MOOBE’S BUBAL MEW-YOBKEB. 
JULY 41 
Shn'ir of a Bitralisit. 
DAILY RURAL LIFE. 
i 
From the Diary of a Centleman near New 
York City. 
AMONG THE STRAWBERRIES. 
June 18.—Last year the drouth cut the 
Strawberry crop down to almost nothing, 
except among those who knew how to snap ( 
their fingers at such freaks of nature and , 
make the weather to sui t themsel ves. There i 
are men who seem to know just how to do > 
this every time, and if the season is wet and 
cold their land is so deeply plowed and un- 
derdrained that good crops follow in nnpro- ] 
pitious weather. Then, if the other extreme , 
should follow, their deep-tilled land suffers , 
little, if at all, from drouth, and all their . 
small and large fruits will be so well mulched , 
that a month or more dry, hot weather only J 
brings it to greater perfection than in what 
wouTd generally be termed a favorable sea¬ 
son. But the present season was rather 
backward at first, and everything in the way 
of spring-sown grain and vegetables were 
very tardy in making their appearance. A 
change, however, for the better, commenced 
a few weeks ago, and the weather for the 
past month has been all that could be de¬ 
sired. The results, as might have been ex¬ 
pected, are a wonderful growth in all kinds 
of grains and fruits, and our first picking of 
strawberries drop into a glutted market. 
Last year my neighbors cried “No fruit 
this “ No market," and that is the way the 
world goes generally,—a full crop brings low 
prices, and a short one the opposite, and this 
is why those who depend upon tho profits of 
farming or gardening for a living, should be 
very careful as to the time they begin to 
“ count their chickens.” My neighbors talk 
gloomily of the strawberry harvest ; and 
well they may, for when this fruit sells for 
8 to 10 cents per quart, and four of this paid 
to the pickers, the profits are likely to be 
very small. 
There is, however, one cheerful side to the 
picture, and that is to the consumer, as many 
a poor’ family will be made happy over a 
dish of strawberries this season who could 
not afford them last, on account of high 
prices, consequently, what is a loss to one is 
a gain to another. This kind of philosophy 
may not suit all, but it is the only one that 
has ever given me any consolation during 
seasons of low prices of fruit or farm pro- 
dUCe * HUMMING-BIRD MOTH. 
June 19.—Dear Rural Like I inclose 
von to dav a moth commonly called, I be¬ 
lieve a Humming-bird moth. Yon will ob¬ 
serve it attached to a ilowor by its proboscis. 
You niaV have seen such a thing before., but 
I never have. Will you please explain, in 
the Rural, why it. was so caught ? It was 
dead dangling to the flower when I found 
it and next evening 1 saw another of the 
same kind nearly caught by one of the same 
kind of flowers; it held the large moth as 
much as a minute, and when it flew off it 
had attached to it.s proboscis one of the sta¬ 
mens of the flower. The flower I would also 
like the name of, but L suppose from what 1 
send you. it would be almost impossible to 
tell its namu. The flower is a wild one from 
the woods ; when transplanted into the yard 
it makes a mass of beautiful white flowers, 
each the shape of a. wine glass or small gob¬ 
let, only much smaller. 
The large, grayish Humming bird moth 
sent belongs to a very extensive fam ily k down 
as Sphinges. The one you send is Sp/roix 
dnerea of Hubnkr, a very widely distrib¬ 
uted snceics, found in both the Northern and 
Southern States. These insects do no Injury 
to vegetation in t heir imago or perfect stage, 
but the larvee, which are large, ugly-looking 
worms, consume a great amount of food, 
consequently are quite destructive. 
The common tomato or potato worm is the 
larva of the Five*Spotted Sphinx, (S. quin- 
quemaculataj the chrysalis of which is fre¬ 
quently plowed up in spring. There are 
many species of the Sphinges seen about our 
gardens. The larva of one feeds upon the 
apple, another upon the plum, ; in fact, there 
are few of our cultivated trees or plants 
which entirely escape their ravages. 
The long proboscis or sucker, coiled up like 
a watch spring, when not in use, is the organ 
through which the moths obtain their food, 
consisting mainly of the nectar of flowers. 
