THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
weight in meat. Freights are low, compar¬ 
atively, at this time, but the same proportion 
exists as when freights are high. It costs six 
onto logical, 
■in 
'v* 
•Maw! 
mmm 
times as much to send the corn as the pork 
made from the corn, and the pork will bring 
ten to twenty per cent, on the average, more 
than the corn. 
Export of Pi" Products and Corn. 
It may be of interest to Rural readers to 
examine the following table of exports of pig 
products aud of corn for 1$ years and 11 
mouths, showing a most interesting growth of 
these articles of our foreign trade. 
PIO EXPORTS. CORN EXPORTS. 
im .,. .$17,199,201.$12,199,876 
18,799,78">. 16.426,597 
lHtvM.... 18,(9)2,660. 15,162,466 
1869 18,646,296. 7,476,992 
1*™.... 16,631,607. 2,22,7,251 
1871 23,305,878. 8,410,827 
JSirl <068.993. 25,199,364 
}K78.... 61,818.718. 25,269,421 
1874.. .. 60,013,956. 26,299,351 
187o. 67,592,1119. 26,74i|470 
187b..,, 68,667,(161. 34,570,307 
1877.. . 82.441,222. 43,132 397 
llmos. Of 1870.... 74,662,634. 36.407,361 
#646,187,687 $327,890,929 
It will be seen that the money value of 
corn exports is one-half, on tho average, of 
that of the pig exports ; hut the difference in 
cost of transportation is so great in favor of 
the meat, that had this corn been used to make 
pork, it would have brought uearly double the 
money, or uearly as much as the pig exports. 
The greater the proportion of our corn fed at 
home, the better price will the balance bring 
for export. We should, at least, require a rea¬ 
sonable price for our corn, if exported to grow 
meat on the other side of the Atlantic. Corn 
is quoted at 35 cents per bushel in Chicago, 
and pork at $4.50 per hundred pounds. If six 
pounds of corn make one pouud of pork, this 
would give 75 cents more for the pork than the 
corn that would grow 100 pounds of pork. 8o 
that pork is relatively higher in this great West¬ 
ern market than corn. Hut this corn would bo 
fed Upon the farm where it is worth only 35 to 30 
cents, aud the pork would then be worth 30 per 
cent, more than the corn. Those nations that 
sell largely the raw material instead of the fin¬ 
ished product, arc not the most prosperous 
people of the world. Compare Italy and Eng¬ 
land, and you have a specimen of each policy. 
I trust that this country is making rapid pro¬ 
gress in the true policy of working up its raw 
materials and exporting mostly the concen¬ 
trated product. Feeding stuffs.for animals are 
too cheap to bear transpoitatiou, aud it is pleas¬ 
ant to see the rapid growth, exhibited in the 
foregoing table, in pig exports in twelve years, 
as the exports of pig products for 1873 are more 
than five times those of 1805, and they have 
nearly quadrupled in the last seven years. Aud 
another remarkable fact is, that the pig ex¬ 
ports are twenty millions more than the ex¬ 
ports of all other animal products. No other 
line of exports, except cotton aud wheat, ex¬ 
ceed it. Of all our animal exports, then, the 
pig is king. Let this little animal be duly re¬ 
spected. 
HOW TO COLLECT INSECTS.-No. II 
PROFESSOR A. J. COOK 
The Collector’s Outfit. 
The apparatus necessary in the capture and 
preservation of insects is more simple and in- 
Cyanide Bottle.—Side Removed to Show 
Cyanide a, and Plaster of Paris b. 
expensive than that needed by the collector in 
auy other order of animals. The ease, safety 
and cheapness of transporting specimens, when 
collected away from home, when sent to spe¬ 
cialists to be named, or when it is desired to 
make exchange of specimens for tho mutual 
advantage of collectors, as well as the small 
space required even for extensive collections, 
aud the ease and safety of preserving the 
treasures of our cabinets, specially recommend 
^ this field to him who would 
'wt become familiar with the 
'fV glories of nature, who de- 
\<\ LI sires the most wholesome 
m recreatiou and who wishes 
^1 Ml 80 emp *°y k* 9 spare mo- 
T Ml ments that he shall gather 
a rich harvest of valuable 
knowledge for himself and 
wikwral ^ 01 ‘ others. 
S=Ii»ll The collector’s apparatus 
may well be 
considered 
I under two heads: that for 
making the collections aud 
that for preserving them. 
Apparatus for Collecting, 
Nothing is more service¬ 
able to the entomological 
2 ^ collector than the cyanide 
bottle; for, once in it, all 
iusects soon die, aud all 
except the most delicate 
moths may be left in it for 
some time if care is taken 
to carry it carefully, so as not to shake the iu¬ 
sects. The bottle, Fig. 1, should have a large 
mouth, a glass stopple, aud is prepared as 
follows : After placing a lump of cyanide of 
potassium, the size of a nutmeg, in the bottom. 
