A CHAPTER ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS. 
219 
A CHAPTER ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS. 
As I receive the different numbers of your 
journal, from month to month, I am reminded 
of a story once told me by a friend on the 
Mississippi River, of a Kentuckian, who, while 
travelling along a lonely road on horseback, 
came suddenly to a cross road, where he saw 
about a dozen men engaged in a promiscuous 
“ scrimmageand, after trying a few minutes to 
find out what was going on, he remarked to the 
crowd, “As this seems to be a free fight, I’ll 
have a hand in it,” and jumped into the midst 
of them, hitting right and left, without any 
further ceremony. 
As you have reminded your subscribers that 
the Agriculturist is a free field, I shall have 
something to say from time to time, upon what 
I may note in its pages, provided you think 
your columns cannot be more profitably occu¬ 
pied. 
The amount of green corn fodder grown in 
England, stated in your January number, as 
being questionable, is not so very much beyond 
the amount raised in South Carolina, (see Allen’s 
Farm Book, p. 154,) as to cause any reasonable 
doubt of its truth. The time, I think, cannot be 
far off, when this grain will be extensively 
grown in England, for soiling. 
The species of silkworm to which you allude 
in your March number may be useful for the 
coarser kinds of silk fabrics, such as handker¬ 
chiefs, &c.; but they never will answer for 
ladies’ dresses, the silk resembling tow, more 
than anything else. If any one here, seems 
disposed to go into the business, he need not 
send to New Orleans, as all the species quoted, 
(except Bombyx laocoon, which is from Bar¬ 
bary,) are very abundant about New York, 
living on the oak, sassafras, &c. We have, 
also, the Bombyx regalis, B. imperialis, and 
many more; but the larvae are as long as the 
finger, very repulsive in their appearance, and 
the cocoons as large as a hen’s egg. They may 
answer for some purposes, but never can com¬ 
pete with the common silkworm, (Bombyx mori,) 
for ordinary silk fabrics. 
I would like to see the person who put the 
article in the same number, about Jerusalem 
artichokes. I have been in the habit for some 
years of keeping a large number of fowls, and, 
in the winter, feeding them on boiled potatoes 
and artichokes. After boiling, the water was 
always poured off into a pail, a few handfuls of 
bran thrown into it, and then given to the cow. 
She seemed to relish it, and as she has had the 
same for three years, it must be a very sloio poi¬ 
son indeed. The root, if well boiled, appears to 
be as good as the potato for cattle; but never 
having fed it raw, I cannot say how they would 
relish it. It is a most valuable root, and too 
much overlooked, but is almost impossible to 
eradicate from the soil, when it has got a good 
footing. 
The article on the cause of the “ yellows” in 
the peach, in the May number, is interesting, 
but erroneous as to its conclusions, for several 
reasons. One is, that the disease has never 
been recognised in Europe, notwithstanding the 
quantities of American peach trees that have 
been sent there, nor is it now known scarcely, 
on the rich lands of the west, nor was it known 
in this neighborhood twenty or thirty years 
ago ; whereas, every naturalist knows that the 
different species of xylophagous or wood-eating 
insects are found wherever the peculiar tree 
which they inhabit, is found, without regard to 
its location. Thus, I have met with the same 
species of bostrichus, hylurgus, &c., in the pine 
woods of Vermont, Virginia, Minesota, and I have 
received them from Oregon and California. 
Considerable observation has led me to believe 
that the disease is a constitutional taint, arising 
from poor soil, the want of pruning, and good 
cultivation, for in no other way can we account 
for the disease being unknown in Europe. If 
the tormicus is the cause, it would certainly 
have been introduced long ago, and become as 
destructive there, as here. 
I cannot drop this subject without expressing 
a hope that we shall often hear from Miss Mor¬ 
ris, as it is only by close investigation, that we 
can ascertain the causes of many of the mys¬ 
terious diseases of fruit trees, and vegetables, 
and every laborer in the cause, increases the 
prospect of success, especially when the inves¬ 
tigator brings to her aid, the assistance of a good 
knowledge of entomology. 
The article on the baridius in the previous 
number is quite an addition to our stock of en¬ 
tomological knowledge, as the perfect insects 
are generally found in marshy places, on flow¬ 
ers, &c., and not supposed to be injurious to us. 
As I must have a “ hit ” at the “ Captain,” let 
me ask him whether he “ guessed ” M. H. Morris 
to be the signature of a lady. Hold up your 
head, and speak like a man Captain. You are 
not backward in poking your jokes at everybody, 
and must not take offence if you get some in 
return. Agricola. 
Elizabethtown , N. J., June, 1850. 
WIRE FENCE. 
One of the correspondents of the Prairie 
Farmer states that one ton of No. 8 wire costs 
$120 in New York, and will make a mile and a 
quarter of fence, sufficient against cattle and 
horses, and that he made fence of this sort at 
LaVaca, Texas, for $200 a mile. He does not 
state what kind of posts he used. But if he 
made a fence for 62£ cents a rod, or less than 
four cents a foot, sufficient to stop cattle, there 
is no difficulty in fencing the great western 
prairies. 
It is calculated that wire one eighth of an 
inch diameter, drawn tight, will sustain 750 lbs. 
To prevent animals from jumping or running 
against wire fences, it is recommended to paint 
the whole white. Some persons put a wooden 
strip on top, which effectually prevents animals 
from unwittingly running against it, which is 
the greatest danger it is in, of being broken. 
The wire should be annealed, and of course 
will last longer if oiled or painted, and so ar¬ 
ranged in the fence, by some simple contrivance, 
as to keep tight. Perhaps the plan designed in 
our las’t volume, to overcome contraction and 
• expansion, is as good as any other. 
