ittrp pusbaniJrg. 
SOLIDARITY OF TEE INDUSTRIES, 
As Illustrnteil by tlie Relations of the 
Wooleu manufactures. 
In the Bulletin for January, 1871, we find 
the address of John L. Hayes, Esq., on 
the above subject, delivered at the Fair of 
the American Institute in October, 1870. 
Like all the elaborated productions of this 
gentleman’s pen, it is finished and brilliant 
iu style, and brings a wealth of important 
and interesting facts to the development of 
his subject. We greatly regret that our 
space does not permit us to republish it en¬ 
tire, but we present a few extracts which 
more especially pertaiu to Sheep Husbandry: 
Tbe whole direct benefit to agriculture 
from the consumption of wool in manu¬ 
factured products is measured by the annual 
value of tbe wool of the world, which is esti¬ 
mated by M. Moll, Chairman of the jury on 
wools at the Paris Exposition, at three thou¬ 
sand mdlion of francs, or $000,000,000. 
The estimates of Mr. Lynch, approved by 
Mr. Bond, both high authorities, place the 
total wool clip of the United States, in 1868, 
at cue hundred and seventy-seven million 
pounds. At forty cents per pound, the direct 
value of the American wool manufacture to 
American agriculture Is nearly $71,000,000. 
The direct is very far from the only or 
even chief benefit accruing to agriculture 
from the woollen industry. The sheep, cul¬ 
tivated in primitive times, and at present in 
merely pastoral countries for only one of its 
aptitudes, that of producing wool, is found 
to have a more important aptitude, that of 
converting, in the shortest possible time, 
vegetable matter into the most healthful auil 
nutritious flesh; and in countries most ad¬ 
vanced in agriculture it Inis become the most 
important source of animal food. Austin, 
wool, unlike tobacco, the cereals, the oleag¬ 
inous seeds, and the vegetable textiles, in¬ 
cluding cotton, can, so far as is known, be 
produced and exported indefinitely without 
creating exhaustion of the soil; and even 
more than that, sheep, through the peculiar 
nutritiousness of their manure, and the fa¬ 
cility with which it is distributed, are found 
to be the most economical and certain means 
of solving the highest problem in agriculture 
—that of constantly renewing the produc¬ 
tiveness of the laud. Their manure is more 
valuable than that of cattle, because they di¬ 
gest better; they cut their food finer and 
chew it better. They void less vegetable 
fiber, and their excrements are more con¬ 
verted into soluble matter. “ One thousand 
sheep, folded on an acre of ground one day, 
would manure it sufficiently to feed one 
thousand and one sheep. iSo that by this 
process, land which, the first year, cau feed 
only one thousand sheep, may, the next 
year, as a result of their own droppings, feed 
thirteen hundred and sixty-five.” 
So said Anderson, more than forty years 
ago; and Sprengel allows that the manure 
of fourteen hundred sheep, for one day, is 
equal to manuring highly one acre of land, 
which is about lour sbeep per year. Mr. 
Meohi, a still more recent authority, esti¬ 
mates that fifteen hundred sheep folded on 
an acre of land for twenty-four hours, or one 
hundred sheep for fifteen days, would ma¬ 
nure tbe land sufficiently to carry it through 
four years'rotation. * * ' * 
The statistics of domestic animals, pub¬ 
lished by the Royal Agricultural Society, 
show that Great Britain bad, in 1868, 
30,711,396 sheep, 5,423,081 cattle, and 2,309,- 
539 pigs. The sheep is literally the basis of 
English husbandry. The agriculture of 
England, as a whole, is very simple. Four 
crops, in regular rotation and mainly in the 
same order, constitute her great staples. 
Turnips, barley, grass and wheat are said to 
be the four magical words at which the 
earth unlocks her treasures to the British 
farmer. The lour field, or lour shift system, 
which pervades the greater part of the king¬ 
dom, consists of this succession. Tile profit 
is in the barley and wheat alone; the turnips 
and grass serve mainly to feed the sheep, 
which furnish mutton and wool to support 
them iu their most important function, that 
of manuring the turnip field upon which 
they are folded, for trie four years’ rotation 
It is this function which I wish to bring 
into special prominence. Recent agricul¬ 
tural Writers in England affirm this to be 
before trie Royal Agricultural Society, on 
the breeding and (ceding of sbeep, says: 
“ It is not difficult to show that sheep alone, 
apart trom their influence on the com crops, 
will not pay a living profit, after all the ex¬ 
penses of growing the crops are considered.” 
