22 Insects hijurious to Vegetation. [Jan., 



infested. The fly is attracted to these fields, and finding a more 

 luxuriant vegetation, and a more shady covert here than elsewhere, 

 and meeting with all the accommodations which it desires, it here 

 remains, even though adjoining fields separated only by an open 

 fence, have come forward sufficiently to aflford at least a part of 

 the brood, quarters eq'ially as comfortable. To us it appears evi- 

 dent, from these premises, that if one or two acres across the mid- 

 dle of a large field be sowed with w^heat about the middle of Au- 

 gust, all the flies in the vicinity will be attracted to this point, 

 and there retained; so that it will be perfectly safe to sow the re- 

 mainder of the field by the middle of September. If the Hessian 

 fly is common in the neighborhood, the early sowed strip will be 

 badly infested. If so, let it be turned under by the plow, either 

 after two or three severe frosts have rendered it certain that the 

 season for depositing the eggs is fully past, or early in the follow- 

 ing spring — resowing it with winter wheat in the former case, or 

 with spring wheat in the latter. By this procedure all the larva 

 will be buried and perish. Only in one contingency, as we can 

 perceive, will this plan be inexpedient or liable to fail, namely, 

 when the flies are present in such vast numbers, that the decoy 

 thus prepared is inadequate fully to accommodate them. Upon this 

 point, the amount of damage done at the preceding harvest, will 

 enable the cultivator to judge with a considerable degree of cer- 

 tainty. The advantages which this plan promises, are, that it 

 draws all the insects of the neighborhood together, and destroys 

 their entire progeny; it enables most of the grain to be sowed as 

 early as is desirable; and finally, there will no second or spring 

 generation come forth in the field to attack any part of the crop. 

 This measure therefore, should receive a fair trial from some in- 

 telligent wheat grower in a district suflfering under this pest. 



10. Deeply covering the seed. — From the letters of A King 

 William Farmer, and from the specimens furnished by him to 

 Mr. Garnett, which are figured in the American Farmer, (vol. 

 ii., p. 174.) the following facts would seem to be conclusively 

 established, to wit; — That when a kernel of wheat is buried to 

 the depth of about three inches, it sends a single stem upwards, 

 which, within an inch of the surface forms a crown, sending from 

 that point a tuft of fibrous roots downwards, and a tuft of blades 

 upwards; these become the main roots and stalks, if undisturbed. 

 But if these be destroyed by the fly, a new set of shoots and 

 roots start directly from the deep buried kernel, and these latter 

 shoots are never attacked by the fly. A kernel but slightly cov- 

 ered, on the other hand, sends up its blades at once directly from 

 the seed; if these be attacked therefore, the whole is destroyed. 

 Such is a brief but plain statement, we believe, of the argument 

 of the King William Farmer. In other words, seed slightly 



