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[ SINCfjL.K jSTO. FIVE 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR TTIE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, JULY 11,1863 
MOOEE'S EDEAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEKltLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
I clip the accompanying engraving from the 
paper above named. It is a drawing, by Mr. W., 
of a section of an apple-twig, containing numer¬ 
ous eggs <yf those leaf-hoppers inserted in little 
slits which are cut by tho piercer (or ovipositor) 
of tho insects, through the bark into the sap-wood, 
as described above. The following explanation 
of it is from the pen of Mr. Walsh : 
__ “ A B sho ws the twig in its nat- 
ural state with the bark on ; 13 C, 
BM a portion with tho bark peeled 
gw | off, with numerous slits, contain- 
H from seven to ten eggs, and D 
m Pa is one of tho slits sufficiently mag- 
nM nitied to exhibit the manner in 
tUfa i which the eggs are arranged. The 
eggs themselves are oval, flattish, 
and whitish, and are placed half 
M'ut in the sapwood and half in the 
bark, so that on peeling oil' the 
• W ? hark they can be easily seen with 
any common lens. Tho edges of 
Wf.l ij| the slits on the outside hark are 
‘■ w J* rough and scaly, and when two 
slits have been mado Close to each other, they run 
together and form a wider scar-like wound, as 
shown in the figure between A and B. All 
round each slit the sapwood is brown and dis¬ 
colored, no doubt from the action of some pois¬ 
onous fluid injected along with the egg by the 
parent leaf-hopper.” 
I also cut from the same paper the following 
engravings of tho two species of iettiyonius to 
which Mr. Walsh attributes the cause of the 
“tire-blight.” They are from drawings made by 
himself. 
cause the leaf to curl up near so much as the 
plant-louse of the apple tree. 
5. “'Wherever the beak of these leaf-hoppers 
penetrates, there the leaf turns brawn and with¬ 
ers; on tho contrary, although the apple tree leaf 
which has been badly sucked by plant-lice, has a 
blackish, unhealthy appearance, yet it is still 
alive on parts of its surface, and contains no dead 
spots or patches. Why two insects of nearly the 
same size and belonging to different families of 
the same great order, (Homoptera,) both of 
which live by sticking their beaks into vegetation 
and pumping out the sap, should produce such 
very different results, is one of those unex¬ 
plained phenomena of which we can at present 
only guess at the reasons. The fact itself has 
not, I believe, been hitherto animadverted upon 
by any other Naturalist. 
“There is unother way in which leaf-hoppers 
injure trees much more than plant-lice to which 
attention has never yet been specially directed, so 
far as I umaware. The female plant-louse has no 
piercer (or horny ovipositor) at the extremity of 
her abdomen, and she. therefore, deposits her 
eggs on the general surface of the twigs; in the 
case of the apple tree plant-louse, attaching them 
so loosely by a kind of cotton web, that the rains 
wash them all off from the upper side. The 
female leaf-hoppers, on the contrary, have a long, 
horny, sword-shaped ovipositor beneath the ab¬ 
domen, (Fig. VII, profile,) with which, as Nature 
makes nothing in vain, there is every reason to 
believ e that they penetrate the bark of the young 
twigs to deposite their eggs therein. It is true 
that, from their smallness and excessive shyness 
and agility, no naturalist has actually witnessed 
the operation; but in the alterei 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With « Orp* of Able A«*l*t»int« ond Contributor*. 
CHAS. D. BRAGDON, Western Corresponding Editor, 
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137“ For Terms and other particulars, geo last page, 
“FIRE-BUGI1T ” IN PEARS AND APPLES. 
At a recent meeting of the Illinois Natural His¬ 
tory Society, its President, B. D. Walsh, Esq., of 
Rock Island, read an elaborate paper giving, in 
detail, the result of his observations aud experi¬ 
ments to solve the question as to the cause of 
“Fire-Blight” in the Pear and Apple. The 
whole? paper, though exceedingly interesting and 
valuable as a contribution to Science, is too long 
for your coin runs. By my request, therefore, the 
author has kindly furnished me with the follow¬ 
ing results, which he has arrived at, omitting the 
proofs of those results : 
1. “Fire-blight in the Apple and Pear is caus¬ 
ed by two species of leaf hoppers ( leltigonia) de¬ 
scribed by me, iu tho Prairie Farmer last year, 
as Chloroneura Malefica and CM Maligna. 
2. “ In the autumn these insects lay their egg, 
from 7 to 10 in number, in slits about I of an 
ineh long, cut lengthwise, iu tho bark of twigs 
and branches, and easily recognized by their 
scaly, rough appearance. They also pass the 
winter in large numbers in the perfect, or winged 
is presented to tho first pair of rollers, they seize 
it, rolling il backward and forward—less hack 
than forward — attacking the straw upon both 
sides, bending it up and down, breaking the 
woody portion very short, loosening the fiber 
entirely longitudinally, and, at the same time, 
shaking out from 00 to 70 per cent, of the shivo 
or woody part, leaving the liber in perfectly 
straight ribbons. The remaining skives being 
detached from the liber and perfectly loose, the 
llax requires but little scutching. Indeed, it 
may bo entirely cleaned by being shaken with 
the Imml. As regards Hemp, the machine leaven 
the fiber perfectly free from all woody mailer. 
