THE SURAL NEW-YORKER. 
OCT 4 
<254 
frame be floored nine inches under the surface 
level. In the chamber under the floor, which 
is a little over a foot deep, two three inch hot 
water pipes should be placed; these will give 
what bottom heat would be required. If the 
bottom of the pipe chamber were floored with 
old boards, a good deal of heat would be 
economised. Then All the pit to the ground 
level (nine inches deep) with soil, and plant 
your crop. Top heat may be given by a row 
of one inch hot-water pipes running along in¬ 
side, at top and bottom of the frame. Straw 
mats and shutters should also lie used as an 
outer covering in the case of cold nights, as 
only a mild heat should over be kept up in the 
pipes. Of such a bed as this you may have as 
many rows as you please, lettiug them ruu 
parallel with each other, and at intervals of 
two or more feet. A series of small green¬ 
houses, heated from above ground, may, after 
all, Ik? the most desirable, as they certainly are 
in the case of pot plants. 
CONSTRUCTION OF A HOT-HOUSE. 
h, R. It ., Dallas, Texas— 1. I am thinking 
of building a hot-house for propagating cut¬ 
tings, etc., the structure to be 30 or 40 feet 
long; what should he the depth and width, 
there being shelves on each side, and possibly 
a row through the center, to be covered with a 
double row of sash on each side? 2. Which 
i_ would be the more econom- 
ical mode of heating it, 
' V \ steam or water, and who 
makes heaters? 
I ;/ Ans.—1. Forty feet in 
Jykrjjl length will give a good and | 
useful house, divided into 
two compartments, say, 
that nearest the boiler to 
be 10 feet long, and used for 
‘ '-9 starting seeds or cuttings or 
the more tender plunts; and 
the other 24 feet long, and 
used for the “cooler” plants 
or hardening off young 
' stock from the warmer div- 
ision. Give the roof a pitch 
'fydjt _ of 85“. Let the side bench- 
es be 3>£ to 4 feet wide; the 
l ,a ^tways 2 to 2 % feet 
ff * ' wide. Low-roofed houses 
y V *tro better than high ones 
for propagating purposes 
or growing small plants, 
and the benches should be 
as near the glass us Is con¬ 
sistent with the nature of 
the stock to be grown, say, 
within 12 or 15 Inches at the 
side next the wall. The 
middle bench should lie a 
few inches higher than the 
side ones. But for propa¬ 
gating, why have so large 
a house as one requiring two 
rows of three by six feet 
sashes on each side? We should prefer two 
siuull houses of the same length, and having 
but one row of sashes on each side. Any han¬ 
dy laborer can construct one of these small 
pits or houses. 2. Hot water by all means. 
A small boiler capuble of heat ing 400 feet of 
four-inch pipes would suit you; a smaller boil¬ 
er and fewer pipes might suffice, but there 
isn’t any economy in it; better have plenty of 
pij>es and a boiler cajable of beatiug them 
easily, thau a small boiler aud few pipes. In 
the first case a mild, pleasant, beneficial heat 
is secured; in the last a harsh and parching 
heat must be maintained in the pipes to keep 
up the necessary temperature. Hitehings & 
Co., Mercer Street, New York: D. Smith, 
Beverly Street, Boston, and T. J. Myers, 1173 
be used not only to support the body, but also 
to grasp the tree firmly, and to assist in some 
way while the boring was going forward, 
which operation seemed to be mainly carried 
on by the posterior part of the body. This 
head like projection—the rear of the body— 
assumed a rolling, turning motion, while the 
drill sank deeper und deeper until it- had pene¬ 
trated a full half-inch or more into the young 
wood; then the insect raised it* front legs or 
arms, which had been used till now to balance 
it* body, and gently wiped its face and eyes, as 
though wiping off perspiration; after which, 
it gently arched it* back and withdrew its 
gimlet which, workman like, was immediately 
put into it* ease. While boring a second bole 
near the first, 1 captured the pest. 
An ft.—The insect whose mode of attacking 
trees is very clearly described in our friend’s 
communication, is the Pigeon Tremex (Tremex 
columba) of the Hymenopterous family Pro 
cerido’.,or wood-boring wasps. Its large size 
as well us its peculiar shape and coloration, 
but, more particularly, the long, cylindrical 
borer with which the female is provided, ren¬ 
ders thh insect easily recognizable. Moreover, 
it has long since been known as a dangerous 
enemy to shade and orchard trees, and ac¬ 
counts of its life-history may be found in al¬ 
most every work on American insects, the 
most complete, beiDg that by Harris in his 
nor oats have bad a fair chance with me this 
your# GEO# E. 8t 
New York. 
BainbridGE, Chenango Co.—The Garden 
Treasures were beautiful, and have afforded 
us a vast amount of pleasure. I took care of 
them myself. Three kinds of Princes’- 
Feather grew seven feet high; the Weeping- 
Willow kind (as I call It) was much admired. 
The zinnias were double, single, large, and of 
all colors. Said by ladies to be the l>est they 
ever saw. The portulaco* were double, single, 
and of all colors and variegated. Balsams 
splendid. The Rural Union Corn grew 11 
feet high; there were two ears on each stalk, 
and it has come to maturity; but with or¬ 
dinary enltivation it would be too late for 
this locality. The R N.-Y. Pea is very early 
and productive, llorsford’s Market Garden 
Pea was the most prolific I ever saw—and 
such a dark, rich-colored vine! The Black 
Champion Oats were forgotten until very 
late; but I sowed them, and they grew live 
feet high, and with my neighbor I counted 
from 13 to 25 stalks from one seed! The rust 
struck them, therefore they scarcely headed 
at all, it was so late when they were sown. 
