302 
of a pluralist. 
DAILY EUEAL LITE. 
From the Diary of a Centleman near New 
York City. 
FOOD PLANTS AND THE GRASSHOPPERS. 
April S3.—The fearful ravages of the 
grasshoppers, or mure properly “locusts,” 
of the Western Plains has become of late 
years a question demanding serious consid¬ 
eration. The almost boundless prairies of 
Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado have their 
attractions, and thousands of persons can¬ 
not withstand the temptations offered them 
in the way of cheap and fertile soils, requir¬ 
ing no clearing of timber or digging of stones 
before the plow can be put in or a crop 
raised ; hence the rapid settlement of the 
States maned. Then again, to a man who 
has resided in r wooded region, where the 
cutting away of a forest is usually looked 
upon as an improvement because it extends 
the view, there Is something grand and im¬ 
posing about the vast prairies, with no tree, 
shrub, or perhaps hill, to obstruct or limit 
the range of one’s vision. These and many 
other attractions draw those in search of 
homes to the plains of the We4, and how 
ever inhospitable the climate or abundant 
the locusts, some are bound to stick to their 
tents and run the risk of success In obtaining 
what they have sought. 
I am specially reminded of the many needs 
of the first settlers on the plains, if not of 
later ones, by a letter juBt received from one 
of my old correspondents in Nebraska, who 
informs me that “but for donations from 
various sources the loss of life would have 
been great. For two years there has been a 
failure of vegetables, and as a result many, 
mostly mothers with nursing children, arc 
attacked with scurvy. One of our doctors 
begs for potatoes for his patients to eat raw.” 
Drouth and grasshoppers have caused all 
this suffering, and there is no good reason 
for believing that the same thing will not 
occur again in years to come, as it has in the 
past; hence the necessity of making provis¬ 
ion for famines on the plains, as was done 
by a few wise men in old Egypt. Corn, 
wheat and the various other kinds of grain 
may be readily preserved for many years, 
but not so with vegetables; besides, they are 
usually the first to suffer from drouths or 
grasshoppers. They are also of such a bulky 
nature that transporting to any considerable 
distance enhances the prioe above the means 
of a famine-stricken people. 
Looking at this subject in its various bear¬ 
ings, I have come to the conclusion that, 
residents in the drouthy, grasshopper re 
gions must cultivate esculent roots which 
are drouth and grasshopper proof. Of course 
some of my Western readers will reply, 
“That’s all very well for a ‘Downeaster’ 
who knows nothing of the West to talk 
about, but it wou’t work.” But having vis¬ 
ited the regions of country for which 1 am 
about to make a suggestion, and seen what 
drouths and grasshoppers may do toward 
depriving a people of both the luxuries and 
necessaries of lifo, I shall hold to my present 
opinion until proved to be in the wroDg by 
actual experiments with the plants named. 
THE CHINESE YAM (DI0SC0REA BATATAS). 
This edible tuber was introduced from 
China about twenty years ago, and at the 
time it was claimed to be the “coming 
plant,” which would eventually supersede 
the common potato. A very brief experi¬ 
ence with it, however, showed that Its pecu¬ 
liar habit of growth precluded any possibil¬ 
ity of such a result; henoe from the time 
named until the present the Chinese Yam 
has been cultivated mainly for ornamental 
purposes, although the tubers are excellent 
in quality and resemble, when cooked, the 
common Irish potato. But the fault is in 
the shape of the tuber, it being long, slender 
and tapering, descending into the earth per- 
I endicularly, with the big end at the bot¬ 
tom. or just the reverse of beets, carrots and 
similar roots. Now, it is not unusual to find 
tubers of this yam two to three feet long and 
almost as brittle as glass; consequently, to 
get one out of the ground, it is necessary to 
dig down to the bottom and lift it out, as no 
pulling will answer. If a tuber in its down¬ 
ward course strikes a stone or other hard 
substance it will flatten out and separate 
into several small, deformed sections ; there¬ 
fore it is useless to undertake to change its 
natural habit by putting obstructions in its 
path. A good, firm loam or clay will pro¬ 
duce tha shortest tubers and, if rich, the 
largest. Specimens of five or six pounds are 
not uncommon from old plantations. Now, 
LOOSE’S RURAL HEW- YORKER. 
while I do not believe Chinese yams could 
be raised at a profit, even if there was a de¬ 
mand for them in our market at double the 
price of common potatoes, still it is just the 
plant to keep in reserve for such a time of 
need as now prevails over a large portion of 
Kansas and Nebraska. Scarcity of other 
potatoes would make them worth digging, 
even If th’9 cost a dollar a bushel in labor. 
