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DAILY RURAL LIFE. 
From the Diary of a Gentleman near New 
York City. 
EGGS IN PEACH TWIGS. 
March 25.— I am in receipt of some small 
pencil twigs containing the eggs of an insect. 
These specimens were received through the 
i{i iial New-Yorker office, and accompa¬ 
nied by a letter from Geo. J. Kinne, who re¬ 
quests me to inform him what kind of an 
insect deposited those eggs. 
The eggs are those of the Climbing Cricket 
(OSca/nihus niveau, Harris.) The female 
cricket deposits the eggs in long contiguous 
rows, puncturing the twigs down to the very 
pith, This insect deposits her eggs in the 
small twigs of various trees and plants, such 
as the peach willow, grape vine, blackberry 
and raspberry. The twigs punctured usually 
die, therefore we may safely place this pretty 
little cricket in the list of injurious insects. 
This cricket, or a closely-allied species, fre¬ 
quently do considerable damage to the grape 
by cutting off the leaves and bundles of 
fruit, cither out of pure mischief or because 
they desire a portion for food. I do not 
know of any preventive except that of de¬ 
stroying all infected twigs and killing the 
insect wherever found. 
PRESERVING SWEET CHESTNUTS. 
March 20.—I have been examining a quan¬ 
tity of sweet chestnuts sown last fall in sandy 
soil, and covered two or three inohes deep. 
The nuts arc sound and fresh, showing no 
signs of decay, and from present appearances 
will soon be pushing into growth. 
I have made many experiments in raising 
nut trees from seed, but never had one end 
in a failure. Two years ago one of my neigh¬ 
bor's planted fifty bushels of chestnuts, but. 
did not get enough plants to pay for plowing 
1 the seed bod. Why he failed 1 never learned, 
but the fact that iie did was enough to show 
there must have been some gross mismanage¬ 
ment somewhere. 1 never could understand 
wherein it required any more skill to grow 
an acre of forest tree seedlings than an acre 
of wheat or corn ; in troth cases, a man n'mst 
know where ami how to plant, und one is as 
readily learned as the other. If nurserymen 
have better success than other persons, it is 
simply because they pay more strict atten¬ 
tion to the business, learning something by 
practice. 1 have but one rule to follow with 
all kinds of hardy tree seeds, and that is, 
gather when ripe, and either sow immediat e¬ 
ly, or keep them in a moist, cool place until 
planted. Seeds that ripen early in the sea¬ 
son, like the Elm, Silver and Scarlet Maple, 
arc put into the ground as soon as they fall 
from the tree. 
PRUNING ROSES. 
March 27.—As soon as the frost is out of 
t he ground in spring and hard freezing weath¬ 
er - is past. 1 commence to prune my roses. I 
suppose that every one who has noticed the 
’Carving habits of roses knows the different 
species or classes require different treatment 
with the pruniog knife. All kinds of sum¬ 
mer or June roses, aa they are usually term¬ 
ed, such us Damask, Prairie Moss and French, 
should have the old canes occasionally re¬ 
moved ; 1 hat is, those that have produced 
flowers one, two or three years. Also, all 
weak, slender branches und canes may bo 
removed, allowing only sufficient to give the 
plant a good form. The largest and most 
perfect flowers are usually producer] upon 
the strongest, one-year-old canes, and these 
may be shortened with benefit. Hybrid Per 
periods should also have their canes shorten¬ 
ed and the weak, feeble branches cut away, 
and as a rule, the weaker the shoot the more 
severely it. should be pruned. Six to twelve 
inches is long enough for side branches on 
Hybrid Perpetual* grown as tree or half 
standards. With the Tea-seentod, Noisettes 
and Bourbons, there is little danger of prun¬ 
ing too severely, beeauseit is the young shoots 
that produce the llowerg, and the more vig¬ 
orous these Start and grow, the more abun¬ 
dant will be the blooms. There is little use 
t o leave a quantity of long, slender shoots 
upon a plant, expecting that they will pro¬ 
duce as many or perfect Mowers as a few 
* strong ones. After monthly roses have pro¬ 
duced their first crops of flowers in summer, 
a second may be hastened by cutting back 
the blooming shoots. 
MANURE AND WATER. 