Or course, they had very rich ground; and 
bo did the Garden Treasures. The Cross-bred 
Diehl-Mediterranean Wheat will have to lie 
left for future report. t>. s. b. 
Pennsylvania. 
North Jackson, Susquehanna Co.—My two 
small Blush Potatoes yielded 20 pounds last 
year. This year I planted these on a common 
gravelly loam soil, without- any manure, and 
cultivated them only once—yield, (>% bushels 
of very nice tubers. A. B. l. 
Ohio. 
Greenville, Darke Co.—The Rural Union 
Corn was planted May 10, and 1 gathered, on 
September 10, nearly a bushel of ears. It 
ripens early, but 1 do not think it will yield as 
liberally as our common yellow and mixed 
varieties. The Champion Oats were sowed 
April 7 and cut on August 12; yield, a peck of 
gruiu of medium quality. They were sowed 
too thick. They are much later than our mixed 
oats. The Rural peas were planted May 15. 
Did not give them good culture. The R. N.- 
Y, peas ripened early; the Market Pea later. 
I think the latter the better pea. The toma¬ 
toes were planted J une 5. Gave them only 
ordinary culture. 1 gut-hered five bushels for 
Oak Scale. Eig. 382. (See page 651.) 
admirable “ Treatise on Insects Injurious to 
Vegetation.” In each hole bored, the female 
tremex deposits an egg within the tree, and the 
grubs hatched from those eggs feed upon the 
wood which they perforate iu every direc¬ 
tion, thus greatly injuring and eventually 
killing the trees they infest. There is no way 
of destroying t he tremex larval within a tree 
except by felling and burning the latter, and 
every badly infested tree should be thus re¬ 
moved. As a preventive, nothing more can 
be recommended thau the coating of the 
trunks of the trees with alkaline washes. Such 
washes have to be applied repeatedly 
throughout the Summer, and will not only 
prevent the female tremex from oviposit¬ 
ing, but also protect the trees from the at¬ 
tacks of the Flat-headed Borer and other dan¬ 
gerous enemies. 
BUILDING HOT-BEDS. 
J, S, Waverly, Mo —How should hot-beds, 
to be heated by fire, be built? 
Ans.— How to build fire-heated hot-beds for 
profit should lie regulated by the nature of the 
crop to be grown iu them, whether lettuce, 
radishes, spinach, early carrots and the like, 
or decorative plants, as geraniums, roses, aud 
bedding plants; also on their nature—brick or 
wood—und the extent desire! by their owner. 
The kind of heating apparatus—hot-water 
pipes or smoke flue—must also be considered. 
We prefer hot water. Let the situation be a 
sunny one, open to the south, und sheltered 
from the north, north east, and north-west; if 
there is no natural shelter, a hedge or board 
fence would be of great benefit; it would pro¬ 
mote the growth of the plants, save fire-heat, 
aud some time iu covering up. For early vege¬ 
tables, beds covered by three by six feet sash¬ 
es are as good as any; one man ean handle 
these sashes, whereas were they larger, two 
men would be needed. Board or plank pits 
three to three and a half feet deep at the back 
aud two-aud-onc half to three feet at flout, 
and sunk under the ground level, about two 
feet, would be quite serviceable. Let this 
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THE PIGEON TREMEX. 
F. D., Trenton, N. We have been troub¬ 
led, this Summer, with a blight in our quince, 
pear, and young apple trees. Sections of the 
branches begin to turn black, the leaves dying; 
and, finally, the wood itself dies and the fruit, 
of course, withers up. Iu a neighboring apple 
orchard the trees look as though a tire hud 
scorched the wood uud leaves. As to the 
cause, my own theory is that the wood is stuug 
by some insect. A few days ago, while as- 
cendiug a pear tree, I heard something flying 
above my head, with a sound similar to that 
of a mud wasp, aud looking iu the direction, 
1 saw the insect- herewith sent. It settled on 
a part of the tree very convenient for me to 
watch its operations from the ground. Hav¬ 
ing selected a spot on the tree (which took a 
full miuute) suited to its taste, it elevated its 
back from the center till it assumed the shape 
of the letter A flattened; then, from the scab¬ 
bard or sheath projecting from its posterior 
end, it dropped its drill, which is fastened 
under its belly a little back of the middle of 
its body, and resembles a flue needle about 
three-fourths of uu iuch long. The long legs 
from uear the center of the body seemed to 
PACKING BUTTER. 
E. M. B., Groten City, N. Y.— How should 
1 pack my butter in tubs? 1 work the butter 
but ouce after salting. We churn twice a 
week to fill a tub, aud the buyers like it better 
if the two churnings are mixed. I have al¬ 
ways worked the first churning once after 
salting audlaiditin a tub; then after salting 
the next churning, 1 have broken up the first 
aud put it with the second, w orking the mix- 
time twice aud packing it—is there a better 
way? 
Ans.—T his is a matter upon which one must 
exercise personal judgment. If the color of 
each churning is exactly the same, it would be 
preferable to pack the first in the tub and cover 
it with briue until the next is ready, and then 
pack this upon the first. The great objection 
iu the eye of a buyer is a difference in shade 
of color iu one tub when tested with the tryer, 
aud if the butter is colored, there is a danger 
of some difference, unless the greatest accu¬ 
racy is used in proportioning the quantity of 
color to the amount of butter. It is difficult 
to offer any advice in your case. By careful 
