<gntomoloj)tcal. 
CABBAGE PESTS. 
I have mailed you a tin box containing 
some Worms, which I would like to know 
the name of. They look something like the 
“cutworm,” but. they do not work iu the 
same way. We set. out a lot of early cab¬ 
bage plants, and they, and the other insects 
at work at them, bid fair lo destroy them. 
There is a very small bug (spider, 1 call if.) 
on the leaves; there are thousands of them 
—1 should think as many as fifty on some of 
the leaves. They appear to suck the sub¬ 
stance all oat ol the leaves, leaving them 
dry and white. I never saw anything like 
them before that I know of. The plants 
were bought of Mr. Petek Henderson, 
and 1 think these insects were Imported 
wit h the plants, as I have not seen them ex¬ 
cept iu that tield. 
The cabbage butterflies are here also, lay¬ 
ing their egg on the plants; so between 
them all, and the dry. cold weather, J think 
it will be a wonder if 1 succeed Iu raising any 
cabbage. I neglected to say that these 
worms feed upon the beans—in the night, I 
suppose- as I llud them in the yard near by 
the plants. The cut worm would take the 
plant off near the ground; these are not 
particular about the tenderness of the 
leaves; but from the appearance I think 
they take the first they come at. There is 
something eating off the strawberry beau, 
and think it is the same worm, but do not 
know. If .you can give me a remedy for 
any of these pests it will be thankfully re¬ 
ceived by—A. S. Nash, Westport, Conn. 
We accidentally lost the worms before 
having an opportunity of a close examina¬ 
tion. There are several species of these 
worms, tile lmhits of which are somewhat 
similar, although varying in their mode, of 
attacking plants. Some attack the plants 
close to the surface, or just beneath it; oth¬ 
ers climb up several feet, frequently cut¬ 
ting the leaves from plants l hat grow quite 
tali. They are all the larva* of some kind of 
a moth, most of them having been figured 
and described in our entomological works. 
How to destroy them is quite another sub¬ 
ject; and as they usually work at night 
they escape the birds, and many other nat¬ 
ural enemies. If you will use a lamp and 
spend an hour or two every night hunting 
them, you may save your cabbages. (>r by 
careful search many may be found during 
the day time in their hiding places just un¬ 
der the surface of the ground. For the 
aphides, use freshly slaked lime dusted on 
the affected plants while wet with dew, or 
just after a rain. Lime will also aid in 
keeping off the cabbage worm, as the white 
butterfly (Pieris rupee) is not so likely to 
frequent cabbages that are dusted with 
lime as others. Scores of substances have 
been recommended for killing the cabbage 
worm, but we doubt if any of t hem are really 
practical on a large scale. There is a lit tle 
parasitic fly which has already commenced 
its work of destruction upon this pest, and 
it will probably soon reduce their numbers 
to such an extent that we shall not have to 
fight them ourselves. 
-♦♦♦- 
ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES. 
To Destroy the Aphis on Single 
Plants, an English writer recommends tin* 
following mode:—If the infested plant is 
small and short, take three or four Laurel 
leaves, beat them all over with a hammer 
so as to thoroughly bruise them, then place 
them round or under the plant, and cover. 
A bell glass does best. Let all remain closed 
for a few hours, mid t he aphides will be found 
dead, each hanging by its proboscis only. 
It this process is repeated within a day or 
two to make sure, the plant will be perfect¬ 
ly freed, and iu some cases is not again at¬ 
tacked. This way of killing aphides may be 
acceptable to those who dislike tobacco 
smoke, all danger arising from an overdose 
of it to a very tender plant is avoided; and 
the Laurel is so generally grown that it 
must be almost everywhere at hand for the 
purpose. 
