178 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[June, 
hands, he uses a pair of wooden nippers of 2 
inch stuff, 3 feet long, with teeth fitting into 
each other. This will exterminate them if prop¬ 
erly followed up. Where they are very numer¬ 
ous it would be a tedious undertaking. 
Precautions Against the Weather. 
Science has not yet enabled man either to cer¬ 
tainly predict or to change the weather. Al¬ 
though in general, the succession of the seasons, 
seed time and harvest, are guaranteed by the Al¬ 
mighty Ruler, yet they are not alike propitious 
to all localities. At times the North is blasted 
with untimely frosts, while the South is fervid 
with sunshine; the East may be parched with 
drouth, while the West is rejoicing in refreshing 
showers. But the cultivator may do something 
to provide himself against such contingencies. 
First, by a mixed husbandry. If corn be stinted 
by continued rain, the grass in meadow and 
pasture will grow with unwonted luxuriance, 
and what is lost in the plowed field may be 
found in the cattle yard and the hay mow. He 
who depends upon wheat alone may grow rich 
if the snows of Winter and the rains of Summer 
are propitious, but he may also lose all when 
the seasons change their aspect, and are unfa¬ 
vorable. Thousands have paid a heavy price 
for the experience by which this lesson has been 
learned, and no longer trust to a single crop. 
Draining is a most efficient regulator by 
which to counterbalance in some measure the 
effect of wayward seasons. If there be too 
great rain-fall, the water speedily finds an out¬ 
let from the roots which it would otherwise 
drown. If drouth occur, the porous soil is en¬ 
abled to draw moisture from beneath, and also 
condense it from the air which can enter from 
above. Corn on a well drained field will pass 
safely through a soak or a drouth which would 
diminish, by one-third, the yield from an un¬ 
drained compact soil. Frequent stirring of the 
soil, keeping it loose and light, is of paramount 
importance, especially in drouth. The rapid 
evaporation which goes on at the surface under 
such circumstances, cools the adjacent air, and 
causes it to deposit copious dew, and moisture 
from below will also be drawn upward to sup¬ 
ply the wilting plants. If in addition to this, 
mulching be practicable, to prevent the too rapid 
escape of moisture,drouth may be resisted, for a 
lengthened period. This may be done in the 
garden and fruit yard, and to some extent in the 
corn-field, where straw or refuse hay is plenty. 
It is less easy to keep grass lands in heart dur¬ 
ing drouth, and other measures should be re¬ 
sorted to where the stock of cattle is large, and 
the amount of pasture and meadow only just 
sufficient to carry them through a favorable sea¬ 
son. A field of corn or millet should be sown 
the present month, to be cut and fed green in 
August and September. The latter plant resists 
drouth even better than corn, and an acre will 
yield a supply for several head of cattle during 
the period when drouths are most frequently 
injurious to pastures. There need be no loss, 
if the crop be not wanted to supply Summer 
deficiency. A feed from the soiling patch at 
night will make itself felt in the milk pail in 
the morning, and what can not be profitably 
used in this manner can be cured and used to 
advantage in Winter. There is always less 
difficulty in disposing of superabundance of feed, 
than in eking out a short supply, and the wise 
husbandman will endeavor to err on the safe 
side, if at all. 
Cultivating Orchards. 
It is a question much discussed of late, wheth¬ 
er or no orchards should be plowed and ma¬ 
nured and cropped. We have' seen orchards 
both old and young, cultivated to their injury. 
If an old orchard is plowed deep, it is quite sure 
to tear up and break the roots; and this will be 
followed by blight and stunted growth. If a 
young orchard is plowed carelessly, not only 
will the roots of trees be injured, but the bark 
will be bruised by the whiffletrees, and the trees 
themselves be gnawed and~ trampled on by the 
horses. An old orchard can be plowed shallow, 
and little harm come from it; but as a general 
rule, the plow should be kept outside of its 
boundaries. If the land needs enriching and 
re-seeding, scarify the surface with a harrow, 
and give a dressing of old manure, scattering the 
seed where it is wanted. 
A young orchard not only can be plowed 
safely, but it absolutely requires cultivation. 
One might about as well throw his young trees 
into the street at first, as to set them out in 
tough sward, and let them so remain. Perhaps 
most of them will manage to live, buf they can 
not thrive. Plow the land properly, manure it 
well, keep the surface hoed clean of weeds and 
grass for six feet around every tree, and it will 
make more progress in one year, than a grass- 
bound tree would in three or four. This is no 
mere speculation; the experience of every year 
proves it. As the trees become large, and the 
roots ramify, let the plow be gradually with¬ 
drawn. 
The Scale on Apple Trees. 
