KITCHEN 
LIBRARY 
PARLOR 
TERMS. $3.00 PER YEAR.] 
‘PROGRESS -AJNTD IMPEOYEMENT.” 
[SINGLE NO. TEN CENTS 
VOL. xvn. NO. 21 .| 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, MAY 26, 1866. 
[WHOLE NO. 863. 
ESTABLISHED IN 1S30. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AM 0BT6IKAL WXXKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
with a Corp« of Able AMl.ta.it. and Contributor*. 
HENRY S. RANDALL, LL, D., 
Editor or the Department of Sheep Husbandry. 
HON. T. C. PETERS, 
Late Pres’t N. Y. State Ag. Soo’y, Southern Cor. Editor. 
Vf Fob Titsva and other particulars see last page. 
THE NEW POTATO BUG. 
We condense the following account of this 
new pest to farmers from an article in the Prac¬ 
tical Entomologist, by B. D. Walsh. This new 
and destructive enemy of the potato has spread, 
within the last live years, from Colorado and 
Nebraska eastward into Iowa, and within the 
last year and a half has crossed into Illinois and 
Wisconsin; whence, in course of time, it will 
probably travel to the Atlantic, establishing 
itself permanently wherever it goes, and pushing 
eastward at the rate of about, fifty miles a year. 
Hitherto noxious insects have spread fYora east 
to west in the United States, and this is the first 
instance on record of one traveling from the 
west towards the east. 
But, it will be asked, where does this insect 
come from ? And how does it happen that it 
did not trouble the Iowa farmers before 1861, 
and the Illinois farmers before 1864? Unlike 
several other noxious insects, it is not a general 
feeder, but is confined to plants belonging to the 
botanical family Solanaceie, and especially to the 
genus Selenium, which Includes the potato, the 
tomato, the egg-plant, and a weed called the 
horse-nettle, found more usually In the South¬ 
ern States, but which also grows in certain 
localities in Iowa. In 1864, Dr. Veub, the 
ornithologist of Rock Island, Ill., and Dr. 
Parry, the botanist of Davenport, la., both saw 
this insect in very great number* in Colorado, 
feeding upon a wild species of Solatium —the m- 
tratum of Dctva l— which is peculiar to that region 
of country, and is not found east of the Missis- 
elppi River. Assuming, therefore, that this 
wild Solanum is the natural food of the lusect, 
and that the region of country bordering on the 
Rocky Mountains is its natural home, its range 
would for a long series of years be limited by the 
range of the plant that it feeds on. But in pro¬ 
cess of time civilization marched up to the Rocky 
Mountains—potatoes were planted in Kansas and 
Nebraska aud Colorado — and the insect discov¬ 
ered that one species of Solarium was about as 
palatable as another. Having thus acquired a 
taste for potato leaves, it would naturally spread 
eastward from potato patch to potato patch, till 
it overspread Iowa and finally overleaped the 
Mississippi into Illluois. In confirmation of 
this theory, R. W. Hazes of Fremont, Dodge 
Co., Nebraska, says that “ the potato bug which 
is so destructive in that region was first discov¬ 
ered in 1850, about 100 miles west of Omaha City, 
whence they have been marching eastward aunu- 
a %” From Omaha City to Rock Island is over 
*00 miles; so that, if the above statement be 
correct, it appears that the insect has traveled 
about 360 miles in six years, or at the average 
rate of sixty miles a year. At this rate of pro¬ 
gress it will reach the Atlantic in about fourteen 
years. 
The new potato hug is not what naturalists 
call a bug, but a true beetle, belonging to the 
Order Cok'jptera or Shelly-wings , and is rather 
more than one-third of an inch long, of so short 
an oval shape as to be almost as round as a 
grape, and cream-colored with ten black llntB or 
stripes placed lengthways on its back. Its wings 
are rose-colored and present a beautiful appear¬ 
ance as it files. AVe may call it in English “ the 
ten-striped spearman,” which is the meaning of 
the scientific name given to it The above is 
the appearance presented by the perfect or 
winged insect, when its wings arc hid under its 
wing-cases; but iu the lam or immature state, 
it is a soft, elongate, fi legged grub, of a dull, 
venetian-red color with several black spots,/but 
without any wings, of course. There are four 
or five successive broods of them during the 
summer, and the larvaof each brood goes under¬ 
ground to assume the pupa state. One who 
was the first to watch this insect through all its 
states, says that his specimens “ hatched on the 
14th of June and came out as perfect insects on 
the 10th of July, thus being scarcely a month 
going through all their changes." 
