Iptrg flf :i Pluralist 
DAILY RURAL LIFE. 
From the Diary of r. Gentleman near New 
York City. 
IOOKIKO OVER UNE'S TREAtliRES. 
Sept. 22.—Well ! I have been at home a 
month to-day, and there are SO blank pages 
in my “ Diary,” which I fear will never be 
filled. But it is far better to have blank 
pages in a book than in one’s life, hence I 
will console myself by the excuse of having 
so much other work to do that writing has 
been neglected. Then there were all my 
treasures that 1 gathered from the plains 
and mountains to be unpacked, arranged 
and labeled. Silver, lead, gold and other 
precious metals, specimens of which were 
brought hr me, must be taken from their 
hasty wrappings, each labeled with name, 
locality and the particular lode from whence 
taken. As 1 look over these, the circum¬ 
stances under which they were gathered,— 
the locality, surrounding scenes, and even 
the merry laugh of some of our party, arc 
all brought vividly to mind. These little 
bits of rock or metal, of no intrinsic, value in 
themselves, become souvenirs through asso¬ 
ciation, and years hence they will be a source 
of pleasure as I travel the journey over in 
some of my leisure hours. It Is in this light, 
that we should look upon the little cabinets 
of keepsakes which our friends may have 
gathered together. A paper of sand from 
the Nile or a dried flower from the Andes, 
may be, through association, of great value 
to the possessor. As 1 look over the miner¬ 
als, plants or insects which 1 brought home, 
I recall facts in relation to their history in re¬ 
gard to habits or geographical distribution 
of species which are put down on the credit 
side of the ledger jus so much knowledge 
gained. Among the 4,000 or 5,000 beetles 
collected, there are a few new to my cabi¬ 
net, while of others I have learned something 
of their habits. Here, for instance, is that 
giant of Longieorn beetles, Ergatee apicula- 
tus, Leo., specimens of which had long been 
in my cabinet, having come from California ; 
but in what tree its larva lived, or how far 
east of California it extended, 1 had no means 
of knowing; but while encamped in the 
mountains of Colorado during my late visit. 
I caught a specimen of this beetle in the very 
act of eating his way out from the stem of <i 
huge Plnun jtonderosa, where it had lived 
and undergone its various transformations. 
This discovery settled two points in the his¬ 
tory of this gigantic wood borer, viz.Thai 
the larva lives in the pine tree, probably in 
various species, and that it is a native of the 
Eastern as well as Western slope of the Rocky 
Mountains. Glancing over my note book, 1 
find scores of similar facts in regard to other 
insects, as well as plants, all of which may be 
of use to me at some future ti me. in aiding to 
unravel mooted questions in relation to the 
same. But to know the products of one 
State or Territory, requires more than a fly¬ 
ing visit of a few weeks to enable the visitor 
to learn much of them ; still, if every one 
would only try to learn a little, we should 
make progress, although ever so slow. 
SADDLE BACK CATERPILLAR. 
Regal Walnut Moth. This caterpillar, al¬ 
though never very abundant, is found feed- 
J ing upon the black walnut, butternut and 
persimmon. 
I have received a number of specimens 
from my correspondents this season, but 
owing to bad packing and without the proper 
food being inclosed with them, they have all 
arrived dead, or so near it, that my efforts 
to resuscitate failed. By confining'these 
caterpillars in a box or large jar, and feeding 
with leaves of either of the trees named 
above, they can be kept alive imtil mature 
and their cocoons secured. The following 
spring the moths appear. 
A CANADIAN BEETLE HUNTER. 
SYSTEMATIC FARMING. 
Daily Ritual Life :—I am an interested 
reader of your “Diary,” especially when 
you treat on flowers and plants ; ancl as I see 
you are interested in beetles, I take the lib¬ 
erty of sending you a few in a small wooden 
box marked With inv initials, “S. H.” My 
wife made considerable fun of me running 
round with a bottle of alcohol, catching beet¬ 
le? to send to yon; but by-and by she became 
Interested and assisted me. Perhaps you will 
consider them only very common specimens ; 
but as this was my first attempt at beetling, 
you must excuse youra truly, Samuel Hun¬ 
ter, Scotland, Ont. 
1 know of another woman who has her 
little fun at her husband's expense, all aris¬ 
ing out of this beetle question. When I get 
up at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning, in order 
to get some choice lot of insects worked up, 
Mrs. “ Ruralist” often expresses her belief 
that I am half crazy ; and she may be right, 
for 1 have usually noticed that men or women 
who happen to devote a portion of them lives 
to any pursuit in which making money is not 
the most prominent object, are considered 
very near, if not quite, fit subjects for a lu¬ 
natic asylum. Of Course, there were speci¬ 
mens among those sent which are of value 
to me, and I am much obliged for the same. 