The tubers are perfectly hardy here, and 
probably would be equally so In Nebraska 
and further north. 
The plan I would suggest would be for 
every farmer or owner of a lot in the grass¬ 
hopper regions to plant a good patch of the 
yam), and after giving one season’s cultiva¬ 
tion let them alone until necessity or scarcity 
of the common potato made the tubers worth 
digging. After the first season the vines 
which grow ten to twenty feet long, would 
smother all grass and weeds, and the plants 
would take care of themselves. Every new 
crop of tubers appears to grow much larger 
than the preceding one ; at least this is the 
case for several years, and a five or sir year 
old plantation would become a magazine of 
food, and that too of a kind not to be despised 
by an epicure. Grasshoppers may eat the 
loaves, but they will scarcely be able to kill 
the roots, and it would take a long and 
Bevere drouth to reach the bottom of a five- 
pound tuber. 1 have faith in the merits of 
this old and at one time muen-abused plant, 
provided we can find a proper place for it, 
and who knows but the inhabitants of the 
drouthy, grasshoppery plains, may yet re- 
joioe over their crops of Chinese yams ? My 
surplus stock of tubers shall be sent off to¬ 
morrow to correspondents and friends in 
Nebraska, in order to have my theory put to 
practical test. 
THE JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE. 
If I had to eat raw vegetables for scurvy, 
or any other disease, I would select the tubers 
of artichokes lu preference to auy other 
similar tuber. It Is also valuable for stock, 
and is eaten with avidity by most kinds. 
This artichoke, or Helianthus luberoxus, is 
so near allied to the common sunflower 
(Flrfianthus piganleouu ), which is abundant 
all over the Northwestern States and Terri¬ 
tories, that I doubt if the grasshoppers would 
molest it. 
As with the Chinese yam, one only lias to 
make a plantation, and then let it take care 
of itself,—for it is abundantly able to choke 
out all other kinds of plants. The yield of 
artichokes 13 enormous, and as the tubers do 
not go very deep in the earth, they can be 
readily throwu out with a hoe or plow ; or, 
If a man has hogs to feed, they may be 
turned in to dig for themselves, and they 
will be thankful for the opportunity. This 
old and long-neglected tuber should bo given 
a chance where other and more popular 
kinds are likely to fail or be destroyed by 
insects. 
CKUJA OR EARTH ALMOND. 
This is a little grass-like plant, producing a 
sweet, edible, nut-like tuber at the base of 
the stem. Its botanical name is Cyperus 
csculenlus. The tubers are of an oval or 
oblong shape, about an inch in length and 
half as broad. In good, rich soils the increase 
of tubers during the growing season is some¬ 
thing mar .clous, and I well remember the 
first one I obtained, some twenty years 
since, produced six hundred aud forty the 
first season. 
The tubers should be planted in drills, about 
a foot apart, and then cultivated like other 
garden vegetables. The plant belonging to 
the sedge grass family, it is doubtful if grass¬ 
hoppers would touch the leaves or stems, 
but as the tubers are exceedingly sweet and 
nutritious they may be employed for fatten¬ 
ing hogs, cut up and fed to poultry, or even 
gathered and fed to other stock in lieu of 
oats or corn. The yield per acre exceeds 
that of auy of our common kinds of grain, 
corn not excepted, and the tubers are scarcely 
leBs valuable. 
Chufas are not hardy, hence enough should 
be gathered for seed and then stored in a 
dry, warm place, as frost or much moisture 
in winter will quickly destroy their vitality. 
If a farmer does not care to gather any more 
than enough for seed, he can turn in his 
hogs or sheep, for they will he glad of the 
chaucc to do this work for him and fatten 
while doing It.. 
Here are three plants especially udap'ed 
to the grasshopper regions of the West, and 
there can he but little doubt of their great 
value in seasons when the “ hatefuls” come 
down from the mountains. There are, how¬ 
ever, quite a number of other plants which 
might come into the list, but 1 have said 
enough on the subject to show that there is 
a better way than to put all the eggs into 
one basket and then trust to luck for their 
safe tv. The greater variety of crops culti¬ 
vated the better will the chances bo for sune 
to escape either drouth or insects, and it is 
well to try some that are likely to defy both. 
mkrimltural. 
CHEMICAL CONDITION OP SOILS AND 
FOEEST GROWTH. 
R. W. in the Agricultural Gazette, gives the 
following summary of recent chemical In¬ 
vestigations relating to the above subject, 
lie sayB Our forest trees have be>en made 
far less frequently the subjects of chemical 
investigation than the ordinary crops of the 
farm ; they have not, however, been quite 
neglected, and we propose in the present 
paper to give an account of some recent 
researches in this direction. 