No practical remedies against this insect are 
known. Hand-picking is recommended', but 
what farmer could baud-pick ten acres, if 
thickly infested, much less fifty or one hundred. 
Lime and ashes dusted on the tops arc useless, 
and even coal oil and turpentine have been tried 
and found “ of no more use than so much water, 
as they soon evaporate." Turkeys will destroy 
great numbers of them; but it Is to their natu¬ 
ral enemies, the lady-bugs ( Coceinellidee) we must 
look for the most efficient help. Hitherto the 
potato has comparatively been free from the 
depredations of insects, aud it would be a 
serious blow to the farmers in the potato dis¬ 
tricts of the Eastern and Middle States if this 
pest should come upon the crop. 
CHEAP PAINTS FOR FENCES AND OUT¬ 
BUILDINGS. 
Farmers and others are frequently deterred 
from painting their fences and buildings, by the 
expensiveness of lead and oil, and the labor of 
mixing and spreading the paint. Sometime* 
the objects to be colored are somewhat old and 
dilapidated, and it is hardly considered worth 
while to expend much money In improving their 
external appearance. Cheap washes and paints, 
that may be mixed and applied by any one, 
would be useful in such cases, and we present 
our readers with some good recipes, derived 
from various authorities: 
Take a bushel of well burnt lime, white and 
unslaked; 30 pounds of 8panish whiting, 17 
pounds of rock salt, aud 13 pounds of brown 
sugar. Slake the lime and sift out auy eoarec 
lumps and mix it into a good whitewash with 
about 40 gallons of water, and then add the 
other ingredients, and stir the whole together 
thoroughly, and put on two or three coats with 
a common brush. This Is a cheap paint. Five 
dollars’ wort!) ought to make the buildings look 
a hundred dollars worth better. This makes a 
coat that does not wash off, or easily rub off, 
atul it looks well, while it will go far to preserve 
the wood. It is, therefore, especially adapted to 
the outside of buildings that arc exposed to the 
weather. Three coats are needed on brick aud 
two on wood. If you want to get a fine cream 
color, add three pounds of yellow ochre to the 
above. If you prefer a fawn color, add four 
pounds of umber, one pound ol'Indian red, and 
one poqnd of lamp-black. If you want a gray 
or stone color, add four pounds of raw umber 
aud two pounds of lamp-black. This will be 
more durable than common whitewash. 
The following cheap and excellent paint for 
cottages is recommended by Dowsrso. It forms 
a hard surface, and is far more durable than 
common paint. It will be found preferable to 
common paint for picturesque country houses 
of all kinds : 
Take freshly-burned unslakcd lime and reduce 
it to powder. To one peck or one bushel of this 
add the same quantity of line white sand or fine 
coal ashes, aud twice as much fresh wood ashes, 
all these beiog silted through a flue sieve. They 
should then be thoroughly mixed together while 
dry. Afterward mix them with as much com¬ 
mon linseed oil as will make the whole thin 
enough to work freely with a painter’s brush. 
This will make a paint, of light gray stone color, 
nearly white. To make it lawn or drab, add 
yellow ochre and Iudiun red; if drab is desired, 
add burnt umber, Indian red, and a little black; 
if dark stone color, add lamp black; or if brown 
stone, then add tipauish brown. AH these colors 
should, of course, be first mixed lu oil and then 
added. This paint is much cheaper than com¬ 
mon oil paint. It 1 b equally well suited to 
wood, brick, or stone, it j s better to apply it 
in two coats; the first tliln, the second thick. 
— — 1 - 1 » » ■» - 
MANURING P0TAT0E8 IN THE HILL. 
If it were not for the amount of labor required 
we should manure all hoed crop*in the hill or 
row. We are convinced that mature applied in 
this way i3 of far more use to ttw crop than 
when spread broadcast. If near, or n the hill 
(not directly in contact with the see<',) it i n ! 
vigorates the young plant aud it gets prosper¬ 
ously started early in the season. Tafie a kill of 
corn, for example, and suppose that the coars* 
j manure has been carelessly spread; the bulk ol it 
may be nearer to the middle of the row than to 
the plants it 13 designed to benefit. In this case, 
how long will it take for the corn roots to ex¬ 
tend and appropriate the nutriment ? But wo 
started to note the experience and practice of a 
successful potato grower, for the benefit of our 
readers. It has been his invariable practice, 
during a long series of trials willi this crop, to 
manure in the hill; and the result was he raised 
large crops and got rich. After the potatoes 
were planted it was his custom to load the barn¬ 
yard manure on a wagou, drive into the field and 
put a forkfull on each hill. When the plants first 
appeared he hoed them, drawing up the fresh 
dirt aud covering the manure. By this practice 
the manure was made to serve as a mulch as well 
as a fertilizer. Wo have no doubt but. that the 
farmer derived enough extra benefit from this 
method of applying the manure, to compensate 
him for the increased labor. 
