MOORE’S EU HAL NEW-YORKER, 
l| ; 
74 
this region. These parka, at certain seasons 
of the year, are covered with the most beau¬ 
tiful and fragrant llowers, stretching for 
miles away far as the eye can see in ever}' 
direction, but unheeded save by the herds¬ 
man who hunts his cattle over them or the 
traveler as he hastily passes in his search for 
that ignis faluui of American civilization, 
“the West.” 
c^teld dltjop. 
CULTURE AND PROFIT OF PEPPERMINT. 
In answer to numerous inquiries from sub¬ 
scribers as to the best modes of growing 
peppermint, we would advise first to enlist 
as many fAitBcm in a neighborhood as pos¬ 
sible. This is better than to have a small 
quantity in a place, as it pays better to put 
up buildings and apparat us for distilling the 
oil, and if each fanner in a town whose land 
is suitable grows some, there can hardly fail 
to be a good demand at a fair profit. Mucky 
soil, if not too wet, is much the best for pep 
permint, as the roots spread rapidly, and if 
care be taken to keep out grass, will soon 
completely occupy the ground. In Wayne 
County, N. Y., about half a million dollars' 
worth of peppermint oil is produced annual¬ 
ly, and handsome profits arc realized from 
land which heretofore produced little or 
nothing. Dr, E. Ware Sylvester of Lyons, 
N. Y., has written several papers on pepper¬ 
mint culture, and probably knows as much 
thereabout as any man living. From his 
latest essay, read before the Farmers’ Club 
of the American Institute, as reported in the 
New York Times, we take the following : 
“Since 1871 the price of peppermint oil 
has fluctuated from two to six dollars per 
pound in our market at Lyons. In 1874 J 
planted five acres, which yielded thirty 
pounds per acre, and Bold for?0 11 per pound, 
amounting to $700,50, or over $150 per acre. 
The latest quotation in village papers was $5 
per pound. Since the publication of my 
paper on the cultivation of mint, 1 Imve re¬ 
ceived from numerous persons these ques- 
questions :—Where can I procure seed ? Do 
you plant the root, the stem or the seed ? It 
is these questions which I now propose to 
answer. 1 have no doubt that peppermint 
may be grown cither from the root, stem or 
seed, but the most desirable portion to plant 
is the rooted runner from last year’s growth. 
Perhaps you will be enabled to understand 
me better if 1 detail the production of this 
‘ rooted runner.’ For instance, in the spring 
I plant an acre of mint roots. These grow, 
are kept free from weeds, and in July or 
August the tops have grown from one to 
two feet high, and when in blossom the tops 
have been mowed off and converted into 
peppermint oil by distillation. About this 
time small shoots of runners are seen grow¬ 
ing from the neck or collar of the mint and 
remaining on the surface of the ground. 
These runners take root and each for himself 
becomes a living plant, though still clinging 
to his mother’s breast. It is these plants, 
full of health aud vigor, which you must 
plant if you would grow mint successfully. 
“If snow falls on the ground before it is 
much frozen and remains on until spring, 
coveriug the runnel’s with a white, soft 
blanket, they will come out of the winter as 
bright and smiling as a tottering infant; but 
if, as too often happens, we have severe 
weather without snows, and the ground is 
frozen a foot or more in depth, fierce winds 
sweep across your mint fields, and In the 
spring they look brown or black, their young 
rootlets are dead and they are untit for plant¬ 
ing. How ahull we obviate the effects of the 
winter aud have fresh, healthy runners ? I 
aui of opiuion tliut a light covering ot straw 
is tbe best method, and that wheat or rye 
straw will answer as well as buckwheat. 
What is wauted is some light application on 
the surface of the ground to hold the light 
snows, if there are any, and practically pro¬ 
tect the young rootlets from the severe cold. 
But, the novice asks, Why this anxiety about 
roots * After you have planted a field can 
you not mow the mint year after year as we 
do meadows! I answer, No; the mint is 
usually cut for two years and then replanted 
— in very rare instances three crops are 
gathered. How many roots do you plant to 
the acre ? This is a fair question, and I 
should much prefer to answer it than count 
the runners we plant on an acre. When the 
runners are numerous and well rooted, aud 
all alive, from ten to twenty square rods will 
afford sufficient for one acre ; lienee you 
perceive that oue acre of runners will plant 
from eight to sixteen acres of new mint. 