Other practical writers for the same journal 
declare that there is no profit in growing 
sheep in England simply for their mutton 
and wool, but that the culture of sheep is 
still an indispensable necessity, as there is 
no other means of keeping up the land. 
Passing away from England,! observe that 
the highest authorities iu France inculcate 
the saute lesson. The most eminent of 
French practical statesmen, M. Thiers, iu 
his great discourse on the protective ques¬ 
tion, delivered in the Legislative Assembly 
in January last, demands’protective duties 
upon the wool of France; as it is threatened 
that rhe fine sheep, unprotected through du-, 
ties on wool, must, disappear front the soil uf 
France, in consequence of competition from 
the Southern hemisphere. He says:—•“ Upon 
four-fifths of the territory, where the soil is 
stony, and only fine grasses abound, the fine 
sheep alone can convert, this grass into flesh 
and manure.” After giving the facts as to 
the decline of Lite ovine population of France, 
and its enormous increase in Australia and 
La Plata, he continues:—“ In this situation, 
how catt the French resist the foreign com¬ 
petition ? The agricultural industry of France 
cannot dispense with sheep. The facts which 
I have given you ought to inspire you with 
the most serious concern.” The same lesson 
is taught by the best practical agriculturists 
of the Uui'ted States. Mr. Stilson, Presi¬ 
dent of the Wisconsin Wool Growers’ Asso¬ 
ciation. has shown that his flock of fifteen 
hundred sheep has enabled him to produce 
eight or ten more bushels of wheat to the 
acre titan is grown on the average lands of 
Wisconsin, where sbeep husbandry is not an 
auxiliary to wheat farming. The’ President 
of the Ohio Wool Growers’ Association, Mr. 
Stevens, whom I bad the pleasure of meet¬ 
ing this summer, at tbe Indianapolis Expo¬ 
sition, assured me that be could see no means 
of reclaiming the rapidly deteriorat ing lands 
of Ohio, except by the restorative influence 
of sheep husbandry. We have seen lands in 
certain portions of the West, producing 
wheat so abundantly as to compel the open¬ 
ing of railroad lines'for tbe single purpose of 
transporting their teeming harvests; and 
have also seen, in our own time, these very 
lands so rapidly exhausted, that the rails 
have been torn up for want of traffic. Such 
facts apprise us that, there is no security for 
continued fruitfulness, even in our most fer¬ 
tile Stales, but in a more provident agricul¬ 
ture What is taken from the laud must be 
restored. Science gives us but little encour¬ 
agement in the promise of cheap imported or 
artificial manures. The guano beds are be¬ 
ing rapidly exhausted. The experiments of 
Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert, at Rotlialusted, 
show that that the application to the land of 
sewage from the cities, from which so much 
was expected, is a failure The brilliant ex¬ 
periments of Vita, in France, made to ex¬ 
hibit the applicability of artificial manures in 
place of animal manures, in countries like 
France, where the land i3 so much divided 
as not to permit the profitable culture of ani¬ 
mals, lead to no practical results, because no 
economical sources of artificial nitrates, phos¬ 
phates, or potash, have been or are likely to 
lie discovered. We see, but. as through grated 
windows, exliaustless but practically inac¬ 
cessible stores of potash iu the granite rocks; 
of phosphates iu beds of apatite; ami of ni¬ 
trogen in the atmosphere, or in the far-oil, 
rainless plains of Chili. Has not Providence 
locked up these treasures, or removed them 
from our reach, to compel man, for his high¬ 
est physical good, to cultivate the animal 
wljjch best supplies the primal necessities,— 
food, clothing, and the continued enrichment 
of the earth? The blessing, in trie olden 
time, was given to him who " hroughtofthe 
firstlings of bis flock,” for the Loud had re¬ 
spect unto Abel and to his offering." * * * 
Sheep husbandry in this country has 
been hitherto pursued exclusively with a 
view to the production of wool, mutton 
being a mere incident, and manure hardly 
a matter of consideration. The character 
of our sheep husbandry lias, therefore, been 
wholly determined by tbe dentaud of 
manufacture. The American manufactu¬ 
rers have found it more profitable to run 
their mills upon the classes of goods in de¬ 
mand by the mass of our people. The 
masses of American consumers, although 
not demanding superfine cloths, require 
goods of a better and finer class than would 
content the masses of European population. 
