MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
DAILY EUEAL LIFE. 
From the Diary of a Centleman near New 
York City. 
STUPID FARMERS AND POTATO BEETLES. 
July 6th. —It is safe to assort that oue half 
the world has to work Industriously to sup 
port the other half in idleness. But this 
stale of affairs is apparently only a natural 
result, for it all should labor alike the pro¬ 
ducts of industry would depreciate in value 
to a fearful extent aud mankind be no better 
olf than now. I have no cause to complain 
on this score, for the more lazy people there 
are, the better I shall be paid for my labor; 
but those who get in the way, filling up the 
paths Where go ahead people would like to 
travel, or those who clog the wheels of 
industry, arc the classes which I am inclined 
to declare a nuisance. If men or women do 
not feel inclined to walk fast, let them step 
aside and get out of the way of people who 
do, instead of looking arms and walking 
three to six abreast and filling crowded 
thoroughfares, thereby compelling others 
either 1 o lag behind or turn out into by-paths, 
scramble over rough places and through 
ditches in order to get ahead and fill their 
legitimate places in the world. 
These clogs to human progress are found 
in both city and country, therefore we need 
no finely-executed portrait to enable us to 
recognize them. The industrious farmer 
finds these clogs among his neighbors, who 
permit Canada thistles and other vile weeds 
to ripen their seeds and become scattered 
over the lands of the Industrious and careful 
oultivatoi, Others permit the tent worms 
and various species of insects to feed and 
multiply, destroying not only their own 
crops, but placing those of neighbors in peril, 
neither killing vermin themselves nor per 
mittlng those who would, as a matter of 
self-protection, lend a helping hand. 
The appearance of the Colorado potato 
beetle in my own neighborhood is bringing 
to light some curious phases of human 
stupidity aud donkey ish obstinacy. After 
all that has been said, and thousands of 
ex peri rut its made, in regard to the destruc¬ 
tion of thiH insect there are still any number 
of farmers who will do nothing towards pre¬ 
venting its increase, but merely plant pota¬ 
toes to see them eaten up without raising a 
hand to prevent it. One field of potatoes in 
a neighborhood left as food for this beetle, 
will be sufficient to keep the pest abundant 
aud among those who would keep in check, 
if not totally annihilate, this invader in a 
single season if t heir efforts were seconded 
by all the farmers in the surrounding region 
of country. 
The principal excuse given for not de¬ 
stroying this insect is a fear of poisoning the 
tubers or rendering them unfit for food, 
which is absuid in the face of the fact that,’ 
in many Western States, Paris green and 
other poisons have been used far this pur¬ 
pose a dozen years with no injurious effects 
upon the potatoes or those who have used 
them for food. This should be enough to 
banish all fear on that score, even if in a 
man’s ignorance he might suppose it possible 
for the leaves of potatoes to absorb amineral 
poison like Paris green and transmit it 
thence to the tubers under ground. 
But our farmers will doubtless have plenty 
of sympathisers, aiders and abettors in their 
stupidity, and the rumor is already abroad 
that the common council of one of our New 
Jersey Cities propose* to pass market regu¬ 
lation, forbidding the sale of potatoes upon 
the vines of which Paris green has been 
used in killing I he beetle. Of course the 
fact that hundreds and thousands of bushels 
of Western potatoes raised by the aid of 
this poison have been sold in our markets 
without injury to any one is not taken into 
consideration, either by my neighbors or 
their customers in the cities. “What a 
>> ; 
is 
man does not know will not hurt him, 
an old adage, applicable in this case at least. 
But it is comforting to the fearless aud un¬ 
prejudiced farmer to know that he will soon 
have very little competition from those wln» 
neglect to use poisons on their potato vines, 
because they will have no potatoes, either 
to sell or ear., unless purchased of more 
sensible men. 
RIPENINQ OF THE RASPBERRIES. 
July 7.—There are a few strawberries still 
left, but after having an abundance for a few 
weeks u change for something else becomes 
desirable, and those w ho cultivate a variety 
of small fruits can be accommodated in this 
for the earliest raspberries come in a little 
before the late strawberries, are all gone. 
Among the red raspberries, the Kirtland, 
ilmington, and Turner are ripening rapid¬ 
ly, and we commenced picking these to-day. 