“There is money to be made by growing 
peppermint when tbe oil brings in the mar¬ 
ket over $3 per pound, if every detail is well 
managed ; and it has this positive advantage 
—it does well on and utilizes soil that is too 
wet for the successful cultivation of corn or 
wheat.” 
In answer to questions by members of tbe 
Club, Dr. Sylvester said that a rotation of 
crops was as necessary in the cultivation of 
mint as for other crops. About 5,000 plants 
could be raised, by careful cultivation, to 
the acre. The process of distilling the oil 
was of the same as that adopted in the dis¬ 
tillation of whisky, jt costs usually about 
forty cents per barrel to distil the oil, but 
the price was sometimes increased to fifty 
cents. The demand for peppermint was lim¬ 
ited, and if it was cultivated very largely the 
crop would not be profitable. 
---- 
HOME OF THE POTATO BEETLE. 
SOME OUESSES ABOUT ITS FUTURE. 
A gentleman who wished the best possi¬ 
ble picture of u camel gave an order to three 
artists—an Englishman, a Frenchman and a 
German—allowing each a year to complete 
the job and to take his own way in doing it. 
The Englishman took his pencil and started 
for the nearest menagerie to draw his camel 
from life , the Frenchman went to the desert 
to draw the camel as he appeared In his na 
tivohome; the German did not look for a 
camel, but bought a book describing the 
soil, climate and productions of the camel’s 
home, and then retiring into the depths of his 
own consciousness he evolved a picture of an 
animal suited to such a country, and at the 
end of the year he presented it as his repre¬ 
sentation of the camel. 
There is no doubt that every species of 
animal is naturally adapted to the locality 
which is its native home. The law of natu¬ 
ral selection and survival of the fittest weeds 
out those not adapted to soil, productions and 
climate of any country and leaves only those 
which are. Reversing this law, k nowing the 
natural huhUot of any enemy of man, we 
may “retire into the depths of our conscious¬ 
ness” and possibly evolve means for its sup¬ 
pression. We know pretty well the natural 
home of the potato beetle, the Western lo¬ 
cust, and probably of the destructive chinch 
bug. These all — the first two certainly— 
started from the arid plains in the region of 
the Rocky Mountains, where rain seldom or 
never falls. The food of the potato beetle 
was not abundant in thus region, but the 
climate was so well adapted to its exist nice 
that it held Its own for thousands of years, 
until the introduction of common potatoes 
gave it an abundance of food and encouraged 
its progress Eastward. But in going from 
its original base of operations the potato 
beetle leaves the climatic conditions which 
an experience of thousands of years has 
shown to be best adapted to it. Dryness of 
the air is exchanged for humidify, and fre¬ 
quent and drenching rains take the place of 
unending drouths. That these changes in cli¬ 
mate lias not kept the beetle in check is no 
sign that they have not produced some ef 
feet. The ext raordinary increase in its fa¬ 
vorite food by the introduction of potatoes 
in gardens aild fields would inevitably cause 
an extraordinary increase in its productive¬ 
ness far beyond the means of its insect ene¬ 
mies to limit. The result has been that the 
potato beetle has rapidly spread eastward 
and lias done immense damage. Yet we 
believe the further east the beetle has come 
the less injury, as a rule, it has done. In 
exceptionally dry seasons the enemy breeds 
rapidly and is destructive, but in wet seasons, 
any where f it is less hurtful. As it comes east¬ 
ward it leaves localities where drouths a re 
frequent, aud wherever it comes in regions 
with an average rainfall of SO inches we be¬ 
lieve it will do little damage. The trouble 
at the West has been that Several extremely 
dry seasons have given to t he potato beetle 
nearly the climate of Its Original home, while 
it enjoyed the greater advantage of an abun¬ 
dance of its favorite food. Yet even at the 
West we believe the potato beetle has never 
proved as hard to fight as during the first 
two or three years alter it found cultivated 
potatoes in Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas. 
Even there it has now been checked so much 
—probably by its insect enemies—that it is 
again possible to glow potatoes. As it has 
come east it has been less troublesome, ex¬ 
cept in a very few localities. Farmers now 
better know how to fight it, and its parasites 
increase and follow in its path. 
