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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



The Kaffirs never grind their millet to extract the 

 flour, hut hoil it whole, in which form they consider 

 the grain of tlie impheo to be highly deleterious. Mr, 

 Wray, in his pamphlet on this corn, however, asserts 

 that when allowed to perfect its seed the grain is 

 generally plump and full of fine white Hour, which he 

 believes is wholesome and nutritious, and might enter 

 lai'gely into consumption. When the seeds of the im- 

 phee are ripe or perfectly full, it is the custom of the 

 Zulu-Kaffirs to string them uj) in the sun and air for 

 a few days, then to hang them up in their huts, so that 

 they may have the full benefit of the smoke, which 

 serves to keep them entirely dry, and likewise preserves 

 the seed from the attacks of insects, so that they may 

 be thus kept perfectly good for a series of years if ne- 

 cessary. Birds never attack the imphee, while they 



are very destructive to the seed of the Kaffir millet, or 

 Guinea corn (Sorghum vulgarc). 



A statement that the hull of the seed is useful as a 

 rose carmine dye, is, we conceive, unwarranted by ex- 

 periment. Another suggestion — of getting wax from 

 the canes — is sheer nonsense, and not worth the atten- 

 tion of the cultivator. 



In many of the British colonies the cultivation of this 

 plant may be worth trial. Mr. D. J. Browne, in his 

 last report to the American Commissioners of Patents, 

 states that, " a'ide from other economical uses, its 

 value for feeding, to animals alone, in every section of 

 the Union where it will thrive, cannot be surpassed 

 by any other crop, as a greater amount of nutritious 

 fodder cannot be obtained so cheap, on a given space, 

 within so short a period of time." 



THE APHIS (PLANT-LOUSE.) 



I am not an entomologist, and therefore shall offer 

 no observations of my own relative to those formidable 

 little pests, now so alarmingly infesting almost every 

 crop. The pea crop is partially destroyed by their ra- 

 vages, many fields having been already mown for fodder ; 

 the bean crop is suffering very seriously ; the ears of 

 wheat are by no means exempt, and in many instances 

 they have done much damage. The little rogues fasten 

 themselves upon every kind of luxuriant herbage known 

 to be suited to their diff"erent species and habits. The 

 weed tribe are, for once, even kept in abeyance by them 

 — " 'tis an ill wind that blows no olle any good." I 

 send you the following condensed extract from Morion's 

 Cyclo})(edia of Agriculture, written by that celebrated 

 entomologist, Mr, Jas. Curtis : 



" Plant-lice are amongst the most troublesome and in- 

 jurious pests the farmer and gardener have to contend 

 with, infesting wheat, turnips, beans, peas, hops, cab- 

 bages, roses, apple, cherry, currant, and other fruit-trees. 

 They are furnished with a short beak, through which 

 pass three of the finest bristles ; these the animal inserts 

 through a pore of the cuticle, the central one being tu- 

 bular, and acting as a syphon. Thus, the aphides imbibe 

 the juices from the leaves and stems, sometimes causing 

 distortions from the vessels being wounded, and the cir- 

 culation of the sap being interrupted. The infested 

 leaves generally curl, so as to foim cavities or hollow 

 chambers beneath, where the aphides reside, and are 

 thus protected from heat, cold, wet, and the attacks 

 of little birds. If, therefore, it were not for the unceas- 

 ing vigilance of carnivorous and jiarasilic insects, there 

 would be no check to their multiplication. Amongst 

 the most useful of these are the ladybirds and their 

 larvje, the aphis lions, the maggots of two-winged flies 

 called syrphus, and others." 



He then speaks of the difficulty in ascertaining where 

 they breed : perhaps a single-winged insect is seen ; 

 their numbers daily increase ; the nits are soon de- 

 posited—their numbers daily increase ; the fenaales In 



spring producing young, but in the autumn, when the 

 males appear, only eggs. He then says : 



" It is a still more startling fact that the spring 

 broods are all females, and do not require any inter- 

 course with the sexes to make them prolific. They are 

 pregnant at their birth ; and if the nit (as it is termed), 

 brought forth by the fly in the spring, be taken and 

 kept entirely excluded from its companions, it will be 

 able to produce young ; and if one of these be treated 

 with the same precaution, it will yet be found to retain 

 the same powers of conception : and thus one may pro- 

 ceed for twenty or thirty generations. This will explain 

 their otherwise marvellous multiplication, and the 

 warmer the weather the more rapidly families in- 

 crease : so that it has been calculated by an eminent 

 naturaUst that from one egg 729,000,000 of plant-lice 

 might be produced in seven generations ; admitting forty 

 to be the maximum, and twenty the minimum, the 

 average would be thirty ; and the generations from the 

 spring to the autumn amount to from sixteen to twenty, 

 or upwards. Ri'aumur has stated of another species, 

 that nearly aixly hundred millions may proceed from 

 one female in five generations. The first females pro- 

 duce about two young diily, for fifteen or twenty days. 

 In ten days the third generation from the egg is capable 

 of bearing young ; these comprise both winged and 

 apterous specimens, the former emigrating to spread 

 the mischief; both these sorts are able to bear young in 

 eight days, or even four, and so they proceed if the 

 temperature i)rove congenial to their habits. The males 

 are all winged, and do not appear till autumn. Both 

 sexes are provided with a curious apjiaratus, forming 

 two tubes, through which a sweet liquor exudes, and 

 when it falls uj)on the surrounding foliage it is termed 

 honey-dew." 



He then states that the difl'erent species will oc- 

 casionilly swarm upon any plant, but such cases are 

 exceptions; and further proceeds to give a most in- 

 teresting description of saveral varieties, as — 1st, tho 