Colorado Potato Beetle. — A corre¬ 
spondent asks how to destroy this beetle 
without injuring the potatoes. The means 
most generally adapted iu the West is dust¬ 
ing the viues on which the beetles are at 
work with Paris Green. Some dust it on 
pure; but if mixed with ten or fifteen times 
its weight of calcined plaster, or common 
flour, and thus dusted over the plants it is 
said to be effectual. It is a poison, and in 
dusting it over the viues through a perfora¬ 
ted tin pan or dredging box, care must be 
taken to keep on the windward side of it so 
as not to inhale the poison. It in no wise 
injures the crop or affects the quality of the 
potatoes. 
Worms on Currant and Gooseberry 
Bushes,—Mrs. C. E. Keat asks how she 
MOORE’S B I] BA 
can keep the worms off of currant and 
gooseberry bushes. One of our correspond¬ 
ents does it by the use of a pint cup. the 
bottom of which is punched full of holes; 
after a rain or heavy dew, lie tills the cup 
half full of air or water-slaked lime, and 
with the cup in his right hand, lifts tho 
bushes and peppers the worms with the 
lime until the ground is white with it. But 
DRINKING FOUNTAIN IN CENTRA!. PA lilt. 
the best remedy we know of is to sift on the 
bushes infested powdered white hellebore, 
which may be obtained at most drug stores. 
Will Nitrate of Silver Kill Bark Lice ? 
—So asks G. W. Grant. lie says an old 
lady saj-s if nitrate of silver is put into the 
body of a tree, it will kill the lice without 
injuring tin; tree. Wc have never tried it, 
but have not the least faith iu it. The best 
way we have ever found to kill bark lice on 
apple trees is to manure and cultivate them 
well; top-dress the ground over t he roots 
with ashes, leached or unleached, and wash 
the trees thoroughly iu spring, two or three 
times, with strong soap suds. It is A good 
plan to whitewash the trees late in the fall, 
with the same object. 
Scientific and Useful. 
THE TRAPPING OF VERMIN. I. 
Few people have any idea of tho amount 
of damage done by those animals usually 
denominated vermin, such as the mouse, 
the rat, the fox, and others. The extent to 
which rats and mice destroy grain is Some¬ 
thing astonishing, while the fox, the mink, 
and the skunk, do more or less damage to 
the farmer's poultry yard. Almost every 
housekeeper is, at some time or other, tor¬ 
mented with these pests—ruts and mice— 
and numberless are the methods adopted 
for the purpose of getting rid of them. 
Traps, cats, poison, and uumerous other 
schemes arc culled into play, but too often 
without success. A really good cat is one 
of the simplest and best agent s for destroy¬ 
ing rats and mice, but, unfortunately, a 
really good cat is not readily found. Poison, 
if judiciously managed, is, pei'haps, the 
most efficient means of getting rid of them, 
but to it there are the serious objections of 
danger, and of the. possibility of our being 
afflicted with the horrible odor of decaying 
bodies; so that, on the whole, traps are tho 
best, safest, and most efficient, provided 
they are properly used. 
We would say here, however, that it will, 
iu many cases, be found that prevention is 
better than cure in this matter, as in many 
others. Iu houses in which food is left lib¬ 
erally scattered about, mice and rats will 
abound; but if we arc careful to lock up 
every scrap of eatables, we can soon starve 
them out, and drive them off to more hos¬ 
pitable quarters. In some cases it is, of 
course, impossible to adopt this plan; but 
wherever it can be put in operation it will 
be found most successful. 
The mouse is the most common, and for¬ 
tunately the most easily captured, of all the 
household pests. It is so silly that it will 
go right into a trap that already Contains a 
dozen of its dead companions, and we have 
never found the slightest difficulty in oap- 
turing every individual on the premises. 
The best trap is the old-fashioned spring- 
wire trap, which is sold in the hardware 
stores for four or five cents per hole. It is 
not a good plan to purchase a trap with too 
L MEW-YORKER 
many holes, for after a time the trap be¬ 
comes offensive, and had better be thrown 
away. It is better to buy several traps with 
not more than two holes each; the traps 
cost less, and they can be distributed over 
a large space. Contrary to the practice in 
all other cases, tho mouse-trap ought to be 
baited, and almost anything will serve for 
this purpose. Cheese is good, and so is fish, 
though meat or bread will answer well. No 
difficulty need bo apprehended, for unless 
the mice are too well supplied with food out¬ 
side the trap, they will be sure to go into it. 