Sound and sightly cloths, hut of medium 
fineness, are in the greatest demand. Me¬ 
dium wools, produced by Merino grades, of 
considerable length of fiber, are well suited 
to the production of flannels and fancy cas- 
simeres, our principal products in t be clotb- 
iug wool manufacture. It is true, that tbe 
fine broadcloth manufacture was attempted 
under the fostering influence of the protec¬ 
tive tariffk of 1824 and 1828, and was farther 
extended under the tariff of 1842 ; and the 
culture of Saxony or superfine wooled sheep 
was pursued with enthusiasm. The hori¬ 
zontal tariff of 1846 destroyed the broad¬ 
cloth manufacture, and at "the same time 
swept away our Saxony sheep or merged 
them into coarser flocks. The demand for 
broadcloth wools having ceased, the Ameri¬ 
can breeders of Merinos, adapting themselves 
to the wants of manufacturers, sought to pro¬ 
duce a coarser and longer staple than had 
been iu request, at an earlier period. They 
have produced, through these influences, a 
race of sheep designated as the American 
Merino, and now recognized as a distinctive 
variety, like the Saxon Merino or French 
Merino. The most complete account of trie 
American Merino is the elaborate paper fur¬ 
nished to the report “ Ou Wool and Manu¬ 
factures of Wool,” at the. Paris Exposition, 
by Dr. Randall, the highest American au- 
ihority ou sheep husbandry, and no less 
favorably known as author of the “Life of 
Jefferson.” The remarkable improvement 
in productions of wool, effected by American 
busbundry upon the original Spanish stock, 
is the most interesting fact brought out in 
this excellent paper. From facts and experi¬ 
ments iu scouring, which lie details. Dr. 
Randall says: — "It. appears, first, that 
prime American Merinos produced more 
washed wool, iu 1844-46, than was produced 
of unwashed wool by tbe original stock in 
Spain, at their palmiest period ; second, that 
prime American Merinos produce about as 
much scoured wool now as they did of washed 
wool in 1844-40, and nearly twice as much 
as the picked Merino flock of the King of 
Great Britain from 179S to 1803. They un¬ 
doubtedly produce twice as much scoured 
wool as the average of trie prime Spanish 
flocks of that period.” By breeding to pro¬ 
duce heavy fleeces, the wool of the Ameri¬ 
can Merino has become elongated so as to 
make it a true combing wool. No use of 
this quality has been made until very re¬ 
cently, except in delaines, a comparatively 
low fabric. The American Commissioner 
at the Paris Exposition, in tbe department 
of woolens, who, though largely interested 
in manufactures, had at that time but little 
practical experience in fabricating, was fas¬ 
cinated by the magnificent French Merino 
fabrics at (bo Exposition. Upon his return 
to this country bis attention was drawn to a 
fleece of American Merino wool, which bad 
been sent from Ohio to the office of the As¬ 
sociation which I serve, to illustrate the 
combing qualities of the American staple. 
He instantly resolved to emulate in the mill its way through the fruit. When she has 
of which he had the direction, with our Me- once ascertained the presence of such a larva 
rino combing wools, the French fabrics by aid of her antennae—which she deftly ap- 
which he had admired abroad. Within less r n 
than two years the resolution lias been P^es to diffeient parts of the fiuit,aiu c 
crowned with complete success; his estab- doubtless possess some occult and delicate 
lishment has achieved several entirely new sense of perception which, with our compar- 
dress fabrics, made wholly of native fiber, atively dull seuses, we are unable tocompre- 
sucb as had never been attempted in Eng- lie nd-tlieu she pierces the fruit, and with 
laud, and at least three thousand pounds ot . . . . , 
a • i .. i . . iitiBi'riiiff nreeiRion. rlfinest Is a sume etrir in 
American Merino clothing wool are con¬ 
sumed per week in this new fabrication. 