If you or I knew the true history of only the 
dozen species sent, wc would know some¬ 
thing of which the wisest man among us is 
now ignorant. To know when and where 
the eggs of the different species are laid, 
upon what the larva or worm feeds, and how 
long it lives, its size, color and form. Then 
we would line to know something of the 
pupa state, its duration and appearance. 
But at present we merely know but tho per¬ 
fect, insects, of thousands of species, which is 
but one stage of the four through which all 
insects pass. The history of bur, compara¬ 
tively few insects is as yet known, but in 
some future age, when men and women will 
not be laughed at for studying natural tilings 
or for looking “through Nature up to Na¬ 
ture’s Gou,” Entomology will receive due 
consideration. 
Sept. 23.—Daily Rural Life.—I will send 
to the Rural olfl.ee a bottle containing two 
caterpillars for name. They live on corn 
stalks, the loaves of which they devour in 
great numbers, often stripping them lIn 
whole Length to The midrib, When the\ 
touch one’s flesh they produce a prickling, 
stinging sensation which lasts only a few 
minutes. I do not find u description of then, 
in “Harris on Insects.” The Tennesseeans 
call them “ pack-saddles,”—M. J. Carter, 
Warren Vo., MaMtnnviUe, Tenn. 
The strange-loolcing caterpillars, about an 
inch long, armed with prickly horns and a 
bright green saddle-shaped patch over the 
middle of the body, containing a round, dark 
brown spot on the back, is the larva of a 
moth known to Entomologists as Empretia 
stimulea, Clemens. These caterpillars are 
found feeding upon various trees, but per¬ 
haps more abundantly on corn than other 
plants. Their prickles certainly have very 
decided stinging qualities. 
ROYAL HORNED CATERPILLAR. 
Daily Rural Life Have sent you by 
mail in a tin box, a large worm, resembling 
a tomato worm, hut somewhat different. It 
was found in the woods.— W, L. Akers. 
The large, green caterpillar, ornamented 
with quite conspicuous horns—those near the 
head being much tkelongast, is known under 
tho popular name given above. This im¬ 
mense caterpillar which sometimes attains a 
length of nearly six inches, is the larva of a 
beautiful moth known as Ceratocampa regu- 
lis, Harris, or by the common name of 
POTTING TUBEROSES. 
Sept. 25.—Seldom do we succeed in getting 
all the Tuberoses planted in spring to finis h 
blooming before frosts. In our Northern cli¬ 
mate the seasons are too short to get the full 
benefit of these plants unless the tubers are 
started in the house or hotbeds early in 
spring. Although my earliest-started plant-, 
have nearly finished blooming, there are still 
many others upon which the first flowers 
have not opened, and to secure these I have 
lifted the plants and put them in good-sized 
pots and set them in the house. For the first 
two or three days after potting, the plants 
should be placed in a dark or very shady 
place; to prevent wilting, and permit the 
roots to take hold of the soil before being 
called upon to supply the leaves and stems 
with any considerable amount of sap. With 
very little care in lifting the plants the soil 
can lie retained in a ball about the roots, and 
the moving will not check the blooming but 
very little, if any. Our florists practice this 
-ystem quite extensively, and Tuberose flow¬ 
ers commaud a good price about the holidays. 
-♦♦♦- 
Mignonette in Houses.—Minnie C. says, 
in Floral Cabinet, of plants that blossom all 
the year round, that nothing exceeds the 
Heliotrope, and gives the following directions 
regarding it:—1 am hardly ever without a 
blossoming plant, and to me Has delicate 
little fragrant plant, filling almost a whole 
room with its fragrance, is one of the sweet¬ 
est little gems we can cultivate, either in the 
house or garden. I set my old plants in the 
garden last spring, filled with blossoms, and 
m September I cut one of them down, leav¬ 
ing only the new shoots. I put it in a small 
pot of very rich leaf-mold and cow manure, 
gave it a sunny place, and now it is a large 
and flourishing plant, with a bud on every 
branch, and many of them in blossom. At 
the same time that I cut this one down I 
tilled a pot with slips and these have been in 
blossom a month, so I find slips will blossom 
sooner, but the old plant will usually be the 
largest. 
er COST OF PRODUCTION. 
pi “ The problem for the agriculturist is, To 
ts Ret t,ie highest aereahle product, (not of 
Re quantity merely, but of value.) from the 
i g smallest cash investment ; and the practical 
■ti mode of solving this problem makes the 
re whole difference between tho thriftless and 
,g the thrifty farmer.” 
