THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



99 



before seen it look better in the month of April ; 

 and from this cause I greatly fear that a succeed- 

 ing season of severe frost might have on it a most 

 injurious if not ruinous tendency. Wheat sown 

 on corn land is much less forwan!, generally how- 

 ever presenting an appearance not unpromising. 



Of putrescent manures there wore during ilie 

 season, chiefly in the early spring months, 2.599 

 loads hauled out : 245 loads of the finest or most 

 rotted manure were applied on corn land in the 

 spring; the residue mostly cow-pen and stable 

 manure, only partially decomp'sed, was applied 

 aa a top-dressing on clover inieiided for wheal 

 /allow. Every season's practice of this mode of 

 applica'ion strengthens my opinion of its being 

 the best and most profitable. The average 

 quantity applied to an acre was 18 loads; each 

 load such as is usually hauled out by six oxen on 

 large carle. 



Ofcalcareous manures there were 41,959 bush- 

 els of marl applied during the year. One-third 

 of lliat quantity was applied in the spring pre- 

 vious to planting corn; the other two-thirds at 

 intervals during the summer and fall months, on 

 clover, pea and oat fallows, intended for wheat ; 

 the average quantity per acre being 170 bushels of 

 marl containing 60 per cent, of lime. In all about 

 246 acres have been marled during the year, in 

 addition to which 350 hogsheads of shells were 

 burned in the spring and applied to land after- 

 wards planted in corn, at the rate of from 90 to 

 120 bushels of lime per acre. A 20-acre lot had 

 one half of it a dressing of lime at the rate ol 

 120 bushels per acre, and the other half a dressing 

 of marl at the rale ol 200 bushels per acre, of 

 same quality as above stated. A single corn 

 row formed the dividing line between the two 

 applications. The soil was of unilorm texture 

 and quality. The progress of the growth of the 

 corn on both was narrowly watched during the 

 season ; little if any difference could be discover- 

 ed. The crop on both was good, and if any differ- 

 ence did exist, I would say that it was in favor 

 of the marl. Other individuals who had seen 

 the crop expressed the same opinion. The entire 

 20 acres on which these applications were made 

 are now in wheat, which crop may perhaps more 

 directly test the relative value of the two ap- 

 plications. 



In former communications I have noticed the 

 happy effects which had regularly attended each 

 application of lime or marl on this estate, and will 

 now only observe farther, that time and more exten- 

 sive applications strengthen the favorable opinions 

 heretolbre expressed. 



The end of the year again found us with a 

 considerable portion of corn still exposed in the 

 fields sown in wheat. Not less than 525 to 550 

 acres of land have been lallowed tovv-ards crops 

 of 1842, of chiefly clover and vveed lay ; and 

 altogether operations are generally in a favorable 

 state of forwardness, of which and their results 

 more may be said in a subsequent communFcation. 



A. NicoL. 



THE CUT WORM. 



From the American Farmer. 

 Mr. Editor— Th\s is the popular name of a 

 gruh or worm, very destructive to corn, cabbage 

 plants, potatoes, clover, &c. I have in vain 

 searched through all the volumes of the " Ameri- 

 can Farmer," and other agricultural journals for 

 a history of this insect. It has by some been 

 iniimaied that a 6Zac/c 6i/.g, about an inch in length, 

 of a quick and lively motion, was the parent of 

 the cut- worm ; but nothing like a rational history 

 of its changes and habits has ever been given, eo 

 far as I have been able to ascertain. A very 

 slight knowledge of entomology would be suffi- 

 cient to convince any one that a " blaQk bug''' 

 would not be the parent of a larva of the cater- 

 pillar kind, such as is the cut-worm. We are 

 then to seek among the genus papilla or phalaena 

 for its parent. 



It is somewhat remarkable that the history of 

 an insect so destructive to the principal crop of the 

 farmer as is the cut- worm should be so shrouded 

 in darkness or veiled in obscurity. Having suffer- 

 ed myself, and having long witnessed the suffer- 

 ings of others, by the ravages of this destructive 

 insect, I have for some years past made its his- 

 tory a subject of study and observation ; and if I 

 shall be so fortunate as to cast such light upon it 

 as shall be useful to the agricultural community, 

 lor which I have a high regard, I shall consider 

 myself amply rewarded. 



In the year 1838, I had a short conversation 

 with E. P. Roberts, esq., then editor of the 

 " Farmer and Gardener," on this subject, and in- 

 formed him that I was prosecuting some inquiries 

 on tJie history of the cut- worm ; at his request [ 

 promised him, when they were completed, to com- 

 municate them for that journal. Until last year 

 they were not satisfiactorily accomplished. On 

 the 20ih of July, 1841, I took from the root of a 

 cabbage plant a full grown cut-worm, and put it 

 into a glass jar with a little fresh earth, so that 1 

 might observe the changes it underwent. On the 

 30th it had become a chrysalis of a brown maho- 

 gany color, and on the 15tli of August it under- 

 went the last metamorphosis and become a moth, 

 of a grayish hue, and of about one inch in length. 

 These operations and changes were carelully 

 noted in my farming and gardening diary, from 

 which the above extract is made. 



Being then possestjed of the parent motrh, I was 

 enabled to fix on the order, genus and species of 

 the insect ; which are the following: 



Phalaena— ?»o<A, of the order lepidoptera ; 

 flight nocturnal of the assortment noctuse, wings 

 incumbent, antennfe setaceous, of a grayish color, 

 clouded and variegated, about one inch in length. 

 It changes to a chrysalis in July, and the moth 

 appears in August. It lays concealed in the shade 

 of green herbage in the day time, devotes a \e,vt 

 nights to love and sexual embraces, deposites its 

 ova on the stems of green and growing plants 

 near the roots ; when, having perlbrmed these 

 offices appointed by nature for the propagation of 

 its progeny— it dies. The eggs hatch in a few 

 days, the young brosd commence their ravages 

 on the green clover and attain about half their 

 growth the same season, and lie buried at the root 

 in a torpid state during winter. As the warmth 

 of spring reanimates them, they become ready for 