This achievement I regard as the event in 
unerring precision, deposits a single egg in 
her victim, by means of her ovipositor. Now 
there is, as I shall show iu the description, a 
this year’s history of the wooleu industry of variety (fusca) of ibis parasite with the ovi- 
posilor nearly one-fifth of an inch long, but 
—-- in the normal form, the ovipositor is only 
« v . * twelve-hundredths of an inch long, and the 
nt0m0l0gxxal. Curculio larva must, therefore, be reached 
soon alter it batches, or while vet very young. 
. Consequently, we find that, the earliest Cur- 
SN0UT—BEETLES culio larvte or those which riatcli while the 
Injurious to Fruits aud Vetretnbies. fruit is yet small, are tbe most, subject to be 
- parasitised, and while from the larvse ob- 
by CHA8. v. riley. taiued early in the season, I bred more parti- 
[Read before the lit. State Horticultural Society.] s '^ es ' * lan Olirculios, I bis order ot things was 
[Continued from page los, Feb. ls.j tevetsed a little later iu the year. Some per- 
SN0UT-BEETLES 
Injurious to Fruits aud Vegetables. 
BY CHA 8 . V. RILEY. 
[Read befsre the IU. State Horticultural Society.] 
[Continued from page 108, Feb. 18.J 
To be brief, Dr. Pitch’s Sigalphus is a true sons will no doubt wonder how such a large 
parasite on the plum Curculio, aud I have Ay ClU1 he developed from a Curculio larva 
bred hundreds of the flies from Curculio which is stung while so young; hut, we do 
larvse. The first bred specimens gave me not know how long the parasitic egg re- 
much pleasure, for as soon as I saw they be¬ 
longed to the same genus as Dr. Fitch’s fly, 
I felt assured that, another disputed question 
was settled. But, to make assurance doubly 
sure, I repeatedly half filled large jars with 
pure earth, finely sifted, so that no living 
mains unliatched, aud it must be remem¬ 
bered that it is a rule, wisely ordained and 
long known to exist in insect life, that the 
parasitic larva does not at first kill outright, 
but subsists, without retarding growth,upon 
the fatty portions of its victim, until its own 
animals remained in it. luto these jars I growth is attained. Thus tbe first worm dc- 
placed Curculio larva? from day to day as rives its nourishment from the juicy fruit, 
they issued from peaches that were thrown 
into another vessel, and in due time the 
and grows on, regardless of tbe parasite 
which is consuming its adipose substance, 
parasitic flies began to issue from the ground until the latter is sufficiently developed, and 
along with the perfect Curculios. Nay, the appointed time arrives for it to destroy 
more than this, I soon learned to distinguish its prey, by attacking those parts more vital. 
This parasite which I will now pro- 
x ° J ceed to describe, belongs to the second 
); \\ y> sub-family ( Braconidce) of the Ichneu- 
\ \f / in on flies ( hhneumonidm) and tbe 
--venation of its wings, and three- 
jointed abdomen place it in the genus 
StgaJtiphut. Westwood (Synapsis , p. 
y■ Af'/t, Pv^^' ^ 63,) gives three cubital panes or arco- 
' i* |\yv r3 B \ \ lets in the front wing ns characteristic 
A 1A of the genus; but Bkulle (p. 510) 
^ K > y / v and, as Mr. Crekhon informs me, 
* _/ \ Westmael, iu his Braconidea do 
Fig. 4.— Sigalphus Curculio Parasite : a, female; Bdgique, give only two, which is the 
h, male; c, antenna. 
number in our iusect. 
