294 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Grasshoppers and Tobacco. —The Oattavau- ] 
gua Whig is responsible for the following : 
Grasshoppers are very thick, and are proving 
exceedingly destructive in Chautauque—at least 
we judge they are from the following story told 
us by a farmer of that county, w'hom we saw a 
few days since at Dunkirk. Said he, “This 
spring, as an experiment, I devoted about an 
acre of land to the growth of tobacco. The crop 
did finely, and in a short space of time the 
plants had attained to the height of nearly five 
inches. Business called me to Buffalo. I was 
gone just two days; but in that brief period 
every vestige of my tobacco had been destroyed 
by the grasshoppers; and, sir, incredulous as it 
may seem, one large, hungry-looking specimen 
of the marauders, which I saw sitting upon a 
stump as I entered the field, actually had the 
audacity to aslc me for the chew I had in my 
mouth !" We collapsed. 
-- 
CLAIMS OF AGRICULTURAL PATENTS, 
FOR THE WEEK ENDING JULY 4, 1854. 
Potato Diggers —G. J. Bundy, of Lyndon, 
Yt.: I am aware that inclined fingers in combi¬ 
nation with a scoop, have been heretofore em¬ 
ployed in a machine for digging potatoes, and to 
such fingers a vibratory motion has been im¬ 
parted, in order to separate and discharge the 
earth, the earth being made to drop through 
the spaces between the teeth or fingers, whilst 
the potatoes are forced up the inclined plane 
formed by the fingers. 
I am also aware that for the purpose of loosen¬ 
ing the ground or reducing its surface to a finer 
state than it was previously, there is nothing 
new in the employing on a mold-board, a hori¬ 
zontal plate and vertical cutters, extending up¬ 
ward from two to three inches therefrom. 
I do not claim such inventions, but I claim 
the construction of the mold-boards of a potato 
plow, or the making them with slots or pas¬ 
sages standing vertically or nearly so, and hav- 
their respective planes parallel to a vertical 
plane passing through the draught beam of the 
machine, as stated. 
Seed Planters —Samuel Ide, of East Shelby, 
N. Y.: I claim the series of connected chambers 
or recesses around the center of the rotating cog 
wheel, constructed as described, whereby a uni¬ 
form and continuous distribution of the seed is 
effected. 
Milk Strainers —Joel Gleason, of Geneva, 
N. Y.: I claim the combination of the packing 
with the hinged catches, the strainer being sup¬ 
ported on the pail by means of the packing, in 
combination with the catches, and the packing 
being fixed to the body of the strainer, by lock¬ 
ing the tin on to the packing on the underside 
of the body of the strainer, as shown, all opera¬ 
ting as set forth. 
Disinfecting Fluids.- —The disinfecting pro¬ 
perties of chloride of zinc are well known to 
all practical men. Whether as regards the pre¬ 
vention or the cure of disease, the efficacy of 
this disinfector is unequalled, and it has also— 
or rather, as a means to that end—the power 
instantly to destroy all deleterious and offensive 
odors arising from drains, sewers, and privies. 
Now that the cholera again threatens us, the 
general use of chloride of zinc becomes a mat¬ 
ter of vast social importance; and no greater 
benefit could be conferred by the rich on the 
poor—and, by obvious reactionary influences, 
upon themselves—than to aid liberally in sup¬ 
plying quantities of the fluid to cleanse the 
dwelling places, too often hotbeds of disease, 
of the crowded districts of the metropolis and 
other large towns of the kingdom. It is easier 
and more immediately practicable to arrest epi¬ 
demics by means of this simple preventive, 
than to improve the dwelling-houses themselves 
or build new ones. In public hospitals, espe¬ 
cially, the daily employment of zinc (such, for 
instance, as Crewe’s disinfecting fluid, which is 
a cheap, powerful, and pure preparation) is ab¬ 
solutely necessary. We perceive from a recent 
statement that, in the visitation of yellow fever 
in one of the West India islands, the liberal 
use of the chloride, instantaneously destroying 
the noxious affluvia from the drains, materially 
aided in preserving health, to such a degree 
that only six per cent, of the population in the 
district where it was used (a very moderate 
ratio in such visitations) were affected by a mild 
form of the fever, and all of them recovered; 
while in the garrison, where its use was neg¬ 
lected, the proportion attacked was thirty per 
cent., and the actual deaths ten per cent.— Med¬ 
ical Circular. 
Pleasure. —Blessed be the hand that pre¬ 
pares a pleasure for a child! for there is no 
saying wdien and where it may again bloom 
forth. Does not almost everybody remember 
some kind-hearted man who showed him a 
kindness in the quiet days of his childhood ? 
