The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1875-02-04
FARM AND GARDEN.
HOW THE COTTON MOTH sUBsIsrs DURING
TIE WINTER,
Rural CsroIinian for January.

and its business not to feed, but to
propagate that only long-lived moths
feed" To show the falseness of the
position here assumed, It will only be
necessary to prove the moth to be long
lived. The facts produced to show that
the insect passes the winter in the moth
state show this; but, we will produce
other evidence to show that it is not
only long-lived, but that it also feeds.
Prof. Rely, the eminent Entomologist,
whose opinions few we will venture to
question, says in his essay, published
little more than q year ago. "That
fires, lights and traps, containing at
tractiye but poisonous sweets, intend
ing to allure and destroy the parent
moths are of little use, except where
they can be generally employed through
out whole districts" If the moths do
not feed, then traps containing poison
ous sweets would be of no use, although
used by every planter IN the cotton
states. have in my possession moths
which, at the time of writing, are more
than a month old. They have been
fed, principally, upon decayed fruit,
and sometimes upon honey and molas-
ses, thinned SO as not to stick them
fast. At all times of the day they may
be seen feeding upon these substances.
Having shown that the moth feeds,
it remains to be shown upon what it
feeds at the various seasons, fall, winter
and spring.
In the fall it feeds upon fruit. For
some reason it seems fondest OF de-
caying fruit, but often attacks sound
fruit. I have observed them feeding
upon sound peaches, while yet upon
the tree. OutWardly they were appar-
Int
being removed, the pulp beneath was
found wanting. Many persons In cen
trail Alabama will recollect this condi-
ton of the fruit during the prevalence
of the caterpillar in July and August,
1873. After the fruit in the orchard
became scarce, or had DISAPPEARED
altogether, the moths could be seen
under the muscadine vines and persim-
mon trees, where protected from stock,
feeding upon the fallen fruit. To find
them thus engaged, it was necessary to
visit such places just before dark or by
moonlight.
At the appearance of cold, the moth
seeks protection in old houses, hollow
trees, and such places, where it remains
in torpid condition until the winter
is passed, unless at any time sufficient
mild weather should intervene to bring
it out of its dormant condition. If
this should happen, food becomes nec-
essarysto sustain life, and it comes out
in search of it. At that season food
cannot be found, and of course, if the
mild spell should continue for a suffi-
cient length of time, it will die of
starvation. Many are caught by cold
changes while out, before they can get
back to their places of protection, and
are destroyed. I have found by OBJ
servation lately, that mild weather in
winter operates in another way to de-
stroy the moth. At a certain temper
ature the moth is revived to such an
extent that food becomes necessary to
sustain life, but at that temperature it
cannot go in search of food, and starves,
although food may be close at hand.
This was the case with some of the
moths in my cages during the cold
weather, near the commencement of
October. That they did not die from
cold, or from limitation of life, is proved
blythe fact that in the coolest weather all
became torpid, but revived again when
the weather moderated and that many
of those which revived and are still
alive, were two or three days older than
some of those that persisted.
When the mild weather of spring has
come, the moths which have escaped
through the winter come from their
hiding places, and feed upon the honey
contained in the flowers, until a certain
stage of maturity is reached by the
cotton, when the eggs for the first crop
of worms are deposited. This has been
my conviction for several years, and
events which have lately transpired
have tended to strengthen that copvic-
ton. Some weeks since, / killed several
swarms of bees. The planks OF which
the hives were constructed, after the
comb had been removed, were lying
upon a scaffold- Next morning, Just
after dawn. I discovered the moths
feeding upon the waste honey on these
planks. That day, after boiling out
the beeswRx, my wife left the water in
which it had been boiled standing in
the pot in the yard. Next morning she
called my attention to a large number
of moths in the pot just above the edge
of tbs water. The weather had turned
coolOr during the night, and they were
benumbed so as t be unable to fly. I
then fed the moths in my cages upon
honey. They preferred it to anything
else, and fed upon it in preference,
when supplied with variety of food.
WHAT IS EXHAUSTION OF SOIL?
An exhaustion of soil does not nee
| essarily imply a compl. to deprivation
of it's power to feed plants. but rather
deterioration below that point which
would produce profitable crops. Ex-
| hRustion depends, then, on the abstrac-
ton of certain materials from the soil
| by successive crops; and, if this course
| be indefinitely carried on, the soil, con-
tinuing to lose so largely of its nutri-
! tive properties, finally becomes incapa-
/ bic of producing far crops. Even
| though plant food be still contained in
the soil, yet it can be present in combi-
nations from which the plant is unable
| to derive any material benefit. For
| instance, we may have soil in which
! large amount of potash and phosphor-
10 acid 1.-TWO Indispensable components
| of plants), exist to the extent of, per
haps, many thousand pounds of each
to the acre but if these ingredients be
! locked up In some mineral combination
that is being acted upon by the natural
solvents of the soil, too slowly for the
| plants to derive any immediate nutri-
! ton, such a soil is then incapable of
| supporting healthy crops. On the
| other hand, we may have a soil contain
ing but one-hundredth part as much
! potash and phosphoric acid as the one
| just mentioned, which would be called
"pretty good" land, from the sole cause
that these ingredients exist in such a
condition as to become available as fast
as the growing plant may require them.
HOW SOILS ARE MADE.
1nasmuch as plants derive all of their
ash elements, or incombustible matter,
! from the soil, let us consider for q few
moments its origin and formation. All
| soils are produced by the disin5egra-
ton of rocks under the never ceasine
influence of physical and chemical ac-
ton. The expansive force OF freezing
water Is capable of tearing asunder the
rocks themselves. Water trickling into
the creyices and pores of rocky masses
and freezing there, they are fractured,
and ultimately orumble to dust. Other
natural forces complete the transforma-
| ton on the spot, or at some distant 10
cality, whether the resultant detritus is
borne by running water or moving ice.
Water acts chemically upon rocks in
| dissolving and combining with some of