WHEAT IT8 DISEASES, &C. 159' 



But to return to the Mediterranean : this seems to be an exception ; it has 

 been grown by a few lor ten or twelve years, and has evidently improved in 

 ({uality. For several years numbers have seeded it becauie of its being more 

 certain to make a crop, under all circumstances. It is remarkable in another re- 

 spect, its exemption from rust when other wheat is most seriously injured. 1 

 know of one case where thellershey was actually cut before the Mediterranean, 

 because the former bad become rusty, and the latter was entirely free. This 

 wheat will doubtless be very cencrally seeded here. Bui what is to be done for 

 the best white family flour ? Our Baltimore millers have become extremely fas- 

 tidious on this point. 'J'be Ileri^liey, which makes as good bread as any wheat 

 in our countrv, was decried the past season becaUL-e, forsooth, the loaf had not 

 the snowy whiteness of the old Virginia or White Flint, but has a rich cream 

 color. The best reply to this is afforded in tbeapprojiriate language of the Man- 

 tuan bard — " Nimium ne. crede colori." 



But of the Diseases of Wheat — How is that most formidable enemy, the Hes- 

 sian, to be combated ? That the eggs of the parent tiy are deposited on the 

 upper surface of the blade, and very low down, too, where the blades begin to 

 branch, cannot admit of a doubt. And if, in Ihnl stage, they could be eaten off 

 by sheep and young cattle, it would cause their destruction. This remedy is 

 suggested in the " ponderous work " to which you allude, and by very high au- 

 thority, as an argument for early seeding ; but it is a nice point to hit. But 

 what IS the next .stage of this destroyer of the hopes of the farmer? If the 

 weather be warm, as is ihe case wben you seed early, the egs, is so6n hatched 

 and a very minute worm is the product, which descends within the plant and 

 places ilse ' Delow thesurhice of the earth, and beyond tlie reach of the teeth of 

 animals '".ended to graze it off. Any man who wishes to examine the condi- 

 tion of tiie insect must take out his knife and scoop out or cut round the plant 

 below the surface, and he will then find the chrysalis. In the subsequent stages 

 of the wheat plant, in spring, it may be found above ground, and even above the 

 first joint, both in the chrysalis and flax-seed state. After the descent is made, 

 perhaps, the tread of heavy beasts, or the passing over of a very heavy roller, 

 might destroy many, the surface of the earth being at the time favorable for such 

 an operation. All my attempts at making wheat, seeded in September, have 

 proved failures from the depredations of the Jli/. It is proper, however, to state 

 the fact that I have never grazed, having always had a reluctance to see stock 

 grazing on a arrowing crop. But I have heard of success attending it on several 

 occasions. The best time for seeding, in our latitude, to avoid the attacks of 

 both fall and spring fly, may be stated from the fifth to the twentieth of October. 

 But, if about the first of October there be a fall of rain, and a cool change super- 

 venes, this may be regarded as the best condition of things to escape the destroyer, 

 and the work should go on forthwith. The present year has defied all the usual 

 precautions, even in the strongest lands ; for wheat seeded from the tenth to the 

 middle of the month was, with me, the most injured. This is not, however, 

 usually the case. 



The rust is the next most formidable enemy, and I am not certain that as 

 much loss has been sustained during the course of my agricultural life from this 

 cause as from fly. It would seem, however, from the statement of facts wiiich 

 have appeared in agricultural papers, that the application of charcoal is a pre- 

 ventive. So powerfully impressed am I with this belief, that it is my purpose 

 the ensuing winter, " Deo volente," to attempt largely the conversion of jjine- 

 wood into charcoal. I have also heard from unquestionable authority of another 

 manure, which has always proved effectual ; but this must necessarily be con- 

 iined to certain localities. 



Mr. Editor, you have doubtless seen frequently in the tributaries of the Chesa- 

 peake Bay, the grass growing in water from two to four feet deep, in inmiense 

 (juantities ; and the little sand-snipe and kildeers running about on its surface. 

 Some of our farmers haul up this salt-water grass. Having previously plowed 

 up a headland, the grass is carted thereon, and covered up with the plowed earth. 

 It is very soon decomposed, and forms an admirable compost. It has been ob- 

 served that the portions of a field dressed with this manure will be entirely free 

 from rust, while other parts to which the contents of the farm-yard have beer* 

 applied will be much diseased with this pest of the farmer. Its action in other 

 respects is unsurpassed. This suggestion mav be of some value to your Long- 

 I3:a) 