The probosces of these moths are expressly 
suited to obtaining the nectar from long, 
tubular-shaped flowers, the petals of which 
are all connected at the base, falling off en¬ 
tire, not separately, as with the rose and 
similar flowers, consequent y, when a moth 
visits a specimen that is ready to cast, its pe¬ 
tals, the disturbance caused by the insertion 
of the sucker would break them loose, and 
in this way they might become, attached to 
the proboscis, as in the example you send. I 
cannot account for the attachment hi any 
other way, for I hardly think there is any 
flower which these moths visit which is suf¬ 
ficiently sensitive, to contract about the suck¬ 
er of one of the moths. If you will send me 
a leaf and flower of the plant to which you 
refer, 1 will give its name ; but I cannot de¬ 
termine the species from the specimen sent. 
TORTOISE BEETLES. 
Pear Daily Rural Life We have the 
Colorado potato beetle here this spring tot 
the first time. In killing some worms on the 
vines 1 found a wry curious insect, among 
the worniH, that. I have never seen before, 1 
send you three of I hem. i'lease tell ns what 
they are—H ayward Thomas, Chester Lo., 
Pa. 
The small, fiattish beetle with dark-colored 
rough wing cases, the edges of which are 
transparent, is one of the common tortoise 
beetles (Coploej/obi clwvttto). It feeds upon 
the potato and kindred piants, but seldom 
appeal's in sufficient numbers to do any con¬ 
siderable damage. There are several closely 
allied species, which feed exclusively ou the 
sweet potato or plants belonging to the ('on 
volvulncca ; but the above-named species is 
the only one with which I am acquainted 
that attacks the Solanums, to which the 
common potato belongs. 
TEXAS GRASSHOPPERS. 
George Humphreys, Salurlo, Tex. — The 
specimen of grasshopper which you sent me 
was so badly damaged by his long, drj/ ride 
in the mails, that I could not determine the 
name. Grasshoppers and similar insects soon 
lose their beautiful colors after being killed, 
especially if bruised or crushed. 
<j$ai[m (Bcmtamir. 
WHAT CHEMISTS MAY DO. 
There is a great advantage in understand- 
iug chemistry, and yet, when chemists turn 
agriculturists they do not succeed in making 
fortunes. In the one matter of knowing 
strength and adaptation of manure for dif¬ 
ferent soils and for various crops it would 
seem t hat, a chemist ought to be aide to grow 
double the crops an ignorant man could. 
There is a way in which those farmers hav¬ 
ing a clear and sound knowledge of this art, 
might, do great good to other * - .rmers and to 
the country at large, it is by telling them 
which are tho crops that can be grown to the 
weight of tons per acre without drawing 
away the plant, food, or which can be grown 
of any weight so that they will not exhaust, 
the fertility. In England we used to think 
that any densely growing green crop, which 
was mowed before it had passed out of 
bloom or come into full flower, had not taken 
much from the earth and that the shade 
given by the heavy mass of herbage and the 
roots which was one mass of net work as in 
clover, gave back a good deal ; and as much 
pf the sustenance for the grass on stems and 
leaves had come from the air up to the time 
the bloom appeared we supposed the soil was 
benefited by the crop instead of weakened. 
This was at t he same time that farmers com¬ 
menced to see summer fallowing to be an 
error and instead of exposing the soil to the 
sun and roasting and baking by repeated 
plowing*, sen filings, harrow mgs, &c., they 
sowed vetches or other exceedingly thick 
growing crops which completely suffocated 
the weeds, and I have often seen the bottom 
of the stems for two inches from the ground 
white, and so tender as to sweep up into 
swathes without the edge of the 6cythe 
touching it. On the dry sound upland tur¬ 
nips were grown and as they too are sup¬ 
posed to derive much of their support 
through the leaves from the atmosphere the 
growth of these various green crops are a 
very advantageous substitution for a naked 
fallow, arid when tho vetches and the turnips 
arc eaten on the land by “hitching” the 
horses by chains to the vetches and the sheep 
by folding with hurdles, the immense quan¬ 
tity of dung and urine give an extraordinary 
additional amount of fertilizing matter. 
Often the spring vetches are succeeded by 
turnips and the winter ones which are sowed 
with rye very early in the autumn wall be 
fit for use as forage the beginning of May and 
Swedes axe planted after them. 
