for farm fence, with wire, size of wire and 
relative cost as compared to using nails and 
railings for that purpose. Palings to be 4% 
feet long, 2;* to three inches wide, % to % 
inch thick, rove out of oak timber.—L amas. 
Salting Wheat Stacks.—A Minnesota farm¬ 
er says ho has tried salting wheat stacks 
several times and has been disappointed as 
to results. He found the straw some better 
but the cost of threshing was greatly en¬ 
hanced, the grain, unless first quality, not 
shelling as easily. 
Lime for Lore Lands. —8., Coopersfcown, 
N. Y., asks whether lime would bo beneficial 
as a fertilizer applied to low lands. Yes, 
especially if such lands contain a good deal 
of humus. 
BEST TOBACCO FERTILIZER, 
DAILY RURAL LIFE. 
Dr. Rigor, Hartford, Conn., who is reputed 
to be a man of science as well as a practical 
farmer, recently claimed, at a farmers’ meet¬ 
ing, as lie lias done for years, that green 
crops, and vegetable matter plowed in, were 
the most economical fertilizer; and that his 
own plan in raising tobacco, was to sow rye 
after the tobacco was harvested, and plow it 
under about the first of June, when the rye 
is 6 % to 7 feet high. By this rotation he had 
raised ten continuous crops of good tobacco, 
and the land had been constantly improving. 
The cost of the rye crop as a fertilizer was 
small, and its great virtue was the chemical 
action hi the soil when plowed under, espe¬ 
cially in developing the potash in the soil. 
Besides the rye, he put on to the land for a 
tobacco crop, about 625 worth of barnyard 
manure, and $25 worth of guano, with a 
little superphosphate in the hill ; the whole 
cost of fertilizers per acre was not over $55. 
Dr. Riggs claimed that if he had spent the 
same amount in barnyard munure alone, 
it would not fertilize more than ono fourth 
of an acre sufficiently. lie said decomposed 
vegetable matter was the best fertilizer: 
clover roots were the most valuable, and rye 
next, as a green Crop ; but it took longer 
(two years) to get the clover. He advised 
keeping the laud continuously covered with 
some crop, which would enrich the soil by 
accumulating nitrogen as forests do ; and 
any farmer could understand the principle 
by the effect on soil covered by a board, or 
mulched : it became richer. 
From the Diary of a Gentleman near New 
York City. 
A NIGHT AMONG THE BUTTERFLIES. 
Jan. 22,—Probably there are very few per¬ 
sons, except the confirmed egotist , who have 
not at some period in their lives felt that 
there was much to learn of this world, even 
of their own immediate surroundings. I am 
certain of this feeling myself, and it comes 
to me far too frequently for my own serene 
composure; and, although knowing that I 
have plenty of company, this does not sat¬ 
isfy. For several years 1 have occasionally 
heard of a most wonderful collection of Le- 
pidoptera (butterflies and moths) in the pos¬ 
session of one Hhuman Sthkckkk residing at 
Reading, Pa., a locality where one expects 
to find little beyond coal, irou and miners. 
Having seen many good entomological cabi¬ 
nets hi my day, I supposed the one at Read¬ 
ing was merely a counterpart of others, con¬ 
sequently I have heretofore never taken the 
trouble of visiting it. But not long since, 
meeting Mr. Htiikckkr in tho city, he gave 
me a cordial invitation to visit, him, promis¬ 
ing me a treat in the way of novelties in his 
line, adding that ha was almost buried out 
of sight in hi* isolated home, and a visit from 
any one interested in entomological subjects 
was a great relief from the hardships of a 
life of toll, besides giving him great pleasure. 
In these days of rapid transit by rail it is but 
a step from the center of one State to an¬ 
other ; and while thinking of this yesterday, 
I put on my coat and hat, and Imre l am this 
evening in the midst of the butterflies of the. 
world, and tile Prince of LepidopterMs for 
an entertainer. Language, however skill¬ 
fully applied, would fall far short of fully 
portraying tho beauties of these fairies of 
fairyland with which 1 am surrounded at this 
moment, much less my own feeble descrip¬ 
tive powers ; lienee 1 shall not make au at¬ 
tempt in that, direction, merely noting some 
of the most prominent features ol' this unsur¬ 
passed collection. Seated in a huge easy 
chair, a luxury in itself after a hundred and 
fifty miles’ ride by rail—1 have nought to do 
but look upou the contents of each drawer 
as it is taken from either of the Hvo huge 
cabinets and placed in a favorable light be¬ 
fore me, my enthusiastic host in the mean¬ 
time giving mo a brief historical sketch oi 
in,, various!snoeies. cencra or families to 
HUMMING BIRD MOTHS, 
Last summer, among the many honey¬ 
seeking visitors which thronged mV flower 
garden were two specimens that 1 had never 
seen before, and am still at a loss as to their 
classification, not knowing whether they lie- 
long to tho humming bird or to the butterfly 
genus, or whether t hey are a genus distinct 
from either those above-named. I am in¬ 
clined to think the latter conclusion the 
most correct. I will endeavor to describe 
them, perhaps some of the learned contribu¬ 
tors to the KCUAL, con give me information 
Concerning them. The first one that came 
was a dark greenish, metallic-brown in color; 
the other was striped, dark brown and white; 
the stripes wore small ; on tile head they 
were lengthwise from tho beak to the neck ; 
on the body the stripes:, went, across, like the 
Stripes of a zebra, forming alternate rings of 
-wi-um nnS 1 Their bodies were about 
a quarter in length and about as 
white and brown. 
an inch and JHHL a _ 
large as u child's little finger, though the 
striped one was a little larger than the brown 
one. Thev had gossamer or transparent 
"’tugs, reflecting iho color of every flower 
they chanced to alight on. They had small, 
bright, pleasant eyes and long, slender beaks 
or t ubes about the size of a common sewing- 
needle; these beaks were curved and flexible, 
like au elephant's trunk, and were trans¬ 
parent. We could see them suck the nectar 
from the flowers into these tubes, and when 
nearly lull insert the tube in their mouth, 
which was under the tube and suck it out. 
