480 
JULY 26 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
will grow in cold clay and warm loam, in 
muck mingled with marl, and in subsoils 
saturated with sand. But because the crop 
will grow in almost every kind of soil, that 
fact does not prove that every kind is equally 
adapted to secure a large yield. In the West, 
where Indian corn is the staple crop, it is well 
understood that soil which is good for that 
crop is also good for sorghum. This is true if 
simple quantity of product is alone regarded; 
and this would be the case if sorghum were 
raised for forage alone. When, however, 
sugar or sirup Js the product to be looked 
after, then the tons per acre of cane are not so 
important as the pounds per at;re of sugar. I 
think it is more than probable that a rich, new 
soil will not produce a cane which lias so large 
a percentage of sugar as one which has been 
longer in cultivation. A sandy soil seems well 
suited to the growth of sorghum, and for ob¬ 
vious reasons. The roots of this plant are of 
remurkablc grow th. They far outstrip those 
of corn in their eager seurch after nourish¬ 
ment and water. The penetrability of a 
sandy loam for rootlets is well known. In New 
Jersey and Kansas, which are two great sor¬ 
ghum producers, the percentage of sund in the 
soil is quite large. Band itself is totally un¬ 
beetle of the weevil family. This I have known 
to be common in Michigan for 15 years; yet 
no one has complained of it as an enemy; in¬ 
deed, its habits as a larva were all unknown. 
This year it girdles the crown of tbe strawber¬ 
ry so as to do no inconsiderable mischief. 
Why insects usually rare should all at once 
eouie in multitudes, and why well known in¬ 
sects should suddenly change their habits, are 
questions which as yet we may hardly answer 
with certainty. The greater abundance may 
result from favorable seasons, in respect to 
climate and absence of insect and bird ene¬ 
mies; while changed habits may result from a 
scarcity of nati ve food plants, consequent upon 
the cultivation of the soil by man. 
The Black Army worm, to use a name 
given by the gardeners where this new enemy 
has wrought its mischief, has been very com¬ 
mon and destructive at Bay City, Ports¬ 
mouth, Saginaw City, on the shore of Lake 
Huron as far north as Harrisville. and also on 
the Lake Michigan shore at Traverse City. 
The name Black Army-worm Is not inappro¬ 
priate. The velvety-black stripes along the 
body of tbe larva, especially till after the last 
molt, are so conspicuous that the larva; appear 
very black, and when 1 say that in a meadow 
assimilable by plants. The good of its pres¬ 
ence is, therefore, purely mechanical, A soil 
loss rich In sand, if it conld be kept equally 
porous and penetrable would, doubtless, pro¬ 
duce larger crops. Sand is only a substitute 
for uudcrdruiuage, deep plowing uud thor¬ 
ough cultivation. What the sorghum plaut 
absorbs of the valuable constituents of the 
soil is found chiefly in tho seed. It is there 
that nearly all the phosphoric acid and a 
large part of the potash are stored a way. The 
sorghum is not greedy of potash like the BUgar 
beet, and a soil deficiont in this element might 
still be excellent for sorghum. In general, 
farmers w ho desire to raise small crops of 
sorghum, will not fiud their chief obstacle in 
the soil. The common opinion that sorghum 
is very exhaustive pf the soil is a mistake. 
Perhaps not more than one pound in every 
hundred of sorghum is soil-blood. The rest, 
including all the sugar and starch of the seed, 
is taken from the air and water, and not from 
tho soil. Sorghum, it is true, like any other 
crop, will exhaust a soil, but I doubt whether 
it will do it. as rapidly as corn or wheat or the 
sugar beet. There is no reason why u Held, 
properly treated, should not yield crop after 
crop of sorghum us it would of wheat. Close 
students of the soil are more and more con¬ 
vinced that the difference In soils is far more 
mechanical than chemical, and that agricul¬ 
ture is yearly becoming more and more inde¬ 
pendent of local conditions. There are in¬ 
deed limited scopes of country, like river- 
bottomlands, which are happily independent 
of any scientific attention, and which will 
preserve their fertility, even under the most 
barbarous systems of culture. But the great 
body of the farm lands, of this as well as of 
other countries, requires the wise supervision 
of its owners to preserve its fertility, and 
yield its maximum of products. 
entomological. 