As it may sometimes happen that our 
readers will have occasion to capture a 
mouse when no regular trap is at hand, we 
give the following plan, which is very old, 
very simple, and for which the materials 
may be found in every house. Take a com¬ 
mon thimble and stuff a little cheese into it. 
Upon this thimble support a common bowl 
in the manner shown in the engraving. 
When the mouse attempts to get tho cheese 
out of the thimble he pushes it front be¬ 
neath the bowl, and is himself captured. 
By means of I Ills simple contrivance we 
have caught dozens of mice, but it is not so 
convenient as the wire trap. Wc may add 
that the bowl ought to be set on a piece of 
loose board so that the board, bowl and 
mouse may be lifted up at once and the lit¬ 
tle prisoner dropped into a pail of water. 
Another contrivance, which is easily ex¬ 
temporized, and is very effective, is a simple 
dead-fall made of a tile, aflat stone, or even 
a common brick, though the latter is rather 
too narrow. The tile, or its substitute, is 
supported on a figure-four, as it is called, 
which is made of three pieces of wood ar¬ 
ranged in the form of the figure 4, and 
placed together so ticklishly that the slight¬ 
est touch of the bait, which is fastened to 
the projecting end of the horizontal piece, 
will bring the whole affair down.—[To be 
continued. 
-- 
SCIENTIFIC AND USEFUL NOTES. 
The Central Park Drinking Foun¬ 
tains are among the many attractive ami 
ornamental comforts to be found in the 
Park for the convenience of visitors. Wo 
give an illustration of one herewith, which 
shows that even in their construction regard 
is laid for beauty of form. Some of these 
are of iron; others of cut stone; all are 
adapted in form so as to harmonize with 
their surroundings. 
Transparent Varnish for Steel En¬ 
gravings.—Will some of the Ultral New- 
Yorkeu’ 8 readers tell tin* name of the 
transparent varnish used to varnish en¬ 
gravings and fancy articles — how prepared 
and applied ?—Si? bscriber. 
Durable Paint for Out Houses.—I 
would like to learn of a cheap and durable 
paint for out houses made of undressed lum¬ 
ber.— A. J. M. 
HYGIENIC NOTES AND QUERIES. 
To Remove Hoarseness. —A lady in¬ 
quires for a remedy for hoarseness. A little 
horseradish root, grated and eaten with 
tile food, will usually effect a cure. But it 
must only be eaten in small quantities at a 
time, as it is liable to create inflammation 
when partaken in large quantities. When 
hoarseness has existed for a long time, it 
may take some time to remove it. In 
hoarseness, the bronchial tubes are ob¬ 
structed, and the horseradish has a ten¬ 
dency to promote secretions of the sj’stem 
and gradually remove the obstructions. I 
MOUSE-TRAP. 
speak from experience, having formerly 
been a sufferer from this complaint. In 
such cases boiled wheat, mush and milk, 
fruits and vegetables should form a princi¬ 
pal part of the diet.—ix. e. s. 
Exposing the Arms of Children.—A 
very distinguished Paris physician says: 
“ I believe that, during the twenty years 
that I have practiced my profession, twen¬ 
ty thousand children have been carried to 
tin* cemeteries, a sacrifice to the absurd 
custom of exposing their arms. Put the 
bulb of a thermometer into a baby’s mouth 
and the mercury rises to ninety degrees. 