The writer of this recollects himself at this mo¬ 
ment as a bare-footed lad, standing at the 
wooden fence of a poor little garden in his na¬ 
tive village; with longing eyes he gazed on the 
flowers which were blooming there quietly in 
the brightness of a Sunday morning. The pos 
sessor came forth from his little cottage—he 
was a wood-cutter by trade—and spent the 
whole week at work in the woods. lie was 
come into his garden to gather flowers to stick 
in his coat when he went to church. He saw 
the boy, and breaking off the most beautiful of 
his carnations—it was streaked with red and 
white—gave it to him. Neither the giver nor 
the receiver spoke a word; and with bounding 
steps the boy ran home; and now, here at a 
vast distance from that home, after so many 
events of so many years, the feelings of grati¬ 
tude which agitated the breast of that boy ex¬ 
presses itself on paper. The carnation has long 
since withered, but now it blooms afresh.— 
Douglas Jerrold. 
FOLLY OF ATHEISM. 
There is no God, the fool in secret said— 
There is no God that rules on earth or sky; 
Tear off the band that folds the wretch’s head, 
That God may burst upon his faithless eye. 
Is there no God ?—the stars in myriads spread, 
If he look up, the blasphemy deny, 
Whilst his own features, in the mirror read, 
Reflect the image of Divinity. 
Is there no God ?—the stream that silver flows, 
The air he breathes, the ground he treads, the trees, 
The flowers, the grass, the sands, each wind that 
blows, 
All speak of God: throughout one voice agrees, 
And eloquent His dread existence shows: 
Blind to thyself, ah! see Him, fool, in these. 
The March to the Grave. —What a mighty 
procession has been marching towards the grave 
during the last year! At the usual estimate, 
since the 1st of January, 1853, more than 31,- 
500,000 of the world’s population have gone 
down to the earth again. Place them in a long 
array, and they will give a moving column of 
more than thirteen hundred to every mile of the 
globe’s circumference! Only think of it; pon¬ 
der and look upon these astounding computa¬ 
tions! What a spectacle, as they “move on,” 
tramp, tramp — forward upon this stupendous 
dead march! 
Life is short and time is fleeting, 
And our hearts, though strong and brave, 
Still, like muffled drums, are heating, 
Funeral inarches to the grave. 
- -* © 9 - 
At a social party one evening, the question 
was put, “ What is religion?” “Religion,” re¬ 
plied one of the party, “religion is an insurance 
against fire in the next world, for which honesty 
is the best policy. 
garitcnltol §)iprtmetti 
To Horticulturists. — Our weekly issue of 
so large a journal, gives us ample room to devote 
to the different departments of cultivation, and 
we have commenced with this volume, to allot a 
separate space to Horticulture. We have secured 
additional efficient aid in its conduction, and we 
invite horticulturists generally, to send in their 
contributions on all subjects interesting and in- 
s motive to those engaged in similar pursuits 
with themselves. We are receiving the leading 
foreign and domestic horticultural journals, and 
shall be abundantly able to bring promptly be¬ 
fore our readers all that transpires, which may 
be new and useful. 
--• #•-- 
TAKE GOOD CARE OF THE ROSES. 
Roses will well repay a little attention at this 
season. They have just exhausted themselves 
by profuse bearing, and if the seed vessels are 
allowed to ripen on them they become well nigh 
prostrated for the season; this should not be 
permitted. To remedy this in a measure, a lit¬ 
tle care is necessary in first judiciously pruning 
off a part of the oldest wood, and next in dig¬ 
ging about and stimulating the roots to recover 
their former vigorous tone. Liquid manure is 
excellent for this purpose, if prepared in this 
manner, viz., a half bushel of fresh cow manure, 
and half the quantity of hen manure, if at hand, 
put into a barrel, which may be filled with wa¬ 
ter ; stir it up, and after 24 hours soaking, pour 
the liquid freely around the bushes, and fill the 
barrel again with water for another application 
a week hence, and the process can be a number 
of times repeated with the same manure. 
We think this fertilizer the best we have tried 
for all annuals, perennials and summer flowering 
shrubs. We like also to shower our rose bushes 
frequently with strong soap suds from the wash. 
Most of our best roses now a days are Hy¬ 
brids or other perpetuals, yet we know of many 
who have paid large prices to obtain choice va¬ 
rieties, and then by sheer neglect, after spring 
blossoming, they prevent another rose from ap¬ 
pearing to gladden them again during the sea¬ 
son. 
- • ® 9 - 
NEW-YORK HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
Met at their rooms, 600 Broadway, on Mon¬ 
day evening, the 10th instant. Vice-President, 
J. Groshon, in the chair; P. B. Mead, Secretary. 
The Finance Committee made a very satisfac¬ 
tory report of their progress in settling up the 
old affairs of the Society. 
The Premium Committee were directed to 
prepare a schedule of premiums for a private 
exhibition at their rooms on the third Monday 
of September next, and report said list to the 
Society at their next meeting. Several commu¬ 
nications were read, but they contained nothing 
of public interest. 
We noticed some very beautiful flowers, which 
were placed on the table by Messrs. Bridgman 
and Suttle, such as seedling Carnations, Pico- 
tees, Gladiolus, Stephanitus, Floribuntus, &c. 
A Conversational Meeting was ordered for the 
following Monday evening; subject, the fruits 
and flowers then on exhibition. 