UTILIZING SEWERAGE 
London has constructed a sewer twenty-sev¬ 
en miles long, to convey the sewerage from her 
4,000.000 population out to sea, where it will 
be beyond the influence of the tide. This is an 
annual waste of $8,000,000 worth of the best 
fertilizers. New York and vicinity washes 
the sewerage of 3,000.000 population into the 
rivers to be alternately carried by the tide up 
and down tbe streams aud inlets for twenty-five 
miles around. Chicago washes her sewerage 
into the lake from which she also draws her 
water supply. Philadelphia draws her water 
supply from tho river and returns her sewer¬ 
age lower down to pay tho draft. 8t. Louis 
washes the sewerage of a population of 500,000 
down the Mississippi, while a very large num¬ 
ber of the cities of less size empty their sewer¬ 
age into the rivers or bury it in vaults. 
All of this is waste, a shameful waste of the 
health and fertility of the country. The same 
amount of what is thus thrown away, washed 
into streams to render them foul and obnox¬ 
ious to health, must be returned to the soil in 
some way, to keep up the fertility. The im¬ 
mense proportion of the fertility of the soil 
which is annually removed from farms aud 
sent to be consumed in cities aud washed away, 
will, at no distant day, so Impoverish the soil 
as to cause a serious deterioration In value aud 
productiveness. 
If we go back eastward along the track of 
westward-extending civilization, we shall sec 
but barren plains and plague spots, worn-out, 
wasted and desolated, where ouco were great 
empires and dense populations. Only so far 
as the tendency to sterility is resisted, are tho 
present nations enabled to exist. The soil 
from the far F.ast along the path of empire 
westward, is steadily becoming impoverished, 
and it is a simple problem to discover how 
soon Americans must remove westward or 
save the fertilizing elements of their soils. 
Some attempts at utilizing sewerage have beeu 
made ill England, aud it is stated that a large 
proportion of the Paris sewerage is employed 
to Irrigate the plain of Geuuevilliors below the 
city upon the hanks of the Seine, and that the 
result affords a lesson Id all other places, of 
wlml may he done. That the sewerage of all 
cities could he withdrawn to some convenient 
Fig. 1, a. turn in a thin mixture of plaster-of- 
Paris and water till it reaches at least a half 
inch above the cyanide, Fig. 1, b. This will 
eoon set, aud the bottle is ready for use. By 
having the plaster-of-Paris thin we usually 
secure a smooth bottom to our bottle. If from 
bubbles or other cause it is not so, we must 
rub it till it is. Any roughness is sure to injure 
delicate specimens. Care must be taken in 
handling the cyanide, as it is a quick and ter¬ 
rible poison, alike fatal if eaten or inhaled. 
The fumes in the bottle, though quick death to 
We thus have a good frame-work for our 
net. If our net, Fig. 7, is to be used in 
capturing moths and butterflies, the bag 
which is to be attached to the wire-circle 
may be made of mosquito netting, or better, of 
Swiss muslin, and, to secure more strength, a 
strip of strong factory should be bound about 
sion. All insects become brittle if kept 
long in alcohol, and many lose their 
bright lustre. 
Numerous small wooden boxes are ever 
in demand by the collector, for convoying 
6 uch larvte and pupa? as he may desire to 
rear, to tho mature state. 
A small but strong chisel will be found 
very serviceable in loosening I he bark of 
old trees and digging into partially de¬ 
cayed stumps and logs, in which positions 
are often found very minute but rare and 
desirable specimens. The skill of a col¬ 
lector may be ganged by the number of 
miuuto species in his collections. L T n- 
trained eyes will detect the macro iusects, l lK ’ 4 
not so the micro. To pick up very small spe¬ 
cies, a pair of small steel forceps are ne¬ 
cessary Fig. 2, and qnills with close-fitting 
wooden stopples, are good temporary recep¬ 
tacles for these Lilimits among insects. To kill 
such insects we have but to put the quills con¬ 
taining them into a cyanide bottle lor a brief 
period. 
At all seasons, and especially in autumn, 
many rare and beautiful insects, mostly bugs 
and beetles, crawl for protection aud conceal¬ 
ment, under leaves, chips and other fine rub¬ 
bish. To preserve such specimens, the collec¬ 
tor needs a cloth bag with a bottom made of 
wire cloth with one-quarter inch meshes. This 
syjve, which serves for the bottom of the bag, 
should have a strong wire for its circnmfer- 
enco. The bag, Fig. 3,1 uso is about one foot 
deep, while the bottom is nearly one foot in 
diameter. To use this we have but to put in 
the leaves, etc., and 
then vigorously to 
shake the bag above 
a white cloth when 
the insects will fall 
through the sieve on m \ 
the Avhito surface,^ \ 
and cau be easiljl 
seen and secured.! J 
If tbe white cloth is !J 
rubber, it will be \ J 
well to have it large 
enough to kneel 
upon while shaking ifitr. 6. 
out the iusects, which conserves the strength 
of tho collector, and in damp places the health 
as well. 
