Season of IS16. 199 



Springfield, Delaware Co. June 6, 1817. 



Sir, 

 Seeing that the Agricultural Society are desirous of 

 ascertaining what modes of previous preparation of the 

 soil have been found to prevent the corn grub, or cut 

 worm, I will give the information as respects myself. 

 Late in the month of March last, I ploughed a twelve 

 acre field all up, and harrowed it well ; I then marked it 

 out both ways, four feet, and planted my corn the first 

 week in May. The cut worm destroyed the whole of 

 the corn. I ploughed about eight acres, by backing two 

 furrows together, and was careful to plough about four 

 inches deep, and that none of the furrows fell back, to 

 give the worm any chance of getting up on the ridge ; 

 this I did about the middle of April. In order that I 

 should work it both ways, and that there should be no 

 marks made, to enable the worms to get to the hills of 

 corn, I got my light cart, and put a man in to drive the 

 horse, and a boy to move the poles, and that made a suf- 

 ficient mark to plant my corn : — the cut worms have not 

 destroyed one hill in a thousand. There are great quan- 

 tities of them, which feed on the grass, and one would 

 suppose, to see where they have eaten the grass, that 

 sheep had been in. Spots are eaten entirely bare. They 

 have suffered very much by getting into the furrows, they 

 being so deep, that the grubs have not been able to get 

 out. I am now ploughing up the middles, and my corn 

 is sufficiently large to harrow, which I intend doing as 

 soon as I finish ploughing. There is one other way, that 

 will, in my opinion, completely destroy the worm, that is, 

 in the spring, as soon as the worm makes its appearance, 



