352 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



dining position in a furrow, and had been on the 

 watch but a minute or two, before I discovered a 

 number of small black flies alighiing and sitting 

 on the wheat plants around me, and presently one 

 settled on the ridged surface of a blade ol a plant, 

 completely within my reach and distinct observa- 

 tion. She immediately began depositing her eggs 

 in the loncriiudinai cavity between the little ridges 

 of the blade. I could distinctly see the eggs 

 ejected from a kind of tube or sting. Alter she 

 had deposited eight or ten eggs, I easily caught 

 her upon the blade, and wrapped her up in a 

 piece of paper. I then proceeded to take up the 

 plant, with as much as I conveniently could ol the 

 circumjacent earth, and wrapped it all securely 

 in a piece of paper. After that I continued my 

 observations on the flies, caught several similarly 

 occupied, and could see the eggs unilormly placed 

 in the longitudinal cavities ol the blades of the 

 wheat ; th'eir appearance being that of minute 

 reddish specks. My own mind being thus com- 

 pletely and fully sa'isfied as to the mode in which 

 thecf^g was deposited, I proceeded directly to triy 

 dwelhng, and put the plant with the eggs upon it, 

 in a large glass tumbler, adding a little water to 

 the eartTi, and secured the v^essel by covering it 

 with paper so that no insect could get access to 

 the interior. The paper was sufficiently perforated 

 with pin holes for the admission of air. The 

 tumbler with its contents was daily watched by 

 myself to discover the hatching of the eggs. 

 About the middle ofthe fifteenth day from the de- 

 posile of the eggs, 1 was so fortunate as to disco- 

 ver a very small maggot or worm, of a reddish 

 cast, making i*s way with considerable activity 

 down the blade, and saw it till it disappear- 

 ed between the blade and stem of ihe plant, 'rhis, 

 I have no doubt, was the produce of one ol the 

 eags, and would, 1 presume, have hatched much 

 sooner, had the plant remained in the field. It 

 was my intention to have carried on the experi- 

 ment, by endeavoring to hatch out the insect Irom 

 the flax-seed state into the perfect fly again ; but 

 being called from home, the plant was suffered to 

 perish. The fly that 1 caught on the blade ofthe 

 wheat, as above stated, 1 enclosed in a letter to 

 Mr. John S. Skinner, the editor ofthe " American 

 Farmer," of Baltimore, who pronounced it to be a 

 genuine Hessian fly, and identical in appearance 

 with others recenily received from Virginia." 



The best modes of preventing the ravages of the 

 Hessian fly are thus staled by Mr. Herrick : — 

 " The stouter varieties of wheat ought always to 

 be chosen, and the land should be kept in good 

 condition. If fall wheat is sown late, some ofthe 

 eggs will be avoided, but risk of winter-killing the 

 plants will be incurred. If cattle are permitted to 

 graze the wheat fields during the fall, they will de- 

 vour many of the eggs. A large number of the 

 pupa? may be destroyed by burning the wheat 

 Btubble immediately after harvest, and then plow- 

 ing and harrowing the land. This method will 

 undoubtedly do much good. As the Hessian fly 

 also lays its eggs, to some extent, on rye and bar- 

 ley, these crops should be treated in a similar 

 manner." 



CANADA THISTLES. 



From tlie New Genesee Farmer. 



This communication deserves particular atten- 

 tion. 



Mr. Henry CbZman— An allusion appears to be 

 made in the May number of the New Genesee 

 Farmer, to a conversation with you when you 

 were in this place, some little time since, relative to 

 the destruction of that pest, the Canada 

 thistle. 



The way of doing it, which is both sure and 

 certain and attended with but little expense, 

 would be profitably expended in any land inlested 

 with any toul weeds or worn down by shallow 

 ploughings. All ihe foul seeds in the ground 

 would sprout and be destroyed and the ground be 

 left in first rate order lor wheat, or almost any 

 other crop : and if the ploughings could be made 

 twelve inches deep, the wheat would not be much 

 liable to get winter killed. And if the same 

 amount of green vegetation could be ploughed 

 under that would be in the thistle patches, the 

 good effects thereof would be lasting, as much so, 

 or more, than a heavy coat of manure. In a visit 

 to my brother Aaron, then livmg in South Le Roy, 

 in 1841, but now Pavilion, 1 noticed that the 

 wheal on a pan ol his field was twice as large as 

 on other parts. I inquired of him how it happen- 

 ed that there was such a difference in his wheat. 



! says he, that is where my old thistle bed 

 was six years ago, that the wheat is so stout. I 

 can leel the difference where the thisffes were 

 the moment the plough strikes it ; the land is 

 more mellow, and the plough inclined to go deep- 

 er than in any other parts of the field. The way 



1 took to destroy them, eays he, 1 commenced 

 ploughing them about the first ol June, in the 

 most"carelul and thorough manner, taking spe- 

 cial care that not a single thistle root should 

 escape the plough. A mouth from that time 1 

 ploughed again in the same careful manner,— 

 and In another month 1 ploughed again ; the 

 lourlti month 1 ploughed it again, making lour 

 ploughings, not harrowing it at all, that it should 

 be lelt in the same order at each time as the 

 plough left it, excepting the last time, when it was 

 in high order lor the sowing of wheat. Not a 

 particle of any foul weed appeared upon it, and I 

 got as fine a crop of wheal as I ever had on any 

 lands, and not a single particle of a thistle 

 could be found among the wheat when 1 har- 

 vested it. , 



I have not the least doubt if any person troubled 

 with thistles, or any other foul weeds, will Ibllow 

 the method here laid down, in as thorough a man- 

 ner as my brother did, ih'^y would be uiterly and 

 completely destroyed. 



Thus it may be seen that the entire destruction 

 of the pest costs nothing ; it is merely a superior 

 method of preparing the land for a crop ol wheat, 

 and thai the extra expense will be lound to be 

 more than compensated by an extra crop of wheat 

 and the finer tilth in which the land will be lelt, 

 when the wheat is taken from it, over that ma- 

 naged in the common way. 



1 am, respectfully, your friend, &c. 



Thomas Tufts. 



Le Roy, June 9 th, 1842. 



