I 860 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
333 
SEBASTOPOL GEESE. 
insects you would destroy by adopting this plan. 
Using bullocks’ blood diluted with water, fre¬ 
quently keeps a grape vine free from many in¬ 
sects, not from much benefit arising from the 
blood, but that the smell of it attracts the larvae 
of carnivorous beetles, which devour the pupae 
of the herbivorous. Is there nothing that can 
be said or written, that will induce people to 
undertake the destruction of injurious insects in 
the Autumn ? This is the time to remove such 
evils around fruit trees and in gardens, not 
waiting until the Spring with its genial warmth 
brings them forth from their hiding places— 
when the washing, dusting, hanging of bottles, 
thrashing of branches, mixing of oil and soap 
suds—grumbling, lamenting, and inventing pa¬ 
tent powders and recipes, commence. How 
much wiser to use the spade in the Autumn. 
Mother Earth in her bosom shields 
Her children of the woods and fields. 
Here you will seek them if you’re wise 
’Ere sweet Spring gives them wings to rise. 
-—.-®-«— - 
Habits of the Apple Borer. 
A correspondent of the Maine Farmer, who 
has paid much attention to this destructive in¬ 
sect, states as the results of his observations : 
that the absence of the sawdust or borings about 
the trunk of the tree is no proof of the absence 
of the borer ; that the borer works downward, 
sideways, or round about, the second year, 
working very close to the bark and girdling the 
tree so far as he goes, and it is not until 
after the second year that he makes a straight 
course upward and inward, to come out, proba¬ 
bly ou the other side ; that there are often 
several borers in the same burrow, at least dur¬ 
ing the first and second years; and that it is 
better to kill the tree in searching for them with 
the knife and the chisel, than not to find them. 
It may be that our readers will feel bored by 
seeing so much about this insect in the Agricul¬ 
turist; but it is proving so destructive, that too 
much can hardly be said until cultivators are 
induced to stop its ravages. 
• --» -an-®———- —-- 
Teaching Pigs to Eat slow. 
A correspondent of the New-England Farmer 
says: Pigs should be early taught to eat slowly, 
for the advantage of the pig, as well as of the 
owner. Nothing is easier. Give the weaned 
pig, at 6 or 8 weeks old—in a clean trough— 
half a tea cup of dry shorts or bran, and after 
his dry food is all eaten, give his drink, and in¬ 
crease the dry food according to the age and 
appetite, till three months old; then add one half 
Indian meal for two months, and then dry In¬ 
dian meal, till fattened sufficiently. This plan 
has been followed for five years with decided 
success. 
-—--»©—- —m. - 
A Crow Frightener.— A foreign journal 
notices an ingenious contrivance for keeping 
crows from the cornfield, in operation on a 
neighboring farm. It is a self acting gun, which 
being loaded in the morning continues to shoot 
at certain intervals during the day. It is so 
made that it can be set to discharge itself once 
in ten or fifteen minutes, or half an hour, 
or longer, as may be desired. Can not some of 
our Yankee readers get up a cheap contrivance 
of tins kind during the Winter ? If they can 
arrange it so as to Ml the crows, we will war¬ 
rant an extensive sale. 
A New Breed of Geese. 
The above engraving gives a very good idea of 
a curiosity in the poultry line, recently exhib¬ 
ited at the Crystal Palace in London, viz: a 
pair of geese obtained in Sebastopol, Russia. 
They are described as being somewhat smaller 
than the common variety, weighing eleven 
pounds each, but of the purest white, and most 
perfect form. The most noticeable feature of 
these birds, is their curly plumage, which gives 
them a veiy singular look, making them appear 
almost as if of a distinct species of the goose 
family. The feathers on the back are curved 
and frilled upward; the secondary or smaller 
feathers of the wings are elongated and twisted; 
the tail coverts have also the same peculiarity. 
Their habits are precisely similar to those of the 
common goose. But one pair have been taken 
to England, and we have not learned what is 
their value for the table. Perhaps the curly na¬ 
ture of the feathers makes them more elastic and 
better for beds. At present they are regarded 
only as “ fancy fowls,” for gratifying the curi¬ 
osity of those interested in poultry breeding. 
-—<-— i m - 
For the American Agriculturist. 
What Agricultural Literature has Done. 
A TRUE HISTORY.—AND NOT A FANCY SKETCH 
MERELY “ FOUNDED ON FACT.” 
Twenty five years ago, I was a boy of twelve, 
living near one of the richest valley farms in 
the interior of a New-England State. The farm 
comprised about three hundred acres, of which 
seventy five were strong alluvial soil, in mead¬ 
ow, flooded by the high waters of every Spring— 
one hundred more in upland pasture and arable 
land, and the balance in woodland. The occu¬ 
pant’s family consisted of a son and two sisters, 
the elder of whom was the housekeeper. The 
“ help” was a hired girl and a man, witli an addi¬ 
tional hand, and sometimes two in haying. Here 
he spent his life in a fruitless attempt to support 
his family and educate his children. He was an 
industrious, a hard working, frugal man, who 
taught his children habits of the strictest 
economy: but he was an anti-book farmer, and a 
patron of the credit system. The merchant, the 
blacksmith, the wheelwright, every one with 
whom he had dealings, had accounts, the bal¬ 
ances of which were all on the wrong side, and 
somehow, could never be reduced. Too often, 
they were closed out by legal process, and I well 
recollect that tlie sheriff was the most frequent, 
though unwelcome visitor. The plows had the 
old wooden moldboards, faced with strap iron; 
the harrow teeth were made of white oak; a 
horse rake we had never seen. The fences were 
rickety, the buildings dilapidated. There was 
an orchard, but the knowledge of fruit culture 
did not teach that it ever required trimming , 
and its productions were about as large and hard 
as nutmegs. As the meadows lay convenient 
to the barns, they were fed down closely in Au¬ 
tumn—the feed was better there than in the 
pastures! The cattle were never stabled in 
Winter, nor were racks provided in which to 
feed them, and the quantity of forage they wast¬ 
ed equaled that which they consumed. The 
stock died in Winter of exposure, in Spring of 
weakness. The crows always called in theii 
early Spring migrations, and were always sure 
of an abundance of animal food. The manure 
was rarely disturbed in the cattle yards, because 
the meadows were thought to be rich enough 
without it, and it would not pay to draw it up 
hill to the pasture lands. It went on accumu¬ 
lating until the yards were higher than the sur¬ 
rounding fields. The wash of the yards was 
conveniently disposed of in a neighboring brook, 
toward which the yards sloped and by which 