Some of the early Black Caps are also quite 
abundant. The Doolittle, Thornless and 
Fay are among the very earliest of this 
species, while the Neneca, Miami and a few 
others will not give any ripe fruit until a 
week or two later. 
By cultivating both the earliest and latest 
of each kind of the small fruits the season 
may be prolonged considerably ; besides one 
will overlap slightly upon the next, thereby 
keeping the supply continuous and un¬ 
broken. The advantage of this niust be 
apparent, to every one ; still, few avail 
themselves of the different sorts, by the aid 
of which such desirable results may be 
secured. 
Of course the.re are hundreds of varieties 
of these fruits, and one's individual taste, as 
well as climate and soil, must be taken into 
consideration in making a selection of sorts ; 
still as a precaution against failures, in addi¬ 
tion to prolonging the season, It is usually 
sale to plant at least a half dozen varieties 
of each kind. Those named above are all 
native sorts, which will thrive wherever 
the raspberry is likely to succeed. For par¬ 
ticular locations some of the foreign sorts 
of the red raspberry would doubtless be 
preferable . but to determine this requires 
local experiments, because there are condi¬ 
tions favorable, or otherwise, which can only 
be known through actual tests in cultiva¬ 
tion. 
THE OTEHOUSE CHERRY. 
Several years since 1 received a sprout 
taken from the original tree of this cherry, 
and planted it in my garden where it has 
grown thriftily ; but, unfortunately for 
mankind the bird kind has gathered the 
fruit, every season before it was mature. 
Mr, II aKR is of Kentucky, who kindly sent 
me t.lnj specimen referred to, would like to 
know my opinion of this cherry, and l 
should be pleased to form one if T could get 
fruit enough for a basis, but the birds have 
stolen the march on me for the post two 
seasons, which to my mind, is a good recom¬ 
mend for the Dyehousc, inasmuch as there 
are plenty of other sorts near by, which 
they could take if they preferred them. 
Birds arc generally considered to be very 
good judges of fruits, for they seldom make 
the mistake of taking the poorest, in quality ; 
hence 1 shall be pretty safe in saving that! 
the Dyehouse is an excellent early cherry, 
although whether it is a new and distinct 
sort is a question 1 am unable as yet to settle 
satisfactory to myself; 
WHOLESALE WARFARE AGAINST IN¬ 
SECTS. 
The insect enemies of the farmer are so 
numerous—aud they are yearly increasing 
by the addition of new pests—that their d«T 
structiou becomes the foremost question for 
American farmers at the present time. It is 
perhaps providential that associating agri¬ 
culturists in Granges, or in the Order of Pro¬ 
gressive Farmers, has attained such promi¬ 
nence at. precisely the time when public 
attention is necessarily directed to the 
wholesa'c destruction or t ose insects which 
prey upon the crops of the field, garden and 
orchard. We hear much of the importance 
of entomological knowledge, and justly, 
too; but all information ou this subject 
would be nearly valueless were means not at 
hand to make it available by the combined 
efforts of farmers in every section of the 
country. One man working alone can do 
little to protect his crops from insects which 
multiply unmolested on his neighbors’ fields. 
Acting together, members of the town and 
county Granges can do a work which it is 
morally impossible that they could do sepa- 
rately. This work is twofold—extending in¬ 
formation as to the insect friends as well a* 
enemies of the farmer, with combined and 
judicious efforts to protect the one while de¬ 
stroying the other. 
It i.i too generally forgotten that the far¬ 
mer has as many friends as enemies, aud 
must depend for success in his efforts to pre¬ 
serve bis crops quite as much upon their aid 
as upon his own exertions. Take the re¬ 
cently-'ntroduepd Colorado potato beetle. 
It is known that from fifteen to twenty, and 
probably more, different species of insects 
are engaged in destroying It. Some attack 
it in one stage and some in another, but .Ol 
help. It is not the voraciousness of the 
beetle or its larva* that constitutes the far 
ineris danger. We have been surprised to 
notice how small a portion of the jxitato leaf 
a single larva would eat, while the perfect 
beetles seem to eat scarcely anything. It is 
their fecundity which makes them formida¬ 
ble. Each beetle lays about 1,300 eggs, and 
they breed twice or three times in a season. 
