I 860 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
141 
igrating in flocks from field to field in search of 
the food they had fed on in the larvae state. If it 
is upon the hop, they will leave the rose and seek 
it, and they will shun the rose and seek any oth¬ 
er on which they had fed when larvae. They are 
not found emigrating so much in this country as 
in Europe—food is too plenty as yet. I once met 
a flock in North Carolina. There had occurred 
some accident to the previous train, and we were 
detained on the road. I spent two hours assist¬ 
ing at this flitting of some hundreds across the 
road from one field to another. The one they had 
left was green and flourishing from their pres¬ 
ence— the other required it sadly, falling rapidly 
into the sere and yellow leaf. I was happy to 
have secured the last little emigrant before I re¬ 
sumed my travels. 
Towards Winter you will find them clustering 
together, hibernating in old palings, old jftsts, and 
under the eaves of green-houses. What a treas¬ 
ure they might be to the florist, if caught in Sum¬ 
mer, and fed regularly until the conservatories 
and hot-houses are closed for the season, then 
their liberty being given to them, they will keep 
the Aphides subdued if not entirely exterminated. 
There is a positive remedy always at hand ; the 
good is placed in juxtaposition with the evil, by the 
Creator, and it is the part of wisdom to discover 
and apply the help so provided. May I hope that 
henceforth you will estimate this valuable little 
creature more highly than before, understanding 
that her mission, most faithfully performed, is to 
“ Cleanse the foul surface of the infected, leaf.” 
---- 
For the American Agriculturist. 
How to Conquer the Red Spider. (Acarus 
Telarius.) 
Mr. Editor : Your correspondent “ Enquirer’s,” 
account of his long and fruitless battles with this 
pest of the green-house, entitles him to sympathy 
and assistance. However strange it may seem 
that the fumigations, syringings, and resentful 
poking of sticks at the intruder have failed to 
dislodge him permanently, it is not surprising 
when we learn that he is enveloped by a water¬ 
tight jacket, a perfect life-preserver on which 
such treatment has as little effect, as the rain 
upon a sailor’s tarpaulin. We can fancy the in¬ 
ject laughing in his sleeve, as he lay snugly en¬ 
sconced, while “ Enquirer” was pouring out his 
indignation. Permit me to introduce to him an 
ally, who, though unprepossing in appearance, will 
do him good service. The Shepard Mite Spider 
(Phalangioide acarinia,) . etter known to most per¬ 
sons as “ Daddy Long Legs,” is the natural ene¬ 
my of the “ Red Spider,'’ not from any hatred, for 
he loves him well enough to eat him up, which 
he does whenever he can find him. Almost every 
child knows this insect with his little body, and 
long, stilt-like legs, with which children direct 
him to “ tell which way the cows are.” He is a 
singular creature, with eyes on his back, enabling 
him easily to discover his prey on the under side 
of a leaf aoove him, and having long, slim man¬ 
dibles (jaws), he sizes his prey as handily and as 
firmly, as a dentist would take a tooth with his for¬ 
ceps, and with just as little mercy. If during the 
Summer a supply of these be obtained and do¬ 
mes' icated upon the infested plants, they will 
wage a warfare to some purpose, to the great de¬ 
light of the plants and their owner. They may 
be found early in Spring under the eaves of hot¬ 
houses. and near old caterpillar nests, where they 
hibernate. They may be shy at first, but are 
easily tamed by kind treatment, which they will 
well repay. Amicus. 
For the American Agriculturist . 
Death on Lice. 
It is not always poor cattle that become inhab¬ 
ited with these parasites. Fat cattle, owing to 
foul stalls or some other cause, are occasionally 
caught with the pests. Some apply Unguent - 
urn or Mercurial ointment, which, to be sure is 
death on the lice, but also, not unfrequently, death 
on the cattle. It is an active poison when taken 
into the stomachs of cattle, as it is sure to be, it 
put within reach of their tongues. It should nev¬ 
er be used. Others resort to tobacco, a safe 
remedy, but still injurious oftentimes to the ani¬ 
mal. The only effectual remedy, that is at the 
same time safe, which we have ever tried is oil, 
or grease. These parasites lay their nits upon the 
hair, and it is only when the hair is dry, that they 
can make the eggs adhere. If the hair be kept 
well lubricated for a few days with sweet oil, or 
any kind of grease that will not become sticky, 
the insects will decamp for dryer quarters. They 
attempt to climb the greased poles and give up 
in despair. Armed with an oil bottle you may 
effectually rout the enemy, without risking the 
health of your cattle. Connecticut. 
--- .«■ - 
Sulphur for Sheep Ticks. 
Wm. P. Chase, writes to the Agriculturist : 
“ In the Jan. No., p. 27, I notice a doubt as to the 
efficacy of sulphur to expel ticks from sheep. I 
have no doubt. I know it will do the thing much 
more efficaciously, and with much less injury to 
the sheep than the nauseous mode I have prac¬ 
ticed of dipping them in a decoction of tobacco, 
cicuta, etc. Since 1844 I have used no other pre¬ 
ventive to keep ticks from sheep, or lice from 
cattle. My mode of feeding is to have boxes 
about 1 by H feet square, with sides about 3 
inches high ; mix as much flowers ofsulphur with 
salt as can be made to stick to it, and put in the 
boxes, for sheep or cattle. Feed it any time, but 
particularly in warm weather. Since 1844 I have 
seldom found half a dozen ticks to the hundred 
sheep at shearing time, and some seasons none. 
I think feeding sulphur a great help in keeping 
clear of the foot-rot. My sheep have neither 
ticks nor foot-rot, although there is much of it 
near, and around me. 
