4-14 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 7 



where, which were reaped last year, were lliis sea- 

 Ron covered with cheat, which urew thick enou<rh 

 in many ca!=os lo he niowiui for liay ; not a fitalk 

 (>f wheat in the whole. The drouijjht of hist sea- 

 son prevented ihe shnitered <^rain from comin<^ up 

 on the stubble fields, until hue enough lo escape 

 injury from insects or other con)mon causes, and 

 the ground about tlie routs, being uncultivated and 

 hard, ar tbii branches being too thick-set, and 

 Foots shallow, or some other cause, I suppose 

 strangled Ihe stalks, cut oH' the nutriment, and so 

 occasioned the degeneracy of lh,e grain. I am 

 dispot^ed to I'avor the first theory I'rom the fact of a 

 gentleman in Buckinirham having, as 1 learn, 

 reaped 500 bushels of wheat from a stubble field 

 o.f iiist year, which had been much rooted up by 

 ilog? during the winter, (and thus received what 

 may have been equivalent to a partial ploughing 

 or harrowing,) while the adjacent field oia neigh- 

 bor, similarly circumstanced, except that it was 

 untouched; produced nothing but cheat. 



I have h-eretofbre been skeptical on this subject, 

 notwithstanding the dwided convictions of many 

 very intelligent and credible gentlemen with whom 

 I liad conferred on the tojiic ; nay, had joined 

 in tiie ridicule of an idea apparently so unphiloso- 

 phi:cal, St) directly op|)Osed to the ordinary pro- 

 ceedings of nature ; had even thought it impossi- 

 ble, and that any man of sense who could enter- 

 tain it, must, quoa4 hoc, be under some strange 

 Jiallucinalion. But I yield lo the evidence ol' 

 sense, exhibited on so broad a scale as seems to 

 prevent the possibility of imposition. 



THE CHIKCH-BUGS. 



To ttiu Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Dinwiddle, July ISth, 1839. 



The chinch-bugs being S'-> destructive last spring 

 amongst our wlieat and oat crops, in different parts 

 of the country, 1 lelt well assured our corn fields 

 would be anijiiy supplied with them after harvest. 

 I then concluded tlie next time 1 went to Peters- 

 burg lo become a subscriber to the Farmers' Re- 

 gister, hoping that some of your subscribers would 

 discover something respecting the chinch-bugs 

 Utat would be of considerable service to me. My 

 calculation as ye,t has not been realized, but, take 

 it on the whole, I am very much pleased with it. 

 However, so far as the chinch-bugs are concerned, 

 vny calculations have been realized beyond my ex- 

 pect ai ions. 



A lew days beH^re I commenced harvesting, I 

 was wallcitiiT over one of my corn fields that con- 

 tained aboiu forty odd acres, I examined Bomething 

 like eight nr ten stalks in different directions of the 

 field, and lliere were some few on every stalk ex- 

 cept two. And they have continued lo increase 

 ever since in spots, beyond calculation. Where 

 they had their origin, or where they will end, I 

 leave it to others more competent to tell than I am. 



As I am quite t\ young man, and this is the first 

 year that 1 have settled down to larminij, it is not 

 to be presumed that I shall he able to give as cor- 

 rect and satisfactory an account ag you and your 

 rimders may desire. It appears that the chinch- 

 bugs made their appearance this last lime, some 

 four or five years ago, although there was not 

 puch complaint until year before last ; and they 



have continued to increase, and make their ap 

 pearance much sooner in the spring, and have been* 

 more destructive every year since. 'I'liey are 

 small and l)lack, with while wings. In their form 

 they are close and compact, and appear to be of a 

 hardy nature. { think they are pretty much the 

 size of a bed chinch. Whatever kind of crop they 

 get among they stick around il next to the ground;, 

 although I have seen them scaii£red ail over the 

 stalks of corn, the blades, and even down into ifie 

 hud. There were a great many experiments tried 

 last year, and are likewise trying this year to destroy 

 them, hut the result of any experiment that has- 

 lieen tried I am not prepared at this time lo speak 

 of with any degree of accuracy. I was infornnd 

 a lew days since by one of my neighbors, that 

 those who examined the old fields early last spring 

 discovered there were a great many chinch-bugs 

 about in the l)room straw ; and I have heard from 

 another source that a farmer on examining into- 

 his old corn stalks discovered a great many con- 

 cealed inside of the stalk. I am disposed lo think 

 that if the farmers would all turn in early next 

 spring and burn over the woods and old fields, and, 

 likewise burn up the old corn stalks, it would de- 

 stroy I hem in a great measure. 



It is the opinion ol'some larmeis thai if it should 

 turn in wet weather that they will not be as de- 

 structive as they otherwise would be. But it is 

 said by others that the wet weailier will do no 

 good ; I am inclined to think that the opinion of 

 ihe Ibrmer is founded on riwht reasoning. The 

 ijreatest quantity I ever saw togetlier was in a 

 lijrmer's wheat patch soon after Ihe wheat was 

 cut. About in spots Ihe grass was completely killed 

 out. and nearly every kind ol' vegetation was stuck 

 with them. Dekmaek. 



IMPORTANCE OF PROPER SELECTION OF SILK- 

 WORMS' EGGS. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 

 NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN EGGS. 



In the last number, we stated that it was of 

 great importance to a successful result in rearing 

 silk-worms to have eggs of a good and healthy 

 stock, and especially of home or southern, in pre- 

 ference to a northern source of supply. Later and 

 numerous facts have so much confirmed that opi- 

 nion, that we deem it proper to repeat and lo en- 

 deavor to enforce it. 



The recent and new demand for silk-worms' 

 eggs in thia region, induced sundry orders to be 

 sent to the north, the point to which our country- 

 men send for every thing wanted, even when a 

 little search might provide better articles nearer 

 home. The supplies of northern eggs were fur- 

 nished to Petersburg, and thence to the adjacent 

 country, from sundry different sources, through 

 different channels, and were of different varieties 

 of worm?. There were also several small parcels 

 of Virginian eggs, and a larger stock from East 

 Tennessee. Ten ounces of the latter stock hatch- 

 ed prematurely (beginning on April 13lh,) and 

 being unsalable, the eggs were given away to all 

 persons who would take them, for trials of rearing. 



