125 



about 15 acres sown, in the latter part of August, I felt anx- 

 ious for its favorable growth. From the time it was sown, 

 until the 20th of October, no rain fell upon it, and it was in 

 a few shaded patches only that it came up, during this period. 

 Upon examining it, a short time before it rained, I found the 

 wheat in all stages of growth, from the shooting of a single 

 root of an eighth of an inch in length to many roots and the 

 stem. But I found numerous grains with a small round hole 

 in them, the germ being entirely gone. There was no ap- 

 pearance of decay, for otherwise, the whole grain was per- 

 fectly sound. Patches of these grains were found without a 

 single whole grain. Accidentally I found the cause in the 

 red ant. After the rains came on, I examined the wheat two 

 or three times daily, and found all grains growing well except 

 those destroyed by the ants, which, I regret to say, were the 

 greater part sown. By rapid growth of the grain, and, per- 

 haps, by covering deeply, their depredations might be avoided; 

 or by steeping and rolling in something offensive to the ant. 



Since writing the rough draft of this report, I conversed 

 with Mr. Taggart, an intelligent farmer of Brown county, 

 now its Representative, about these ants. He informed me 

 that in the fall of 1850, after his wheat had come up well, 

 he observed it getting thinner on the ground. His neighbors 

 noticed this in their fields also, and attributed the cause to 

 the fly. But upon examining his fields more closely, he was 

 surprised to see numerous red ants cutting it down, and eat- 

 ing it off into the grain itself, thus entirely destroying it. 



I have mentioned these things to elicit further observation; 

 and, as to the drill, will only add, that we found it to work 

 well in cloddy ground, and which had tall weeds growing 

 upon it before ploughed. 



Cost per acre of raising wheat. — Having had a few acres 

 of wheat put in, without any aid on my own part, the cost, 

 I find, is about as follows : 



