giarg of a pluralist. 
DAILY RURAL LIFE. 
FROM THE DIARY OF A OENTIEMAH HEAR HEW YORK CITY. 
The Plague of Abundance.— Nov> 13. 
—Seldom do people complain of having too 
much of a good thing, although they are 
often placed in just such a predicament 
■without knowing the fact. For several 
years past we have had a rather short 
crop of apples: but the past season there 
has been a great abundance, and the result 
shows that too much fruit is almost as bad 
as none, for prices have been so low no one 
gathered their apples, or at least none but 
the very best, and at this date thousands 
of bushels are rot ting upon the ground in 
my owji neighborhood, and I presume else¬ 
where, very few farmers appearing to know 
that apples are good food for st ock, or that 
cider vinegar commands a good price, in 
market. 
This abundant crop will also be almost a 
death blow to the old orchards, for neglect 
is sure to follow, and that, too, just at the 
time the trees will need stimulating the 
most. The exhaustion caused by overbear¬ 
ing this year will result in a very meager 
growth next, unless the trees aro pruned 
and manured before the leaves appear iu 
Spring. The plague of abumlauoe has ru- 
iued nations as well as individuals, and 
whenever 1 hear of a place where all kinds 
of fruits and grains grow without care or 
culture, I feel like pitying the people, for 
they are certain to become indolent., igno¬ 
rant and degraded. The effect of extremes 
is always deleterious; and a half famine is 
far better than a superabundance of the 
good things of this world. To work, can 
scarcely be called a natural trail of the hu¬ 
man character, but a necessity; and as ne¬ 
cessity is said to be t he mother of inven¬ 
tion, we find the arts and sciences and all 
that makes tl.e present race of men great 
and noble, flourishing most iu cool climates 
and where nature seems to yield up her 
fruits only through compulsion. A few 
seasons in suooejsiou of great plenty of any 
kind of fruit or grain would bo disastrous 
to its culture; therefore it is bettor to have 
just enough to supply our needs than too 
much. 
Chrysalis of n Hawk-Moth, Nov. It. 
—I have just received through the Ultral 
New-Yorker oflice, a small box from Mr. 
D. W. C, of Logan, Ohio, containing a chry¬ 
salis which I am desired to name in my 
“Diary.” lam always pleased whenever 
able to give information to neighbors or 
correspondents; and if my weekly gossip 
in these columns about rural affairs aids in 
any way to make its readers more inquisi¬ 
tive about the things which surround them 
during their Daily Rural Life, I shall feel 
that I am doing some good in mine. 1 pre¬ 
sume that every one who has a garden 
must have observed a large green worm 
feeding upon potato and tomato leaves. 
This worm has a kind of thorn upon the 
hind part of its body, and several oblique, 
whitish stripes on the sides; when full 
grown, it is about as thick as a man's fore¬ 
finger, and some three inches or more in 
length. When the worm attains its matu¬ 
rity, it crawls down the Stems of the plants 
and buries itself in the earth. In a few 
days it throws off its skin and becomes a 
chrysalis of a brown oolor, like the one 
sent me from Ohio. The chrysalis is about 
two inches long, with a tongue case about 
an inch long bent over from the head, the 
end just touching the breast, somewhat, 
resembling the handle of a mug or pitcher. 
All through Winter this chrysalis remains 
in the ground, and when the warmth of 
Summer penetrates to its resting-place, 
the skin bursts open, and a large and beau¬ 
tiful moth crawls forth, known as the Firo- 
Spotted Sphinx or Hawk-Moth, (Sphinx 
qulnquemaculalu* of Hakims, or Macro - 
niia quinquemu<ynlnlu, St new—See Mor¬ 
ris’ catalogue of described Lepidoptera of 
North America, p. 190.) 
