90 Corn Grubs, or Cut Worms. Fall Ploughing. 



grub; yet the effect was manifest, without the appli- 

 cation of lime. If fall-ploughing yielded no other be- 

 nefits, (and numerous are its advantages,) one would im- 

 agine, that this would be sufficient to recommend it to 

 general adoption. Yet, although the practice has been, 

 of late years more commendably attended * to than for- 

 merly ; it is really deplorable, that it is not more univer- 

 sally followed. Merely ploughing is salutary ; but the har- 

 rowing, and thereby completely separating the clod ; and 

 breaking up, or exposing to the influence of frosts, the 

 depositories of vermin, is equally essential. Besides, 

 the sod being thus separated, and access of air prevent- 

 ed, by harrowing, (and if previously rolled, the better,) the 

 weeds and grass do not, in any great degree, vegetate in 

 the spring. If undisturbed, and they may so remain if 

 the seed be shallow planted, these pests become decayed, 

 or rotted ; and assist, instead of impeding, the growth 

 of the crop. 



I have made extensive inquiries this season ; and I 

 have found, almost universally, that those who fail- 

 ploughed judiciously and in due time, escaped the grub, 

 In some instances where the field was only partially 

 ploughed, or the work ill managed, the grub was more 

 or less injurious ; and I considered these as exceptions 

 to the general fact, without shaking the general princi- 

 ples of the practice. In some fields, only partially fall 

 ploughed, the superior vigour of the corn, is strikingly 

 perceptible. 



Ploughing, or backing up, a few furrows in the 

 spring ; and leaving balks for the worms to feed on, 

 may have partial advantages ; but this is a miserable sub- 

 stitute for fall- ploughing ; and is a disgusting proof of 



