1 
benefit to the farm and the farmer’s pocket, par¬ 
don im> for reforrinjr to a bit of personal e x peri 
on eo. Last year, very nearly one-half of my till¬ 
able laud was In wheat, yielding over twenty 
bushels to the acre; this yield would have been 
much higher, had not. considerable of It been 
stubbed in. The straw made a heavy growth, 
yet this straw was all used up when spring open¬ 
ed, arol there was none sold or burned up; and 
to-day I have a splendid lot of good manure fur 
the wheat fields and for top-dressing sod land 
this fall, for corn, &e„ Now, do nut think that 
this immure is simply rotten straw, for it tins 
been used ns bedding for beef cattle, horse sta¬ 
bles, sheep and cattle yards, hog-pens, and every 
place where bedding was needed, day and night. 
This year I have less straw, and am sorry that 
Mr. \Vit.-ton's straw stacks urn so far oil', as i 
would he glad to save him the trouble of burn¬ 
ing them. The day is coming when 
straw stacks will not lie burned or left 
in the fields to rot. 
Mr. VVaOM'.iI says that, m some parls 
of the West t here is not enough slock 
v to consume or work up the straw into 
1%. manure; hence it is spread over the 
ground, (or a (lending machine used, 
wawl\ and Hie stiaw lelr on llio ground,) and 
burned, furnishing an alkali which 
fcafe kl benefits subsequent, crops materially 
HH and perceptibly. [Wo remember visit- 
Tsw/Aifll Komo years ago, one of tlie best 
yjsSuM Wa and most successful farmers in North* 
jWraflB ern Illinois. Ho was a stock farmer, 
Nufcjf: and his fat cuttle always brought a 
large price Jo market. He owned a 
farm of a thousand acres, grew a great 
deal of grain — wheal, mils, and emu- 
pfflr and kept, u large stock of cattle. Ho 
told us that while housed straw pro¬ 
fusely for bedding, Sc., lie had a largo 
surplus which ho spread upon bis 
Wheat land in the fall before plowing, 
and burned. He though! lie realised 
more profit from it. than from Hint, 
converted into manure, especially con¬ 
sidering the extra cost of handling. 
-- And lie was no theorist, but an intelli- 
goal, money - making farmer.— Eds. 
lUntAI. NEW-YORKER. 
The t bieitar dwindle. M. it. BATE- 
ttam, Paiuesviilc, O., writes the Glut): 
“There is u largo crop of apples this 
season, in Northern Ohio, and some of 
our farmers, in easting nliout for the 
best means of disposing of the fruit, 
arc thinking of making up a largo 
stock of pure vinegar—especially If the 
process of converting eider info vine¬ 
gar can be performed ns easily and 
rapidly as is set forth in certain ad¬ 
vertisements. But Just here is where a 
swindle oomos in that wc think needs 
to bo ventilated: — For some mouths 
past a man in Cromwell, Connecticut, 
has advertised In a number of the lead¬ 
ing Agricultural impers, inviting people 
to‘send for circulars’ that will instruct 
them how to make vinegar from older,’ 
| &c., ‘in ten hours, without using any drugs.’ 
Another advertisement is by a man at Ashta¬ 
bula, <)., calling attention to tiis patent invoii- 
| Hon, called the 'American Vinegar Generator,’ 
A friend of mlnn sent for llie circulars of bolh 
these parties, and was informed by the Connecti¬ 
cut. man that a fee of five dolbirs was re¬ 
quired for the valuable information 10 bo found 
Itt his circulars. Tills sum was duly forwarded 
to him, and in return lie sent three brief, printed 
papers, without date or signature, and quite 
destitute of any originality or practical value. 
