AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
little excitable minds of many worthy hop 
factors — sulphurophobia—would probably 
also yield to the gentle “ alterative” thus 
humbly presented for exhibition ; their main 
cause of dislike to the application of sulphur 
to the foliage of the hop being, in great part, 
obviated by its taking the form here men¬ 
tioned. It is for you to say whether the in¬ 
dividual who has apparently saved my vine 
crop deserves especial notice for his inge¬ 
nuity. He is a laborer in my employment; 
his name Samuel James.—[Gard. Chron., 
1856.__ 
HOW TO RAISE CURRANTS. 
We have been most successful in propa¬ 
gating currants from cuttings by setting 
them in the Spring. For transplanting those 
already rooted, the latter part of this month 
is preferable. Still, however, many think 
cuttings may be set just as well in Autumn 
as in Spring, and that time is gained by 
doing so. There is one thing in favor of 
this season. If they fail, they may be re¬ 
planted in the Spring. The cuttings are not 
costly, and there is little extra labor even if 
two plantings chance to be required. In 
June last we gathered some hints from the 
experience of Mr. Henry Funnel], of Hunt¬ 
ington, Long Island, which we give now. 
At that time he sent us a specimen of what 
is considered a new variety of the currant, 
though it so much resembles the cherry cur¬ 
rant described last year, that we think they 
are one and the same variety. One of the 
stems contained twenty-three berries, and 
weighed a little over half an ounce (two 
hundred and fifty grains). The flavor is 
fine, and the pulp quite solid. 
Five years since Mr. F. discovered in a 
neighbor’s garden a few bushes bearing what 
appeared to be a decidedly superior fruit, 
and he procured several cuttings and set 
them out in his own garden. This was done 
early in the Spring. The ground was spaded 
nearly two feet deep. Soil a heavy loam. 
No manure was added then nor since ; but 
they have been freely watered from time 
to time throughout the year with the liquid 
collected in a barrel standing under the sink 
spout. The soap-suds on washing days are 
added to the contents of the barrel. The 
chamber slops (urine) are not put upon the 
currant bushes, but mixed with a portion of 
the suds and applied to fruit trees, chiefly 
the peach and pear. 
Great care is taken to keep the ground 
mellow and clear from weeds. It is well dug 
up arQund the roots every spring, the sub¬ 
sequent hoeings being mainly upon the sur¬ 
face. 
Mr. F. lays great stress upon pruning. 
The first year the cuttings, which were 
twelve inches long, were set into the ground 
eight or nine inches, leaving but three or 
four inches above the surface. All the buds 
were rubbed off before planting, except the 
four upper ones. During the first Summer, 
these buds sent out side-shoots eight to 
twelve inches in length. In April of the fol¬ 
lowing year, these shoots were cut down to 
within two or three inches of the crown or 
head of the old stem. Similar pruning was 
followed the two succeeding Springs, the 
object being to secure a well-formed tree. 
The method pursued by Mr. F. gives a wide 
base, there being ten to twelve leading 
branches which shoot out a few inches 
in every direction from the main stalk, 
and from the ends of these upright stems 
are permitted to rise. It will be seen from 
this description that the tree is hollow, so 
that a common pail can be set down in the 
middle opening between the branches. From 
the upright main branches, side shoots are 
continually thrown out. These are kept 
trimmed back to within two or three inches 
of the upright, and upon the spurs thus 
formed is found the best fruit. This plan 
not only gives beauty of shape, but it also 
admits the air and sun’s rays into the cen¬ 
tre of the bush, the good effects of which 
are seen in the superior quality of the fruit. 
Since writing the above, Mr. Funnell has 
kindly offered us a specimen of a ready 
pruned tree for our own garden. We shall 
be happy to receive it and put it where it 
may be seen by any one having the oppor¬ 
tunity to do so.— [Ed. 
DESTROYING INJURIOUS INSECTS. 
Those who were readers of this Journal 
prior to 1855, doubtless remember several 
interesting articles over the signature of G. 
These w r ere written „by Townsend Glover, 
Esq. For some time past Mr. G. has been 
engaged in connection with the Agricultural 
Department at Washington, in making in¬ 
vestigations upon the various destructive in¬ 
sects, and we anticipate many valuable re¬ 
sults from his labors. We give here an 
extract from one of his communications to 
the United States Agricultural Society.— Ed. 