THE “ BLACK ARMY-WORM.” 
AGROTIS FF.NNICA. TAUSCHER.—FAMILY NOC- 
TUIDiE. ORDER LEPIDOPTKRA. 
PROF. A. J. COOK. 
During the past few years, many new in¬ 
sect pests have crowded upon us. Hardly a 
season passes by, during which some part of 
our country is not devastated. One year the 
meadows and clover fields of New York are 
stripped of their herbage; then the strawber¬ 
ry fields of Illinois are pilfered of their deli¬ 
cious fruit. Thus every season comes freight¬ 
ed with new evil. The present Summer is 
peculiar in ushering in two serious pests, 
neither of which has ever before attracted the 
least attention auywhere in the country. 
What is most remarkable, both of these new 
raiders made their advent in Michigan. One 
of these new posts has been known as a rare 
moth, aud has been taken in California, the 
Northern and Eastern States, aud in Canada. 
This year it swarms down upon Michigan in 
such multitudes as to earn aud receive the so¬ 
briquet of Army-worm. The other insect is a 
that I visited at West Bay City, the cater¬ 
pillars were so numerous that to step was to 
kill a score, I make it clear that the word 
Army-worm is no misnomer. 
The larva) feed mostly by night and hide in 
the grass, just at the surface of the earth, or 
under some clod, by day. On damp, cloudy 
days, however, like the other species of this 
genus—cut - worais — they not infrequently 
work by daylight. Their food consists of 
nearly every green thing; onions, peas, buds 
of fruit trees, every garden flower and plant, 
grass, clover, and even dock and mullein were 
made to contribute to their nourishment. 
They were especially harmful to strawberry 
vines. In Bay City some of the gardens were 
utterly stripped of the early vegetables. 
The larvae were first observed about April 
20t.b; but some of these were certainly three 
weeks from hatching. On May 20th, I found 
some about half grown; others fully grown. 
After June 1st, very few larva; were to be 
found, The pup® were fouud at varying 
depths in tho earth, from two iucLes to a foot. 
The pupa stage lasts two or three weeks. 
Thus the moths will be coming from the earth 
from June 15th till the middle of July. 
DESCRIPTION. 
I have been uuable to secure the eggs, and 
so cannot describe them. It is probable that 
they are laid on grass and other plants at or 
near the ground. 
The larva (Fig. 232) has three velvety-black, 
Larva. Fio. 232. 
longitudinal lines of about equal width, one 
on the back and one on each side. Between 
the dorsal and each lateral line, is a light line 
which is as wide as the black lines. The upper 
half of this light-colored line is thickly mottled 
with white and black spots, the white color 
prevailing, and the white spots being largest 
below Below the mottled line, we fiud a uar 
row black line; aud, below thi6, a uarrow 
white line. Close examination shows that both 
these liues are broken in many places, white 
interrupting the black lme, and vice versa. 
Below each lateral black line is another light- 
colored line, not quite as wide as the black 
lines. These light lines have a central line of 
black, which, however, is much interrupted 
by white. The white margins of these lines 
are somewhat broken with black. The upper 
light lines do not extend to the cervical shield 
ortotheanul plate, lu some specimens the white 
mentioned abovo is quite yellowish. Beueath, 
the body varies much,from nearly black, gray, 
or brown, to olivaceous. The sides of the head, 
mouth-parts, legs, and anal area are brown. 
The top of the head, cervical shield, and anal 
plate are black, the two former having a 
white central line, which in case of the head 
is forked above. There are scattering white 
hairs all over the body, which are most nu¬ 
merous on the under side and on the legs. 
After the last molt, the black is replaced by a 
grayish-brown, the white is more yellowish, 
and the color beneath decidedly olivaceous. 
When mature the larva is 3.75 c. m., or 1 
inch long. The pupa (Fig. 233) is 1.9 c. m., 
or % of an inch long. Except 
that it has a terminal forked 
spine, it is in no wise pecu¬ 
liar. 
The moth (Fig. 234) which 
was kindly identified for me by my friend, Prof. 
Lintner, looks strikingly like many of our com¬ 
mon cut-worm moths. It is2X c - (L inch) 
mm 
Pup*. Fig. 233. 
