214 
AMLRKJAJN AGRICULTURIST. 
The Pea Weevil, 
Not the least among the annoyances of the 
farmer and gardener, are the depredations of this 
insect. In Canada, Maine, Vermont, and New 
Hampshire, the weevil is but little troublesome ; 
further south, it does great damage annually. It 
does not always destroy the germ of the pea into 
which it enters, but it weakens the growth of the 
young plants, renders the fruit unfit for culinary 
uses, both when green and dry, and diminishes 
its weight nearly one-half. 
While the peas are very small, the beetle punc¬ 
tures the side of the tender pod, directly against 
the pea, and deposits an egg. A worm is soon 
hatched from this egg, and makes its way direct¬ 
ly into the centre of the pea, on which it feeds. 
The larva grows with the growing pea, and usu¬ 
ally attains its full size—about an eighth of an 
inch—when the pea has reached maturity and 
ripeness. Dr. Harris coolly observes that “ few 
persons, while indulging in the luxury of green 
peas, are aware how many worms they uncon¬ 
sciously swallow.” Perhaps, too, some find their 
way into modern coffee, roasted and ground. 
But we refrain from corrupting the public ima¬ 
gination any further ! The larva lies in a partly 
dormant state until late in the Autumn or Winter, 
when it is transformed into a beetle, ready for 
the work of devastation, on the opening of 
Spring. 
The only birds known to feed on this insect, 
are the crow blackbird, and the oriole, but they 
do not sensibly diminish its increase. It is im¬ 
portant, therefore, that every man who sows peas, 
whether in the field or garden, should use his best 
endeavors to exterminate this pest. One method 
is to pour boiling water upon a lot of peas, and 
stir them smartly for a few minutes. This may 
destroy the life of a few of the seed, but not of 
many. A better way, perhaps, is to put a small 
quantity of peas into a colander, and set them over 
a kettle of boiling water. The colander should 
be covered loosely with a plate. The steam will 
then penetrate the mass of peas, and kill the in¬ 
sects without injuring the germ of the peas. 
This may be done in the Autumn, soon after 
the peas are gathered, the insect being then 
more easily dispatched than afterwards. 
Lamp-black for Flowers and Grass. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
Reading, some time since, that powdered char¬ 
coal applied to the roots of flowers was said 
lo give intensity to their color—its virtue being at¬ 
tributed to the free supply of carbon—it occurred 
io me whether it might not be appropriated by 
the plant from lamp-black, more readily. I pro¬ 
cured a quantity from a person using it, by 
wholesale, and liberally dpsted my rose bush roots 
witH it—dug it into the soil even. The result 
lustified my expectations. The flowers were 
brighter than ever before, and the grass that grew 
near them of a much darker green. J. H. M. 
Lancaster Co., Pa. 
Remark. —We have no doubt as to the result 
obtained, but question the theory of the arti¬ 
cle to which J. H. M. refers. Plants probably 
obtain the carbon entering into their composi¬ 
tion from the carbonic acid of the air which is 
absorbed through the leaves. Lamp-black is 
cimplv charcoal in a very finely divided condition, 
and, when put around the roots of plants, it acts 
ooth as a mulch, and as an absorber of ammo¬ 
nia. It therefore promotes the growth and vigor 
of the plant, and this, as a matter of course, 
Increases the siz » 1 beauty of the flower — Ed.] 
Not too Late to Plant Tomatoes. 
Tomatoes seldom come amiss. Raw, or cooked, 
in the ripening season they furnish a good dish 
upon the table, daily, for weeks in succession. 
The surplus crop, saved so easily for fresh fruit 
in Winter, in cans, jars or bottles—or, as pre¬ 
serves, in figs and catsups—are doubly welcome 
in Winter, when “ salt junk” is the too prevailing 
diet of the farmer. We speak of these things 
now, to remind our readers that it is not too late 
to set out tomato plants for a full late crop. If 
new plants are not to be got, a part of those set 
too thickly may be safely removed to a new place, 
by wetting the earth around them and taking up 
a large ball of it with the roots. There are va¬ 
cant spots in the gardens or fields, or where early 
peas and cabbages are being harvested, which 
may be used for tomatoes or turnips instead of 
allowing the ground to lie idle for the remainder 
of the season. Among early potatoes soon to be 
dug, plant tomatoes, and if, perchance, you have 
ten or a dozen bushels more than are wanted for 
cooking and preserving in the various ways 
named, boil them in the hog-mess, or give them 
to milch cows. 
-0-4— na ^B in » ■ .. 
Weeds in Gardens- 
The only way to keep weeds in subjection is to 
treat them with “ eternal vigilance.” There is 
no royal road to a neat garden. On walking 
recently through a neighbor’s grounds, noted for 
their good order and neatness, we asked him 
the secret of his success in exterminating weeds. 