Mr. Hardy, of Chenango Co., N. Y., has sent 
us a specimen of apple tree bark completely 
covered with the scale insect, and numerous oth¬ 
er readers of the Agriculturist have written us 
concerning its depredations upon 
their trees, asking for a remedy. 
The insect is believed to have 
been imported from Europe, and 
is especially troublesome at the 
West, the section from which 
most of our complaints are re¬ 
ceived. The figure will give an 
idea of the appearance of the 
insect at the present season. 
The natural size is from l-10th 
to l-8th of an inch, and they 
are frequently so numerous as to 
cover every portion of the trunk and limbs. The 
shape of the scale is so much like that of an oyster 
that it is sometimes called the “ Oyster-shaped 
Bark-louse.” It is known by Entomologists as 
the Coccus conch,iformis , and Aspidotus conchiformis , 
the specific name— conchiformis , meaning shell¬ 
shaped. These scales contain the female, which 
dies after depositing her eggs. The eggs, which 
may be seen by carefully lifting the scale, are 
hatched late in May . or early in June. The 
young insects are very minute; they move about 
for some days and then settle down and insert 
then 1 proboscis or sucker into the bark, from 
which they draw their sustenance, and acquire 
their hard coat or shell. The females never 
leave the shell, but the males come out as small 
flies and have wings. These being, in brief, the 
habits of the insect, it will be seen that they can 
only be successfully destroyed soon after they 
are hatched, and before they acquire their hard 
and impervious scale. Various preparations 
have been recommended for their destruction; 
Harris advises the use of two parts of soft soap 
with eight of water, to which lime enough is to 
be added to bring the mixture to the consistence 
of whitewash. This is painted over the trees 
early in June, covering every limb and twig as 
far as possible. Mr. Kimball of Wisconsin, 
trims the trees thoroughly and then applies, with 
a paint brush, a mixture made by boiling leaf 
tobacco with strong lye, until it is reduced to a. 
pulp, and then mixing with soft soap to form a 
paint-like compound. Mr. Smith, of Connecti¬ 
cut, uses a decoction of tobacco, aloes and soft 
soap, applied with a syringe. Prof. Glover, of 
the Agricultural Department at Washington, 
informs us that he succeeded in destroying a 
similar insect upon the Orange trees in Florida, 
by syringing them with a wash of soft soap, 
water, and a little guano. Another says that 
the use of mackerel-brine will prove effectual 
in destroying them. This insect has its na¬ 
tural enemies which destroy great numbers of 
them, still its increase in some sections is alarm¬ 
ing ; it needs vigilance and care just at the right 
time. We would thank any of our readers who 
have had success in exterminating the scale, to 
give us their methods and the results. 
How to liaise Peaeh.es. 
It is a well known fact that peaches do not 
succeed as well as formerly. In addition to 
want of fruitfulness from the unpropitious 
seasons, the borers and yellows are making 
great havoc in many sections. Timely care and 
faithful labor will clear the trees from borers, 
but the “ doctors ” have not as yet found an “in¬ 
fallible specific” for the yellows. Of one thing, 
however, observing cultivators are pretty cer¬ 
tain, namely, that the disease is perpetuated by 
planting pits from unhealthy trees; and that too 
many nurserymen use no discrimination in the 
selection of seeds, we have evidence in the 
barrels of pits of all kinds collected in the 
streets of this city, and sold to planters. For 
aught the nurserymen know to the contrary, 
nine tenths of these pits were from unhealthy 
or diseased trees. To such, and to all who wish 
to raise their own trees, we commend the fol¬ 
lowing from the pen of Hon. Win. Parry of 
New-Jersey, in the Hammonton Farmer. 
“ The peach tree does best on new land, and 
seldom if ever will yield a crop where peach 
trees have grown before. There are trees on 
the light, new lands of Atlantic Co., N. J., over 
fifteen years of age, in a flourishing condition, 
bearing annual crops of fine fruit. The proper 
method of raising such trees is to save seed or 
pits from trees which are perfectly healthy, free 
from yellows, borers, and all other defects that 
would tend to weaken the constitution of the 
parent stock. The pits should be planted in 
Autumn, and covered with two inches of sand, 
so as to allow them to freeze and thaw during 
the Winter. In the following Spring, about 
two thirds of them will open their shells, and 
the kernels may be picked out and planted in 
mellow land suitable for corn or potatoes, in 
rows four feet apart and six to eight inches in 
the row. They should be kept clean and well 
cultivated until the latter part of Summer, when 
they are in a suitable condition to bud with de¬ 
sirable sorts, selecting buds from healthy trees. 
The young trees should be left to grow one 
Summer after budding, in the nursery rows, and 
the next Spring be set out on good mellow soil 
prepared as for corn, which crop may properly 
be grown among the trees the first year after 
setting out. In planting the trees, mark out 
the land in squares, twenty feet each way, by 