The season over most of the country has 
been a wet oue, aud we are not surprised 
that the potato beetle is proving much less 
injurious everywhere. In some parts of H- 
liuois the potato beetles have scarcely been 
seen this year, and the same is true of some 
parts of Michigan. We do not believe far¬ 
mers will ever be entirely rid of the pest, but 
after two or three years’ experience it will 
be much more easily managed than before, 
and in wet seasons will generally give com¬ 
paratively little trouble. 
-- 
MILLET AND CHINCH BUGS. 
In answer to several questions propounded 
by one of our old correspondents residing at 
Oxford, Miss., we respond as foil yws : 
There are several species of grass known as 
Millets, belonging to the genera panicum and 
setarku The common Millets belong to the 
first, and are known as Panicum Qerrnani- 
cum and P. mfllnaeum. The German Millet, 
also known as “Hungarian grass,” was in¬ 
troduced into this country about fifty years 
ago, but it is only of late that it has been cul¬ 
tivated to any considerable extent. The seed 
is produced in u compact, cylindrical spike 
or head, five to ton inches long and an inch 
in diameter, and quite distinct from the P. 
miliaceum, which produces a loose, open 
panicle, somewhat like that of the broom 
corn. This species is a. native of India, intro¬ 
duced into Britain in the Sixteenth Century. 
There are also three quite distinct varieties 
of this, having respectively gray, white and 
black seeds. This true—or common Millet, 
as it is termed—has long been known in the 
United States, aud was probably introduced 
early in the present eenturv. 
In addition to the above, we have several 
native species of the Pan ic grasses which are 
found about barnyards or waste places, the 
form of the heads bearing a close resemblance 
to the “Hungarian grass,” except they are 
much smaller. 
ABOUT THE CHINCH BUGS. 
How or in what manner the theory origi¬ 
nated that the spreading of the Chinch bug 
could in any manner be connected with the 
introduction and cultivation of the Hunga¬ 
rian or other ioreign grasses, is beyond our 
comprehension. There is one thing pretty 
certain about this matter and thst is, no man 
who possesses the least knowledge of the his¬ 
tory of either the grasses named or the in¬ 
sect, would commit such an error as to assert 
that their appearance in this country was 
simultaneous or the advent of one in any 
manner dependent upon or connected with 
the other. There cannot, l>e, nor is there any 
possible basis for such a theory, for the 
Chinch bug i- a native of America, where it 
has doubtless lived and multiplied ever since 
the creation, and we might as well assert 
that buffalos were unknown until the impor¬ 
tation of Short-Horns as to claim that any of 
our introduced grasses brought in the Chinch 
bugs. 
Nearly a hundred years ago Young, in his 
“Annals of Agriculture,” referred to this 
pest in America, and as destroying the wheat 
in the Southern States. “ Hungarian grass” 
or common Millet were not. at that time, 
known to all farmers, North or South. 
■-- 
SMUT IN GRAIN. 
Smut is caused by a parasitic fungus long 
! known to botanists by the name of Uslitago 
Mnidis, and it has frequently been described 
and figured in botanical works Its develop¬ 
ment or growth is also pretty well under¬ 
stood. The fungus grows from very mi¬ 
nute spores, which are produced by mil¬ 
lions ; but exactly as to how these spores re¬ 
act and infest the growing corn, I can find 
nowhere any definite information nor have I 
seen any data relative to preventives. We 
are left, here to surmise, and analogies. 
Smut iu wheat is produced by a similar 
fungus, similar in its botauical character, 
in its results, aud this wheat-smut fungus is 
much better known. It is proved that tills 
gains access to the plant through the seed. 
The spores are sticky and adhereto the sound 
grain at harvest or threshing and are sown 
with the seed wheat. As the new wheat 
plant grows, the fungus develops with it in 
due time, ripening its spores at harvest. The 
spores may be killed and the crop saved by 
soaking the seed wheat in strong brine or in 
a weak solution of sulphate of copper, eoin- 
monly known as blue vitriol or blue stone. 
(The proportions used are two to five ouoees 
of the crystals per bushel of wheat.) It would 
be well to try the same remedies with coru. 
I have seen this recommended, but I have no 
information as to the results. Corn-smut is 
rarely abundant euougli to affect the crop, 
aud is principally dreaded because it is poi¬ 
sonous to the cattle.—Pro/. ft reiver. 
-<*-*-♦- 
It is not too late to draw a little earth 
around potatoes. It will act as a mulch, aud 
prevent tlie crop from prematurely dying. 