The first paper contained an imperfect descrip¬ 
tion of the well-known German, or Otto appa¬ 
ratus a deep vat or cask filled with shavings or 
other light materials, through which the air can 
circulate while Lite elder percolates, and thus 
becomes acetified by the oxygen oftheuir. But 
this method Is found too difitcult uml unreliable 
to be of any value in this country for making 
vinegar from older. The next, paper desert bed a 
simpler uud better contrivance,known Imre as 
the Cincinnati apparat us, and, I think, patented, 
lint that Is not material; It is not new nor valu¬ 
able, and both this und the preceding are better 
described and their operation explained in 
Bud’s ‘ Cider Maker’s Manual.’ The third paper 
described, in a blundering way, the apparatus 
rcecnily invented and patonted by the man at 
' Ashtabula, but, not a word Or hint, is given that 
1 tins and tho other cont rivances are not the in- 
■ volitions of tin' sago advertiser, and of course 
1 may be freely used by all, ospecinllyafter puy- 
‘ jug him the /ire dollars for learning how they 
I are made I He very naturally considers the last 
1 of the three methods tlie best, so Unit it is sure 
' to bo generally adopted, uud as the right to cou- 
* struct and use tills is fully covered by l.he patent 
! of the Ohio man, 1 learn that, lie is expecting to 
> reap a nice harvest, after ft time, from the fines 
• mnl penalties of the multitude of infringers on 
' bis rights. It la time, therefore, to put a stop to 
' this swindle." 
M v. (’rims was obliged to the gentleman for 
exposing this swindle. Ho said it would tie 
found unprofitable to make cider vinegar for 
lie had hud occasion to 
nut one. and its importance will yearly increase. 
Let those who can, try. In a small way, tho 
Northern prickly ash in different localities. For 
if it succeeds as well in other places as it does 
here, it will soon be In demand, 
Mr. (Trims thinks Prickly Ash will not stand 
very cold weather. Old women think it lifts 
some valuable medicinal qualities or other 
don’t know what. But the early settlers from 
Now England brought with them plants of the 
Prickly Ash which were planted. Two or three 
of these trees were planted on liis farm sixty or 
seventy years ago, in a sheltered and favorable 
locat ion. Fuch year's growt h regularly freezes 
back; they do not increase In size, nor extend; 
t hey urostuutod and blunted bushes; WO do not 
cut them down because of tho old associations 
connected with them. They are the White 
Prickly Ash. Pi*. Thimbue says they arc ditt¬ 
any noise. She got down front her perch 
as still as could be, and went up to the cal, 
but would stop every few steps and put bet- 
head under her wing and laugh. Then she 
caught tho cat’s tail in her beak and tried 
to fly. The cat squalled and she laughed. 
A more ludicrous spectacle I never saw." 
isotssums 
AMERICAN INST. FARMERS’ CLUB, 
WORMS FROM A PORK BARREL. 
Notes of Discussions, F.xiract* from Let¬ 
ters, At, 
After the Summer Recess, a few or t he promi¬ 
nent members of the Farmers’ Club mot at tlie 
usual place and were congratulated by the Com¬ 
mander of the Club in due form,and the regular 
duties of reading and commenting upon com¬ 
munications commenced. 
The Prickly Ash Tor Hedging.— K. N. GtUTKAU, 
Farming ton, Minn., wrote:—Fencing here is tho 
great item of expense to the farmer. Distance 
Tiie worms taken from a pork barrel by 
I. 11. F., who desires to know “ What they 
are, how they came there, and their effect on 
pork?” I regret to say that the worms be¬ 
came dry and brittle, aud in the simple paper 
cover were broken in passing through the 
hands of “Uncle Samuel’s” agents, so that 
the essential portion, the head, for determin¬ 
ing their specific character, was unsatisfac¬ 
tory. I will first, describe these worms, four 
in number, from one and a-half to two inches 
iu length, and the thickness of a pigeon’s 
quill, with numerous narrow rings, strongly 
marked, sub-cylindric, of nearly uniform 
thickness, the posterior extremity somewhat 
reduced in thickuess and rounded. Tlie 
head apparently provided with hook-like 
processes, as were the sides. These hooks 
under the lens were simply curved, spur-like, 
pointed, and in pairs, as also spiracles or 
breathing holes. Hence, they are not com¬ 
mon earth-worms—the genus Lumbricus. 
The common angle or earth-worm is i lie L. 
termtrix, Linn. This is evidently parasitic, as 
is indicated by the hooked processes, and 
rather comes under the extensive family, of 
the C eatoi'hr, or Tape-worm family; hut 
separated into an order of Rudolph!, called 
t bn Acaalho cephala —1 looked worms. “ Body 
roundish, utricular, elastic, head with a re¬ 
tractile proboscis, armed with hooks or re¬ 
curved spines; sexes distinct.” These are 
intestinal worms, or entozoons, which at¬ 
tach themselves to the mucous coat of the 
intestines by means of a proboscis surround¬ 
ed with minute recurved spines. 