A close study of the habits and trans¬ 
formations of any one of the pernicious in¬ 
sects (ball worm, wheat midge, caterpillar, 
&c.) by the practical and intelligent farmer 
would prove not only a source of great plea¬ 
sure, as leading him to a keener sense of 
the beauteous and wonderful works of Na¬ 
ture, as exemplified in the singular trans¬ 
formations insects undergo before they as¬ 
sume the perfect or fly state, but also a 
source of great profit, as by experimenting 
upon them in all the stages of their exist¬ 
ence, he might perchance discover some 
practical method by which their extermina¬ 
tion could be effected. Indeed, it is abso¬ 
lutely necessary that a farmer should be 
able to recognize the insects that destroy 
his crops, in all their various and wonderful 
transformations, before any effectual remedy 
can be applied; as in one stage of their life 
they may be suffered to live and enjoy 
themselves, nay, even sometimes be pro¬ 
tected, whilst in another stage we persecute 
and destroy them by every means in our 
power. For example, the beautiful butterfly 
of the papilio asterias. Any humane and 
kind-hearted farmer, unversed in entomolo¬ 
gy, who should see his children chasing and 
killing the beautiful black and yellow spotted 
butterfly that was flitting joyously over his 
vegetable garden, in the spring or early sum¬ 
mer, apparently leading a life of mere harm¬ 
less pleasure, would, no doubt, reprove them 
for wantonly destroying such a pretty, harm¬ 
less insect; and yet, if the truth was known, 
this pretty and much to be pitied insect is 
the parent of all those nauseous smelling 
green and black spotted worms that later in 
the season destroy his parsley, celery, pars¬ 
nips and carrots. Y.et by merely crushing 
the parent fly at one blow early in the sea¬ 
son, before it has deposited its eggs, he 
would be spared the vexation of either see¬ 
ing his plants devoured and seed destroyed, 
or having the disagreeable task of picking 
off, one by one, some hundreds of caterpil¬ 
lars later in the season. This fact will be 
more apparent when I state how incredibly 
fast some insects multiply, especially in the 
warmer climate of the South, where there is 
little frost to destroy vegetable life, and there 
are several generations in one season. Dr. 
John Gamble, of Tallahassee, Florida, as¬ 
sisted by myself, dissected a female ball- 
worm moth or miller, (an insect which, in 
the caterpillar state, is most destructive to 
cotton,) and we discovered a mass of eggs, 
which, when counted, amounted, at the least 
calculation, to five hundred, duly hatched, 
for the first generation, say one half males, 
the rest females; the second generation, if 
undisturbed, would amount to 125,000, and 
the third be almost incalculable. 
Now, these mother flies are not very nu¬ 
merous early in the season, owing to the 
birds devouring them, the rigor of winter, 
and various other accidental causes, and if 
practical means were found to destroy them 
as early in the spring as possible, the im¬ 
mense ravages of the second and third gene¬ 
rations might be prevented. In one female 
(ceceticus) case or hangworm, so destructive 
to the shade trees, I counted nearly eight 
hundred eggs, although the specimen was 
but small. Now were all these cases taken 
from every infected tree in the winter, when 
they can most easily be seen, owing to the 
fall of the leaf, and then immediately burn¬ 
ed, the trees w r ould be comparatively free 
the next season ; and by following this plan 
for one or two years more, the work grow¬ 
ing gradually less and less, the insect might 
finally be exterminated, inasmuch as the fe¬ 
male never leaves her case, but forms her 
nest of eggs inside ; and yet these noxious 
pests are suffered year by year to increase, 
when so little trouble would destroy them. 
Other insects, again, have other habits, 
which, if fully known, would likewise lead 
to their destruction. 
The Beauty of Trees. —A tree, undoubt¬ 
edly is one of the most beautiful objects in 
nature. Airy and delicate in its youth, 
luxuriant and majestic in its prime, vener¬ 
able and picturesque in its old age, it con¬ 
stitutes, in its various forms, sizes, and de¬ 
velopments, the greatest charm and beauty 
of the earth in all countries. The most va¬ 
ried outline of surface, the finest combina¬ 
tion of picturesque materials, would be 
comparatively tame and spiritless without 
the inimitable accompantment of foliage. 
Let those who have passed their whole time 
in a richly-wooded country—whose daily 
