452 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



CNo.? 



to the 18 ieet square; on an adjoininfr acre I put 

 one liupliel to the f?anie area, marlvcd with cypress 

 shingle?; have never been alile to discover any 

 difference. The field has been m corn twice, in 

 wheat twice, oats once, and clover twice since. I 

 have showed it to a number of jrentlemen. I 

 have lin)ed different pieces of land, twice f(;r four 

 3'ears in succession, putting on the same quantity 

 as at firsi; have never seen any advantage result- 

 ing to the crops. I tliink the use of hme has less- 

 ened our liability to autumnal diseases. On all 

 crops lime is beneficial the second year; oats and 

 peas, I lhinl(, il improves the first year. One hun- 

 dred bushels of marl with the quantity of manure 

 necessary for turnips, on one and a half acre, will 

 produce twice as many as the same land with the 

 manure only; the marl to be well incorporated 

 with the manure, and mixed some 4 or G months 

 previous. This mixture is the finest manure for 

 celery; renders it sweet and very tender, increases 

 the growth one-third. 



I have put lime on the surfice, harrowing it in 

 only, ploughed it in with small ploughs, with Ibur- 

 horse ploughs, and at all seasons of the year; 

 have never discovered any material difference; 

 concluded it was only necessary to use ii, no mat- 

 ter how, where, or when, and the tide-water re- 

 gion of the Old Dominion will rise, pha-nix-like, 

 with increased health, and wealth. Already has 

 our assessor, JMr. William Tyler, affixed nearly 

 one-third on the value of my land since the last 

 assessment; and I assure you he is a judge in 

 those matters, being one of our most intellTgent 

 and successful larmers, and one who has been^ in- 

 timately acquainted with my lands his whole life. 

 As this is an instance of advantage to the state, 

 and there are twenty such other" cases in this 

 county, would it not be advisable that the legisla- 

 ture should oiler a premium e(jual at least t"o the 

 increase of the amount of taxation for calcareous 

 improvement of every ten, twenty, or one hundred 

 acres? In twenty years, I would lay a wager, no 

 farmer in the marl and lime regions of Virginia, 

 would have a note in any bank, or any othernole 

 which he would not be able to liquidate at matu- 

 rity. ^ And it would do more to lessen the necessi- 

 ty of banks than any other law they could pass, 

 for the very reason that iarmers would have no 

 necessity for them; and being able to be always 

 punctual in their payments to merchants, it would 

 lessen very much their (the merchants') demands 

 on the banks. 



John Minge. 



From tlie Fanners' Cabinet. 

 DESTRUCTIVE IJXSECTS. 



Not only thorns and thistles, but hosts of nox- 

 ious insects liave been inflicted on deirenerate 

 man. My attention has been chiefly "directed 

 ugfiinst the latter evil. 



The character of some of these insects will be 

 described in treating of my warfare against them. 



The PmcJi Insect. — The first in my series is 

 probably of American origin, as in no system of 

 entomology can I find a description of the insect 

 which has proved so destructive to our peach 

 trees. I have to rely on my own observation for 

 its history and description. It was probably un- 

 observed by us prior to the present centurj'. 



In the autumn of 1800, I first saw the fatal 



malady in the peach trees about Philadelphia; 

 the next year it had reached Burlington, and 

 thence continued its march northward about 

 twelve or fifteen miles a-year. in 1807, in a 

 choice collection of fruit of" mj' own, every tree 

 had the premonitory symptoms of the yellows : a 

 few miles north escaped that year. Having made 

 a careful dissection by splitting and barking se- 

 veral trees, I could discover no cause, but ravage.5 

 of the worms between the bark and wood. Col- 

 lecting a number of the worms, I confined them 

 in glass and hatched fi'om them the perfect insect; 

 moth or miller, small in comparison wilhthe worm; 

 white or light gray, with dark spots, wings con- 

 volute, like the section of a crow-quill split longi- 

 tudinall}'. This phaleua or moth lays its eggs 

 on the leaves of the peach tree ; when hatched, 

 the larva or maggot subsists itself first on the leaf, 

 until it has acquired sufficient size and energy to 

 migrate to a more suitable and permanent homo 

 for winter: this is between the bark and wood of 

 the tree near the ground. Here it enlarges its 

 domicil ; a sickly stale of the tree follows, and if 

 they congregate in sufficient numbers to circum- 

 vent the tree, certain death is the consequence, by 

 intercepting the communication between the root 

 and body of the tree. 



The larva of the peach insect is herbivorous, 

 and in this stale of existence subsists on the tender 

 lining of the bark; living in a cleanly manner, it 

 deposits all filth outside the door, by the dark 

 powder appearance of which its abode may be de- 

 tected. In its chrysaloid state, its appearance is 

 smooth and nlassy. It frequently happens when 

 seeking these worms, a chrysalis very different is 

 found; this is the sirex or tailed wasp, the natural 

 enemy of the peach worm, the sirex is a restless, 

 fidgety insect, resembling the wasp; its young, 

 like that of the other wasps and hornets, is 

 carnivorous. It may be observed about the 

 neighborhood of the peach worm's habitation, at 

 the door of which it lays its eggs; the product, 

 a worm, creeps into the bowels of the peach-worm, 

 feeds on its carcass, and occupies its coat. Its 

 chrysalis, unlike that of the peach-worm, is rough 

 and filthy, caused by the sweat and writhing of 

 the victim of its rapacity. 



I have been thus particular in noticing the sirex, 

 because, being a usurper of the abode of its foster 

 parent, it has been falsely accused of being the 

 mother of mischief, instead of a friendly ally, which 

 should be patronized. Among others, the Sussex 

 New Jersey Register, had, about six years ago, 

 a belligerent article against this supposed enemy. 

 Knowing that, even in a moderate degree, heat 

 proves fatal to the cut-worm, I was led to try its ef- 

 fect on the peach-worm; having placed several in 

 the hollow of my hand, I found that water not un- 

 comfortable to my skin, Idlledthem. I thence com- 

 menced applying boiling water from a watering pot, 

 (without the nose,) pouring it around the tree, 

 about 18 inches above the ground in sufficient quan- 

 tity to heat the bark ; the quantity was varied ac- 

 cording to the thickness of the bark and size of 

 the tree; this proved completely successful (or se- 

 veral years, and as long as it was continued. 



The time for using the heat, was the last of sum- 

 mer, and again the middle of the autumn, lest 

 some might have escaped or more recently arrived. 

 The Cvt-irorm. — This is the oiispring of the 

 phulana devastator; wings horizontal; white with 



