FxVRMERS' REGISTER— PHALiENA DEVASTATOR. 



515 



"The system, I admit, is only in its infancy, but 

 I have tliis year put it completely to the test; and 

 should it succeed as well as it has done hitherto, it 

 must take root and spread over the idngdom; and 

 the landed interest in those districts of Eno-land, 

 where the poor laws are so oppressive, and still 

 more, tlie Irish proprit^ors, will do well to investi- 

 gate the system, and have it introduced with the 

 least possible delay, that what is now a burden on 

 their estates may laecome a source of wealth, and 

 what is now a curse may become a blessing. 



" This system if it succeeds to my expectation, 

 possesses all the requisites you require ; it fur- 

 nishes employment for the surplus population by 

 BubstitutiuiT uianual labor for that of horses, and 

 certainly if there is a lack of food for both, it is de- 

 sirable that the one should give place to the other. 

 It will make bread plenty, as the naked summer- 

 fallows of Great Britain will be covered with 

 grain instead of lying waste for a season ; it v/ill 

 render corn laws unnecessary, as we will be then 

 independent of foreign supplies; farmers will be 

 enriched who are enterjirising and industrious, 

 and they only deserve to be so ; it will raise rents, 

 by increasing the capabilities of the soil, enabling | 

 the former to cultivate wheat to double the pre- i 

 eent extent ; it will raise np a home-market for 

 our manufactures, as the paupers, who are at pre- 

 sent starving, or living a burden on the jjarish, will 

 find employment, and thereby be enabled to pro- 

 cure the necessaries and comforts of life ; it will ! 

 check the poor laws, as there will then be none but 

 the aged and the helpless dependent on parochial 

 aid. 



" If you should think it worth while to make 

 further inquiry after the writer or his system, I beg 

 to refer j'ou either to the Marquis of Tweeddale, 

 Lord-Lieutenant of the county of East Lothian, 

 or to Robert Stewart, Esq. M. P. for Haddington 

 district of burghs, both of whom are at present in 

 London ; or if you would like a more detailed ac- 

 count of the agricultural part of my scheme, I 

 shall feci most happy to give you every information 

 in my power." 



The only remark which this satisfactory letter 

 requires is, that it is hardly fair to charge the 

 trenching with only the real, while the ploughing 

 is charged with an imaginary expense. It is 

 known, and can easily be ascertained by calcula- 

 tion, that the maintenance of a man and a pair of 

 horses docs not cost the farmer more than three 

 shillings a day, whereas each furrow and harrow- 

 ing, which is just a day's work, is charged ten 

 shillings. 



on upper wings. The insect lays its eggs in the 

 conunencement of autumn, at the roots of trees 

 and near the ground; they are hatched early in 

 May. The habiis of the cut-worm have been 

 often and fijlly detailed. They eat almost all kinds 

 of vegetables, preferring beans, cabbages, and corn. 

 They contijme in this state about tour weeks; they 

 then cast their skin and enter the pupa state, under 

 ground. This is a crustaceous covering, fitted to 

 tiie parts of tlie future insect. In this way they 

 continue tor four weeks longer, and come out in 

 the fiy, or insect state, about the middle of J uly. 

 All those chrysalids that I exposed to the sun, 

 died; and all tliosc that were kept cool under earth, 

 jjroduced an insect; hence I infer, that the fieat of 

 the sun will kill the chrysalids. ItJ then, the ground 

 be ploughed about the first of July, many of those 

 insects might be I'estroyed, and the destruction of 

 the productions of the next year prevented; for the 

 pupa is never more than a lew inches under 

 ground. 



The phatena devastator is never seen during 

 the day; it conceals itself in the crevices of build- 

 ings, and beneath the bark of trees. About sun- 

 down it leaves its hiding place, is constantly on 

 the wing, and very troublesome about the candles in 

 houses. It flies very rapidly, and is not easily taken. 



Such is the description of this formidable enemy 

 to vegetation. No efficacious method has yet 

 been taken to prevent its ravages, but the one who 

 could accomplish it, would do the cause of agricul- 

 ture an essential service. 



From tlie American Journal of Science. 

 DESCRIPTIOIf OF TIIE PHAL.EIVA DEVASTATOR, 

 THE PAREK^T OF THE CUT WORM. 



This moth, whose larva? is one of our most de- 

 structive enemies, belongs to the Linna?an family 

 noctua, m the genus phalaena. Its specific char- 

 acters are as follows: Wings incumbent and hori- 

 zontal, when at rest; body' long and thin; thorax 

 thick: but not crested; head small; eyes prominent 

 and black; antennae setacious, gradually lessening 

 towards extremities, and slightly ciliated; palpi 

 two, flat, broad in the middle, and very hairy, 

 tongue rolled up between them, not very prominent; 

 cylpens small, legs long, small and hairy; wings 

 long as bodv; under wings shortest; color a dark 

 silvery gray,'with transverse dotted bands of black 



From the Baltimore Clironicle. 

 RAILWAY TRAVELLING. 



As soon as the rail road from Boston to Provi- 

 dence is finished, the strange prophecy of Oliver 

 Evans, made in 1789 or 90, will be amply fulfilled. 

 Mr. Evans, saidthafthe man was then living who 

 would see the Ohio and Mississippi covered with 

 steamboats, and the child then born who would 

 travel from Philadelphia to Boston in one day" — 

 meaning 24 hours. 



The distance between Philadelphia and New 

 York has been made by the rail road and steam- 

 boats in five hours — and it is threatened to be yet 

 made in two hours, as we suppose that it may be, 

 when there shall be a continuous line of rails; but 

 we have yet 19 hours for the distance between 

 New York and Boston. It may be done, even 

 now, in less time. 



We learn from the Gazette of last e\^ning, that 

 the extension of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road 

 to Harpers Ferry, has been succeeded by an im- 

 mediate and increasing business both in travelling 

 and transportation ofproduce and merchandize. Al- 

 ready the travelling averages thirty passengers dai- 

 ly — and an average of five-hundred barrels of flour 

 is receiving every day, besides other articles of 

 produce from the ferry. This trade and travelling 

 will continue to increase regularly— if not rapidly, 

 until the opening of the Winchester and Potomac 

 Rail Road, by which a direct, permanent and 

 speedv intercourse between the extensive aiid fer- 

 tile valley of the Shenandoah and the city of Bal- 

 timore will be effected. This may be expected to 

 lake place ir. July next. In a month after that 

 opening, the travelling and transportation between 

 Baltimore and Winchester will be as "reat as it 

 was last summer between this city and Frederick 

 — and within the year, will g^reatly surpass it. 