IHff glpraifunt. 
TRANSFERRING BEES. 
The apiarian often finds it necessary to 
move his bees out of a defective hive to a 
good one, and from box hives to those with 
moveable frames. They could bo driven in¬ 
to an empty hive just before they have com¬ 
menced gathering honey freely in the spring 
of the year, and they would do as wall at 
least as a top swarm. But the brood and 
bees bred in the hive at that time of the 
year won Id be of no value to the bee keeper, 
which if given to the colony would be worth 
as much to them as a medium-sized swarm. 
We have practiced the following method 
since the introduction of movable comb 
frames, which has been over twenty years. 
It can be done out-doors in the open air, if 
it is not too cold to chill the brood, and bees 
are not disposed to rob. We prefer to use 
the kitchen, wash-house or clean barn floor 
to operate in. The kitchen table is very 
handy to lay the combs on whoa taken out 
of the hive, and to work on iu fitting the 
combs into the frames ; a good substitute i3 
made by laying a broad board on the ends of 
two empty barrels. Have a dish of water 
and cloth to cleanse the hands occasionally, 
and wipe up such dropping honey as cannot 
be lifted with a knife-blade. Keep every¬ 
thing clean, and allow no honey to run, if 
possible, which prevents other bees from 
troubling you. A hatchet, long knife and 
thin cold chisel, should be in readiness, also 
a box to force the bees into. You are now 
ready for the hive of bees. Light your fumi- 
gfttor or smoker ; step up to the hive on the 
stand and carefully give the bees a few 
whiffs of smoke, when, if they be clustered 
on the outside of the hive, they will soon 
leave for the interior. Raise the front of the 
hive a little—this will allow the bees to enter 
more freely, and also give a better chance to 
reach those inside with smoke—and ad¬ 
minister enough to make them roar well, as 
this is evidence of their giving up or sur¬ 
render. You can now proceed to do any¬ 
thing with them you wish. 
Now take up the hive aud carry it to the 
place of transfer ; turn it bottom up ou the 
table and blow more smoke down among the 
bees ; then place the forcing-box on the 
mouth of the hive, so that the bees cannot 
get out. Hammer ou the hive, which will 
cause the. bees to til! themselves with honey 
and travel up and cluster in the top of the 
box, which requires from 7 to 10 minutes ; 
then remove the box containing the bees 
to the floor near the table ; pry off one side 
of the hive so as to enable you by the use of 
the long knife to get the combs out as whole 
as possible ; brush off the few remaining 
bees with the feather-end of a goose or 
turkey-quill, near the box containing the 
bees, which should be raised on one side, so 
as they can run under and cluster. Take the | 
frames out of the new hive ; lay one on a 
comb and mark it around on the inside ; 
then trim off the comb in such a manner 
that it will hang in the hive same as it did in 
the old one (top edge up); cut the comb a 
tritte larger and spring the frames over it. 
Fit in all good pieces of good worker comb, 
especially those containing brood combs ; 
those that are too thick to let the frames 
together should be shaved off. 
The drone comb may be known by its 
large, coarse cells and should be rejected, by 
which a stock is often rendered very pros¬ 
perous that was no profit to its owner before. 
Now set the comb in all the new hive and 
close it up—except tlio entrance. 
Hive the bees from the box into the hive, 
as you would a new swarm ; then return to 
an o'd stand (which should be occupied with 
an empty hive during the process to retain 
the straggling bees.) If no bees appear to be 
troublesome, contract the entrance. We 
have used melted resin and beeswax to 
secure the comb to the frame ; thorns insert¬ 
ed ou the sides and bottom of frames, t hrough 
holes made with ail awl into the comb, make 
them very secure ; slips of tin can be used to 
fasten the combs to lit the frames tightly, 
will save resorting to other means to secure 
the combs in the frames. 
If transferring is done at a time when 
tbe bees obtain honey, two or three combs 
should be given them, or fed honey from 
the chamber of the hive, until such times as 
they can gather it from the fields and forest, 
as a certain amount of honey is necessary to 
mix to repair and fasten the combs and food 
for themselves and the young bees. 
During the blossoming of fruit Is a nice 
time to transfer, and if not then, it is best to 
defer it un il the appearance of white clover. 
—Seth Uoughtnd, in Practical Farmer. 
