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newly cleared, is because the soil has become exhausted, the 

 temperature of the winters has changed, &c. But my researches 

 the present season have impressed me with the belief that the 

 insect depredators upon this grain, which have found their way 

 into all parts of our country where wheat has long been culti- 

 vated, are the sole cause of the present meagerness and uncer- 

 tainty of this crop. Having been looking at the wheat midge 

 and the Hessian fly only, in former years, other insects living at 

 the expense of this grain had escaped my notice ; and now, on 

 turning my attention again in this direction, I have been aston- 

 ished to find our growing wheat preyed upon by multitudes of 

 different species of Chlorops, Oscinis, and Thrijys, insects which in 

 Europe have long been known as most inimical to the wheat 

 crops there, but which have never hitherto been noticed on this 

 side of the Atlantic. From the time that the blade shoots from 

 the ground until the ripened grain is carried into the barn, it 

 appears at every stage of its growth to be exposed to the attacks 

 of one and another of these vermin. And with such a host of these 

 enemies to withstand, our chief wonder is that this crop is not 

 utterly devastated every year. Could it be released from them, 

 it is evident wheat in all the old settled parts of our State and 

 country would be as sure and productive a crop now as it was 

 when our lands were newly cleared. Whether we shall be able 

 to discover remedies or modes of cultivation by which their at- 

 tacks may be prevented appears doubtful. Still, every one is 

 aware it is highly important that the habits and transformations 

 of each of these insects should be fully examined, and the infor- 

 mation thus elicited should be diffused among the cultivators of 

 our soil. That such knowledge will enable them to elude at 

 least a portion of these depredators, in many instances, there can 

 be no doubt. The following extract from the commencement of 

 a letter from a gentleman in Ohio, written soon after the wheat 

 harvest of 1855, shows what benefits result from knowledge of 

 this kind. He says : " I see from the Country Gentleman that 

 you have become very familiar with the whole insect family. I 

 think that when this subject is brought to bear upon agriculture, 

 horticulture, &c, its usefulness will be unlimited. The farmers 

 here are beginning to see the necessity of some knowledge of 