There are many species of sphinges which 
infest our gardens, and we frequently see 
them early iu the evening Hying about, 
sucking the honey from flowers with their 
long, slender proboscis. Some of them re¬ 
semble the humming-bird so closely that 
very ludicrous mistakes have been made in 
regard to the identity of the insect and 
bird. I have known persons to declare 
that humming-birds did not go to warm 
climates in Winter, but bury themselves 
iu the earth, for they had often dug them 
up, and also seen them crawling out of the 
ground in Spring. Of course, it was these 
humming-bird moths or sphinges that 
they saw, and not birds ; but there are 
very few persons who study nature suffi¬ 
ciently to know butterflies from moths, or 
moths from birds, and still they arc often 
very wise iu their own opinion, and talk 
learnedly of the designs of our Creator. 
We have no occasion to go far from our 
own firesides to learn how wofully ignorant 
we are of nature, and that our capacity for 
enjoyment may be increased many fold by 
studying the habits of the minute forms 
of life that are constantly about us. 
I fear that many readers of the Rltrai, 
New-Yorker shrink from asking ques¬ 
tions of its Editors and correspondents 
because they do not wish to be thought ig¬ 
norant; but this is a very foolish and ab¬ 
surd view to take of this subject, for the 
wisest man that ever lived is, or was, ig¬ 
norant of things which he never had occa¬ 
sion or opportunity of studying. Solomon 
was, no doubt, very ignorant in regard to 
newspapers, railroads, and many other 
tilings with which our school boys at the 
present time are very familiar; hut had ho 
lived in this century, he would have been 
wise enough to ask questions and learn 
something about them. Remember, that 
anything that interests you will probably 
interest some other person ns well, and it 
will do no harm to try and learn something 
relating to the same, whether you are suc¬ 
cessful or otherwise. 
Evergreen h from Cuttings.— Nov. 15. 
—Last fall I made several thousand cut¬ 
tings of choice evergreens, such as the new 
Arbor i r it<CS, Retinlx]><>ra « and Junipers , 
planting them in shallow boxes filled with 
pure sand, then placing them under the 
center stage of my green-house, where they 
remained all Winter. Out of some twenty 
species and varieties, not one failed entire, 
although there were more or less of the 
cuttings of each which did not strike root; 
but upon the whole, tho experiment was a 
decided success, and about ten thousand 
line thrifty plants is the result. There are 
many private conservatories in which spare 
room could be found for raising a few thou¬ 
sand evergreens during the Winter, be¬ 
cause they do not require a full exposure 
to the sun, consequently space not suit¬ 
able for other plants can be used for this 
purpose. Jf the cuttings are made in the 
Fall, before they have been severely frozen, 
roots will bo produced much more readily 
than if taken off later in the season. 6k0d 
frames may also be used for this purpose; 
all that is really necessary to insure suc¬ 
cess with many of the species is to prevent 
severe freezing, which can be done by care 
in banking up the frames and covering 
with straw mats in the coldest weather, 
giving light and air during warm days. The 
cuttings will not strike root until warm 
weather, but will bo in far better condition 
for this event than if not made until 
Spring. 1 have already made mine, but it 
is not too late, although every day it is de¬ 
layed lessens the chances of success. 
First Snow.—N op. 10.—11 is snowing, 
this evening, for the lirst time this season. 
Our first snow, last year, came on the 9th 
of November. We have, had a most re¬ 
markably pleasant Autumn, and there are 
really no good excuses for not having all 
thiugs ready for Winter. Still 1 see corn 
iu the fields, apples ungathered, potatoes, 
cabbages and turnips exposed to the frosts, 
which should have been housed long ago. 
There are man who can never learn wisdom 
even from experience, and no matt er how 
much they are favored, their work is al¬ 
ways a little or a good deal behind, and 
losses occur far too frequently for their 
own good. r 
XT he yinepnl. 
VINEYARD NOTES. 
Tlie Vintage 111 France will, we are 
assured, be small this year: first, owing to 
the unfavorable weather that prevailed 
early this Summer, and even lately in all 
the more important vine-growing districts; 
and, secondly, from the ever-increasing 
ravages of the Oidium and Phylloxera 
vastatrix—the depredations of which are 
spreading to such an extent in the South of 
France that only the other day M. Dumas 
announced to the Academic des Sciences 
that in a few years the vineyards of Prov¬ 
ence will have ceased to exist, if some 
means are not promptly taken to arrest its 
progress. He asked that a prize of £'”0,000 
should be offered by the State to whomso¬ 
ever should discover the means of effica¬ 
ciously preventing such a disaster. 
afield Cj-rtfps. 