What Shall be Done with the Dogs?—I. 
DOG LAWS OF RHODE ISLAND. 
Not long since, a large farmer in our own town, 
one of our most worthy citizens, was bitten by a 
dog, and died a distressing death by hydrophobia. 
We never pass his house or remember his lonely 
widow and orphan children, or think of his loss to 
the country, without instinctively estimating how 
much greater the value of that one life, than of all 
the dogs in the land. We grant that sometimes 
a life has been saved by a dog, but such instances 
are so rare, when compared with the deaths by 
hydrophobia, that they are not worth taking into 
account. And of what utility are nineteen out of 
every twenty dogs in this country 1 It costs near¬ 
ly as much to keep a dog as a hog. What an ad¬ 
dition to the wealth of the country, if five millions 
of dogs were replaced by as many hogs. But 
these general considerations aside, we now refer 
more particularly to the loss to our productive 
industry by sheep-killing dogs. We have publish¬ 
ed many articles showing conclusively that rais¬ 
ing sheep is one of the most profitable depart¬ 
ments of husbandry. But from every part of the 
land come back responses like these : 
“ What’s the us« of all your facts and logic I 
We can not keep sheep, unless we provide a shep 
herd to watch over them night and day. What's 
the use of expending hundreds of dollars to gath¬ 
er a flock of improved sheep, when, in a single 
night, you may lose twenty per cent of them by 
some marauding dog, whose owner can not be 
found, or if found, ten to one he is irresponsible— 
his chief property, perhaps, being the miserable 
cur that did the damage.” 
We say such responses come from all parts of 
the country. Who has not, in his own observa¬ 
tion, proof that these complaints are well founded. 
We can point to a single town, within 50 miles ot 
this city, where sheep raising was commenced a 
few years ago on a large scale, and with great 
profit. But now, not one fanner in twenty five 
keeps a single sheep ; and the only reason for 
giving up sheep raising was the frequent ravages 
of dogs. 
We purpose to devote some space to this sub¬ 
ject, and will be thankful for any information that 
will throw light upon it. If farmers fully appre¬ 
ciated the actual condition of things—if statistics 
could be gathered of the loss suffered by dogs 
during the last dozen years alone, and the public 
were aware of the fact that the number of sheep 
in our country could be doubled during the next 
dozen years, were there perfect security against 
dogs, we have no doubt there would be such a 
general excitement that our State Legislatures 
would be compelled to pass the most stringent 
laws that could possibly be enforced. 
Perhaps it may be well to give the laws recent¬ 
ly enacted by three or four States. A correspond¬ 
ent has recently favored us with a copy of the laws 
just passed in Rhode Island, which go into ef¬ 
fect the first day of this month (May). The law 
is good so far as it goes, hut is not half stringent 
enough. [Will some one oblige us with a copy 
of the present laws of Massachusetts, Maine, 
etc., on the subject.] 
STATE LAWS. 
State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Irt 
General Assembly, January session, A. D. I860. 
AN ACT in amendment of chapter 82, title xiv, of the 
Revised Statutes, “Of Dogs.” 
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows : 
Section 1. Every owner or keeper of a dog shall cause 
such dog to wear around its neck a collar with the own¬ 
er’s or keeper’s name, or the initials thereof, distinctly 
marked thereon ; and any person may kill, or cause to be 
killed, anywhere out of the enclosure of its owner or 
keeper, any dog not so collared. 
Section 2. Every person keeping or harboring in his 
house, or on his lands, any dog, or knowingly suffering 
the same to be done by any other person, shall be liable 
for all damages done by such dog, in the same manner 
as if he were the owner thereof. 
Section 3. Any person may kill any dog that may sud¬ 
denly assault him, or any person of his family or in his 
company, while anywhere peaceably out of the enclosure 
of the owner or keeper of such dog ; and any person may 
kill any dog that may be found, out of the enclosure of its 
owner or keeper, worrying, wounding, or killing any neat 
cattle, sheep, or lamb, not the property of its owner. 
Section 4. If any person, or any member of such per 
son’s family, shall be assaulted by any dog, out of the 
enclosure of its owner or keeper, or if any person shall 
have reason to believe that such dog will, out of such en¬ 
closure, probably do any injury to his person, family, or 
property, and shall make complaint, under oath, thereof 
to any justice of the peace in the county, such justice shall 
give notice, by warrant or summons, of such complaint 
to the owner or keeper of such dog ; and if, on examina¬ 
tion, the justice shall believe that such assault is proved, 
or that the complainant has reasonable ground for his 
fears, he shall so adjudge and shall give written notice 
thereof to the owner or keeper, and such owner or keep¬ 
er, shall forthwith confine or kill said dog ; and if 
he neglect to kill him or keep him confined, he shall 
forfeit the sum of ten dollars, to be recovered to 
the use of the town, before any justice of tho peace 
or court of magistrates, and any person may kill said 
dog. And if after such notice, such dog shall wound or 
injure any person, or shall, elsewhere than on its own¬ 
er’s or keeper’s premises, worry, wound, or kill any neat 
cattle, sheep,or lamb, or do any other mischief, the own¬ 
er or keeper shall be liable to pay to the person injured 
treble damages therefor, with costs. And in all cases ot 
the complaints under this section, recognizance shall be 
given for costs, and the fees and costs shall be the same 
as in other cases of complaints before justices of the 
peace. 
Section 5. Every owner or keeper of a dog shall cause 
a particular description of such dog, embracing all the 
natural and artificial or accidental marks of such dog, to 
be registered in the town clerk’s office of the town where 
he resides, in a book t» be specially kept for that purpose, 