The rose is one of the few cultivated planks 
that will withstand almost any amount of 
stimulating' manure, provided it is not too 
fresh and rank. Let it be old and fine, and 
then apply as liberally as the supply will 
£_ 
-—. . 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
warrant. All roses do better *in a rather 
heavy and compact soil than in one that is 
very light, containing too much sand cr 
vegetable matter. The rose being a thirsty 
plant, it should be planted in a deep, moist 
soil, or where water can be freely given arti¬ 
ficially. Those who plant single specimens 
of roses in sod or upon raised mounds in the 
garden, usually learn their mistake in July 
and August. 
IN THE RUBBER BUSINESS. 
March 28.—Of course, as spring has arrived, 
1 want to send some of my choice.seeds and 
plants to friends residing in the far West and 
elsewhere, but And that the Post-office De¬ 
partment still endeavors to bother the people 
as much as possible, instead of trying to aid 
them in distributing plants. Seeds are allowed 
to be sent by mail in unsealed packages, also 
other articles, under the head of samples; 
but we are informed that the packages must 
be put up in such a manner that the P. M. 
can examine the contents without the least 
inconvenience or loss of time. Well, this is 
very clever on the part of the Department, 
but very inconvenient to practice by the 
humble people. Vary small seeds are 'not 
readily kept in unsealed packages, and when 
it comes to potatoes and bulbs and tubers of 
various kinds, a little st rong twine is a very 
convenient article to hold them together. 
But we are told that twine must not be used, 
because it takes too much of the post-oil ice 
clerk's lime to untie and examine the con¬ 
tents of packages ; therefore rubber bunds 
are recommended, and this looks very much 
as though somebody ut headquarters was 
interested in a rubber manufactory. I wish 
the Postmaster-General would come out und 
talk plain, and tell us whose make we must 
purchase, for 1 want to start right, and not 
have all my packages confiscated in conse¬ 
quence of not having the right sort of rub¬ 
ber about them. Then, perhaps it would be 
a good plan to have a published schedule of 
the sizes and price which must be paid for 
the bands—iu fact try and make it as plain as 
possible, that all the honesty in this country is 
concentrated in the Pont-cllicc Department 
and not a drop left among the people. It is 
strange that some safe plan cannot be de¬ 
vised l'or managing the mails in an honest 
manner on both sides. 1 behove that the 
people who are not in the employ of the Gov¬ 
ernment are about as honest, upon the whole, 
as those who are, and generally a little 
more so. 
©lie glj)i;iijian. 
BEES SWARMING. 
A hu he way to prevent bees from going to 
the woods, when they come out aud alight, 
is to get a pail, half full, of cold water from 
the well; take a broom, brush and dip it in 
tiie water, and throw it up over the bees, and 
it will come down on them like hue rain; 
then hive them the usual way, and sprinkle 
them while going in, and sprinkle the ground 
around the hive, to cool the air ; in fifteen or 
twenty minutes do it again, and continue it 
until the May is cooler ; keep the hive in the 
shade. There is no need of having any bees 
go to the woods—not at all. 1 had over forty 
swarms last summer, and saved all by sprink¬ 
ling them. 
The bee journals tell of men who make ar- 
tifieial swarms, and yet have bees go to the. 
woods; there is no need of this if you uso 
cold water. “But,” says one, “my bees go 
to tbe woods without alighting.” 1 don't 
dispute it in the least ; but during the thirty- 
live yearn that I have kept bees, 1 have never 
had a swarm come out and go to the woods 
without alighting first; and 1. am safe in say¬ 
ing 1 have hived a thousand swarms. Bees 
sometimes come out undiscovered, and after 
a while start for the woods, and are seen on 
the second start. A. Wilson. 
Mareellus, N. Y. 
BEE NOTES. 
Correction .—In my communication, pub 
liehcd in the Rural, March 22(1, on “Spring 
Management of Bees,” the pamgrapl , “and 
others plenty of bees and food and but little 
honey,” food should be brood ; “hives with¬ 
out broods ,” broods should be brood; “as 
there would have been much brood, and few 
bees in the hive, should bo, “as there would 
not have been much brood, and few 1 iocs iu 
the hive.—J. E. Mooiur, Rochester, Pa. 
MctaMc Jtcc-Hives, it is asserted, destroy 
the instincts of moths, and are, therefore, 
moth-proof! Do they destroy the instinct, 
or does the moth's instinct teach it to keep 
away from them ? 
©he Horseman:. 
TO HALTER AND BREAK A COLT. 
