846 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
December 22 
but such a system of classified forces, and such a com¬ 
bination of causes and effects as shall enable him to 
think out for himself his own local requirements to 
the best individual advantage. c. b. c. 
Oswego, N. Y. _ 
BITS OF DAIRY ELOQUENCE. 
During the debate on the Grout bill many good 
points were made. The following letter, which was 
sent to Senator Elkins, of West Virginia, was read by 
Mr. Grout: 
Montrose, W. Va., Dec. 1, 1900. 
Dear Senator: I have a small family, small farm and a 
Jersey cow. I am satisfied, for everything has gone my 
way. It’s the cow that’s kicking. She’s kickin’ 'glnst 
the Wadsworth substitute for the Grout bill. 
Yours truly. Orb White. 
Mr. Sibley, of Pennsylvania, made the following 
point: 
The Agricultural Committee of the Fifty-third Con¬ 
gress had under investigation the adulteration of foods 
and food products. We found that people were grinding 
up cocoanut shells and selling the product for pepper. 
We found that coffee berries were being imitated so 
closely that the human eye could not distinguish the 
genuine berry from the imitation. And we proposed 
legislation forbidding the imitation of the genuine coffee 
berry. And when I have heard gentlemen on this side, 
representatives of the cotton-seed interests, opposing 
this measure because the cotton-seed product enters into 
oleomargarine, I am reminded of the reason we could 
not pass the bill to insure to the people pure coffee, to 
suppress the imitation of which I have spoken. We 
could not pass that bill because there was a man over 
in New Jersey who said that it would hurt his clay bank 
from which that imitation coffee berry was made. 
Mr. Bailey, of Texas, gave the following remarks 
on coloring matter, which are just about as sensible 
as any of the color arguments: 
There are many innocent and harmless deceptions, and 
most of all about the question of color. Who believes 
that a beautiful woman when she happens to paint her 
cheek is trying to deceive us to our injury? Yes, sir, 
many ladies—God bless them!—color their cheeks differ¬ 
ent from what God and Nature paint them. If it is to 
be charged that every time an article is colored or dis¬ 
colored somebody is attempting to practice a fraud, then 
why not make it a crime to color butter, Just as it Is now 
proposed to make It a crime to color oleomargarine? 
Mr. Lamb, of Virginia, became lion-like in his de¬ 
fence of the cow. “Let us not,” he said, “sacrifice the 
cow for her tallow.” Then he dropped into the fol¬ 
lowing poetry: 
O, what a noble cow was here undone, 
When Brlndle’s self destroyed her favorite son! 
Yes, she too much indulged thy fond pursuit. 
She sow’d the seeds, but death has reap’d the fruit. 
’Twas thine own genius gave the final blow, 
And help’d to plant the wound that laid thee low; 
So the struck milker stretch’d upon the plain, 
No more through waving grass to browse again, 
View’d her own tallow on the fatal dart, 
And wing’d the shaft that quiver’d in her heart. 
A WONDERFUL AND INTERESTING INSECT. 
I send by mail an insect, unknown to me. Will you 
let me know its name through your columns? 
New York. w. A . D>> JR . 
The specimen sent was a very large winged insect 
of a weird, grim and yet fascinating appearance. It 
is known as the Horned Corydalis or Hellgrammite- 
fly (Corydalis cornutus). A picture of this rather 
formidable looking insect is shown, natural size, In 
Fig. 327. The winged form there shown is the male 
insect; note its long mandibles, shaped like cradle 
teeth, projecting from its head. The mandibles or 
jaws of the female are much shorter. These large in¬ 
sects are often attracted to lights in the latter part 
of June. They occur throughout the greater part of 
the United States, and doubtless live but a short time 
in the adult or winged state. They soon lay large 
blotch-like masses of eggs of a chalky white color on 
stones or other objects overhanging streams of water: 
a single egg-mass may contain from 2.000 to 3,000 
eggs. When the eggs hatch the curious creatures 
which emerge therefrom at once find their way into 
the water, where they live for about two years and 
11 months. These larvae of the insect feed upon other 
animal forms, such as the larvae of stone-flies, may¬ 
flies, etc., in the water, and in turn they may be eaten 
by fish. The larvae frequent the swifter portions of 
running streams, where they lurk under stones. While 
the adult or winged insect is a stranger to most peo¬ 
ple, as it usually remains hidden during the day, most 
fishermen are familiar with the larval form, which is 
shown full grown in Fig. 327. These larvae are the fa¬ 
vorite bait of fishermen for bass. Boys collect them 
by wading into the streams and overturn the loose 
stones, thus dislodging the larvae, which are caught 
in a net held back of the stone. Fishermen call these 
larvae “dobsons,” "crawlers” or “hellgrammites.” 