such Curculio larvte as were parasitised, and »»»ioT'S'*t 
after thev had worried theimelves under the «pt*r»rly covered on the face with abort whitish 
after they had worried themselves under the 
ground—seldom more than half an inch—I 
would uncover them, and on several occa¬ 
sions hail the satlslaetioiwif w a telling the 
gnawing worm within reduce its victim un¬ 
til finally nothing was left of him. As soon 
spiirscljr covered on the face with abort whitish 
hairs; ocelli almost, touching each other , Inltrmn 
and Jaws brown: oalpl bate yellow : antenn.r! (KIk 
4, c.)27-.totnt<!d, Mllfnrut reachinc. when turned hack, 
to m id ell a Joint ot abdomen or beyond, the hnlbuus 
and small second Joint rufous amt glabrous, thu rest 
black orda-U brown, though 3-1(1 in runny specimens 
are morn or less tinged with rufous : 8-H eerr gradu¬ 
ally dlndnlchlog In site, 14-547 uuto-eq mil. ' Thuntx 
Mack, polished, the m etc thorax distinctly and 
broadly putiotat*, and the rest more or Its:, dis¬ 
tinctly punctate or rugose, with the sides sparsely 
pubescent. A/idrimtu pitchy-hlack, flattened, the flor¬ 
as the Curculio larva is destroyed by tbe tlnctly punctate or rugose, with the sides sparsely 
, pubescent. Abdomen pitchy-black, flattened, tliedor- 
parasite, the latter (Fig. 5, a.) incloses Itself sumoonv.-r, the venter concave, and tile Sides Iiur- 
i , row-odB;#d anri slightly onnnutsd: the three Joints 
in a tough little yellowish cocoou ot si!Lc, distinctly separated and of about ofluaj lenuthi the 
,-n,. K k \ .1__„ "rut Joint having rwodoisal longitudinal enrimr down 
(rig. 5, &*) then gliXClUrilly xissuinC3 the pupd the middle; alldefisfll? mark?*! wills v«\y tine ton- 
state, (Fig. 5, c,) and at the end of about, the 
same length of time that trie Curculio re¬ 
quires to undergo its transformations, and 
issue as a beetle, this, its deadly foe, gnaws 
a hole through its cocoon and issues to the 
light of day, as a black, four-winged fly— 
distinctly separated and of about e^ua]length; th« 
tlrst Joint hsv lug two dorsal longitudinal carim*: down 
the middle : all densely marked wiLli vary tine lon¬ 
gitudinal improithod lines.aud sparsely pubescent. 
[Dr. FITCH, In bis deacripMon published In t he Coun¬ 
try tinntlnmun under (Into of Rcptcmlier, I85P. states 
tbiutheso line* lenre “n smooth stripe along tuu mid¬ 
dle of Its second sof inenr, and a large smooth space 
on the base of the third,’’ which Is true of a few speci¬ 
mens. hut not of the majority, In which the laapre>>ied 
lines generally cover the whole ahdomen ;J oviposi¬ 
tor longer than abdomen, but when si retched In a 
Uno with it. projecting bucltwnrdr, about the same 
length beyond i rufous, with the sbenlht black, t.rg* 
/Tl'lrr A n f'/.molo • h fy 1 In ilm vreinitw nf P a,t} rufous, with the upper patt, Of bind llblBi and 
(U ig. 4, a, lemale , 0, 0.) ill U»e Vicinity Oi fursl. and sometimes ihohlimrunjorH.du.slty. iTinw 
St r.miR Ibis flv whs sg common the nael sub-hyaline and Iridescent, the vein* pnlerufnue and 
ot. Eouid, tuii. uy was bo ujiiiuiuu me paet the stigma black. Length of female (i.to -O.lfi inch.; 
.1 . Ca. _ . ... _ . I*. 1 - - it... . . . T ...... n on . t . A . ri .. . 1 _ i l. i . . _ . . _ i . 
season that, after very careful estimates, I 
am satisfied three-fourths of all the more 
early developed Curculio larvse were de¬ 
stroyed by it. On the 17t,h aud 18l.li of 
April, in that locality, a severe frost killed 
the peach buds on all but a few of the young 
aud most vigorous trees of Hide's Early stud 
Crawford, so that instead of a large and 
abundant crop of peaches to depredate on, 
the lilLle Turk hud to concentrate its attacks 
ou the few [leaches that were left; aud no 
expann*, 0.30; male differs eiily in hi* sotOMwUat 
smnller size itnd In bioking the ovipodlco. In m*ny 
apectmeus the ra.:Kot,horax and the oye« ara moru or 
lees dist inctly rnfmt*. 