But two persons are required to operate this 
machine, who may be boys or girls. One places 
tho straw on tho feed table, pushing it gently 
between the first pair of rollers, which seizes 
upon and carries it through tho machine, where 
it is received by the second person, gently 
shaken, and handed to the scutcher, if in a 
factory; or 11 on a farm, baled and sent to 
market. The fibers cleaned by this machine 
being all unbroken and uninjured, and each 
uajivumi a iUAL LORY 8 FORT ABLE llE.MP AM* 
Flax Dresser, represented in our engraving, is 
attracting much attention among flax and hemp 
growers and manufacturers. Quite a number of 
machines were thoroughly tested the past season, 
giving, as wo are advised, good satisfaction. 
During a recent visit to New York we called 
at the establishment of Messrs. S, & M. in order 
to see their machine and witness its operation. 
Though onr titno was limited, we saw both flux 
and hemp passed through the machine, and were 
surprised and pleased with the result. The ma¬ 
chine breaks liax with great rapidity and per¬ 
fectness, presenting the fibers parallel and 
unbroken —and Messrs. S. & M. claim that 
theiiH is the only brake in existence that will 
thus dress flax. We have samples of both 
American and Irish-grown flax dressed hv this 
il family of Cica¬ 
das , (popularly called locusts,) it has been re¬ 
peatedly witnessed; and in another allied family, 
the tree-hoppera (’mnibracidre ) Dr. Harris has 
speculated on the probable damage doue by a 
species which infests tho locust tree ‘by the nu¬ 
merous punctures it makes in laying its eggs.’ 
Of course the eggs must be laid either in or on 
the twigs and branches; for if they were laid on 
the leaves, they would bo blown away from the 
tree which forms the appropriate food of the young 
larva? by the four winds of heaven at the fall of 
tho leaf. I have noticed on pear „rees affected 
by Hire-blight’ longitudinal scars on the twigs, 
which were probably occasioned in this manner^ 
Where kerf-hoppers are exceedingly numerous, 
aud many such wounds are made In the twigs, it 
must, of course, small as the wounds may bo. 
bare a tendency to diminish the vitality of the 
tree. We know that twigs in which tho Cicada 
deposits her eggs generally perish. Many spe¬ 
cies of leaf-hoppers, it is true, survive the winter 
l>y hiding'under old logs, etc., but not, 1 think, 
in sufficient numbers to account for the pro¬ 
digious swarms of them which suddenly appear 
Ho says:—“The general reader will only 
require to be told that they vary in color from 
pale-greenish to pale-yellowish, and that they 
are accurately represented, (highly magnified,) 
in figs L II and III; fig. I showing the first 
species, Tettigonia (Chloroneura) malefica , or 
the ‘culprit leaf-hopper,'with its wings closed; 
fig. II, the same species with its wings open; fig. 
III. the head of the second species, ( Tettigonia 
(Chloroneura) maligna, or the ‘malignant leaf- 
hopper,’ wbicii in other respects closely resem¬ 
bles the first species. Figs. IV. V and VI exhibit 
the different veining of the wings of certain 
allied species of nearly the same size, shape and 
color, found on herbage and forest trees, which 
would be readily mistaken at first sight, even 
by experienced entomologists for our insects, 
seeing that they are similarly devoid of any char¬ 
acteristic markings, but which are not only spe¬ 
cifically, but, generically distinct. 
In the spring. 
next spring, even before the young tetligonias are 
hatched.” 
5. “The beak of the tettigonias appears to 
have some poisonous property, for the leaves turn 
brown where they are punctured by it. This is 
Called, out West, ‘leaf-blight,’ and may also be 
seen on grape vines badly infested by their pe¬ 
culiar leaf-hoppers.” 
C. “Almost every tree has one or more pecu¬ 
liar leal-hoppers. For example, two species occur 
on the crab, thorn, pear and apple, the same that 
I believe to cause fire-blight; another on the 
white elm ; another on the oak; another on the 
sycamore or button-wood—all three of them un- 
fiescribed; and four distinct species on the grape¬ 
vine, two of which were first described by me in 
the Praire Farmer.” 
i- " On the elm it requires a very great num- 
ber of egg-slits to cause blight; on the crab, a 
less number; on the pear, a very small number.” 
“On the elm and crab-apple, and most 
other trees, the egg is generally placed half in 
the sap-wood and half in the bark. On most 
varieties or the pear, it is generally placed in the 
bark, not penetrating into the sap-wood.” 
