282 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
amply sufficient for the transportation of 
cotton by means of these patent floaters ; 
and if they can be successfully introduced, 
the condition of the streams hereafter will 
be no barrier to supplying the markets with 
the great southern staple. Mr. Griffith gave 
a practical exhibition of his inventions at 
this port a few days since, and I believe en¬ 
tirely satisfied those present of the feasibil¬ 
ity of the plan.” 
Canker Worms.— Mr. William Plumer, of 
Lexington, a correspondent of the Boston 
Journal, recommends covering the ground 
under apple trees with muriate of lime, as a 
remedy for the destructive ravages of the 
canker worm. This preparation should be 
applied immediately, and dug in the Fall. 
Mr. Plumer has seen it tried with excellent 
success. The next Spring after the applica¬ 
tion, not a canker worm was to be seen in 
the trees to which it was applied. He says 
it has been tested both in this country and 
in England, and in every case with perfect 
success. 
A Stump Machine. —Mr. B. P. Foster, of 
Flint, Genesee, writing in the Michigan Far¬ 
mer, says he has a stump machine that is 
cheap and works well 'where land has been 
cleared from 12 to 15 years ; that is, oak 
land. It is made as follows : “ Get a pole, 
tamarack is best, 14 inches at the butt, 8 at 
the top, and from 35 to 40 feet long. Then 
make a band li inches square, and put it on 
one end. Make a very large hook, weighing 
25 pounds, and a link and clevis to make it 
about three feet long; have the hook stand 
toward the top of the lever. Hook it to a 
large root, and hug the stumps with the 
lever and keep going around till the stump 
comes out. If other stumps are in the way, 
take a pole ten feet long, put one end on the 
ground, the other on the stump, and let the 
lever run up over it.” Mr. Foster says, “ I 
have pulled out from three to six acres in a 
day, or sixty stumps. What I can not pull 
out, I burn. I dig away the dirt first, and 
then set fire to them. Thus I make my land 
free from stumps. Cost of machine irons 
from $10 to $15.” 
Battle among Bees. —The Toledo Repub¬ 
lican of the 13th ult. says, “ A gentleman 
living near Adrian relates a singular circum¬ 
stance which occurred on his farm. A few 
days ago a new swarm came out of their 
paternal hive, and gathered around their 
young queen in the warm, sunlit atmosphere. 
But instead of going to some neighboring 
tree or shrub, and forming a hanging cluster, 
as has invariably been the rule with all pre¬ 
decessors with whom we have ever been 
acquainted, they settled on a hive and began 
a murderous attack upon the peaceful in¬ 
mates. The unsuspecting workers were 
taken by surprise, and many of them were 
killed by the invaders before they become 
fully aroused, when the conflict became ob¬ 
stinate. The fact that most of the working 
bees of the hive were out gathering honey, 
gave the new swarm all the advantage, and 
though the battle lasted all day, they finally 
triumphed. Thousands of dead bodies were 
dragged to the entrance and thrown on the 
ground each hour.” 
Dr. Waterbury of this city has examined 
the jaw-bone of a mummied bull, in the 
Egyptian Museum, and has ascertained the 
animal to have been of the species of our 
common ox, and that the bone does not dif¬ 
fer in size from that of a full-grown ox of the 
present day. 
ed from the buildings, or hung to the balus¬ 
trades of the balconies ; situations in which 
they flower abundantly, filling the air with 
fragrance.” 
The “Spanish moss” (Tillandsio usneoides) 
is not a true moss, botanically speaking, but 
with many of the true mosses, the living 
plant lives upon the bodies of the dead, and 
thus accumulate many feet in thickness. 
A new troublesome weed has made its ap- 
Wool Growers’ Association of Wsetern 
New-York. —This Association, at their re¬ 
cent meeting at Bath, resolved to hold their 
next annual show (1856) at whichever of the 
following places shall hold out the greatest 
inducements, viz : Avon, Bath, Canandai¬ 
gua, or Penn Yan. The following officers 
were chosen for the ensuing year : 
President—Hon. G. Denniston, Pratts- 
burg, Steuben Co., N. Y. 
Vice-Presidents—Hector Hitchcock, Liv¬ 
ingston Co.; W. T. Remer, Yates; John D. 
Patterson, Chatauque ; G.W.Wheeler, Steu¬ 
ben ; T. C. Peters, Genesee ; Thos. P. Peck, 
Ontario ; H. T. Brooks, Wyoming ; Rawson 
Harmon, Monroe ; Charles Morrell, Tomp¬ 
kins ; Amos Perrin, Alleghany; James H. 
Hotchkin, Steuben; Matthias Hutchinson, 
Cayuga ; Gardiner Gould, Orleans; Lewis 
F. Allen, Erie ; Hiram McCollum, Niagara ; 
Albert G. Percy, Wayne. 