VARIOUS TOPICS DISCUSSED. 
Proper Depth for Plowing. 
All crops grown on land of the same quality 
do not require an equal depth of plowing. If 
sod ground be turned for corn, It should ouly be 
plowed deep enough loget a rich, warm, mellow 
seed-bed. The subsoil should not be thrown to 
the surface to plant the com in. lint subsoil 
plowing may be resorted to with profit, for that 
pulverizes the subsoil deep, admitting air and 
moisture, but does not bring It to the top, or 
mix it with the surface mold. If spring grain is 
to follow the corn, the next plowing should be 
deeper than the first one,— deep enough to 
bring to the surface the docayed sod and an 
inch ol the subsoiL to mix with it. These make 
a fresh, fertile seed-bed for the spring grain. If 
wheat succeeds the spring grain, the plowing for 
itshould be deep and thorough. No matter how 
deep. That is the opportunity to mingle the 
subsoil and top soil, and permanently deepen 
the seed-bed. The latter part of summer and 
the early autumn, Is the time of year when the 
land Is most benefited by deep plowing, and ol 
all grain crops, wheat, perhaps, demands the 
deepest preparation of the soil. And this deep 
plowing for wheat brings soil to the surface that 
is fresh for the crop to start in. The grass seed 
will be sown in this; it.will become a turf, grow ' 
dark in color, and when the field Is ready to 
break up again, this top Roll will have become 
rich mold. This Is the proper method of plow¬ 
ing, with the object of gradually deepening our 
eoll, by exposing It to the action of the air, light, 
plants and manures. 
Doves as Farm Stock. 
Iu many portions of France it is said to be 
the practice of land holders to make It a con¬ 
dition <n their leases to tenants, that they shall 
provide a pigeon-house, or dove cate, and keep 
it well stocked with these bkds. The reason for 
the condition is that these birds do a great 
amount of good In eating up the seeds of nox¬ 
ious plants, such as chess, cockle, and the like. 
They do not feed on well grown gnin when they 
can find that which la shriveled, as well as the 
seeds of weeds and grasses. Tiey are busy 
workers among the offal of the karn-yurd, but, 
do not, like the barn yard fowls, scratch up gar¬ 
dens and play the mischief gene-ally. It is a 
general remark among French fa mers, that in 
districts where the pigeon Is the most abundant 
there the wheat fields arc the clemest and the 
crops the most prolific. 
A Remedy for the Hop-Louso. 
Mr. F. W. Collins of this city, gives us 
the following remedy for the hop-louse, which 
he has confidence will prove successful 11 Soup 
suds as strong as left from an ordinary washing; 
add salt and saltpetre to make it a weak brine, 
not strong enough lor a pickle for meats, as that I 
might injuire the plant; one pound of copperas 
to five gallons of liquid. All thee Ingredients 
are healthy for the plants If not too strong, and 
safe for the party applying it Another wash is 
used In some parts of England. One ol my 
agents in Canterbury, whose son arrived here 
recently, has sent me the following remedy for 
lice and fleas: — 20 lbs. coarse tobacco soaked 
In 20 gallons of water for three days; if the 
liquid is too thick reduce it by adding water. 
I tbink a little salt and copperas would make it 
more sure In this climate, and would render It 
effectual if applied to worui 3 on our currant 
bushes. 
The hop plants of America have suffered 
severely the past year from vermin on the vine, 
In some eases au entire failure resulted; in others 
FARM 1 lOTTSK OR RURAL COTTAGE. 
The accompanying plan of a Farm House, or 
perhaps more properly speaking Rural Cottage, 
was awarded one of the premiums which we 
offered some years ago for the best designs for 
rural residences. There are many farms on 
which such a building would be very 'desirable, 
and wo think thousands of our readers will 
examine the plan wltU interest. The house 
was built and Is owned by Mr. Wm. 8. Edgar 
of Jacksonville, Illinois. 