Such prolificacy would fill the world, and 
speedily, if unchecked by parasite and other 
insect enemies. Of its parasite the State 
Entomologist of Missouri records: 
“ This fiy (t he hydclln doryph&rce )destroyed 
fully 10 per cent, of the second brood and 50 
per cent, of the third brood of potato beetles 
that were in my garden.” 
Deprived of its assistance and of the help 
givm by the lady birds, the Arm a upinosa, 
the Harpartur t lnc.luH , and other bugs that, 
prey upon it, the farmer might as well 
whistle down the wind as to fight it. With 
their aid he can hold a st ubborn contest and 
obtain the victory. 
The Hessian fly iK a great scourge in some 
parts of the country some years : but in Eu 
rope this post lias a parasite, us also has the 
wheat midge. It is probable that both of 
these parasites have found their way to this 
country. If not, no time should tie lost In 
securing thefr services, and there may even 
be sections where the parasite has not yet 
been introduced. Possibly the European 
parasite is different and perhaps more ef¬ 
fective than our own, as English farmers 
arc less troubled by the Hessian fiv than 
we are here. No better or more efficient 
work could be done by the Granges in the 
different sections of the country than to 
study t hese subjects thoroughly and adopt 
the practical remedies that will prove most 
effective against, the evils under which our 
farmers suffer. 
It is a fact that the canker worm, which 
defoliates apple trees as if a fire had scorched 
their leaves, rarely continues destructive 
many years. One farmer with whom we 
talked three or four years ago assigned seven 
ycurs as the uniform period of their stay, 
and after that, lie said, they “all passed 
away.” Of course we have no superstition 
about this matter, ihe canker worm never 
“goes away” voluntarily, except by the de¬ 
struction of the trees ou which lie lives, and 
then lie only moves iuto the nearest apple 
orchard. When he does disappear—and the 
same holds good With regard to all insect 
enemies—it is most likely that he has met 
w ith iorae enemy stronger than himself, and 
'hi will not reappear until some change of 
season causes that enemy to be so reduced in 
numbers ns to fail to hold him in check. We 
have no doubt that when this subject is bet¬ 
ter understood the sending of insect friends, 
the parasites of the farmer's enemies, from 
one part of the country to another and from 
different countries will be an important part 
of the work of the Granges and Agricultural 
and Horticultural societies. 
ONION FLY AND MAGGOT. 
A subscriber of the Rural New-Yorker 
in Holmesville, N. Y., asks us what to do for 
his onions, which are afflicted by a mag¬ 
got which eats the roots of onions and fin¬ 
ishes off with the bulb itself. He has been 
troubled with the pests three years arid quite 
a number of his neighbors have the same 
difficulty. We presume that our correspond¬ 
ent is suffering from attacks of the onion ffy 
(Anthomyin czparum), a small insect re 
sembling the common house fiy but not quite 
so large. This fly lays its eggs at the roots of 
youug onions and speedily produces a crop 
of maggots, which is the larva state of the 
fiy. This larva is very small at first but 
grows after t,wc* weeks to one third of an 
inch in length, then changes to the pupa 
state, where it remains two weeks Longer 
and then changes to a perfect fly. There are 
several broods in a season, aud no certain 
known remedies. Al ter three or four years’ 
culture a parasite generally finds this larva, 
after which it gives little trouble, though in 
exceptional seasons the enemy may appear 
in nearly full force. Probably another year 
our correspondent will have the help of *this 
parasite, if n^t, he should get some onions 
from places where it is known to be and in¬ 
troduce it. 
Heavy rains seem to interfere with the 
operations of the grub, and cm a small scale 
thorough drenching of onion beds might 
prove profitable. We have seen it stated, 
also, that dusting the rows-with a mixture of 
equal piirts of lime, ashes and salt is a good 
remedy. Wherever the onion plants are 
seer, to wither from the effected' the maggot 
they should b9 pulled up and burned. 
®he 
GRAPES FOR PRODUCING PORK. 
Pea Weevil in Canada. — The Canada 
Farmer says the pea-weevil thrives as well 
iu some parts of Canaria as in the United 
States, but north and northwest of Toronto 
the insect does not prevail. It is to this sec¬ 
tion that the Continent owes the possibility 
or cultivating peas as a paying crop. Ameri¬ 
can seedsmen whu have seed peas grown in 
Canada will please take notice and select the 
non-in fected locality. 