They are truly formidable-looking creatures which 
hardly seem a tempting morsel to a sleek bass. 
A more critical study of these "dobsons” shows 
them to be exceedingly interesting creatures. They 
can bite quite hard with their horny jaws, but rarely 
get through the skin of a person. They also furnish 
a remarkable instance of an insect provided with both 
organs for aquatic and aerial respiration. At the base 
of each of the long side appendages on the abdomen 
of the larva in Fig. 327 may be seen a tuft of hair¬ 
like tracheal gills, with which the larva breathes in 
the water. It is thought that its spiracles or breath¬ 
ing holes along the sides of its body, like those in 
aerial insects, are not used until the larva is full 
grown, and leaves the water to crawl under a stone, 
or other protection, where it prepares to transform 
in an earthen cell through a white pupa stage with 
large wing pads to the great winged and horned Cory¬ 
dalis, or adult insect. Nearly a month elapses be¬ 
tween the emerging of the “dobson” from its watery 
retreat where it has lived for nearly three years, and 
the appearance of the adult insect. The larvae or 
“dobsons” are so large and so easily obtainable at 
almost any season of the year that they are much 
used nowadays in college laboratories for studying 
the internal anatomy of insects. Hundreds of them 
are used every year here at Cornell University for this 
purpose in the entomological laboratory, and boys are 
paid two or three cents each for collecting them; 
many are sent hundreds of miles for use in other 
college laboratories where the insect is not so com¬ 
mon. Any active boy can readily find the larvae or 
“dobsons” by overturning the stones in swiftly-run¬ 
ning streams. Do this in May or June, and put some 
of the largest “dobsons” in a box about one-third full 
of damp earth, and place some stones, broken crock¬ 
ery, etc., on the soil. The “dobsons” will soon form a 
little earthen cell underneath some bit of crockery 
or stone, and by lifting this from day to day one can 
THE HORNED CORYDALIS FLY. Fig. 327. 
watch the creature go through its wonderful trans¬ 
formations from the larva through the tender white 
pupa to the -weird and fascinating Hellgrammite-fly. 
M. V. SLINGERLAND. 
THE MANURE SUPPLY IN WINTER. 
Is it better to use the barn basement, or so much as 
may be necessary, to store manure (that of about 20 
cattle), or is a shed equally good for that purpose? 
What is the best treatment for manure during the Win¬ 
ter where it is impracticable to spread it often? Should 
the liquid manure be mixed with the solid; should it be 
worked over frequently or can this be done by hogs, and 
what, if anything, should be mixed with it to retain the 
nitrogen, etc.? c. t. h. 
Maine. 
In a climate like that of Maine it would be much 
better to use the basement of a barn for the shelter 
of the cattle than to use it as a manure cellar. For 
ordinary farms it is a questionable practice always 
to use so expensive a structure as a good basement 
for the storing of manure, even if there were no sani¬ 
tary objections against such a use. If the basement 
is used for the stabling of the stock it should, of 
course, be well lighted and ventilated, and when this 
is done there is no better or more economical shelter 
against the cold of Winter. The handling of manure 
in the Winter, and, indeed, at all times of the year, is 
so complex a matter that conditions that are best for 
one farmer may be the least satisfactory for another. 
Indeed, the losses which necessarily occur in the 
storing, in the handling, and in the application of 
manure to the land are due to so many causes, and 
tne expenses which must necessarily be incurred to 
prevent them are often so large .that every farmer 
must use good judgment in determining for himself 
the line of practice which on the whole will give him 
the largest returns from his manure and the least 
cost. Where a considerable number of animals are 
cared for by permanent help, and the climatic condi¬ 
tions favor it, the moving of the manure directly to 
the field as it is taken from the stable involves the 
least expense, so far as labor is concerned, in placing 
the manure where it is to be used. The losses, how¬ 
ever, which are associated with this method of hand¬ 
ling may under some conditions be too large to regard 
it as an economic practice, while under other condi¬ 
tions it may be as little as it is likely to be under any 
practical available method. If the lands are level and 
the Winter and Spring rains are not excessive there 
is likely to be little loss by leaching and washing. 