In quoting the above passage from my last 
communication, as a text for the present 
^ article, it furnishes an opportunity to correct 
n an error of the press which made the prob- 
, e lem, as first printed, unintelligible. It, is 
i- here, correctly presented, and heir.g, in every 
" view, an important inquiry, I proceed to the 
further consideration of it. 
t- In every crop the farmer plants he has 
e two objects in view—1st, to get as large a 
. yield per acre as possible, and, 2d, to keep 
/' down the cost per bushel ns low as possible, 
i- These two results do not always or necessari¬ 
ly meet in tho same crop, thougli in a perfect 
r system of culture this would more often 
j. occur. A large yield is always a legitimate 
I, Aim, and is sure to be profitable in one way, 
r if not in another. A crop may be so ex- 
,, pensively raised aB to cost more than it will 
f 3eli for, even when prices rule high, and yet 
,, R may be worth to the owner all that it cost 
□ him, and more. In the light of an agricul- 
8 t.ural experiment, it contains instruction, ancl 
t R made with special reference to this object, 
1 R may prove extremely valuable ; and not 
. merely this, but it has the further advantage 
. of leaving the land in better condition for 
» future crops. The farmer, for example, who 
invests more heavily than usual in his com 
- crop, in the expectation of a proportionate 
. yield, though he may fail to realize tho full 
3 fruition of hiB plans, is at least tolerably sure 
} of more than an ordinary yield, and derives 
in addition, other incidental benefits in the 
r extra tillage, the extra manure, and the 
i destruction of weeds. These advantages are 
, not confined to the first, season, but reappear 
in succeeding crops, and, if taken in the ag- 
. gregate, will probably ret urn his outlay and 
. leave him a margin. As a rule, I have little 
doubt, tliat all unusual disbursments Incurred 
for the purpose of increasing the product per 
acre, if made with ordinary judgment, will 
be found, in the end, remunerative. The 
man who sets out with a determination to 
get a large yield, cheaply if he can, but a 
large yield anyhow, will be very likely to 
gain Jus first point ; but the product will*pos¬ 
sibly cost him more than it will bring. Yet 
even in this case, reckless as it seems, the 
ultimate loss is less, and tho incidental bene¬ 
fits of more value than most of us would sus¬ 
pect. A crop thus raised, even if not man¬ 
aged with the best of judgment, is, at least, 
a step in the right direction. It is an effort 
to develop the highest possibility of the soil. 
It aims at a high mark. Grant that it fails 
to hit on the first trial; yet this man. or 
another inspired by his example, will some 
day hit the mark and give to the world a 
larger result than any on record. This point 1 
gained, some other champion will then dis¬ 
cover how to reduce the cost of such a pro- ' 
duct, without reducing the amount. J 
I lately heard a practical farmer express 
himself as follows:—“I have heard tell of ! 
fifty or sixty bushels of wheat, and a hun 
drud bushels of corn to the acre. I don’t ' 
exactly believe in it, but I’m going to try it 1 
for myself. If another man can do it, why ' 
can’t I? If I don’t reach it, I’d like to see 
how near I can come. I’m not over anxious 
to throw away money, but I’m bound to nut ‘ 
this through, even if the crop costs me two j 
or three dollars a bushel. I want to find out * 
what my farm is good for. If I lose money 
this year, perhaps I’ll learn enough to make 
it up the next.. So I’ll go to reading the J 
farmers’ papers, to loan) what other? have i 
done, and how they’ve done it.” This man u 
seems a little reckless, but he is evidently * 
earnest, sensible and means business. He t 
will probably lose money the first year. But s 
ii he avoids serious mistakes, it may prove b 
the most profitable crop he ever raised. If t: 
it should even have no other effect than to ” 
make lu'm a reader of agricultural journals, i- 
it would, by this alone, repay the investment p 
many fold. tl 
But it is not every farmer that can afford ^ 
to adopt this course. It is true of most cul¬ 
tivators of the soil, as T have stated in a a 
former article, that they “ cannot put more sc 
than a limited expense on each acre, even 61 
though every additional dollar should bring 
back a hundredfold.” Yet any intelligent jj 
man, even of very moderate means, who has la 
the spirit and resolution indicated above, may 
adopt a plan leading to results substantially 
similar, by cultivating less ground. Suppose, 
for example, that farmer Johnson intends 
next season to put three acres into oats, four 
acres into wheat, two acre3 into corn and 
three or four acres into potatoes and other 
o root crops. He doubtless knows, or should 
>f know before com mencing, just what amount 
e of labor and material he can afford to put 
d on each crop. All that is necessary is simply 
e to reduce the number of acres by at least 
cl one-third, or still better, by one-half. At 
the same time let him not reduce the ex- 
t penseof cultivation, but apply to each crop 
t the full amount of labor and manure origin- 
t ally intended. Let him also improve his 
- mode of culture, as far as it Is possible to do 
s ko without increased expense, by consulting 
— the recorded experience of successful men. 
