1866.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
359 
flesh of our celebrated Canvass Back Ducks. 
It is a mistaken notion on the part of some to 
suppose that when we have lessened the offal of 
our domestic animals, and added a large pro¬ 
portion of fat, that we have done all that 
is necessary to perfect the carcass for the 
table. Great attention, as we have shown 
above, must be paid to increasing the 
proportion of the choicest parts of the 
animal. Suppose the whole carcass was 
equal to tenderloin; then it would be 
worth four times its present value in the 
market; or if equal to the fore rib, then 
double the present value. Fat is a dear 
product, and the less we have of it in the 
carcass, and the more we get of lean, 
tender, juicy meat, the better and more 
profitable it will be for producer and 
consumer. Fat is unhealthy food, par¬ 
ticularly in warm weather, even in form of 
pork. The reason why the English aud 
American people, who know their value, 
so much prefer the Berkshire breed of 
swine to all others for family pork, is, that they 
give a much greater proportion of lean meat to 
the carcass, especially in the hams and shoulders. 
- - ---- 
Eustic Gates for Hedges. 
The formal gates of iron or of planed carpen¬ 
ter’s work, that we often see in hedges, seem 
out of keeping with the rural expression of the 
wall of living green upon each side of them. 
Gates of rustic-work, of pleasing designs, and 
well made, are appropriate in such places. Mr. 
J. V. Finbois, of Worcester, Mass., has given us 
designs for small and large gates, which are so 
simple that almost any one can construct them. 
Fig. 3. 
These, like most other rustic-work, should be 
made of red cedar poles, prepared by trimming 
off the twigs and branches, and leaving the bark 
as entire as possible. The ends are to be cut 
smooth and slightly rounded or pointed, to shed 
rain. “ Figure 1, is a gate large enough to allow 
of the passage of carts; it is made of poles of 
from three to five inches in diameter. The two 
long pieces should be mortised into the uprights. 
Fig. 3. 
and the cross pieces maybe bolted on, the heads 
and nuts of the holts being counter-sunk. Fig-; 
ures 3 and 3, are small gates, made in the same 
way. When neatly constructed, they are both 
pretty and durable. Figure 4, is a double gate 
with a roof. This is a rather novel form of gate, 
but is quite easily aud cheaply built. The ends 
Fig. 4. 
are two posts placed about two feet apart; upon 
these a light roof with very wide projecting 
eaves is built, and supported by the cross braces 
which are bolted into the uprights. Between the 
uprights on each side is placed a shorter post, 
upon which the gates swing. The roof may be 
covered either with thatch or with cedar poles 
placed close together. If thatched with straw, 
wheat or rye will answer the best. A light pole 
must be placed a little 
above the eaves on each 
side, and held in place 
by three or four stones 
to keep the thatch 
smooth. In a hedge 
where there are a few 
tall trees, this roof has 
a very pleasing effect, 
and would add much 
to the appearance of a 
country place, besides preserving the gate 
from injury by the action of the weather.” 
- <— - 
The Seventeen-Year locust. 
(.Cicada septendccini). 
In the middle of June, as we drove into the 
grounds of a friend in Western Pennsylvania; 
we were quite surprised to hear, as we sup¬ 
posed, the sound of a threshing machine, and 
asked what they were threshing. “It is the 
locusts in the orchard,” was the reply; “ it is our 
locust year.” "We went to the orchard and 
found the trees filled with the insects, whose 
combined notes made a most remarkable din. 
It being the first time we ever happened to see 
Fig. 1. 
locusts in plenty, we watched their operations 
with much interest, and brought away specimens 
for illustration. Though called a “ locust,” the 
insect does not belong to the true locusts, but 
is a Cicada., or Harvest-fly, one species of which 
is common every year, though it does not ap¬ 
pear in great numbers. The insect lays its eggs 
in little excavations made in the twigs of forest 
and fruit trees. The cavity is made obliquely, 
by means of a piercer, and from 15 to 20 eggs 
are deposited in it; then another cavity is made, 
and so on, until the insect has deposited be¬ 
tween four aud five hundred eggs. The appear¬ 
ance of the nests is shown in fig. 1, The twigs 
thus perforated bi-eak off and fall to the ground, 
where in a few weeks the insect is hatched, or 
they may be hatched upon the tree and fall to 
the ground. The j’^^oung insect is provided with 
very strong fore-legs, with which" it bur¬ 
rows its way into the earth, where it lives 
for the remarkably long period of seven¬ 
teen }"ears in the grub state, living upon 
roots, not very far below the surface. The 
grubs slowly increase in size, aud as the 
termination of their lengthy probation ap¬ 
proaches, they gradually work towards 
day-light, making long and smooth cy¬ 
lindrical burrows that finally terminate at 
the surface. They issue at night in such 
numbers that the ground is completely 
honey-combed by their perforations. 
When they leave the earth they are still 
grubs, or rather pupas, and they imme¬ 
diately proceed to cast off the soiled suit 
they have so long worn in their subter¬ 
ranean life; it is no little effort for them 
to get rid of their old clothes. They 
climb upon bushes and the trunks of trees, or 
any other convenient place for making their 
toilet, and fasten themselves by means of their 
claws. After 
some strug¬ 
gling the jacket 
opens at the 
back, and the 
insect pulls it¬ 
self out of its 
garment, which 
is left standing 
entire, save the 
rent through which its wearer escaped, (fig. 2). 
After the insect has stretched and dried itself, 
it goes to join its companions. Fig. 3 gives the 
perfect locust of the natural size. It resembles 
our common Harvest-fly in shape, but is more 
slender, its wings and body are marked with 
orange, and it has prominent red eyes. Near 
the tips of the wings there is a dusky line shaped 
much like the letter W, which has been con¬ 
sidered by the superstitious to indicate war. 
The insects probably do much damage iu the 
grub state to the roots of plants, and in their 
perfect condition the injury they cause to forest 
and fruit trees in perforating their twigs in the 
Fig. 3. 
manner already described, is considerable. 
They appear at only long intervals, and then 
in such astonishing numbers that any effort 
to destroy them would seem of no avail 
Lime vs. Phosphate.-— “ T. W.,” of Lan¬ 
caster Co., Pa., asks : “ Which is the cheapest 
fertilizer. Lime at 24 cts. per bushel, or Eaw 
bone phosphate, at $60 per ton ?” With the 
same propriety we might ask him, ‘ Which is the 
most economical beef at 20 cts. per pound, or 
cotton sheetings, at 30 cts. per yard ? ’—The two 
fertilizers named are entirely different in their 
action and uses in the soil. If they would both 
produce a similar increase in the crops, then the 
lime applied this fall and the superphosphate or 
bone-dust,applied upon spring crops,would prob¬ 
ably give much better results. There are soils 
much benefited by lime, on which, after a while, 
it ceases to produce the same good effects. On 
such soils phosphoric acid is probably needed. 
Fig. 1. 