He replied that he had only one leading rule on 
the subject, and that was, “ never to allow a weed 
to go to seed." If every person owning a garden 
will devote his leisure moments daily to the de¬ 
struction of weeds, he will find it a comparative¬ 
ly easy matter to keep them down. And this 
systematic, daily hoeing will not only keep his 
garden neat, but will keep the soil in the best 
possible condition for the growth of his plants. 
- m-i - ■ Q — i ■- 
Bugs on Vines- 
In addition to the remedies mentioned in our 
last, we now add, from a responsible source, that 
the ashes of anthracite coal are a good protection 
to plants against the striped and the black bug. 
A gentleman informs us that, after trying gypsum, 
soot and sulphur, in vain, he tried coal ashes, sift¬ 
ing on about half a pint to each hill of cucumbers, 
and the effect was at once apparent. Every bug 
disappeared and did not return. A remedy so 
simple and so cheap, ought to be known. Per¬ 
haps it will turn out, by and by, that nothing has 
been made in vain. 
--- ■ - - 
Flying.—A fellow having imbibed rather freely 
took it into his head that he could fly, and to get 
a good position, ascended a sign post and started. 
He was questioned next day as to how he liked 
flying. “Oh!” said he, “ it’s nothing to fly, th e 
lighting is the hardest part of the operation.” 
Good wives, like fiibeTts, will remain good for 
a long time : but it depends upon the care you 
take of them, i. e., how you husband them. 
Mr. Gunn, having been sent to Congress, did 
not make noise enough to gratify his constituents, 
and they elected Mr. Cannon, as his successor. 
Not prosperity, but adversity is the true bal¬ 
ance to weigh friends in. 
OMf EXO)€)M W0MOL 
Food for Children—Important Hints on its 
Preparation. 
Just now, our city is much agitated on the 
question of “ swill milk,” and, if we are to believe 
the statistic makers, in this city alone—to say no¬ 
thing of the country at large—-at least 50,000 
children have been slain by this fell destroyer dur¬ 
ing the past eight or ten years. Every mother 
who has lost a child in times past, whether by her 
own carelessness or not, now very complacently 
charges the murder of her offspring upon the 
swill-milk venders. We would by no means 
give either aid or comfort to the venders of the 
villanous compounds sold under the name of milk, 
in this city and elsewhere, whether it be from the 
distilleries or chalk shops ; but as bad and unfit for 
human diet as are these so called “ milks,” we 
verily believe that the untimely deaths among 
children, and grown up people too, would be di¬ 
minished at least one-half, if the chief diet was 
only this milk—or if nothing worse were swallow¬ 
ed. 
WHAT DOES KILL THE CHILDREN, THEN. 1 
We answer unhesitatingly that it is mainly un¬ 
masticated or unground food —To say nothing of 
mortality among grown people, we undertake to 
affirm, that, if food for children be invariably pre¬ 
pared according to the prescription we shall give 
further on, the deaths among them will be dimin¬ 
ished two-thirds, the “pains under their aprons” 
will become very rare, and their wakeful restless¬ 
ness at night will, in nine cases out of ten, be ex¬ 
changed for sound repose. 
When food goes into the stomach it must all be 
reduced to a fluid state, or at least to a pulpy 
mass, or it will lie there for a few hours, and then 
either be passed out by vomiting, or, as is usually 
the case, be thrown off into the intestines to make 
its way through the long channel, and be thrown 
out in the excrements. Now, if any one will 
take the trouble to examine the excrements of 
children, they will, in perhaps a majority of cases, 
find undigested lumps of food, such as pieces of 
potato, meat, fruit &c. But how is it possible 
that a piece of potato or fruit, for example, though 
no larger than a pea, can make its way through 
the whole length of the small intestines—a dis¬ 
tance of 25 feet in a grown person, and 12 to 15 
feet in small children—without producing irrita¬ 
tion sufficient to disturb the health of the system 1 
Yet how very few children get through a week 
without thus evacuating a score or a hundred 
such lumps of food 1 
People forget, or do not understand what pro¬ 
cess the food put into their own or their children’s 
mouths, is to go through with. Just imagine all 
the food that goes down the neck at a meal, drop¬ 
ped into a bowl where it could be examined, in¬ 
stead of into the stomach. We should find it full 
of bits of meat, potato, pickle, turnip &c. &c. 
Pour into this a quantity of water or other fluid, 
and stir it for two or three hours, and we shall 
find a considerable quantity of lumpy food remain¬ 
ing undissolved. But suppose we take the same 
food and cut the meat into small hits no larger 
than a shot, mash up the potato to a powdered 
state, treat the pickles, fruit &c. in the same way, 
and then stir the whole together. In a few min¬ 
utes they would become a pulpy mass. 
Now this is just what takes place in the sto 
mach, both of the child and the adult. This or 
gan receives just whatever may be sent to it. It 
keeps up a constant motion so long as there is 
food remaining in it, but it is not supplied with an 