Two French chemists, P. Fliche and L. 
Grandoau, have occupied themselves for 
some time with the question why certain 
trees refuse to grow in some localities, while 
in the immediate neighborhood they are 
found to flourish under apparently similar 
conditions. These chemists took samples of 
the soil and subsoil from certain parts of 
the Forest of Champetre, where these differ¬ 
ences in the growth of timber were well 
marked ; they also examined the composi¬ 
tion of the wood grown on these different 
soils. The three soils taken had the follow¬ 
ing percentage composition in an air-dried 
state: 
Soil I. 
Soil II. 
3oil III. 
Soil.' 
Subsoil 
son. 
Subsoil.' 
Lime. 
.35 
2.20 
8.25 
21.04 
20.72 
MiigneBla_ 
.38 
.17 
.47 
1.31 
1 00 
1'OtllHll . 
.07 
.01 
.04 
.16 
01 
Soda. 
.0(1 
.01 
.03 
.07 
.07 
Plio*|iltorio ) 
add j 
.04 
.42 
.29 
.18 
.40 
Cnrbonlc ) 
ifid. ( 
.70 
1.64 
3.54 
10.59 
24.45 
Insoluble i 
nnnier 1 
00.55 
92.70 
83.00 
46.80 
40.00 
Organic ) I; 
mutter > 
6.50 
2.84 
6.53 
5.30 
2.84 
Moisture.. .. 
1.75 
1.66 
2.00 
2 46 
1.42 
Soil III. is evidently highly calcareous, 
containing over 50 per cent , of carbonate of 
lime. Soil II. is much less calcareous, ita 
subsoil contains, however, almost as much 
carbonate of lime as HI. Soil 1. was mostly 
composed of quartz Rand, and very little 
lime was present. In this last soil the Clus¬ 
ter Pine, P. Pinaster, flourished very well, 
while on soil II. it did badly, and on the 
most calcareous soil (Ilf.) it refused to grow 
at all. Scotch fir, on the other hand, grew 
well on soil II., and so did the Corsican Pine, 
P. LarloiO; these pines were also capable of 
growing on soil III., and worn thus clearly 
not affecte^ in the same way as P. Pinaster. 
Fliche and Grandeau analysed the ash of 
twigs of the Cluster Pine, grown on soil I., 
where it flourished, and on noil HI., whore it 
comparatively failed. In tile latter case the 
ash contained more lime (58 per cent, instead 
of 40), and much less potash (5 per cent, 
instead of 16), than the ash of the vigorous 
trees. The authors suppose that the large 
amount of lime in the soil prevented this 
pine from assimilating the amount of potash 
necessary for itB vigorous growth. The ash 
of similar twigs of P. Laricio growing on 
soil III., gave 13}£ per cent, of potash, ap¬ 
parently showi g that in the case of this 
pine the assimilation of potash was less inter¬ 
fered with by the presence of much calcare¬ 
ous matter. 
The sweet chestnut is another tree which 
is said to fail on calcareous soils. According 
to Chatin, it disappears if the amount of 
lime in the soil exceed 8 percent-. At Cham¬ 
petre the chestnut would not grow on soil 
III. ; on soil II. its growth was feeble ; on 
soil I. It flourished well. The French chern 
ista examined the leaves and wood of the 
chestnuts growing on soils 1. and II. The 
leaves of the trees growing on the calcareous 
soil were fairly developed only on the lower 
branches ; towards the top the leaves became 
much smaller and less vigorous, and at the 
summit vitality almost ceased. These leaves 
contained lets starch and chlorophyll than 
the healthy leaves produced on the sandy 
soil. The examination of the ash of the 
leaves and wood gave the following results : 
Potaab. 
S"i1a... 
Lime. 
Magnesia. 
oxide of iron. 
Ph-apUnrlc tieut... 
Sulphuric acid. 
chlorine. 
Silica. 
PercenttiKe of asli, 
Ssndy soil. 
Calcarious soil. 
Loaves. 
Wood. 
Leaves. 
Wood. 
21.67 
3.86 
45.37 
6.03 
1.07 
12.32 
2.07 
.80 
5.79 
11.65 
73.26 
3.99 
2,04 
4.53 
1.43 
3.08 
. . 