DETERIORATION OF PASTURES. 
The following extracts are made from a 
prize Essay read before the New England 
Agricultural Society: 
The causes of this deterioration of pas¬ 
tures areobviouB, and a brief consideration 
of them will pave the way for a more thor¬ 
ough understanding of the remedies. The 
first and great cause is that farmers, like 
the horse leach, have been continually say¬ 
ing to the pastures, “give, give,” and for 
the wool, beef and mutton given by the pas¬ 
tures, have returned no equivalent. Judg¬ 
ing from the practice of the great majority 
of farmers, they must have the impression 
they are doing justice to t he pastures when 
they keep their docks and herds upon them 
day ami night, so that the land receives all 
the excrement. They forget that this ex¬ 
crement contains only a part of the food 
consumed, and that a large fraction goes off 
in the milk and carcass of the animal, and 
that this balance against the land must iu 
the oourse of years bring it and the land 
owner to poverty. 
Milk and beef areal present the chief ex¬ 
ported products of New England pastures; 
and a moment’s consideration of the com¬ 
position of these staples must convince the 
most thoughtless that neither Providence 
nor tho pastures ure to blame for the de¬ 
terioration of the latter. One hundred 
pounds of average cow’s milk contain: 
Caseine .. 4 48 lbs. 
Butter. 3 13 lbs. 
Milk sugar. 4 77 lbs. 
Saline matter. 0 (10 lbs. 
Water...87 02 lbs. 
Tolnl..100 00 lbs. 
The saline matter of milk consists princi¬ 
pally of the phosphates of lime and magne¬ 
sia, and the chlorides of potash and soda, 
and must all conic from the soil, the air not 
being able to furnish u part icle of it, though 
liberal in her supplies of organic food to 
plants. A herd of JO cows, therefore, giv¬ 
ing on an average 12 quarts of milk daily, 
will abstract from the pastures each day 
in their milk nearly 8 lbs. of earthy matter. 
This may seem a small amount, hut as “a 
continual dropping will wear away rocks,” 
so such a petty theft, practiced for an in¬ 
definite length of time, will wear out pas¬ 
tures. It must be remembered that this 
saline matter in milk is not of a gross 
nature, but constitutes the very essence of 
a good soil. IIow rich milk is in all the ele¬ 
ments of animal life, may be inferred from 
the fact that man and all animals of the 
mammalia class live upon it in the earlier 
stages of their existence. 
Where the rearing of young stock or the 
fattening of beef is the leading object of 
the farmer, the draft on the pastures is 
great, especially in the former case, in which 
the carcass of the young animal is to be 
built up. To form 100 lbs. of bone the ani¬ 
mal will need to incorporate with itself:— 
Gelatine.35 lbs. 
Phosphate of liine.55 lbs. 
Carbonate of lime. 4 lbs. 
Phosphate of magnesia. 3 lbs. 
Soda, potash and common salt 3 lbs. 
Total.100 lbs. 
Every calf, therefore, that is sold from 
the farm muHt carry off a very appreciable 
amount of inorganic matter. The fattening 
of stock, that have already attained ma¬ 
turity, is tlie least exhausting of any branch 
of farming. Such stock “make no bones” 
in growing fat, and hence their excrements 
are far richer than those of young cat tle. 
Still the increase of muscle and fat must 
make some demands upon the pastures. 
To add one hundred lbs. to tho muscular 
part of a full-grown animal requires: 
Water. Ti lbs. 
Fibrin. 22 lbs. 
Phosphate of lime.. lb. 
Other saline matters. H lb. 
Total. -300 
Tho fat of animals is derived from then- 
food, composed of tlie organic elements, 
oxygen, hydrogen and carbon, which plants 
derive from that inexhaustible resource of 
plant food, the air. Fat is almost iden- 
ical in ohemieal composition with starch 
and sugar, and in these three compounds 
the oxygen and hydrogen are in the same 
proportions as iu water, so that for sim¬ 
plicity we may say that they are composed 
of carbon and water. These elements are 
abundant in nature, so that in the produc¬ 
tion of simple fat there is no danger of 
great exhaustion of the soil of pastures. 