3 Having thus determined the best method or 
system for each crop, let him apply this 
8 knowledge to the full extent of his means, 
t and when at the end of the season he has 
j gathered tn his crops, he will be. in a position 
to estimate the value of the experiment, and 
’ will begin to realize what is meant by sys- 
t tematic fanning. Conrad Wilson. 
[ Sloatsburg, X. Y. 
■ 
TOP-DRESSINGS AND SALT. 
I Great mistakes are sometimes made by 
the use of nitrate of soda alone on poor lands 
as a top-dressing. It contains very few ele¬ 
ments of manure, therefore the intensely 
green and improved color of the crop is de¬ 
lusive, which I have observed, aud this is 
also the opinion of Baron Liebig (see his 
“Modern Agriculture,” letter 4, p. 53). I 
much prefer and always use the best Peru¬ 
vian guano, mixed Well with its own weight 
of common salt , for in this mixture you have 
nearly all the elements of plants, excepting 
potash and silica. A comparative trial in 
the same field will give satisfactory evidence 
when the crop is harvested. With nitrate 
of soda the growth of straw is forced, aud it 
is often mildewed. There are caseR whore 
nitrate of soda is advantageous, such as on 
soils abounding in phosphate of lime and 
other fertile elements. 
Common salt I have used much the last 
twenty-five years, and am convinced of its 
advantages on drained and well-fanned land, 
especially on light land ; for whore salt is 
used tiie moisture of the uir will be more 
abundantly appropriated and retained. 
About five o’clock one fine summer’s morn¬ 
ing, I noticed that where the salt had been 
sown the previous day, every grain of salt 
had attracted to itself the dew, and formed 
on the surface of the ground a wot spot 
about the size of a sixpence, the ground be¬ 
ing generally very dry. On our light lands 
it consolidates them, and makes them es¬ 
pecially firm and aeceptabie to the wheat 
plant, whose straw will stand firm and 
erect, although 4)4 to 5 feet long. It is also 
unfavorable to certain weeds by this consid¬ 
eration. It prevents the ravages of wire- 
worm, It is especially favorable to saline 
plants, such as mangold, whose ashes contain 
fifty per cent, of salt. I never sow guano, 
except mixed with its own weight of salt. 
Like everything else, it has, I am sorry to 
say, greatly risen in price. I observe that 
| all crops seem to thrive well on land near 
salt water, especially where the land is 
drained. Lumps of rock salt should always 
be placed in mangers for horses or cattle; 
their instinct teaches them when to avail of 
it. Tiie spring consolidation of light land, 
where wheat is sown, by salting und heavy 
CroHskilliug, greatly benefits the crop ; very 
light hand-hoeing should follow these oper¬ 
ations, although frequent hoeing is scarcely 
required. Liebig, in his “ Natural Laws of 
Husbandry,” cap. xii, p. 335, correctly de¬ 
sert bes nitrate of soda and common salt as 
'cbeinicul means for preparing the soil.” 
Referring to the experiments, he says (p. 
337) : “In both these series of experiments, 
the crops of com and straw were remarkably 
increased by the addition of common salt; 
and it is scarcely necessary to repeat that 
?uch an augmentation could not possibly 
have taken place unless the soil had con¬ 
tained it certain quantity of phosphoric acid, 
silicic acid potash, etc., capable of being 
brought into operation, but which, without 
common salt, was not assimilable.” Liebig 
also says (p. 310): “ The grass of a meadow 
which has been manured with common salt, 
is eaten by cattle with greater relish, and 
preferred to any other ; so that even from 
thi? point of view common salt deserves at- • 
tention as a manure.”— J. J. Mcchi. 
Lime should not be mixed with manure of 
any sort, unless there is a large supply of ab¬ 
sorbing material mixed with it (the manure) 
such as muck, loam, charcoal, leaf mold, &c., 
and then only where it is desirable to hasten 
decomposition. Unless this is tho object the 
lime should always be applied directly to the 
laud. Salt may be mixed with it. 