But how did they get into the pork bar¬ 
rel ? Tho eggs tiro first hatched in tho 
stomach; the embryos pierce their way into 
the blood vessels, and are carried by the cir- 
rulat.ion of Hie. blood into various parts of 
the hotly, where they develop into larvae 
called hydatids. The so-called “measly 
pork” is pork containing those hydatids,—■ 
that is, measly hogs are such as have their 
muscles more or less tilled with the lame of 
of cestoids or certain worms, as for instance 
the tape-worms; and if tlie flesh of such 
hogs he eaten before cooking, which kills 
the hydatids , the man or animal eating It 
f akes these hydatids into his intestines, where 
they are sure to develop iulo taji?-worms. 
Two hundred species of cestoids have al¬ 
ready been described, quite a number of 
which are found in men and hogs. 
I will not undertake to say which species 
this is, nor how it became developed if the 
pork was in brine, having no data on which 
to base an opinion. Blill, it is well U) know 
that there are other and larger worms than 
the Trichina spiralis , so lunch spoken about, 
of late years, that also find a lodgement in 
the muscular tissue of lmms or shoulders, in 
which, under certain circumstances, they 
may develop from a hydatid to a full-sized 
worm, for all I know to the contrary. It is 
a subject worthy of ventilation, and so far 
as the circumstances have come to my 
knowledge, quite new to be found in a pork 
barrel—if so be that they prove, as I sup¬ 
pose, intestinal worms. J. Stauffer. 
Lancaster, Pa., 1870. 
EDIBLE BIRDS’ NESTS, 
Eusebius, in the New York Observer, 
furnishes the following, which will interest 
our readers: 
The Chinese, from time immemorial, at 
least from the days when we studied tiie 
pictorial geography, have been celebrated 
for the range of their animal diet, and some 
of the luxuries of life which are peculiar to 
the celestial kingdom. To begin with the 
first course, soup:—All the world knows 
that in China they have a delicacy which 
has not reached the other parts, in birds’ 
nest soup. One of my first inquiries, as 1 
got. into the streets of Canton, was after tills 
commodity, or the nests from Which it is 
made, and I was taken into a fine shop, fit¬ 
ted up in a costly manner, where it. was the 
only article sold. Birds’ neats arc a great 
luxury iu China, being Avithin the reach of 
the wealthy alone. They arc sold at prices 
graduated according to the quality of the 
article, none of any value bringing a less 
price than their weight, in silver, and some 
bringing almost their weight iu gold. Nests 
are sold ns high as thirty or forty dollars a 
pound. 
The nests are simply a mass of pure gela¬ 
tine, secreted in some way by a species of 
swallow, and deposited against a wall, just 
os the swallows in our country stick a nest 
of mud against a beam. Some naturalists 
maintain that the gelatine is formed front a 
sort of sea-foam, which the swallow gathers, 
and is exuded from the mouth of the bird. 
It closely resembles tlie gelatine which is 
known by the name of isinglass, and the 
purer sort is almost transparent. There is 
nothing repulsive iu its appearance, and its 
origin is just as honorable aud commenda¬ 
tory mh Unit from which our jellies are made 
at home; 1 am disposed to think, more so. 
The nests come chiefly from the island of 
Java, where they are obtained with great 
labor and often at much peril, from deep 
eaves along the coast. Some of these caves 
on the southern coast of the island are ap¬ 
proached only by a perpendicular descent, 
of grenl depth, by means of ladders, the 
raging of the sea below preventing all ap¬ 
proach from tho water. When collected 
they are assorted Into different grades, those 
Which have not been occupied by tlie birds 
bringing I tie highest price; and tlie other 
gradeB at prices according to cleanliness and 
quality. I have put one of the lower grade, 
but a fine specimen of the nest, into my 
trunk (I mean my baggage,) and presume it 
will he one of the earliest importations into 
America. 
NOTES FOR NATURALISTS, 
bo of any practical value, uml there are also 
many other well-known objections to it. But 
nature has furnished us a plant in /jrcat abun¬ 
dance tlmt seems, from my experience, to be 
Just the one thing needful; and I greatly won¬ 
der that some oue beside myself bus not, long 
ere this, experimented with it. 