Corresponding Secretaries—Win. S. Judd, 
Penn Yan, Yates; A. Y. Baker, Urbana, 
Steuben ; N. B. Mann, Livingston ; Wm. A. 
Cook, Lima, Livingston ; W.T. Remer, Penn 
Yan; James Lyon, Bath, Steuben ; Wm. B. 
Pratt, Prattsburg, do. 
Treasurer—Hon. Reuben Robie, Bath, 
Steuben Co. 
Recording Secretary—Chas. D. Champlin, 
Urbana, Steuben Co. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
COUCH GRASS-SPANISE MOSS-CORN CHAMO¬ 
MILE OR HORN MAYWEED, &C. 
In the article on the “ Couch or Twitch 
Grass ” in the American Agriculturist, in 
February last, I described the common Quack 
Grass of this vicinity as the Triticum repens. 
Although the description is correct, I gave 
the wrong name. It is the Digitaria san- 
ginalis of Linn, and is described in the Nat¬ 
ural History of New-York, Botany, vol. 2, 
p. 423, as the “ Crab-grass,” and is figured 
in the same volume, plate 146. My mistake 
arose from a mistake with the labels of the 
specimens in my herbareum, and when dis¬ 
covered, very soon after, I was prevented 
from making a correction, first by ill health 
and later by pressing duties. 
In an article on “ Spanish Moss,” in a late 
number of your paper, the inquiry is made 
if there are any truly aerial plants, draw¬ 
ing nourishment from the air and water, 
rather than the material they grow upon? 
There are many such. Most lichens (a low 
order of plants) do so. They grow on rocks, 
dead wood,&c., and draw their nourishment 
from other sources. Higher kinds of plants 
also sometimes grow in a similar manner. 
Of the very family to which the Spanish 
moss belongs ( Bromeliacecc ), Dr. Lindley re¬ 
marks, “ They are all capable of existing in 
a dry, hot air, without contact with earth ; 
on which account they are favorites in South 
American gardens, where they are suspend- 
pearance within the last few years in Cen¬ 
tral New-York. It is known by the names 
“ Corn Chamomile,” “ Horn Mayweed,” &c 
( Anthemis arvensis Linn.) It much resem¬ 
bles the May-weed, but is larger, coarser, 
branches more, nearer the base, has a less 
fetid odor, flatter, larger heads, and grows 
taller. The flowers are in shape like those 
of the ox-eye daisy, but are smaller. The 
plant is variable, and presents, under differ¬ 
ent circumstances, very different general 
characters. It was at first mistaken by far¬ 
mers for May-weed ( Maruta ), which it often 
closely resembles ; and although known to 
all who had paid any especial attention to 
botany, was not considered dangerous, as it 
is not so described in any botanical work I 
have seen. I shall make further observa¬ 
tions on its growth during the summer. 
WM. H. BREWER. 
Ovid, N. Y., July 6,1855. 
THE “FINE ART”—OF PATCHING 
A lady friend—a spinster—who had seen 
years enough to constitute her a good judge, 
used to say in our hearing, that if she could 
see a man’s socks, six months after his mar¬ 
riage, she could always tell whether he 
would be a rich or a poor man. If they 
were well and neatly darned, it indicated an 
ingenious, economical wife, and with such a 
helpmeet any man would succeed—she nev¬ 
er knew it fail. We incline to the opinion 
that the old lady was more than half right, 
but we will not discuss the matter. Here is 
something, from an English paper, on the 
belles-lettres department of the household— 
for to patch well is, in truth, a “ fine art,” 
and one requiring as much skill as to paint, 
or sing, or play : 
To patch—how vulgar is the term ! Yet 
it is an operation requiring far more skill 
than does the making of a new garment^ 
and, when well executed, may save the pur¬ 
chase of many a costly one; the most ex¬ 
pensive robe may, by accident, be torn, or 
spotted, the first day of its wear : the piece 
inserted in lieu of the damaged one is a 
patch. If a figured material, the pattern has 
to be exactly matched ; in all cases the in¬ 
sertion must be made without pucker, and 
the kind of seam to be such as, though st rong, 
will be least apparent, the corners must be 
turned with neatness. Is not this an art 
which requires teaching l 
So of darning, much instruction is neces¬ 
sary as to the number of threads to be left 
by the needle according to the kind of fab¬ 
ric ; then there is the kind of thread or yarn 
most suitable, which requires experience to 
determine ; where the article is coarse, the 
chief attention is directed to expedition, but 
a costly article of embroidery on muslin can 
only be well darned with ravelings of a sim¬ 
ilar muslin ; such particulars do not come to 
the girl by inspiration, they must be taught, 
or left to be acquired by dearly-bought ex¬ 
perience. 