The outside appearance U attractive, light and 
pleasant, and not over-ornamented—a great fault 
with many modern bouses. The rooms arc large 
and conveniently arranged. Every room of the 
ground floor is pleasant enough for a parlor or a 
living-room. 
The great defect of the house, in the opinion 
of many, would be that it contains no bed-room 
on the lower floor. Such a room Is needed, in 
case of sickness, and is convenient, but difficult 
perhaps to obtain without reducing the size of 
the rooms, or destroying the arrangement. We 
know of no better way of arranging thiB matter 
than converting the Library into a bed room, 
and occupying one of the bed-rooms an the 
Bccond floor for a Library. We know of no 
objection to this chfthge; indeed, we think, in 
many respects, an upper room the best adapted 
for a Library, as Its Occupant is more retired and 
more secure from interruption, and less likely 
to bo disturbed by the noise of children or the 
performance of tho ordinary household duties. 
Ground Plon — Ti. R., Dining-Room, IS feet 0 inches 
by 15 feet; l’arlirr, 18-9 by 14—6; Library, 15 by 
14-6; Kitchen, 12-6 by 18-6; Wash-Room, 12 by 
8; Hall 6-5 In width. 
-—— -|- 
the crop was lessened more than half. A remedy 
becomcB of great importance. This remedy 1 
saw applied in England lust summer, and under¬ 
stood that it wub used extensively with great 
success; they certainly obtained a large crop. I 
wish to put it In the hands of all our hop grow¬ 
ers. It Is very easily applied to the vines train* d 
on stakes and twiue, where only seven feet high, 
by a syringe. It requires a force pump to put 
It to the top of long poles, say twenty feet or 
over, and much of the liquid is wasted, and the 
labor greatly increased.” 
— 
Crystalized Maple 8ugar, 
William S. Elliot, Howard Co., Indiana, 
has sent us the finest specimens of crystalized 
maple sugar we ever saw. The crystals arc 
large, and havo tho appearance of rock candy. 
Mr. E. states In his letter that tho crystals Were 
produced from maple syrup made in 18(55, ami 
sealed up iu stone jars. During the following I 
summer the jars were opened and the product, 
which ho sent us was found in the bottom. We 
have observed the same result when treating 
maple sirup lu a similar way. 
Mr. E. asks us why the sugar maple is called 
a bush in the Eastern States. We can inform 
him that the term bush is applied to tho sugar 
orchard, and not to individual trees. He like¬ 
wise state's that thero are t wo varieties of ma¬ 
ples recognized, and tapped for sugar making in 
Indiana; one, the white, or rough bark, which 
Second Story — A, Bed-Room, 14 feet 5 inches by 11 
feet 9 inches; B, Chamber, IS—9 by 15—; C, C, 
Halls; D, Bed-Room, 9-6 by 11; E, Betl-Room, 
14—0 by 11; F, Servants' Bed-Room, 12-0 by 14—6; 
G, Passage, 3—0 In width. 
grows to an Immense size, but is not tenacious 
of life, and declines rapidly if tapped annually, 
and the other, known as tho black maple, which 
endures working much longer. Mr. E. gives 
the dimensions of one maple in his “bush” 
which was cul eight years ago, and now meas¬ 
ures on the ground as follows: — Circumference 
of stump three feet from the ground, without 
the bark, eleven feet six inches, height to the 
mala fork seventy fleet, extreme height of the 
tree one hundred and ten feet. One of his trees, 
three feet in diameter, with a bushy top, gave 
twenty -four gallons of sup i“ forty-eight hours, 
from one spile. These Item* are 11 hard to beat.” 
Whitewash for Onc-Buiidinga. 
In response t0 an inquiry for the best white¬ 
wash for barn* and out-buildings, tho Massac’ 
seft* Plon.- htnun says“ Take a bushel of . : 
burnt Nine, white and unslaked, 20 pounds of 
SpitNlsh whiting, seventeen pounds of rock salt, 
pud 13 pounds of brown Bugar. Slack tho lime 
and sift out any coarse lumps and mix H into a 
good whitewash with about forty gallons of 
water, and then add the other ingredients and 
stir the whole together thoroughly, and put on 
two or three coats with ft common brush.” 
To make a cream color add to the above three 
pounds of yellow ochre; a fawn color four 
pounds umber, one pound of Indian red aud one 
of lampblack; if a gray or stone color add four 
pounds of raw umber and two of lampblack. 