[From the Foot-Hill Times, Gras# Valley, Cal.J 
Moore’s Rural New-Yokkxr, the leading 
agricultural journal of America, quotes our 
article of some months since on fattening 
hogs with grapes, and says it is “ a rather 
novel way of disposing of the surplus fruit 
of the California vineyards ; still it may be a 
good one and worthy of attention else¬ 
where.” 
We hardly think that kind of grapes raised 
east of the Rocky Mountains, all more or less 
“ foxy ” in their uature, would answer very 
well, hut the old Mission grape of California 
seems peculiarly adapted thereto, being ex¬ 
tremely rich iu saccharine matter—the most 
eminent fat-producing constituent of any 
food. Our friend Gould, who suggested the 
idea of utilizing grapes for pork making, 
which led us to write the article above 
alluded to, which has been q lot-ed quite 
generally all over the country, thinks one 
hundred pounds of good, sweet, well ripened 
Mission grapes will make as much pork as 
one hundred pounds of corn will. We are 
hardly prepared to accept this, but from an 
experiment recently tried in Massachusetts 
we are more ready than at the former 
writing to believe him not so very extrava¬ 
gant in his estimates. Jonathan Talcott put 
up a Suffolk pig weighing 30fi pounds and 
one year old, and began feeding him boiled 
sugar beets, tops and roots ; after fifty days 
the food wa* changed to a mixture of 
ground-corn and outs and this was fed for 
fifty days. The first term he gained at the 
rate of two pounds a day and the last less 
than a pound and a half a day. Now a table 
of nutritive values of food prepared by the 
celebrated Liebig pluces that of the grape at 
nearly double that of the beet, aud the fat 
producing quality is still more in favor of the 
grape. 
Any of our Foot Hill farmers would think 
they had a pret ty good thing if 30 acres of 
their land would produce corn at the rate of 
fifteen hundred pounds—about 27 bushels— 
to the acre. With this oue could make 6,000 
pounds of pork, worth here *(100. If grapes 
will make even half as much pork as corn— 
taking ten pounds of grapes to make oue of 
pork—huve not these same farmers of the 
Foot-Hills a better aud surer tiling on pork 
making than if they had natural corn land ? 
Fifteen thousand pounds to the acre would 
not be too much to expect from an average 
acre of grapes in this county which had been 
cultivated auythiug like the way farmers 
ho ve to cultivate their corn. Mr. Hatch, of 
Indian Spring, gets from five to fifteen tons 
per acre from his vines, two to nine years 
old. A pound of pork from each ten pounds 
of grapes would give 110,000 pounds, worth 
here $3,000, from the 20 average acres of 
grapes. 
We throw out these suggestions for the 
benefit of thut Large class of our population 
who, while admitting that almost any of 
our rough knolls and hillsides will produce 
grapes to perfection without irrigation, are 
not so sure about other crops and are doubt¬ 
ful as to the value of the grapes after they 
are raised ; thinking the vast production 
possible here would make wine aud raisins a 
drug and worthless. We opine that when 
there are a hundred acres bearing choice 
grapes here in the Foot-Hills v\ here there is 
one now, there will be a readier market than 
now aud highly remunerative prices will be 
obtained. But even if wine gets down to 
five cents a gallon aud rafsiu* do not pay for 
the care in curing, one can make sirup, feed 
hogs aud chickens and iu many other ways, 
which will in time suggest themselves, nmke 
as much from the crop as does the corn 
grower of the West or the wheat raiser of 
California. 
-♦♦♦-- 
BEER BAD FOR PIGS. 
“Atticus,” in the Melbourne Leader, 
writes :—“ A remarkable instance of the 
effects of colonial beer was recently mention¬ 
ed to me by a gentleman who lives some¬ 
where between Sandhurst and the Murray. 
A publican was sending bonk some empty 
casks to his brewer, when the men who put 
them on the dray noticed that one of tnem 
contained a little beer. A suggestion that it j 
should be drunk was negatived iu favor of 
an amendment that the stuff should be given 
to the pigs. This was done, and four well- 
bred porkers partook of the colonial. The 
result was the reverse of reassuring to the 
admirers of the local product. Two pigs 
died almost immediate)} - , the others were so 
ill that they were only got round with great 
difficulty and after very .careful nursing on 
the part of the landlady, who was a great 
pig-doctor.” 
It would be interesting to medical science 
to know what effect tin# “ colonial ” would 
have had upon the men. 
