No. 3. 



Plsit to the Farm of E lias Phinney, Esq. 



85 



< > ^ 



makes its appearance about the middle of 

 June, and its operations, it is asserted by 

 some, cover a period of from thirty -seven to 

 tiiirty-nine days. 



A late American work on ag-riculture,* 

 says that the Hessian fly deposits its eggs in 

 the winter wheat, in which state it remains 

 until the plant has acquired some growth; 

 the nrub then feeds upon it, and the plant 

 having its nourishment intercepted, sickens. 



In the spring it assumes the perfect form, 

 as soon as tiie weatiicr is moderately warm, 

 and immediate!}^ proceeds to deposit its eggs 

 in the wheatf Wheat grown on highly cul- 

 tivated land is not generally much injured by 

 this fly. 



No individual, probably, has done more to 

 investigate tiiis subject, and find a remedy 

 for the evil than James Worth, Esq., of 

 Newton, Bucks county, Penn. The Memoirs 

 of the Pennsylvania Society for tiie year 1623 

 contains several communications, giving in 

 detail, the results of his indefatigable and 

 valuable researches. 



He recommends a change in the course of 

 crops as the most effectual remedy, viz: 

 Break up for wheat, follow with corn, and 

 then oats and grass seed, ploiigldng and har- 

 rowing the stubble immediately after har- 

 vest, and a second time before May, by 

 which means great numbers of insects will be 

 destroyed in the pupa state. 



The best remedies geem to consist of a 

 good tilth — a rich but not wet soil — late sow- 

 ing — ploughing in the stubble immediately 

 after harvest — and perhaps feeding ofl" the 

 crop in the spring with sheep. 



There is a case cited in the Memoirs of the 

 Board of Agriculture of New York, in which 

 two bushels of lime were sown upon an acre 

 of wheat infested by the fly, while there was 

 a heavy dew upon the ground. Two adjoin- 

 ing acres, same quality of ground, on which 

 wheat, of the same kind, was sowed at the 

 same time, were not treated with lime. The 

 result was that the limed wheat gave a good 

 crop, the other not half of an average crop. 



Samuel Tallant, of Canterbury, N. H., 

 states that on the first of July, 1838, a few 

 flies known as the weevil or grain worm ap- 

 peared upon his wheat, and excited his notice. 

 He examined them from day to day, and found 

 that tliey increased with such rapidity as to 

 threaten destruction to his crop. He scat- 

 tered, by way of experiment, a bushel of 

 slaked lime on about half an acre of the 

 wheat, while it was wet with dew. 



The ensuing morning he visited this piece 

 of wheat, and after a careful examination, he 



* The Practical Farmer, by an American, N. York, 

 1839— 8vo. 



t See very interesting papers on the Wheat Fly, liy 

 Obgen-er. in Farmers' Cabinet, vol. i., page 289 — also 

 page 273 and 306, 



found but a solitary fly or worm among it, 

 while in all the other parts of the field, he 

 found the fly had vastly increased in number. 

 He commenced immediately liming the vvhcle 

 field, but his lime falling short, and the case 

 being one admitting of no delay, he had re- 

 course to ashes, which he bountifully applied. 

 The worm or fly disappeared immediately ; 

 and the field gave a very fair crop of good 

 sound wheat.* 



Visit to tlie Farm of Elias Pliinney, Esq*) 

 Lexiiigtoiij Mass» By Jos. Breclt. 



BOOK FARMING. 



We have in the farm of this gentleman 

 substantial proof of the efficacy of "book 

 farming." He assured us that his interest in 

 agriculture was first awakened by reading 

 the N. E. Fanner. Having received a clas- 

 sical education, he has to be sure, the advon- 

 tage of our farmers in general, for whom so 

 little has been done by education, — we were 

 prepared, therefore, in viewing his premises, 

 to 'A itness sometliing a little extra, from what 

 may be seen on well cultivated ,, farms in 

 general : but we found that our expectations 

 had not been raised sufficiently high : we 

 were in fact delighted and astonished to be 

 made acquainted with the wonderful im- 

 provements which have been effected on this 

 place since he began to cultivate it fourteen 

 or fifleen years since. It was then a poor 

 worn out farm, covered with rocks, whortle- 

 berry bushes, and scrub oaks ; while the lovv- 

 lands were inaccessible quagmires and alder 

 swamps of the most unpromising description 

 — the whole farm, consisting of one hundred 

 and sixty acres, not aflbrding more than 

 eight or ten tons of hay, and all other crops 

 in the same proportion, — the fences out of re- 

 pair ; the fruit of an inferior quality, fit only 

 for cider; and every thing upon the place at 

 sixes and sevens, as the saying is. It does 

 not seem hardly possible that so much could 

 have been achieved in so sliort a time. It 

 shows what can be done by untiring diligence 

 directed by science. It is a complete triumph 

 of " book farming" over the old course of hus- 

 bandry, handed down from father to son. Mr. 

 Phinney has had the boldness to strike out of 

 the old path, and in some instances pursue a 

 course of his own invention. 



improvements. 



His improvements may be divided as fol- 

 lows : — 



1st. In planting upon the green sward 

 without disturbing the sod. 



2d. In cleariniT and draining his waste 



* For Mr. Tallanf s account in full, see N. H. 

 Farmers' Montlily Visitor, vol. i., page 51. Also Farm- 

 ers' Cabinet, vol. iii., paged^i.— Editor. 