“The most feasible remedy for ‘fire-bight’ 
to destroy the leaf-hopper eggs, as soon as pos- 
Mble after the fall of the leaf, either by trimming 
A the twigs containing them, or throwing them 
°’ 1 tlie ground, or by shaving off a very thin slice 
^ with a sharp knife , wherever egg- 
e lt8 are observed, so as to cut into the eggs. r It 
blighted " t0 tHm ° ff twig9 ’ Wh,ch are aIread 7 
The above is a condensed statement of conclu- 
f tV* " bo k' novv the character and ability 
U 1 R ‘ , > as a critical observer, and scientific 
will understand that no little reUance may 
** Placed upon them. 
ABOUT FLAX-No, X 
anil refilled to avoid any unpleasant smell. This 
1 think will lie found much more expensive than 
excavating pools, and certainly if there is suffi¬ 
cient descent in the ground to fill vats there must 
be to fill pools or ditches. 
Mr. Bks.vard says, with regard to steeping:— 
" This process being the most important one 
which flax undergoes, and on which its value, in 
a great measure depends, claimed my most seri¬ 
ous attention, and Occupied mo for a considerable- 
time, in observing if in detail 
[ regularly placed as if laid with a line, each sheaf 
being put down with thu root end toward the 
bottom of the pool; when the first layer is down, 
a second and third set of sheaves is put in, the 
root of every layer meeting iho bauds of the 
former one, and placed in an oblique direction. 
W hen three layers, or twenty-four sheaves, 
(which is always the number put ill at a time,) 
are laid, the steeper*, who aro provided with 
scrapers and forkH, draw from the bottom of the 
trench mud, slime, weeds, Ac. 
STEEPING OR WATER - ROTTING. 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker: —In my last I 
proposed in this to give Mr. Bkhnard’s descrip¬ 
tion of the process of steeping or water-rotting 
liax as practised in the Netherlands. As upon 
most farms there are places where excavations 
can be made and supplied with water, we would 
in all mtch cases recommend to make them, 
instead of carrying flax much distance to ponds 
or streams, for various reasons. In the first 
place, it does not require a large pit or ditch to 
accommodate the rotting of the product of an 
acre or two of flax, as it is not essential that it 
should be all put in at the same time. The time 
required for steeping in rpihl weather is gener¬ 
ally about five days, more or' less, according to 
circumstances. After the fourth day the flax 
should he examined, at least as often as once 
The larva and 
pupa differ only in having no wings at all, or 
merely rudimental ones.” 
as performed by 
8teepers, and with flax the growth of different 
places. In general the steeping pools In Holland 
are similar to what are known in Ireland as 
trenches of water to drain and divide low 
grounds, such as abound in various parts of the 
south and west provinces, particularly where 
the soil is best suited for the growth of flax, aud 
most like that of Holland and Zealand. Those 
trenches in the summer months aro grown over 
I with light grass and weeds, which are cut a little 
before steeping time, from the edges of tho banks 
only, leaving the middle of the trench undis¬ 
turbed. Previous to steeping, a sod or mud 
bank is thrown across each end of that portion 
of the trench required, which is seldom more than 
sixty to eighty yards. In making those banks, 
the mud for a distance of eleven or twelve feet 
irom each in drawn with iron scrapers from the 
bottom aud middle of the trench, and sloped 
against each of them, leaving a space of water 
free from mud and weeds sufficient to set in a set 
of sheaves, and admit a pool eight to ten feet be¬ 
tween the cross-hanks and the last layer of flax. 1 
Ac., just as it 
comes to hand, and then place it to the thickness 
of six to eight inches on the flax, leaving only as 
much of the last layer uncovered as may be suffi- 
ciont to receive the first layer of the next, and for 
which room is made by the removal of tho mud, 
slime, Ac., used as a cotering for the former 
layer. In laying on the mud great care is taken 
to plaster it together, and so combine it as to 
exclude the air and light completely from 
the flax. 
“Only one layer of sheaves in depth are put 
in at a time, it being found injurious to the flax 
to have the mucilage from an upper course de¬ 
scend upon one below it. The entire quantity 
being thus placed in the pool, nothing appears 
but a surface of mud. The next operation is to 
throw from that part of the mench uut wanted, a 
sufficient quantity of waterito cover the entire 
mags to the depth of six or eight iucltes. Al¬ 
though the mode of throwing the water into the 
steeping pool is done by a simple contrivance, 
it is nevertheless worthy of observation, as it 
abridges labor anil saves time, points duly ap¬ 
preciated by tho working classes of Holland 
This business is performed by moanB of a tri¬ 
angle made ofslight poles placed across the trench 
these insects might be readily confounded by the 
inexperienced in such matters with aphides or 
plant-lice, but are easily distinguishable by the 
following criteria: 
1. “ Plant-Ike are generally dull and sluggish 
in their motions, and even winged ones rarely fly • 
leaf-hoppers jump like any flea, even in the larva 
state, for which their long thorny hind legB pe¬ 
culiarly fit them; aud in the perfect state they 
not only jump, but fly with great agility. They 
have a peculiar habit, also, when they sec you 
looking at them, of dodging round to the other 
side of the leaf, as a squirrel dodges round the 
trunks of a tree; and like all homoplerous in¬ 
sects with three-jointed feet, with which I am 
The steeping pool being thus prepared, a bundle 
of sheaves is opened and eight of them laid in 
steeping vats with plank 
water may be drawn off 
with small, light forks, with which they are as 
