580 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 10 



tended for hay-making or grazing, for this pur- 

 pose, it is very liable" to be (oiled. Clover-seed 

 may, however, be gathered from large fields. These, 

 I have been in the habit of gathering with a clover- 

 comb, drawn by a horse— such as is describee! and 

 represented by a plate in the first volume of the 

 American Farmer. With this implement they 

 may be gathered, in clean grounds, with more fa- 

 cility and rapidity than by any other mode 

 known to me. My grounds have of late been in- 

 fested by a species of stick-weed, bearing a small 

 white blossom in autumn, which not only pre- 

 vents the use of the implement, but, by over- 

 shadowing the clover, greatly diminishes the crop 

 of seed. 



I cannot close these hurried remarks, without 

 pressing on your attention the value of the root- 

 crops, more especially the mangel wurtzel, beet, 

 and ruta baga turnip. Either of them may be 

 raised in great, quantities on ordinary corn land, it 

 manured in the drills, and occasionally top-dressed 

 through the season. This last labor may be per- 

 formed by women and children. I pray you, try 

 these crops. The first should be sown in April, 

 the last, about the 25th of June. Ruta baga tur- 

 nips have lost character, and been discarded by 

 many, because they would not come to maturity 

 when sown late. These may be raised to great 

 advantage, if drilled between cabbages, straws- 

 berries, &c. in the garden, and slightly top-dress- 

 ed. My beeves, milch cows, pigs, &c. are now 

 enjoying these roots, and I am highly pleased 

 with their effects. I mix and boil them with 

 other kinds of food, which are not succulent. The 

 improvement in the milk, in quantity and quality, 

 since feeding on mangel wurtzel is very manifest, 

 and the cows have fattened remarkably. 



I have, now, sir, according to the best of my 

 ability, and the little interrupted portions of lei- 

 sure allowed me, given you some of my desulto- 

 ry, and of course, tedious views, on the improve- 

 ment of land. I have not done this, from a vain 

 belief that I was capable of being a teacher of ag- 

 riculture; but because I felt the force of your strong 

 call for attention to the subject of improving "poor 

 land." While I consider most of the schemes 

 for speedily and easily effecting such a purpose as 

 entirely visionary, I do believe that with great la- 

 bor, judiciously applied, poor lands may be profita- 

 bly improved. Let any candid man go into the 

 county of Fluvanna — somewhat proverbial for its 

 poor land — and observe what fine crops of wheat 

 and tobacco are raised — how w r ell the people live, 

 and what fine people many of them are — let him 

 notice the tracks made by some of the patriotic 

 citizens of that county, for many miles from their 

 dwellings, in the way of improving roads, and 

 other public-spirited efforts, and he could not find 

 it in his heart to discourage their hopes of im- 

 proving their "poor lands." Even if such regions 

 cannot be made rich, they form much of the 

 strength of our state — and had much better remain 

 as they are, than be abandoned. 



On parting, I tender you my best wishes, hoping 

 to hearfrom you occasionally in the "Register." 



"In ploughman phrase, "God send you speed," 



Still daily to grow wiser — 

 And may you better reck the rede 



Than e'er did the adviser." 



Yours, 



M. N. 



From the British Cyclopedia. 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHEESE MITE, 

 OR JUMPEK. 



A small white fleshy grub of an elongaled 

 form, often found in decayed cheese, and which is 

 the larva of a pretty two-winged fly, known by 

 the systematic name of Piopiiila casei. Of this 

 insect the immortal Swammerdam has left us an 

 interesting account; and though to unthinking per- 

 sons it may appear to be a frivolous subject of in- 

 quiry, we find the illustrious philosopher affirming 

 "that the limbs and other parts of this worm are 

 so uncommon and elegant, and contrived with so 

 much art and design, that it is impossible not to 

 acknowledge them the work of infinite power arid 

 wisdom, to which nothing is hid, nothing impos- 

 sible." It has been a common error that these in- 

 sects were bred spontaneously from the cheese, 

 and epicures accordingly do not hesitate to eat 

 them with great gout, thinking them formed from 

 the very best of the cheese, whereas they are pro- 

 duced from eggs deposited therein by the parent 

 fly. These larva are long, cylindrical, and com- 

 posed of twelve rings, the first of which is furnish- 

 ed with two small bent hooks of a black color, 

 which serve not only as teeth, but for feet also, the 

 insect having no other organs employed as legs. 

 The terminal segment of the body is covered with 

 a variety of prominent tubercles and little cavities 

 like wrinkles, of which we will presently see the 

 use. When this larva prepares to leap, it first 

 erects itself on its anus, in doing which it is great- 

 ly assisted by the prominent tubercles of the ter- 

 minal ring, which enable it 1o maintain an equili- 

 brium. It then bends itself into a circle, and ha- 

 ving brought the head towards the tail, it stretches 

 out the two hooks of the mouth, fixing them into 

 the two cavities at the extremity of the body. It 

 then contracts the body from a circular to 

 an oblong figure, the contraction extending ir 

 a manner to every part of the body. It nov 

 suddenly, and with great violence lets go its 

 hold, and the elastic force of the body returning to 

 its natural position, produces a leap to a conside- 

 rable height and distance, at least twenty-four 

 times greater than the length of its own body. 

 Here we cannot but admire the powers given by 

 nature to different creatures, and their limitations, 

 to answer different purposes, and not for mischief 

 to mankind. If, for instance, a power of motion, 

 proportionably equal to that possessed by this in- 

 sect, had been given to the serpent tribes, how 

 much more terrible would they not have been ren- 

 dered, than with their present capabilities? A vi- 

 per would throw itself nearly a hundred feet 

 upon the traveller, and the rattle-snake severs' 

 hundred. 



Swammerdam, after giving a minute account of 

 the external and internal anatomy of this creature, 

 ol)serves, "now let the sharpest geniuses, and 

 men of the greatest penetration and learning, 

 judge if a creature, on the fabric of which there 

 plainly appears so much art, order, contrivance, 

 and wisdom, nay, in which is seen the hand itself 

 of the omnipotent God, could possibly be the pro- 

 duction of chance or rottenness?" The female fly 

 is provided at. the extremity of the body with a 

 very fine retractile borer or ovipositer, wherewith 

 she pierces the cheese and at the same time de- 

 posites her eggs in the wound thus made. Shortly 