Moth. Fig. 234. 
long, and expands 4.75 c, m., or inch. The 
color is brown, mottled with darker brown and 
black. The head, crest, center of thorax, outer 
or reniform c pot, and quite a wide internal bor¬ 
der of the front wings, are brown. The sides of 
tbe thorax, area about tbe inner or rounded 
spot and the base of the primary wings, are 
quite dark. A spot on the costal margin, a lit¬ 
tle more than half way from tbe reniform spot 
to the apex, two dashes one third of the dis¬ 
tance from this spot to the internal angle, a 
dash and crescent below and within the inner 
or rounded spot, and a row of dots near the 
outer margin, are black. The inner rounded 
spot is slightly oblong, aud is often nearly 
white, though sometimes it is yellowish, and at 
others, lead-colored. Two wavy darker lines 
cross the brown internal margin of the wings. 
The secondary wings and abdomen are gray. 
Within a narrow gray margin the secondary 
wings are bordered with a dusky band. 
A very common variety, of which we 
illustrate the wings of one 
side at Fig 235, is very 
dark. In these the brown, 
with the exception of the 
reniform spot, is all replac¬ 
ed by a dark hue approach¬ 
ing lavender. 
REMEDIES. 
We found several species of ground beetles 
(Carabidae) and the Soldier Bug (Anna spi- 
nosa) worthily employed iu ridding the gar¬ 
dens and meadows of this plague. I also reared 
a parasitic fly, a new species which Mr. 8. W. 
WiUiston has kindly described under the name 
Bcopolia segnax. No doubt these natural ene¬ 
mies will greatly thin out these insects before 
another season. 1 fouud I could readily poison 
the pests by the use of the arsenites; but this 
was of no immediate service, as, if we poisoned 
a thousand, ten thousand stood ready to take 
their places. Coal-tar w r ater was found by 
Mr. Grinnell, of Bay City, to repel the insects. 
1 have no doubt that a liquid madeof soft soap 
one quart, crude carbolic acid one pint, aud 
water two gallons, would have the same effect. 
Mr. Grinnell fouud that bis chickens took to 
the caterpillars amazingly; and while chick¬ 
ens are not the best helpers in a garden, Mr. 
Grinnell wisely concluded he would get some 
return from this mammoth plague, if nothing 
more than some fat chickens. Whether this 
insect is double-brooded or not, remains to be 
seen. 
“Practical.” —Mr. Geo. R. Peck spoke 
some forcible words before the students of the 
Kansas Ag. College. He thinks that the word 
•‘practical” is a little overworked. Though 
good in itself, and tilled with beneficent possi¬ 
bilities, it has been made the excuse for un¬ 
worthy aims and degrading purposes. We 
quote a few extracts from the oration, re¬ 
gretting we have uot space to present it. from 
beginning to end as it appears in the Indus¬ 
trialist, published by this enterprising college, 
and edited by the faculty: “ But 1 say uuto 
you that if all our prairies were covered with 
practical men, thick as the daisies od a New 
England common, they would be worth less 
than one man who stands for the truth though 
the Heavens fall. If you are to be a farmer, 
I beseech you to raise good wheat, for good 
wheat makes good bread: but remember that 
man does not live by bread alone. He needs 
the companionship of kindred minds; he needs 
love, joy. and the sympathy that grows in 
tender hearts. There was once a royal plow¬ 
man who followed his team along the nillside, 
singing his idle songs, and shocking the souls 
of his practical neighbors; but the whole world 
is thankful that God gave us Robert Burns.” 
_“It is not the size but the quality of the 
fruit that determines its value.”.“I 
would rather ride with Don Quixote, that im¬ 
mortal dreamer, charging embattled wind¬ 
mills, than to live with no other aim than 
material success. It is a great thing to make 
two blades of grass grow where but one grew 
before; but it is infinitely greater to make 
truth grow in the place of falsehood, and cour¬ 
age in the place of fear.”.“But, stand¬ 
ing face to face with the students of an indus¬ 
trial school, I tell you plainly science fails 
of its true purpose if it does not give you a 
glimpse of something higher and better than 
itself”.“The only individual right that 
any man can legitimately claim from the State 
is, that he shall be treated precisely like every 
other man in the same situation. That is jus¬ 
tice—the justice which is tbe majesty of States 
and the glory of every commonwealth”. 