I would like to say a few words in refer¬ 
ence to the above subject, more especially 
after reading the article in Rural New- 
Yorker, March 8. That article totally con¬ 
demns a former one written on the same sub¬ 
ject, but not upon the ground of experience, 
if your correspondent, who styles himself 
“A Lover of the Horse,” has ever, in Ida life, 
at any time, had the least experience in hal 
tcring and training a colt previous to his be 
ing harnessed and driven before a vehicle ol 
some kind, he has utterly failed to convey 
that impression to the minds of your many 
readers in his condemnatory article. Rela¬ 
tive to the method of haltering a colt, advo¬ 
cated by your correspondent in the Rural, 
Feb. 15, allow me to ask your correspondent, 
“ A Lover of the Horae,” why he totally ig¬ 
nores the practice pursued by E. (J. C., with¬ 
out applying or telling of a remedy that 
would eventually put a stop to u system 
which, in his imagination, is so cruel and far 
beyond the laws of common sense ? Should 
the “ Lover of the Horse” have any time at 
his disposal, he could profit amazingly by 
studying the above subject carefully before 
he int rudes his ideas upon a reading publidj 
when not backed by experience—especially 
when all lie appears to know of a subject so 
momentous to horsemen as the one now be¬ 
fore us is based upon imagination. 
In dealing with thin mat ter, allow me to go 
over the ground of treatment in haltering a 
colt whiel» is so objectionable to the “Lover 
of the Horse.” The first he complains of is, 
after getting the colt into a suitable inc losure, 
the horseman provides himself with a whip 
having a long lash, and the colt feels this 
somewhat sharply applied to In's hind legs, and 
your correspondent asks, “ why, in the name 
of common sense, is this done, unless you 
want to teach the colt, to kick!” and adds, 
“ this would be the proper method to inaugn- 
• rate such u. performance.” The “ Lover of 
the Horse’s,” hyaghiutions on this point are 
not correct. We horsemen consider the 
whip, when properly used, an article almost 
indispensable in the training and manage¬ 
ment of the horse, and claim I hat all E. A. C. 
talks of doing with it in training a colt can 
be accomplished successfully, and with eom- 
parati vely but little difficulty. My attention 
was first arrested to this mode of managing 
a colt by the following.. This exercise was 
fully illustrated by Mr. Jonathan Smith of 
Virginia, which is thus described by S. A. 
Cole: —A vicious mare was given him to 
tarns, which, it was said, he could not man¬ 
age, unless he dealt, with the devil, for she 
was a wild, skittish young thing, high tem- 
dered, and disposed to kick and bite. He or¬ 
dered her into a bam, and then entered, and 
fastened the door. Before she had time to 
survey him he was giving her the lash 
smartly; around she went, kicking and 
jumping; no rest was given ; the sweat 
flowed, and she slackened in her movements. 
When she approached him ho slackened his 
whip, held out his hand, uud said, “come 
along,” Again she was off, and the lash ap¬ 
plied. This was repeated several times be¬ 
fore she would advance. When she moved 
toward him, lie approached and patted her; 
aud as he moved away and said, “come 
along,” she followed. In a moment she 
darted oil; he applied the lash smartly ; she 
stopped, t rembled, and approached him. He 
patted her neck, and said, “come along,” and 
she followed him several times around the 
barn. When he lagged, she was away, and 
the lash applied. After that she would not 
remain two feet from him. He ordered the 
door to be opened, and the mare followed 
close to him through the crowd, and back to 
the stable. This shows, and proves clearly, 
the first steps, and only correct way, of form¬ 
ing an acquaintance with wild and vicions 
horses. 
The above management, as described by 
S. A. Cole, and that it can be successfully 
performed as perfectly, if not with as much 
ease aud grace, as it was for the “ Lover 
of the Horse” to say, “what nonsense !” 
The “Lover of the llorse” objects as to the 
manner in which the halter is put on, and 
the use made of it. in breaking a colt to lead 
and follow. He is again at fault , as all men 
must expect to be who don’t take the troul ile 
to solve such questions, save by their own im¬ 
aginations. 1 have seen a colt so perfectly 
trained, in the manner stated by E. A. (X, 
that you could not possibly get far enough 
away from inm as to necessitate a jerk of 
the halter to make him follow. Further¬ 
more, after the same is done, you can take 
P 
APRIL 12 
new 
d 
the naked colt and, with the aforesaid whip, 
make him follow you wherever you please. 
This can be accomplished so perfectly that 
the colt will, by only snapping the whip 
while running before him, keep close to your 
side, no mat ter how many horses are running 
loose around him. 