Now carry the same to its little hand; if 
the arm be bai-e and even cool, the mercury 
will sink to fifty degrees. Of course, all the 
blood that flows through these arms must 
fall from ten to forty degrees below the 
temperature of the heart. Need I say, when 
these currents of the blood flow back to the 
chest, the child’s vitality must be more or 
less compromised? And need I add that 
we ought not to be surprised at the fre¬ 
quently recurring affections of the tongue, 
throat, or stomach ? 1 have seen more than 
one child with habitual cough or hoarseness 
entirely relieved by simply keeping the 
hands and arms warm,” 
Rheumatism Remedy.—Rheumatism is 
said to result from want of acid in the sys¬ 
tem ; therefore, take lemon juice, with as 
little sugar as possible—at least one lemon 
a day. Another:—A tablespoouful of mus¬ 
tard every morning, for three mornings; 
then skip three, and so on, until you have 
taken it nine mornings.— h. m. g. 
-I never was troubled with rheumatism 
myself, but my mother and grandfather 
have been greatly relieved by using lemons 
freely. Mother used several dozens. Slice 
the lemons and spiunkle on sugar.—o. f. r. 
To Prevent the Odor of Perspiration. 
—1 saw in Rural New-Yorker, May 9, on 
page 294, an inquiry made for something to 
prevent tho unpleasant odor arising from 
excessive perspiration. It is only necessary 
to procure some of the compound spirits of 
ammonia, and place two tablespoonfuls in a 
basin of water, washing the face, hands, 
arms, and under the arms, with this. It 
leaves the skin as fresh and clean as one 
could wish. Tho wash is perfectly harm¬ 
less, and very cheap.— Dor. 
Bmall-Pox Remedy.—Apply raw onions, 
halved, under the arms, iu the hands, and 
on the bottoms of the feet; change several 
times a day; diet, chicken broth. It has 
cured several without leaving a scar, and 
without having medical assistance.— W. M. 
M„ Mississippi. 
Ringworm Remedy.—Some years since 
I had two severe ringworms, one of them 
passing entirely through my beard. After 
having suffered with them for several 
months, I procured a pint of dried elder 
berries, whioh I stewed and ate. The ring¬ 
worms disappeared within a week.— f. 
“White Moles” iu the Forehead.— 
Can some one tell me some safe method of 
removing small white protuberances from 
the forehead—called by some white moles? 
—Mrs. II. E. S. 
T. L. O. asks “what is the cause of the 
disease known as * Hay Fever’ or ‘ Harvest 
Tilthina,’ aud what remedy should be ap¬ 
plied ?” 
glrboricitltiiral. 
ARBORICULTURAL NOTES. 
Tropical Plants and Trees at Am¬ 
herst.—The plant house at the Amherst, 
Mass., Agricultural College has been en¬ 
riched by a present of 67 new plants, mostly 
tropical, from the Government botanical 
garden at. Washington. There is a nxahogo- 
ny tree, about a foot high, in the collection, 
and an unknown plant has been received 
from Hayti, The banana plant has a large 
cluster of first fruit, which will ripen in 
about two months, and the sago palm lias 
its first bud, although it has been at tho 
College four years, and was owned by Pres¬ 
ident CIlARK some time before. 
Planting Evergreens in Barn-Yard 
Manure.—T. C. Baxiklxer, Huntington 
Co., Ind., writes us he received a lot of 
White Pines and Arbor-vitas, the first of 
April; dug large holes, filled the holes half 
full of barn-yard manure; set the trees on 
the manure, and filled the holes with good, 
rich soil. Of course the trees died, and our 
correspondent wants to know why? Be¬ 
cause tliej r were planted iu manure instead 
of the good, rich soil. If you had used no 
manure probably every one would have 
lived. Verdict—“Killed by kinduess.” 
To Protect Orchard Trees from 
Ilogs.—A. A. Hux,l. Frederick Co., Md., 
pronounces the following “ a sovereign 
remedy:”—“A strong solution of assafosti- 
da, made by pouring on hot water and then 
grinding it thoroughly with an iron bolt or 
bar. Apply to the tree with a whitewash¬ 
brush.” 