However, it is the object, in writing at this 
moment, to induce farmers who understand 
chemistry, to write and explain how the laud 
can be improved by attention to the produc¬ 
tion of green crops and to caution those ol’ 
the old-fashioned school who may be still 
against *eeding any kind of herbage intended 
for hay or fodder, explaining to them how 
the soil is wantonly robbed to form the seed 
as also to bring the stems into a wood}' j 
texture, and after tiffs wasteful using up of 
the best, part of the earth to make seed and 
wood, the poor animals eating it have to 
suffer from the indigestible stuff, unless it is 
steamed or wetted and meal, <fcc., mixed 
with it. 
If pains could be taken not to use more 
techuical terms or words than is absolutely 
necessary it would be well, as farmers don t 
want the trouble to find out the meaning of 
language not in common use. Again, in 
respect to land lying constantly in grass, 
farmers ash through the papers for a list of 
seeds f»r establishing a permanent pasture 
and about, four to six varieties only will be 
mentioned and timothy as one of the most, 
important. Now, I really think those great, 
coarse grasses ought not to be thought of as 
so essential to any pasture or mowing, and a 
good established old sod which it is never 
intended to plow again, can be mowed now 
and then and cut a beautifully sweet, fatten¬ 
ing quality of hay and all the flner-fibered, 
dwarf-growing, natural grasses wliich bear 
to be so thick set, are to be preferred before 
the coarse, tall-growing varieties, wliich will 
not bear to be grazed down close in drouths 
or eaten off at all in winter. 
There seems to be the most extraordinary 
ignorance about natural grass pastures and 
mowings ; yet there is no village or scarcely 
a roadside but has here and there a patch of 
thick-set greensward which is always kept 
very short by the cows, goats, horses and 
other animal* running at large and which 
they never let become above an inch or two 
long, because it is sweet and palatable ; and 
probably white clover, blue grass and a few 
other of these tender grasses preponderate. 
It is seen those patches always grow first and 
greenest after showers and never look white 
and deud like the farmer’s grass in the fields 
where a great deal of the spring and sum¬ 
mer’s growth has been left to shade the 
ground. Well! these evergreen, shortly- 
grazed places are most of them the nearest 
approach to a good permanent pasture or 
meadow. A. w. F. 
SAWDUST-PARING AND BURNING. 
Sawdust as a Feeding Materlal —Perhaps < 
clay or sand might have been substituted ! 
for sawdust with as good results. A few c 
years bock the butt ends of corn stalks were I 
pronounced to have more nourishment in 
them than the other parts, and then cobs 
are said to be nutritious. Before I left Eng¬ 
land some great chemist declared wheat 
straw to have groat fattening properties in 
it, and about the same time half the upper 
class were startled from their lethargy by 
the announcement that bran was the best 
part of wheat, and ought to be eaten by the 
human family with the flour; and as it was 
well known the authority was from a very 
high source in the medical fraternity, a 
great many of the nobility, rich commoners, 
parsons, doctors and lawyers tried it; but 
most of the families had quite enough of the 
bread from such a material in a few days, 
and many were satisfied with the first dose, 
while in a month or two it was a thing of 
the past. It is natural for deer to eat a deal 
of woody matter, ends of branches, twigs 
and bark; sheep, too, have a taste to a 
rather leas extent, and horses are very fond 
of browsing. But eating tender sprout* and 
bark with sap. and young shoot* about to 
grow, is very different to sawdust, and there 
are many varieties of the rubbish, so that if 
people are not cautioned the next thing pub¬ 
lished will be death* of cattle from experi¬ 
mental doses of sawdust. 
Paring and Burning.— Breast-plowing and 
burning it is called in some parts of the 
southwestern counties in England. This is 
done by men with an instrument cafipd a 
breast-plow, but which is pushed by sudden 
shoves from the thighs, which are protected 
by thin strips of boards strapped round in 
front; but there are none in America, and as 
it is somewhat awkward and hard work 
they would be seldom used if any were here. 