Tho Zanthnruluni. Aiuerlcaniun, or Northern 
Prickly Ash, Toothacho tree, is very plentiful hi 
this State atulNorthern Wisconsin; and possess¬ 
es for u hedge plant the following desirable 
qualifies, wtiloti 1 know from personal experi¬ 
ence. First, ns to climate, 43" below zero lias no 
injurious effect upon it. The pregent drouth, 
which has been unusually severe here upon the 
Vermillion Prairie for several weeks, has failed 
to injure the two-year-olu plants raised from* 
seed, which have not the slightest protection, 
and have neither been mulched nor watered. 
Second, it is easily raised from seed, which ripen 
in August and September. Tho sped should be 
sown in the fab, about one-hulf filch in depth, 
and the plants appear early in the spring. Third, 
It is naturally a shrub, and does not attain to 
great size as ji tree, but when out. buck, throws 
out n thidlc mass of horizontal branches. Fourth, 
it Is easily kept in order by the knife or shears. 
Filth, its numerous short, thick, and pointed 
thorns render tr tho 1 dread of all kinds of stock, 
so that it is impossible to drive a cow or horae 
through even a natural thicket-.of it in the woods. 
Sixth, its bark, twigs, leaves, (lowers, and seeds, 
are so extremely pungent that no rabbit), horse, 
cow, orotheranlmal will Injure it by gnawlugor 
browsing. Seventh, ii Is a lioautiliil shrub, amt 
when covering with seed or Hid opened panicles, 
is highly ornamental uud very aromatic. 
A few words as to Betting mil. a hedge*. Al¬ 
though so easily raised from seed, when thickets 
can bo found within reasonable distance, ray 
plan would be to take « brush scythe and cm 
down the plants Iu within an inch or two of the 
ground, in tho spring oi: fall. Tukoalork and 
pitch out of the way the prickly brush, then dig 
up the plants with us many roots as possible. 
Thoroughly plow and pulverise the soil where 
they are to be set, at least live feet, wide, Bel im¬ 
plants in two rows, two feet apart, and two feet 
apart, iu tlie rows, breaking joints. Do not set 
upon a ridge, except tn Wet or ilut/ip soils. Du 
common prairie soil give the plants flat outturn, 
amt plenty of It- tVlicn one year old cut buck 
to Within one or two hictn-s of the stal ling of 
the new growth. When two years old. cut back 
to within six Inches; the third year, il the bot¬ 
tom is well established, two feet will do; if not, 
out back until Hie bottom of your hedge is thick 
and strong. Once get the bottom right, and the 
top will take euro of itself, wit h a little aid from 
tlie shears or knife. Thus, with less euro than 
you would bestow upon almost any other, y ou 
will have a fence that will equally turn a bull or 
a cat, This question of hedges is a very import- 
Muskrat* nud Corn. 
George W. Griffin, Fayette, Ohio, asks 
how to catch muskrats, Bays they are very 
troublesome aud injurious to corn along the 
streams. They come out of their holes and 
eat the young com off close to the ground.” 
Tlie Colorado 1’otato Itug. 
Readers of the Rural New-Yorker 
who ask concerning this bug, will readily 
recognise it by knowing that it is a little 
more than one-third of an inch long; of a 
short, oval, almost round, shape; cream- 
colored, with ten black lines or stripes 
lengthwise of its back. Its wings are rose- 
colored. _ 
Tho Caucasian Ibex. 
We give herewith an engraving of the 
head of a Caucasian Ibex —Capra caucasica, 
which we transfer from tho Loudon Field. 
The animal is of a bright, cinnamon-hay 
color, unlike that of any other capra , with 
the usual markings upon the limbs, and the 
liorns black or blackish. Their horns are 
large—one of twelve years’ growth measur¬ 
ing two feet live and a-half inches in length 
over the curvature, and eleven and a-half 
inches round at the base. This Ibex seems 
to be distinct from the Himalayan Ibex; 
also from tlintof the Alps; and it is regarded 
as related (though it is not classed as of the 
same genus) our Rocky Mountain Goal. 