FIELD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Sugar Beet in Virginia.—Mr. E. Key- 
8ER, Thoroughfare, Va., writes us that, af¬ 
ter having spent several years in Europe 
studying the culture and learning the mode 
of manufacturing sugar from the beet, he 
has taken up a tract of land to improve, 
and to make au experiment with this root. 
Tie has grown a very successful crop the 
past season. We shall be anxious to learn 
the result of his experiments. 
A Preventive of Rust in Wheat is 
asked for by many farmers, and is being 
discussed in several of the Agricultural 
Clubs. The best method we have ever seen 
tried is thorough underdraining the land. 
We have never known a crop of grain to 
rust on such land; it may have done so, but 
we do not know it. Who does ? 
DRIED COW DUNG IN FUMIGATING 
BEES. 
Rev. L. L. Langstrotji writes the Bee 
Journal:—Nearly two thousand years ago. 
Columella recommended the dried dung 
of cattle as the best thing for fumigating 
bees. Learning, soon after importing the 
Egyptian bees, that the Egyptians made 
use of the smoke from this substance in all 
their operations upou their irascible bees, 
we began to use it largely in our apiary. 
The smoke from burning cow dung, while 
very penetrating, is not offensive. It can 
be blown so as to diffuse itself very quickly 
through the hive, and yet it does not seem 
to irritate the bees, and our own experi¬ 
ence confirms tho very strong commenda¬ 
tions of Columella. Wherever rotten 
wood is not easily procured, it will bo found 
of very great value. When thoroughly 
dried, it will burn slowly but steadily, and 
by slightly dampening the outside after 
lighting it, a piece not larger than thehand 
may often be made to last for several hours. 
It does not always ignite as readily as one 
could wish. Dr. E. PASHLEY lias obviated 
this difficulty by dipping one corner iu coal 
oil. Theodor is so little offensive that it 
may he used instead of pastiles in the sick 
room, a little sugar being sprinkled upon it 
while burning. Those who know how uni¬ 
versally the dungof buffaloes, culled buff a- 
to chips, is used for cooking purposes on 
our great plains, will feel no prejudices 
against this seemingly uncleanly substance. 
We shall call it buffalo chips. 
- 
BEE NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Thorough wort, or Boncset, as a 
Honey Plant.—About a year ago, I think 
I saw it stated that Thoroughwort, or Bone- 
set, was an excellent forage plant for bees. 
I had a lot of it and some bees, though I 
had never watched their work upon plants. 
I desired to look more carefully after my 
bees, and I found that in August and Sep¬ 
tember. when in bloom, the bees seemed 
attracted to, worked upon and gathered 
honey from it. The honey made from it is 
white and good. It is not flavorless—has 
the peculiar, though not offensive, flavor of 
the plant.— William Blossom. 
Imported Italian Queens.—Would you 
advise a young apiarian to pay a large price 
for imported Italian queens, when lie can 
buv pure bred native Italians much cheap¬ 
er Y-R. V. S. 
No; the testimony wo have from those 
who have both is that the native-bred 
queens are longer lived. It may pay those 
who make a business of breeding queens 
for sale to buy those imported; but the 
man who only desires to improve his stocks 
is as well off with a native bred Italian 
queen. __ 
Italian Drones.—A correspondent asks 
if he can purchase Italian drones; if so, will 
they improve tho stocks of native bees 
among which they maybe introduced, even 
though the queens are natives? He asks 
for the experience of bee keepers. Some 
improvement will result, but it is not be¬ 
lieved that it will be so rapid as in the case 
of breeding from Italian queens. 
Cider as Fall Food for Bees.—I And 
that my bees linger around my cider-press 
as if they found something there they 
liked, i have not discovered that what 
they got there has injured them in the least, 
though I havo watched them closely. I 
should like to know if others of your read¬ 
ers have made the same observations, and 
with what result ?—P. P. R. 