They are used to pare off any thick set sod 
very lightly so r.lftit it can be harrowed and 
most of the dirt worked out, aDd then burn 
the rest in small heaps all over the field, 
after which the ashes are spread and plowed 
under very lightly. Having torn this shal¬ 
low surface up into bits, and thus mixed up 
soil and ashes in a fine mold, not more than 
two inches deep, turnips are sown, and they 
will grow first-rate because they feed on the 
ashes. On land that has never been broken, 
which is what is called sour, and where 
nothing but buckwheat will do any good till 
it has been cultivated a year, this burning of 
the turf will sweeten the ground so that it 
will grow any crop that can be grown else¬ 
where. Cultivators made sharp and weight- ' 
ed, but set very light, and used first one way 
across the field and then tho other, would 
strip off the surface thin enough, and if any 
one would try a small patch li rst they would 
find this statement correct, and would do 
more on a larger scale. Thf* was done ex¬ 
tensively on the Cots wold Hills and through¬ 
out Gloucestershire and adjoiuing counties— 
chiefly on light soils on upland downs and 
heaths. Wheat is often sown in August or 
beginning of September, when the burning 
is not done early enough to sow turnips, and 
wheat will come to a good crop, whereas 
without the burning there would be no 
wheat or aught else grow to pay for harvest¬ 
ing. A Working Farmer. 
---- 
ECONOMICAL NOTES. 
Manuring in Hill or Drill .—As an argu¬ 
ment in favor of this practice, a Massachu¬ 
setts farmer saysIn our own experience 
wc have invariably found that for the mere 
purpose of withstanding long-continued dry 
weather, those plants whose roots have im¬ 
mediate access to organic manures will be 
much better enabled to absorb the necessary 
supply of moisture than those vegetating in 
an unmanured soil. Some crops manured in 
the drill have been found to have formed a 
perfect net. work of roots among the manure, 
and although the soil above the manure was 
dry, the crop was luxuriant all the while and 
matured well. By applying manure in tlm 
drill it is put as nearly as possible where it is 
to do its work. It is there the work of pul¬ 
verization i* needed ; it is precisely there 
that plant food is to lie used if used at all. As 
the process of evaporation from the leaves 
goes on, additional supplies of moisture are 
attracted to the roots of the plants to replace 
that which has passed off into the atmos¬ 
phere. To reach these roots, the moisture 
must necessarily pass through the rich com¬ 
post, dissolving particles of the most valuable 
fertilizers, rendering them accessible to the 
wants of plants to whose use they will at 
once be appropriated. 
Cow Peas and Clover as a Fertilizer.—The 
advantage of cow peas over clover is that 
two crops can be put under in one season ; 
but with clover one must wait until the suc¬ 
ceeding season before it can be turned under. 
Seed can be obtained in Norfolk, Va., in 
quantities from one to 100 bushels, at from 
$1.50 to $2 per bushel.—w. b. w. 
i$h(» Horseman. 
ITCHING MANES AND TAILS. 
Nearly every day I see horses with manes 
and tails injured by rubbing. From my first 
experience with horses, I have been more or 
less troubled by their rubbing these part-, 
generally during warm weather. I have 
carefully noted the inquiries and answers in 
the Rural New-Yorker concerning horses, 
and am not surprised to find, on this subject, 
as cm every other, a great diversity of opin¬ 
ion. Rome of the remedies given in the Ru¬ 
ral for itching mane* and tails, are good. 
Judging from my own experience, I think I 
have a better one. It is better for the reason 
that it i* cheap, always at hand, easy to be 
applied to the diseased parts, and in its well- 
tried efficacy. Without attempting to con¬ 
vince the reader of the cause of itching 
manes and tails, or to persuade those who 
believe no remedy is good, without it i» a 
compound of many ingredients difficult to 
obtain and more difficult to apply, 1 give 
the remedy and the manner of its applica¬ 
tion, and verily believe that many a horse 
owner will be pleased with the result when 
he has tried itB merits. 
Take common kerosene and put in a spring 
bottom tin can, such as can be found in the 
tool box of every mowing or reaping ma¬ 
chine, on any carpenter’s bench, or at any 
hardware store ; take the itching tail in one 
hand and raise it by the long hair, »o that 
the small end of the dock will lie the high¬ 
est ; then squirt the kerosene on the end of 
the dock. In a very brief time it wi 11 spreu 
evenly all over the tail. Then part the mane, 
if also diseased, and put the kerosene a on » 
the whole length. A small quantity will do, 
as it spreads readily and will reach evert 
spot. The kerosene will dry off in a day or 
two and will do no harm, even if the par'* 
are not washed, This, however, all careful 
horsemen will do as a matter of neutne », 
though it is not necessary, and the tai " 1 
look no worse than if no application a< 
made. One or two applications was m ever} 
case, in my experience, either caused, or a 
least been attended with, very satisfacto . 
results. 
Tuliy, N. Y., June 37, 1874. 