The fermentation during the Winter is likely to be 
small, so that condiiions seem favorable for the fol¬ 
lowing of this practice where conveniences and soil 
conditions permit of it. Where the manure cannot 
be moved to the field directly so as to be used in the 
early Spring, it is doubtful whether there is a better 
method of storing it in the yard than that used in 
Europe to a considerable extent, known as the manure 
midden, which consists of a low stone wall three to 
four or five feet high, suitably located with reference 
to the stables, and provided with open drivewavs 
through the opposite walls, into which the manure 
is thrown directly from the stables, and kept closely 
packed by allowing the animals to walk over it, O'* 
hogs to work in it. The fundamental principle in the 
storing of manure in this way is to exclude the air 
from it as largely as possible, and especially to pre¬ 
vent the surface from becoming so dry as to permit 
the air to enter rapidly and deeply, and so hasten the 
fermentation. In some climates such a midden should 
have a roof; in other climates it is probably better 
to avoid the roof. There should be moisture enough 
kept upon the manure heap to prevent the surface 
from becoming dry, and where the rainfalls are not 
sufficient to produce leaching, it will be better, as a 
rule, to avoid the roof, so as to take advantage of 
the rainfall to keep the manure in the proper degree 
of saturation. Where the manure can have a depth 
of two or more teet it will require frequent and heavy 
rainfalls to oversaturate the manure, as the capacity 
for holding water is very large, and the rate of evap¬ 
oration from the surface is considerable. The func¬ 
tion of the wall is to avoid the tendency of the tramp¬ 
ing of the animals to break the manure pile down 
and spread it over the surface of the yard. If stock 
is kept away from the pile, then the wall may be 
dispensed with by simply stacking the manure, in a 
close, compact heap with vertical walls. But where 
stones are plenty it will be found more economical to 
adopt the European practice, which gives the least 
possible surface for the exposure of the manure to 
the air. 
The working over of farmyard manure for ordinary 
farming is unnecessary, or at least is not likely to 
iacrease the value sufficiently to pay for the extra 
labor. Too much cannot be said in favor of using 
sufficient organic matter in the form of bedding com¬ 
pletely to absorb, not only all of the urine from the 
stable, but to give body enough to the manure in the 
yard to hold the rains and prevent leaching. The 
value of the bedding in increasing the humus of the 
soil and in increasing the area over which the manure 
can be economically applied in the field is not suffi¬ 
ciently appreciated, especially by eastern farmers, 
where there is so much tendency to depend upon com¬ 
mercial fertilizers. If bedding is difficult to get, but 
marshes are at hand, the use of an abundant allow¬ 
ance of peat as bedding, or worked in with the manure 
or both, will be found helpful both to the manure in 
preventing the loss of nitrogen and increasing the 
volume of it which can be applied to the field. 
f. h. king. 
“NEARBY” FARMS.—I was expressing my admira¬ 
tion for the pleasant location of a certain farm, and 
especially its nearness to the village and the post 
office. The owner admitted that it was a great con¬ 
venience, but he saia it had its drawbacks. It mat¬ 
ters little, he said, how steady and industrious a 
hired man he gets from back in the country, it isn’t 
many weeks before he wants to “take a walk” down 
to the village some night w T hen the chores are done 
up early. Then it is not long before he wants to go 
several times in a week. He gets acquainted with 
various young men down there, and probably he likes 
their company. Some of them are “smart” and they 
tell him that Jones isn’t paying him what he ought 
to, that some one else is getting more, and probably 
the hired man will begin to get dissatisfied shortly, 
even if he gets nothing worse. We all know that a 
dissatisfied hired man is a “snare and a delusion.” 
H. H. L. 
A SIDEHILL MEADOW.—I wouldn’t plow that field 
on the sidehill below the road; it lies just right to 
make a fine meadow’ with little expense; besides it 
will wash somewhat if plowed and what washes away 
is the very best soil on the lot. You see the lot on 
the next farm. I remember when the owner of that 
lot asked the overseer of roads the privilege of put¬ 
ting some sluices across the road, so that he might 
get all the water from* the road and the roadside on 
to his lot. He took much care to spread the water 
about as evenly as possible. He sometimes worked in 
the rain, and. of course, he spent quite a little time 
working on that lot. But when it came to haying 
time you should have seen the loads of hay that he 
hauled off! It didn’t cost him much except to har¬ 
vest, and he got better crops than he could have ob¬ 
tained in any other way. It is wonderful how much 
w r ater plants will "drink.” and how they will grow if 
they can only get the water. Besides, the wash of 
the road has a great deal of fertilizer in it. l. h. 