Their mouths resembled those of young bird 
and we could see their little red throats very 
plainly when they opened their mouths to 
take their food from the beak or tube. 
They were not shy. like humming birds, 
but would let any one approach close to 
thorn and still keep at work gathering nectar 
from the flowers , but they would not allow 
themselves to be caught, * One duv, when it 
was raining slightly, 1 saw them flitting 
among the flowers, and I went out, and tried 
to catch one of them by throwing a light 
shawl over them, but they Invariably dodged 
out from under the shawl and iti the most 
tantalizing manner would, perhaps, alight on 
the flower nearest me and go to gathering 
honey again. Now, can any one inform me 
what classification to give iny lovely little 
visitors ?— Mrs. E. E. if. 
We fear that you have drawn somewhat 
upon your imagination in regard to the 
“mouth and little red throat” of these 
strange visitors. No such bird or insect is 
known in our fauna, consequently if such 
visited your garden they must have been a 
special creation. But we can readily under¬ 
stand how your eyes led you to make the 
mistake. The long, flexible tube or sucker 
with which these moths obtain Their food 
from flowing is quickly rolled up inside their 
heads as they leave one flower in search of 
another, and a person unacquainted with 
their structure might readily suppose that 
the act was for the purpose of carrying food 
to the mouth. Some of the humming bird 
moths ( Sphinges ) have beautiful, transparent 
wings. The common Sesias are particularly 
conspicuous and well-known examples of 
this kind. Tho Sc ft ins d/films, Boid, and 
& thytfoc , Fabr., are quite plentiful in all 
the Northern States and Canadas, and we 
presume those you describe were of these 
species. Of course, tho larvaa of both are 
hateful worms which most ladies would 
shun, or at least fear to handle, although as 
harmless as the moths, which thev become 
through their natural transformation. If 
you ever find a moth with a mouth or a 
humming bird with a beak which it, can roll 
up, do not fail to secure them for the benefit 
of science. 
HOME-MADE SUPERPHOSPHATE 
Poof, S. W. Johnson, in N. Y. Tribune 
says :—Unless the bones arc finely ground it 
is not easy to make a good superphosphate 
from them by treatment with oil of vitrol. 
It is better to reduce coarse bone by fermen¬ 
tation. To treat bone dust with acid, take a 
wooden tub—an oil barrel sawn in two will 
make a pair of them—put in a weighed quan¬ 
tity of the bone, moisten it with one-fourth 
its weight of water, and add gradually one- 
third its weight of < >il of vitrol <>t 06° Beaurne, 
stirring well together. This mixture must, 
be left several days in the tubs, in order to 
complete the chemical action, and the man¬ 
ufacture is therefore tedious. When the 
mass stiffens it may be taken out, and if not 
dry enough to handle may bo mixed with 
enough gypsum or loam to dry it. Sulphate 
of soda will rarely be a beneficial addition. 
Nitrate of soda may bo added at time of 
application in equal proportions, or less, and 
three to five hundred weight of the mixture 
will be a sufficient dose for an acre of land in 
most cases. I believe, however, that it is 
cheaper to buy superphosphate i rom respon¬ 
sible parties tnan to make it on the farm. 
NIGHT SOIL, 
powerful manure, richer in nitrogen than I 
horse or cow dung. It should be deodorized 
before using, by sulphate of iron or powdered | 
charcoal. The use of charcoal for deodor¬ 
izing night soil is attended with peculiar 
advantages, as it, is of itself, from causes not 
ent irely ascertained, ono of the best auxiliary 
manures known to agriculture. Wherever 
charcoal is present to a considerable amount, 
in the soil, there grapes and all kinds of fruits 
flourish luxuriantly and mildew is unknown. 
Charcoal and gypsum are the best deodorizers 
of night soil, ns they both fix the ammonia. 
Lime should never be used wit h night soil, 
nor indeed in the composting of any animal 
excrements, as it drives off the ammonia. 
ECONOMICAL NOTES, 
To Plow Tinder Grass .—Use tho chain and 
ball to your plow. No matter what kind of 
a plow you have, tty them. A piece of 
ordinary trace chain will do very well 
Fasten one end of it to your colter, and to 
the other end attach a round iron ball of 
from two to three pounds weight,—leaving 
the chain long enough to permit the ball to 
reach back to about the middle of your mold- 
board—and there let it drag along, on the off 
side of the course. 
Fence Supported by Wire. —Will you please 
ask those of your subscribers having experi¬ 
ence, to state through your paper, the best 
and most practical way of putting up paliugs 
ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES, 
Osier-bark Strep a Cure for Ants.— Mens. 
C’olin Lebert, of Blois, has found that water 
in which the bark and paring of the Osier 
have been soaked, will remove ants. On one 
occasion, he says, perceiving a young tree 
which was infested with ants, I sprinkled it 
with the Osier steep, and to my surprise the 
ants fell off as if immediately dead. 
Turpentine, Tobacco and the- Cotton 
Worm .—A Southern planter says that spirit s 
of turpentine and water (as recommended) 
will not exterminate the cotton worm, Out a 
decoction of tobacco in water will. 
J 