ABOUT A PARROT, 
L. E. K. writes the Rural New-York¬ 
er: —“ A friend of mine has a parrot which 
affords ns much amusement. One day last 
spring I was visiting there when a stranger 
called wearing a pair of very light colored 
pants. ‘ Polly ’ climbed up iu a chair 
which stood close to him, and peering 
around in liis face, called out, ‘Got oil your 
tow breeches?’ Another time a gentleman 
called whose nose had been partly eaten off 
by a cancer. ‘Polly’ commenced to laugh 
as hard as she could, when one of the girls 
asked her what was the matter? * No nose 
at all, ’most! ha, ha, ha!’ came the answer. 
One day the family were going away for 
two or three days, so I offered to keep 
‘ Polly,’ promising myself much amuse¬ 
ment; bul she hung her head, and I coaxed 
and petted in vain; site would not speak. I 
prepared all the dainties dear to parrots, 
even a boiled egg, which she was never 
known to resist, but she would not cat. As 
soon as my friends returned, I took her 
home, and I never saw anything or any one 
so pleased. I told them how she had be¬ 
haved, and Lizzie asked what was the mat¬ 
ter? ‘Polly was so homesick,’ she said, 
so pitifully that I felt, sorry for her. One 
morning something called the family from 
tlie breakfast table into another room, and 
the ‘Polly’ was left in the room. When 
they returned, there she was seated on the 
. potato plate with her tail in the sauce, eat¬ 
ing beefsteak. She. looked up as innocent 
us could be, and said, 1 Polly help herself.’ 
^ But tbe most laughable thing I ever knew 
’A, her to do was, one day the cat was lying 
before tbe fire soutftl asleep, and ‘Polly* 
L caught sight of it. She commenced to 
k laugh and shake herself, bul without making 
tlie New York market 
make inquiries for a friend who Ls In tho elder 
vinegar manufacturing business. He finds that 
tlie Government. Commissaries do not buy 
eider vinegar lor two reasons: 1, because tlie 
soldiers like the manufactured add better; and 
3, because the bids of the older vinegar manu¬ 
facturers arc tsO much blither than those of the 
eoneoetor* of acids that t he contracts cannot be 
given them. Attain dealers retailers—profess to 
find that purchasers of vinegar will not pay tho 
difference between eider vinegar and the manu¬ 
factured article, and so they do not buy and keep 
the Conner. Mr. CURTIS recommended the cor¬ 
respondent to feed his sound BUrplilS apples to 
Ids atoro hogs and milch cows In winter, and 
pave and dry his soft fruit for market. Mr. 
Grkcohy said that lie once had occasion to In¬ 
vestigate the subject of vinegar manufacture, 
and he found that one part of pure acetic acid 
mixed with four parts of water made a vinegar 
very much cheaper Hum elder vinegar nud one 
that is preferred by many to it, and hnsboen used 
In tho best families In England a quarter of a 
century. Much of Hie famous Jersey Harrison 
upple older is nothing hut acetic acid and water. 
[We know men In Indiana and Illinois who have 
tine orchards of choice apples who find it more 
profitable to grind up fruit that, would bring one 
dollar per bushel in tlie market, and make eider 
vinegar of it than to sell ft. These men got forty 
cents per gallon at home for pure cider vinegar, 
und find it profitable to extend their orchards 
and grind their apples for this puvpose.—Eos. 
ituuAi. New-Yorker. 
Tortoise Beetle* from :>Ia*s. 
The little insect in tho quill from Cole¬ 
raine, Mass., is one ol' the “ Tortoise Beetle,” 
see Harris’s illustrated or late Edition, ou 
page 121.— Cassidadm. He docs not describe 
this species, now called Ddoyota, (damta ?); 
they arc common, and have Hie habits of 
tho rest of this family. We have four 
species in Lancaster Co., I’a. Westwood 
figures a species found on tho leaves of tlie 
convolvulus in Calcutta, almost identical 
with the one you sent. (Fig. 40, 12; page 
378) Maundeu’s Treasury of Natural His¬ 
tory, page 106-7.— Cassidu. I can see no 
reason for changing the generic name from 
(hrnida to Ddoya.lt. They feed on the vines 
of the sweet potaloe, and do considerable 
damage, as larm at least, aud may (or some 
of the family) be injurious to oilier plants. 
Neither HARRIS nor Firm say anything 
about this species.—J. Htauffeh, 
