may turn hogs, but 
I doubt it—that is those that are quite small.” 
More About the Army Worm. 
The appearance of the Army Wonn in several 
eastern localities has caused no little excitement; 
the daily papers have had articles, some of them 
more or less sensational, and the inquiries made of 
us both in person and by letter show a general de¬ 
sire for information concerning this pest. A con¬ 
densed history of the insect will he found on 
another page. After that article was in type we 
received from Mr. J. N. Plumb copious notes of his 
observations of the insect, and its habits, and a very 
full account of his battle with the “Army,” in his 
attempts to save certain crops from destruction. 
“Deer Range” farm, Mr. Plumb’s place near Islip, 
L. I., enjoys the distinction of having been the first 
locality on Long Island, visited by the worm—or at 
any rate, the first on which it was noticed. To 
publish Mr. Plumb’s article entire would be to re¬ 
peat much that is given in the article referred to ; 
we only give points which are not already stated. 
How they Move. 
“The Army Worm is still working north and 
west, and seems to have no inclination to go east 
—the dividing line of their destructive work is so 
marked, and well defined, that at a distance of 10 
feet to the east—without any barrier to prevent— 
not one worm can be found. In the potato field 
which lays along the 40 acres of rye, they have 
never gone east further than the tenth row. 
“ Their Favorite Food 
seems to be rye, corn, red-top, and timothy, 
especially the two latter. It is the impression of 
my manager, Mr. Jarvis H. Smith, that they will 
attack and eat wheat if in the line of their march. 
They prefer rye and will leave the former for the 
latter if near by. Any kind of grass they will de¬ 
vour—if they can find any green and tender 
to feed on near by—but when everything else is 
consumed, they will go back on to the clover and 
make clean work of it, 
Crops May bs Saved. 
“ Directly north of the destroyed rye field, separ¬ 
ated by an avenue two rods wide, is a field of 21 acres 
of corn now eight inches high. All our energies 
were directed to keeping them out of this field, and 
a large field of potatoes adjoining, as they were 
directly in their march to the north. It has been 
a hard week’s fight, as all hands here know, but we 
have succeeded thus far in saving those two crops. 
Attempts to Stop Them. 
“ We dug deep trenches, used Lime, Salt, Paris 
Green, Tar, set fire to the grass, and where there 
was no grass, carted hay, etc., and set fire to it in 
windrows, and with a large staff of men could not 
head them off; nothing would stop them. They had 
got the start of us, were headed west and bound 
to go west, and when the ground was hot and 
scorched after burning the grass, they marched 
right along over their dead and dying comrades 
that went before, stopping for nothing. My son 
set fire to the grass when they were crossing and 
they marched fearlessly right up to the very edge 
of the burning grass, never turned back, but as 
they shrivelled, others walked over them and while 
the ground was hot and smoking on they came. 
Success in Poisoning'. 
“ As for trenches or deep furrows we found them 
of no protection of themselves, But we finally 
conceived the idea (after burning hay, sprinkling 
lime and tar in these trenches without avail) to put 
in these trenches, their favorite food for them to 
eat—viz. red-top grass. This grass we wet with a 
mixture of Paris Green, the same that we use for 
potato bugs. And as long as the grass remains 
green and fresh they will remain quietly in the 
trench and feed on it and it kills them by millions, 
but as soon as the grass gets dry they stop eating 
it and then go out of the ditch if they can. (Lon¬ 
don Purple has the same effect as Paris Green). 
From this time forth we shall adopt this plan as the 
most effective; killing more and with less labor. 
When they Feed. 