In conclusion, I would just say to my 
friend, Mr. “Lover of. the Horse,” don’t be 
quite so positive that what seems an impossi 
bility to you cannot be, and with ease, sue 
cessfully performed by some one else. 
Province of Ontario, C'an. Canada. 
-♦-*-*- 
SCRATCHES IN HORSES. 
C. W. C. inquires, " Can any one tell what 
will effaet a cure for scratches ?” I think I 
can toll him, and feel so confident, that I 
would be willing to warrant it if it was neces¬ 
sary. Take a handful of calendula blows, 
(you can buy them in some drug stores, not 
every one,) put to it a half pint of pure alco¬ 
hol and a. half pint, of pure rain orsoft water; 
let it stand ten or twelve hours. Wash the 
horse’s foot or feet in warm water and soap; 
use a brush ; get out all the dirt and all the 
scabs. Then take about two table-spoonfuls 
of the prepared tincture of the calendula, put 
it t.o a half pint of rain or soft water, take a 
clean mg and wash the. sores with the mix¬ 
ture, and, if practicable, tie a clean rag, wet 
with this mixture, around the leg. I)o it 
night and morning, and your horse will soon 
be well. Do the same if your horse is corked 
or bruised or has cut or hurt himself, or has 
a Bore or a swelling, and you will find it one 
of the moat valuable medicines you ever used 
on a horse—or man either, for similar casual 
tics. Calendula is the old-fashioned com¬ 
mon Marigold, called “ Orange Flower,” in 
Virginia. Just try it.— S, T., Verdierville, 
Orange Go., Va. 
C. W. C. inquires for a remedy for scratches. 
Let him try the following :—Take copperas 
and alum, equal parts, burn, eit her together 
or separate, in an iron vessel, then beat to 
a fine powder. Wash the feet of t he horse 
with soap and water, wipe dry, and dust on 
the powder freely. One or two applications 
will be. Huflieient. This remedy is both sim¬ 
ple and effective. It will even cure grease if 
persisted in.—Tnos. II. B. 
In answer to C. W. C., in the Rural New- 
Yorker ol' March 22d, I say, from experi¬ 
ence, that if he will mix equal quantities of 
hogs’ lard, gunpowder, common table-salt, 
and blue stone, aud apply to the parts after 
they have been well washed, it will effect a 
cure with three applications, if thoroughly 
made. Apply every morning. Keep the ani¬ 
mal in a dry place. — James A. Scott, Pine 
Grove, Ky. 
' -- 
NOTES FOR HORSEMEN. 
Laying Out a I ltd/-Mile'Track. — C. II. Har¬ 
well furnishes the Turf, Field and Farm the 
following, which will answer inquiries re¬ 
ceived by tin; Rural Nkw-Yorker Lay off 
two straight sides, GOO feet each (parallel), and 
152 feet 1 >)j inches apart, connected at each 
end with a perfect semicircle (radius 220 feet 
2 8~1G inches); place your fence exactly upon 
a line so formed (which is the inside of your 
track), and your track will measure exactly 
half a mile three l'eet from the fence ; the 
outside fence to be placed according to the 
width of the truck desired. If not convenient 
to obtain an engineer to run the curves, it 
can be done as follows :—Place a center stake 
midway between the parallel straight sides at 
each end ; take a wire with a loop at the 
end, loose enough to turn upon the stake, 
and measure upon this wire 22d feet 2 3—1 (i 
inches (the radius of the curves), which, from 
the center stake, will exactly reach the ends 
of the straight lines ; then describe your sem¬ 
icircle, beginning at the end of one straight 
side, putting down a stake every twelve feet, 
If that is the lengt h of fence panels desired. 
Parses with Lice. —J. N. W. says his horses 
rub about the buildings and fences, and he 
frequent ly sees them biting themselves ; their 
coats look rough and nibbed up. He resides 
iu the western part of Maryland, has a good 
stable and feeds straw, com and corn fodder ; 
no hen-roosts close by. We thiid< the ani¬ 
mals are lousy, evidently need physic, would 
be benefited by a feed of carrots, sugar beets 
or even potatoes every day, and need careful 
grooming. 
To Stop Runaway Horses the following 
patented contrivances have been invented : 
One consists of a pair of nose stoppers, at¬ 
tached to a bit, which are closed over the 
nostrils of the animal by means of a cord, 
which the driver pulls if the horses attempt 
to run.—Another consist s of a pair of blinders, 
by which the driver, on pulling a cord, in¬ 
stantly blindfolds the animal. 
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