....“Where combination is possible, competi¬ 
tion is impossible, said George Stephenson 
years ago. How rapidly all the industries of 
tbe country are gathering into vast aggrega¬ 
tions, is shown by Mr. Lloyd.in a remarkable 
article in the North American review for June. 
Coal, iron, cotton, glass, lumber, chemicals, 
sugar, barbed wire, oil, everything we eat, 
drink or wear, is wholly or partially controlled 
by combinations whose sole object is to keep 
up prices.”.“We all understand what 
is meant, when a thousand men refuse to work; 
they have struck for higher wages. Butw’hatis 
meant when a thousand men are notified that 
their wages are reduced 10 per cent? It means 
that capital has struck for higher profits. I 
cauuot understand how one is wrong and the 
other right.”.“Commercial freedom, in 
the highest Reuse, is no doubt essential to our 
social progress; but freedom is misnamed 
when it permits one man to rob another, or 
six men to rob the rest of the community.”... 
.... “How often is the foolishness of to-day the 
wisdom of to-morrow; 
* » » • and may be wildest dreams 
Are but the needful pretudes of tbe truth.’ ” 
Kerosene Mixture —Prof. A. J. Qook 
says, in the N. Y. Tribune, that one applica¬ 
tion of kerosene mixture is a complete cure 
for lice on plants. He likes best the following 
mixture: One quart of soft soup, one gallon 
water, and one pint of kerosene. The soap 
and water are heated to the boiliug point, the 
kerosene is added, and all are well stirred. 
Tho mixture is permanent. Iu every case 
where this is tried it has killed all the lice aud 
restored the vigor of the trees. A compound 
of kerosene and milk is uot so easily got, is not 
so readily mixed, is not so permanent as a 
mixture, uud does not zoom to give the trees 
and shrubs such a send-off as does the soap 
aud kerosene. Prof. Cook uses the kerosene 
and milk 10 to one. It kills the lice instantly. 
SAMPLES AND COMMENTS. 
Puck defines the Agricultural Fair to be 
“tbe farmer’s daughter.”.... 
Time is money; but it is not tho kind of 
money one ought to spend in bur-rooms, says 
the N. O. Pioyuue.. 
Prof. Atwater expresses it in this way: 
“The man of science who respects practice, 
feels great satisfaction in meeting men of 
practice who believe in science.”. 
Tue London Garden remarks that any rub¬ 
bish will do for market purposes, if it looks 
well and keeps well.”. 
Fancy Farming.— Henry Ward Beecher, 
in his late address before the Starrs Ag. 
School, Bpoke kindly of “ fancy farmers.” He 
said that a gentleman must have two stores 
in the city to support one farm in the country. 
He has fancy barns, faucy stock, fancy poul¬ 
try, fancy stone walls. Mr. Beecher confessed 
that he was one of ’em. It takes six months 
of lecturing to pay for six months of farming. 
Plain farmers laugh at all this. But, after 
all, it is a good thing; for men with money 
may thus show farmers without money how 
such things can be done. Since, he went to 
Peekskiil every farm around that neighbor¬ 
hood has increased in market value 25 per 
cent.; they have better farms and better stock. 
The faucy farmer is the fool that makes all 
the neighborhood wise. Let us speak kindly 
of the fancy farmer..... 
Dead Capital. —Now what would you 
think of a man, asked Mr. Beecher, who had a 
laboratory 100 feet square, aud who fenced off 
20 feet in one corner for nse, aud let all the 
rest go?—let it go without yielding a cent? 
That is what he thinks of a farmer who has 
three times as much laud as he can use aud 
improve. What would you think of a gigan¬ 
tic factory that had no capital to run it? 
Farmers in New England own more laud than 
they can do justice to. It is dead capital. 
They work a little part of it, and all the rest 
is dead waste. Farmers should calculate as 
manufacturers do; find out how much they 
can profitably use, and own no more; settle 
that and then go ahead. 
He spoke of his own boyhood experience on 
a farm and of his tow pantaloons—no jacket, 
no vest, only one suspender, and all held to¬ 
gether by one button; if that gave way, al 