DeeorUind from 00 femalOH, 10 mules hrutl .Inn©2.3d 
—July SJth, 187(1, from IiirvtB of Cuvolrnclmlus ntnUr- 
phar, ami 2 femtiiea Dbt&llied from Dr. Fi n n, 
V,\R1KTY. ruf ias.— Head, thorax ami rnoet. of first 
abdominal joint entirely rufous, with l be tRlddle and 
bind lllnin dusky, and the ovipositor throe times us 
long !t< uhdonmn, unci projecting more than twice Its 
length hcy.ind ll» tip. OCMUIbcd from 3 female-, 
bred promiscuously wli h 111" others. This variety is 
slightly larger ami differs so remarkably from mo 
normal form Hint, wore H not fOrtlieulimdutticomis- 
pondertOO m nil the sculpturing ot til© thorax and 
body, and In tins venntton of 1 , 1 m wings, it might be 
Considered illttlnat. Tha greater length of th>- Ovi¬ 
positor Is v«ry chuntcrcrlsi b:, ami accompanies the 
other variation* In all throe Ol the specimens. 
Lor ,;, 1 1 ig, .1,0,; white, tvlf.li tiaiisluount yellowish 
mottling*. 
Pupn, trig. ft. c,)-female 0.1T, Inch long; whitish, 
the members ail distinct, the antennsB touching hind 
torsi, the ovipositor curved round behind, reaching 
anil touching with Us tip thn third abdominal Joint 
which afterwards forme the apical Joint of Imago; 
tlvc ventral Joints, which tn the Imago become much 
absorbed and hidden, being strongly developed. 
t)oc»nn y i Fig. 5 , b,)—composed of one layer of closely 
woven yellowish silk.—|To bo continued. 
Fig. 5.—Sigalphus Cdrcclio Parasite: a 
larva; h, cocoon; c, pupa. 
one expected that any fruit would lie saved. 
Yet trie work of tliis little parasite was so 
effectual that, wherever fruit set a fair crop 
was gathered, even by those who made no 
effort at all to protect tlieir trees I 
While visiting Dr. Fitch last August, at 
iiis house in Salem, N. Y., I compared my 
bred specimens with his species, and found 
them identically the 6ame; hut I shall, in 
this reading, omit the description which fol¬ 
lows, and which may be read by those in¬ 
terested when triis essay is published. 
As Mr. Walsh bred triis same parasite 
from the larvse of ltis little Plum Moth, it 
doubtless attacks other soft bodied larvse, 
and does not coufine itself to the Plum Cur¬ 
culio. Triis is the more likely, as it would 
scarcely pass trie winter in thd fly state. The 
female, with that wonderful instinct which 
is exhibited in such a surprising degree in 
the iusect world, knows as well as we great 
lords ot creation, what the little crescent, 
mark upon a peach or plum indieates; and can 
doubtless tell with much more surety, though 
she never received a lesson from her parents, 
whether or not a Curculio larva is drilling 
; [talisman. 
GOPHER TRAP. 
About twenty years ago a German named 
Martin Teutscfi of this village invented a 
trap to catch gophers, or salamanders, as 
they are called here, which proved a perfect 
success. 1 will endeavor to describe how AT 
is made. 
Take a hard piece of wood, about nine 
inches long, and turn it so that one end will 
be two and a-lialf inches in diameter and 
trie other end three inches, gradually sloping 
from one end to trie other. With a two 
inch auger bore a bole in the small end 
eight inches deep. Then take a fine-toothed 
rip saw and split it open from end to end in 
HARLEQUIN CABBAGE BUG. 
A few weeks siuce we received a few 
mutilated specimens of an insect from Geo. 
W. Hackett, Irenelain Depot, Va,, who 
said that they were very destructive to cab¬ 
bages iu his locality, and desired to know 
the name of this pest- We suspected that, 
this insect was the one named below, but to 
be certain on this point wrote for other and 
more perfect specimens. These have been 
received and confirm our suspicions, as they 
are unmistakably trie true Harlequin cab¬ 
bage Img, (Straehia histronica, Hahn.) figured 
and described in the lost volume of the 
Rural New- Yorker, page 299. Mr. IIacii- 
ett writes trial they do not confine them¬ 
selves to the cabbage, but attack mustard, 
horseradish, and we presume all plants 
belonging to the cabbage ( Brassku) family. 
