754 



FARMERS' REGISTER— CARROTS— EGGS OF THE GNAT. 



either wool, cotton, silk or linen. The overseers 

 ol' all public institutions are particularly invited to 

 examine it, as it may be very advantageously 

 employed by them, and is within the means of the 

 poor generally. 



[The following is the statement of Mr. John More- 

 head describing his management of a crop of caiTots, 

 for which a premium was awarded to him by the Mas- 

 sachusetts Agricultural Society. 



From the New England Fanner. 

 CARROTS AS A FIELD CROP. 



1. The land was planted in corn in 1833, and 

 was in good heart. 2. It has been used a.-s a pas- 

 ture tor more than thirty years; one-half of it Avas 

 planted without any manure, the other half with 

 a mixture of kelj) [sea weed] and common barn 

 yard manure; the product was forty bushels or 

 over; it was hoed in the usual way throe times, be- 

 sides twice ploughing. 3. In the latter part of 

 the winter of 1833, and the first part of the 

 winter of 1834, there was carted seventy-three 

 loads of kelp Irom the sea shore, besides two loads 

 of barn j-ard manure, making the whole seventy- 

 five loads for one horse; the loads were about one- 

 half as much as a three cattle team would draw; 

 the distance about one mile; the kelp was laid in 

 small heaps, three to each load, upon a piece of 

 land containing one acre and three rods. 4. The 

 quantity of seed used was a small fraction over 

 three pounds. 5. In the beginning of April, the 

 old corn roots were dug up, the kelp spread, and 

 the land ploughed; it was then hoed across the fur- 

 rows, as it was not loose enough to receive the 

 seed. Besides, there were some small stones and 

 brier roots taken out. It Avas hairowed three 

 times with a one horse harrow, then raked, which 

 completed the preparation for sowing. The seed 

 was sown from the 14th to 19th of April. First 

 time of hoeing from 29th of May to the 3d of 

 June; second time Irom the 20th to the 28lh of 

 June; third time from the 19tli to the 29th of 

 July. 



The seed was sowed in rows thirteen inches 

 apart, and after sowing was rolled with a light 

 roller by hand. 



Amount of labor: — 

 Drawing kelp from the beach, - ,^'25 00 



Drawing out the corn roots and taking 



them off, ----- 1 00 



Ploughing the land, - - - - 2 00 

 Hoeing across the Jurrows and taking out 



small stones, - - - - - 5 00 

 Harrowing and raking it over, - - 2 00 

 Sowing the seed and rolling, - - 6 00 



First hoeing, - - - - - 6 00 i 



Second hoeing, weeding and throwing out, 10 00 

 Third hoeing and weeding, - - - 8 00 

 Harvesting and measuring the whole crop, 25 00 

 Carrot seed, - - - - - 3 00 



From the Fayettevillu, N. C. Observer. 



RARE FLOAVER. 



Perhaps kw of our readers are aware of the ef- 

 fects which may be produced on Iruits and flowers 

 by what is commonly called budding, or inocu- 

 hitino; the limbs of trees. We yesterday saw a 

 flower, from the garden of a gentleman of this 

 county, (who has made many experiments of this 

 kind,) combining the qualities of the rose and 

 peach blossom. The stem and leaf were of the 

 peach, except that the latter was slightly serrated 

 similar to the rose leaf; the leaves of the flower 

 were of the color of the peach, and taste of the 

 rose; the farina resembled that of the peach. The 

 flower was about four times the size of the peach 

 blossom. 



Total, . - - - ,f 93 00 

 Began to harvest cfirrots Oct. 20, and finished 

 Nov. 8. The carrots were first dug up and laid 

 in rows to dry, then carted to a piece of green 

 Bward, separated from the tops and dirt, carefully 

 measured and some of them weighed. The 

 whole amount of carrots was six hundred and 

 forty-five bushels, containing fifty-six lbs. and up- 

 wards. 



From Insect Transformations. 

 RAFT OF EGGS OF THE GNAT. 



The most singular disposal of eggs with which 

 we are acquainted in the economy of insects, is 

 exemplified in the common gnat ( Culex pipiens, 

 L\7ix.) It is admirably described by Reaumur, 

 though it seems first to have been discovered by 

 Langallo, w'ho mentions it in a letter addressed to 

 Redi, printed at Florence in 1679; and by Alloa, 

 who actually saw the eggs laid, and afterwards 

 sketched a figure of them. Those who wish to 

 witness this singular operation, must repair before 

 five or six o'clock in the morning to a pond or a 

 bucket of stagnant water frequented by gnats; 

 when Reaunmr went later in the day he was al- 

 ways disappointed. 



The facts of this disposal of her eggs by the 

 common gnat, are sufficiently curious to excite at- 

 tention to them; and, therefore, it is not easily to 

 be understood how the following erroneous and 

 fancifijl account originated. "The manner," says 

 Goldsmith, "in which the insect lays its eggs is 

 particularly curiou^s; after having laid the proper 

 number on the surface of the water, it surrounds 

 them with a kind of unctuous matter, which pre- 

 vents them from sinking, but at the same time fiis- 

 tens them with a thread to the bottom, to prevent 

 their floating away, at the mercy of every breeze, 

 from a place the warmth of Avhich is proper for 

 their production, to any otherwhere the Avater may 

 be too cold, or the animals, its enemies, too nu- 

 merous. Thus the insects, in their egg state, re- 

 semble a buoy wliich is fixed by an anchor. As 

 they come to maturity, they sink deeper, and at 

 last, when they leave the egg as worms, creep to 

 the bottom."* This fable, which was first men- 

 tioned by Pliny, is repeated verbatim by Bingley.f 

 The impossibility of a gnat spinning a thread, and 

 [ilunging into the water to fix it at the bottom, 

 never struck these writers. 



We are the more anxious to expose these erro- 

 neous acounts, from the persuasion that a taste 

 for natural history has been more injured by nu- 

 merous similar statements, which could not be ve- 

 rified by a student, in many popular works, than 

 by the driest skeleton descriptions of those who 

 have merely pursued Natural History as a science 

 of names. 



The problem of the gnat is to construct a boat- 



• Goldsmith, Animated Nature, vi. 3.37. 



t Biiigley, Animal Biography, iii. iH'J, 8d ed. 



