170 [Assembly 



Col. Clark stated, in relalion to the wheat crop at the north, that a 

 yellow insect had infested the wheat fields for some years. The in- 

 sect enters just as the grain is changing from the blossom to the milk. 

 The remedy is to scatter slacked lime over the field m a windy day. 

 He then referred to the peach, and enumerated some of the causes of 

 its failure. The worm which has been of so much injury, is the pro- 

 duct of a long wasp. In speakmg of the substitution of crops, he 

 strongly recommended the introduction of the almond. Silk, too, 

 could be introduced and cultivated to much advantage. From Maine 

 to the south-western boundary of Texas, there was not one acre of 

 land that might not be profitably devoted to silk. The advantages of 

 France and Italy are not to be compared to those enjoyed by every 

 farmer in the United States. 



Dr. Wait said Delaware, too, had been annoyed by the fly, and quite 

 as extensively as any other state ; but since the introduction of the 

 Mediterranean wheat it had entirely disappeared. 



The President — What fly ? 



Dr. W. — It is that which produces its injury by inserting its sling 

 into the straw ; not that which is found farther north. 



Mr. Robinson said he had been delighted with the description of 

 various fine fruits ; but if we partook too freely of any of them, the 

 consequence would be a disarrangement of the system, demanding 

 not unfrequently a medicine to which he wished to call their attention, 

 and which could be produced in abundance, exhibiting at the jame 

 lime a section of the Palma chrislia (castor oil bean). It was a 

 transverse section, about one inch in thickness and over 18 inches in 

 diameter. This bean grew in Washington, Miss., and was when cut, 

 20 feet high, and its branches would sustain the weight of a man 10 

 feet from the ground. 



Gen. TalliTiadge alluded to the Hessian fly. He said it took its 

 name from the fact that it made its first appearance in the country 

 about the time of the revolution, and was by some supposed to have 

 been introduced by the straw brought over by the troops furnished by 

 the Prince of Hesse. He described also another fly called the Can- 

 adian Fly, stating it was gradually moving south, had shown itself 

 in Rensselaer and Columbia counties, and had lastly appeared in 

 Dutchess. 