“ Our experience is—and we have studied their 
movements very closely—that their priucipal feed¬ 
ing time is from 11 a.m. until sundown. At 3 p.m. 
they seem to be more numerous than any other 
hour of the day. Early in the morning scarcely 
any are to be seen ; they are then in companies of 
25 to 50 secreted in the sods, tufts of grass, roots, 
clumps, or wherever they can get protection or 
shelter. As soon as the sun comes out warm they 
begin to move, the companies form in line and the 
march goes on. They never fail in discipline, never 
encroach upon the rights of each other—and in 
feeding are careful not to crowd each other and 
never contend for the same blade of grass. It is 
rare to find more than one on a stalk of grain. We 
are satisfied they do not feed or travel much at niglit- 
as I went out at 1 o’clock a.m. with a large reflect¬ 
ing lantern, and after a careful inspection found but 
few on the stalks of grain. They were on the 
ground and did not seem to be feeding any, and but 
few were travelling.” A day ortwo later Mr. Plumb 
sent us another report from the “seat of war,” 
from which we extract the following concerning the 
The Use of Trenches. 
“In reference to trenches,ditches, or deep furrows 
to head them off, I would say that a ditch or trench 
is of no avail if after it is made it is left to itself. 
It must be constantly watched by men or boys, 
walking up and down along the trench, and sweep¬ 
ing back the worms as they crawl out, but the plan 
you sent me we found the best of all the method^ we 
tried (and we have tried everything that ingenuity 
and energy could devise) and that was to dig pits 
every rod or so in the bottom of the trench. In 
this way we have caught and destroyed untold mil¬ 
lions. The worms in their determination to go 
north approach the trench and go or fall into 
it. Then they attempt to go out on the opposite 
side—finding it not easy they, after several efforts, 
work along the trench in the endeavor to find an 
opening, and in doing so fall into the pits arranged 
along the bottom of the trench and which we dug 
about 2 feet deep and a foot or more square, with 
straight, clean shaved sides. In this way we have 
in a few hours time reduced the rank and file of the 
Army Worm in fearful numbers, and is the only plan 
I have any confidence in. Plowing a furrow is of 
no avail or use whatever in checking the progress of 
the Army, if, after plowing, a spade is not used to 
deepen and throw out the loose dirt at the bottom 
and sides; but ou a big farm this is costly work.” 
Science Applied to Farming—LVIII. 
Hung-arian Grass and Hay. 
I have received inquiries from a number of States, 
concerning the composition and nutritive value of 
Hungarian Grass. Some analyses and comments 
bearing upon the question, were published in the 
“Report of Work of the Middletown, Conn., Ex¬ 
periment Station, 1877-8,” but as the circulation of 
this was limited, an outline of the results maybe 
in place here. The samples analyzed were from 
Arawana Farm, Middletown, and kindly furnished 
by its proprietor, Dr. J. W. Alsop, with the follow¬ 
ing descriptions. 
Soil. —Low land, gravelly loam, stony, clay sub¬ 
soil, wet in spring. Had been unbroken pasture - 
for at least twenty years, until fall of 1874, when it 
was under-drained three feet deep, (drains forty 
feet apart), and plowed. In 1875 had roots in drills, 
with a liberal supply of barn-yard manure. 
Crop. —In first week of June, 1876, sowed to Hun¬ 
garian grass, applying the Stockbridge formula for 
Hungarian for one ton. Crop cut July 17, 1876. 
Yield about 3,300 lbs. of Hungarian hay per acre. 
Subsequent treatment and yield.— Pastured 
until Aug. 18, 1876, then plowed and seeded with 
herd’s grass, red-top, and clover, with dressing of 
200 lbs. of blood guano per acre. In 1877 cut from 
the three acres, three roods, and twenty-seven rods, 
nine loads of hay, averaging fully one ton per load, 
and two loads of clover rowen. In 1878 cut eleven 
loads of hay and three loads of rowen. The sam¬ 
ples for analysis were taken from plots of 49 to 871 
square feet area, as follows : 
No. I. Cut July 17, 1876. Heads partly filled ; 
seeds little developed; stalks averaged about 
twenty inches long. 
No. II. Cut Aug. 3d. Heads well developed 
and well-filled with seeds ; seeds soft ; hay rather 