As this insect was first noticed in Texas in 
1806, and now lias reached Virginia on its 
way northward, we may expect to find it by 
another year or two m New Jersey and 
Pennsylvania, if not in New York. Wc hope, 
however, that our Northern climate will he 
too severe for this pest, for til® one now work¬ 
ing destruction (Tier is rapae) to the cabbage 
crop in triis vicinity, is certainly enough to 
insure a high price for this vegetable. 
TRAP SKT AND READY FOR USE. 
two equal parts. In one of these halves a 
spring door is fixed, made of sheet iron, 
which is round like, the opening aud curved 
to fit down in the half. This is made fast, 
on a hinge near the entrance, with a spring 
under it. sufficient to raise it to a perpen¬ 
dicular, the hinge so arranged that it can 
only be raised to n perpendicular. Another 
piece of sheet iron, made round to move 
easilv in I lie two-inch opening, is made, 
which is attached to a long, narrow strip of 
iron, which ship moves easily under two 
staples in the bottom ot trie hah to which 
the door is fastened. 
In order to set trie trap the door is pressed 
down, and the end of this strip projects over 
it and Urns holds trie door open. Then take 
the two halves and put them together, asd 
HALT TRAP SET BEFORE PUTTING TOGETHER. 
slip over them a thin wide ring,made sloping 
like the the trap, aud it is ready for use. 
With this trap you go out where the 
gopher is at work, and find his last made 
hillock, and if it is not quite finished, all 
you have to do is to stick the trap iu the 
hole, open end downward, and in a short 
time ite will bring up his loud of dirt, and, 
in pressing against trie upper piece of iron, 
lie will push the strip of iron from over the 
door, when Lite spring will lift it up and 
shut him in. 
Two traps of this sort rid all the gardens of 
this village of tbe gophers. t. m. f. 
Bellevue, La. 
arm &t0tt0m|i* 
ECONOMICAL NOTES. 
Keeping Farm Accounts. 
Geo. S. Parsons writes, in answer to a 
correspondent of the Rural New-Yorker, 
that he keeps farm accounts in litis way: 
Buys a common blank journal, of about one 
hundred and fifty pages, at, the beginning of 
each year, and uses the larger part of it as a 
diary, in which he notes daily what work is 
done on the farm, and other events worthy 
of record. “ The journal is ruled so that two 
columns of figures can be kept on tbe same 
page. In the first column set down what¬ 
ever is paid out; in trie other, what is re¬ 
ceived, also trio date and item opposite. To 
avoid mistakes, foot up at trie bottom of each 
page, and carry the amount over to the next. 
Ai regular periods, (once a year,) take tut in¬ 
ventory of farm stock, grain, bay, imple¬ 
ments, household furniture, groceries, &c. 
Accounts with hired help should be kept, 
separate. Farm account, cash account, and 
family account, can lie kept separate if a per¬ 
son prefers.” 
How to I.oa<l a Wntton. 
B. 8. W., Parker, Kan., writes us he is 
convinced that the right xvay to load a 
wagon is to have an equal weight on each 
wheel; if any difference, the greater weight 
should be on the front wheel*. Then, in 
going down into a hole, the hind wheels de¬ 
scending, help to push the heavily weighted 
front xvheols out. lie asks us what wo 
think about it. We think we are glad that 
he is “ convinced.” 
Board vt». Tile Drain. 
W. E, P., Eden, N. Y., is about under 
draining clayish land with sandy subsoil, 
aud can make board drains, after a manner 
described, at a cost of two-thirds of a cent 
per foot; and tile will cost about one cent 
per foot; asks if he had ltd,ter use tile. Wo 
should, by all means, in preference to the 
board drains described. 
To Rill Itats on a Farm. 
A correspondent at Beutonville, Ind., 
writes the Rural New-Yorker, that to 
kill rats, prepare equal parts of “ Plaster of 
Paris” (prepared for dental use) and corn 
meal. Soon after being wet, the plaster be¬ 
comes hard, and not being digested, kills 
the rat. 
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