6.76 
.00 
74.55 
3.70 
.83 
13.50 
.52 
1.16 
2.09 
.28 
87.30 
1.27 
1.27 
4.27 
.04 
.04 
1.36 
4.80 
4.74 
7.80 
5.71 
Both the leaves aud wood produced on the 
calcareous soil contain more ash than those 
grown on the sandy soil, but the ash con¬ 
tains only about one-fourth the amount of 
potash, and also less magnesia, sulphuric 
acid, and silica, but at the same time a 
much larger quantity of lime. We have 
here then, as in the case of the Cluster Pine, 
a great deficiency in the assimilation of pot¬ 
ash when the trees grew on a calcareous soil. 
These facte are full of interest, but we 
must not conclude too hastily that the differ¬ 
ent proportions of lime and potash assimi¬ 
lated by the trees la the sole cause of their 
success or failure. In many cf our agricul¬ 
tural crop 3 the proportions of lime and potash 
vary immensely, according to the nature of 
the soil, but without any necessary failure of 
the produce. In clover, for instance, the 
potash and lime are subject to great varia¬ 
tions, some ashes containing only one-third 
the potash found in others, and in such cases 
the absent potash is replaced by lime. Pot¬ 
ash seems to be taken up by preference; 
but when potssh is 3acking, a part of it is 
substituted by lime. In root crops there is 
a great, though les3 considerable variation 
in the amount of potash present. 
In interpreting the facta we must also not 
forget Hoffmann’s previous researches upon 
the so-callod “Lime plants” and “Lime- 
hating plants.” He prepared artificial soils, 
some rich in lime, others pom, and grew 
plants having the above reputation for 
many years on these soils in Iris garden. 
He found that In many cases lime plants 
were capable of attaining a perfect growth 
on soil nearly destitute of lime, and that 
also lime-hating plants could in some in¬ 
stances be grown successfully in soil rich in 
carbonate of lime. He succeeded in so many 
cases in producing these- results, that he con¬ 
cluded that it was rather the physical con¬ 
dition of the soil than its chemical composi¬ 
tion which determined the effects observed 
in nature. 
Probably it is not only the amount of the 
food supplied by the soil, nor yet the physi¬ 
cal condition of the soil itself, which de¬ 
termines the decided preferences shown by 
certain plants. The presence or absence of 
a great mass of carbonate of lime in the soil 
will not only alter the soil in these respects, 
but must also occasion a great difference in 
the form in which the food constituents of 
the soil are held ; the chemistry of the soil 
will, in fact, be greatly changed, and the 
food of the plant will exist in different forms 
of combination. The effect on the plant 
may, therefore, be the result of several 
independent actions, all having their rise In 
the presence of an excess of calcareous mat¬ 
ter in the soil. 
THE CODLING MOTH. 
P. H. Foster, Babylon, L. I., writes the 
Sun I have made this insect my study for 
a number of years, in order to learn its 
history. I have during the time experi¬ 
mented with torches to see if the moth was 
attracted by iight at night, as is so frequent¬ 
ly asserted, and thus far have never caught 
one by that means. I have placed a light 
among the branches of a dwarf apple tree, 
the fruit on which was being stung by this 
insect, aud directly over a vessel two feet 
square filled with water. Many other 
species of night flying moths were taken,but 
not a codling moth (Oarpocopaa pomcneUa). 
I have now adopted plain woollen rags 
wrapped around the stems of trees, and have 
caught many thousand in this manner. List 
summer I commenced on July 20, examining 
these traps each week until Sept. 28, and I 
killed during that period 2.841. Besides em¬ 
ploying these tra r s, I collected and cooked 
all Infested fruit which fell from the tree3. 
By this means I destroyed the larvte of a 
large number of the eurculio, which were 
also in the immature apples gathered. By 
putting on the bands early iu the season and 
continuing them late, examining at least 
onoe a week, both broods which usually 
appear in a season are kept in check. If 
every man who has an apple orchard would 
put this simple plan of destroying the worms 
into practice we should hear less of wormy 
apples. 
----♦»» 
ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES. 
Algerian Potato Motli .—European agri¬ 
culturists are warned bv Dr. Kalender 
against the Brystopha Solandla, a minute 
moth which has made its appearance in 
Algeria, the larvai of which completely 
destroy the potatoes themselves so that they 
become unfit even for pig’s food, A French 
journal gives serious warning against the 
Importation of Algerian potatoes in con¬ 
sequence of this insect. 
The Colorado Potato Beetle .—While re¬ 
moving earth from an embankment adjoin¬ 
ing a last year’s potato field I “dug out” 
one ot tlie above named beetles, about three 
feet below the surface. They were some¬ 
what plentiful in this region last year and 
reasoning from above fact 1 thiuk they have 
come to stay awhile.—M. P. P., Wenonah, 
N. J. 