The collector will find a large umbrella a 
very essential auxiliary to his collecting out¬ 
fit. It will form a grateful shade on hot 
days, and may be used with wondrous success 
in collecting beetles and caterpillars. Many 
larvie mimic the leaves and branches on which 
they rest so perfectly, that unless shaken off 
they will escapo even tho most skilled ob¬ 
server. To use the umbrella wo hold it open, 
but inverted beneath the tree or branch, then 
giving the latter a sharp jar, a la curcullo- 
eatching, when often 
, we will find a catch 
\ which will incite our 
| t highest enthusiasm, 
ilii so numerous, varied 
;f aud interesting will 
| be the shower of iu- 
sects. Last, but very 
important, are the 
uets w kich the in- 
sect collector will 
M IVbring to his aid. To 
1 Ml nake a net 
Fro. T. 
the netting where it encircles tbe wire ring, 
and be sewed on strongly with it. The bag may 
be two feet deep. For dredging, the bag should 
be shallow, not more than eight inches deep, 
and made of strong fish netting, with the meshes 
of the twine about one-quarter of an inch across. 
Fig. 8. A third net, 
made like tbe first ono 
described, except that 
strong factory replaces 
the muslin for a bag, is 
very serviceable in whip- 
ping bushes and sweep- 
ing over weeds and grass, 
with which ono may 
often do the most rapid ■ TtTQ-— 
and satisfactory collect- 1 <1,13 
During the warm ^ 
nights of June and July, 111 
and especially of August 
and September, no ento- | q 
mologist will neglet sugaring for iusects. By 
this process he will secure some of tho rarest 
gems of his cabinet. The method of sugaring 
is as follows: A liquid, consisting of two- 
thirds of the cheapest New Orleaus molasses, 
and one-third of stalo beer, is placed, as night 
approaches, upon tree trunks, small boards fast¬ 
ened horizontally to tbe top of stakes, on fence 
rails, wood piles, etc. I have bad tbe best suc¬ 
cess with the horizontal boards, placed among 
the thick foliage of the grape vines As twi¬ 
light deepens, or eveu to 10 or 11 o’clock, the 
exciting captures follow thickly one after the 
other. A dozen sugar traps will often keep a 
person fully occupied. To make the captures 
we cautiously approach a trap, lighted by a 
lantern either strapped to the body or held by 
an assistant. We next decide which moth we 
shall take, for often there will be a score sip¬ 
ping the sweet from a siugle board ; then care¬ 
fully place the month of an opcu cyanide bot¬ 
tle over tbe moth of your choice. If successful, 
the captured frightened moth rises in the bottle 
when we quickly apply the stopple, aud ex¬ 
change the bottle for a second ono iu our 
right coat pocket. With this we proceed to 
operate a3 before at another board, as the 
moths were probably all frightened away from 
the first board. This time wo not only ex¬ 
change bottles, but carefully empty the now 
quiet moth, first captured, into a third bottle, 
kept in the left pocket. We keep on till we 
make the entire circuit, when we repeat the 
round, and thus on so long as success attends 
our efforts. 
Agl. College, Lansfug, Mich. 
A New Patent Against Fruit-tree Borers. 
—Somebody, just as I write, has got a patent 
against tho peach aud apple borer. It is the 
wrap of a thin sheet of lead around the crown 
of the roots, reaching np some inches ou the 
trunk. This is an effective plan, just as are 
ashes, lime, tarred paper, or any other thing 
fitted close or piled up arouud the foot. But 
quite as good Is an open-top, loosely-fittiug box, 
stretching a foot or more above tho ground. 
The first who hit this plan was Hon. Woolsey 
G. Sterling, of this city. Some 30 years since 
he devised these remedies for the borer on Peacb, 
Apple aud Quince: simply a tube of boards 
around the tree trunk, fitting the earth closely 
at bottom and entirely open at top. It should 
be close enough. I think, to be pretty dark In¬ 
side its base. But perhaps those close-nailed 
laths of your correspondent would be just as 
good a preventive. The borer's progenitor 
doesn’t like to go down into the box to do his 
work, and the tree still lives. w. h. n. 
Bridgeport, Conn, 
procure 
I jjf it a hardware store 
Ha, piece af the 
\ J largest - sized wire, 
Fig. 4, three feet 
_ long. Get the black- 
6 Bmith to bend this, 
with the exception 
of four inches at each end, into a circular form. 
The ends must now bo bent at right auglos to 
the circle, Fig. 5, welded together aLd sharp¬ 
ened. A cane or broomstick, with a hole 
in one end to receive the sharpened end 
of the wire, Fig. 6, forms an efficient handle. 
