NEW EMIil.ANB FAIIMEIS. 



PtMished by John B. Rdsseli,, at JVo. 52 A/orth Market Street, (over the Agricultural Warehouse). — Thomas G. Fessendek, Editor. 



VOL. VII. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 1828. 



INo. 5. 



AGRICUL,TUIIE. 



We publish Ihc followiii"' exlrncl of a letter fiom a (jentlem^in 

 ill Washtenaw County, !Micliio^:ii}, to the C^tor of the New 

 Eii^IanH Farmer, as a pood commont on ihelpnefi<-ial efTfcK- 

 oi Intertial Improvement. Wlio vvoulH li-ive jTedicted. 'en 

 years siiiee. of a car^o of Flour in-insf sent trom the inferltr rii' 

 .Mirhigau to Boston, and sold profitalily at 5 or G dollars i-nr- 

 barrel. We i-ecollect the anecdote of tweni}- barrels of j^r;.in 

 beino^ sent from New York city to Sat'ket's Harbor, about si.t 

 teen yeai's since. It was of course transported in wagons; 

 eii^l barrels of the grain were consumcfl by the horses on their 

 journey— yb"/- left for the use of the troops — and eight more rrt-' 

 lained for the horses on their return. 



" Thp i-offitlaiity with which I receive the New 

 Enulaii'l Fai'iiiei', merits something be.sides a mere 

 acknowleds;pnieiit. Btit money is so extremely 

 scarce here, that I shall be imder the necessity of 

 (leferrinsc (layment until fall, when I intend to 

 make a shiptiient of Flour to Boston, when \oii 

 can take, on account, two barrels of otir ]\Iicbi"-ai>. 

 which you v.'ill find not inferior to the best Gen- 

 esee Flour. Our wheat harvest has been favor- 

 able this season, and the weather fine for harvest- 

 ing it : and, above all, we have been blessed \\^itli 

 a remarkably healthy season." 



GATHERING WHEAT. 



Mr Fessendf..\ — I saw in a late New England 

 Fanner, the niethpd the English sometimes adopt 

 to out their wheat. I believe (for I have not the 

 jtaper before me) the New Encyclopedia is credit- 

 ed tlierefor, as it respects the description. Ut.v- 

 ing for several years past either cradled or mowed 

 tiiy wheat, the method abovementioned appeared 

 to iiie so reasonable, at the same time so simple, 

 that with one horn's work I was enabled to briiiit 

 it into o]ier:ilion, much to my proijt and satisfac- 

 tion. I found on trial that one of the bows coiilil 

 be dispensed with, by adding a preventer brace, 

 or regulator, thus : 



-V«2, 



The EnglLsh, il would seem, ha\e the standing 

 grain on their left. On trial I found it had better 

 stand on the right, the same as grass, with a boy 

 to follow to place the grain which the scythe 

 leaves, at an angle of 15 degrees to the direction 

 of the mower. The bow luay stand at a right 

 angle with the scythe and regidated by the brace 

 according as the grain stands, or leans ; its length, 

 according to the length of straw to be cut ; luiiie 

 is about 20 inches Irom the heel of the scythe.- 

 Three small holes the size to receive a rake boiv, 

 is all that is needed in the snead made use of for 

 grass, as the bow and brace can be taken out in a 

 moment. 



The acre of wheat cut by me the present seas- 

 • oa was strawed sutiicicntly large, for 40 bushels, 

 bad not our abundant rains beat down half t!ie 

 field -v\here the straw was most abundant and at 

 a season when the kernel had but half filled.— 

 The crop is a good oue, howe\»i-, as the sample 

 accompanying tlds^^ll rffK-lmc. This wheat is 



known by the name of the Oilman Wheat, its 

 great prodtict having drawn the premium six years 

 iti eiii^hl. I was a little more than seven hours in 

 cutting the acre. Four irien with sickles wt.iiid 

 probaltly have been a longer tiine, with a further 

 loss of twice the heads or ears wliero the grain 

 was lodged.. As the scythe was laid clo.se to the 

 ground (the field having been rolled in the sjjriiig, 

 after pickiiig off the larger stones) the rakes fol- 

 lowed tlic binding, thereby saving all. To have 

 cradled it would have been impossible. 



As an apology for troubling you with this, the 

 writer will merely mention his conviction for 

 years, that the agriculture of New England iiiu.st 

 rise, or her hardy sons must /oW. 



Yours, &c. 

 Fitchburg, Aug. 15, 1S28. P. WILLIAMS. 



lOR THi: KEW ENGLAND lARMEU. 

 INSECTS. 



Mr Fessesde>,— I take the liberty to send you 

 a limb of an apple tree, with nn animal, with eight 

 or ten letrs, two and a half inches long, which 

 stuck so fast to the litnb, that the person who cut 

 it off, tliought the limb was affected with the can- 

 ker, and in cutting it off, the aiiimal to his great 

 'tirprise moved. As no one in this neighborhood 

 ever saw an anitiial of this kind before, I thought 

 it might be a public benefit, to have some agricul 

 tural gentleman examine it, and if any thing new, 

 to have a description of it made public. 



A SUBSCRIBER. 

 JVewhuryport, Aug. 5, 1828. 



On the receipt of the above, we forwarded the 

 insect together with the litnb of the apjtle tree, to 

 wliich it was attached to Dr. T. W. Harris, of 

 Milton, Mass. wdiose investigations as a naturalist, 

 and entomologist, have been highly honorable to 

 himself, and essentially serviceable to the interests 

 of agriculture. Dr. Harris, in reply, sent the 

 following communication, which will be read with 

 an interest, proportioned to the science and the 

 utility of the suggestions it developes : 

 THOMAS G. FESSENDEN, Esq. 



Dear Sir, — Your note tflf the 6th inst. w,is re- 

 ceived on Saturday evening. The box with its 

 contents, sent you from Newburyport, arrived safe- 

 ly. The insect, which was a caterpillar, belong- 

 ing to the nocturnal LepidojJtera, had formed its 

 cocoon beneath the cover of the box, and was al- 

 ready changed to a chiTsalis, in which state ii 

 will probably remain until next spring. Should 

 it however, become a perfect insect before that 

 time, (as is .sometimes the case) you shall be in- 

 formed of it, and of the genus to which it belongs, 

 which cannot till then be determined. 



The cocoon, or rather demi-cocoon, resembles 

 brown paper in color and texture, and has inter- 

 mingled, in its construction, a few hairs evidently 

 derived from the body of the caterpillar. In fbriii 

 it is oblong, oval, and flattened ; and is complete 

 only on one side, the corresponding side being re- 

 |ilaced by the cover of the box. By making a hole 

 through the box above, I was enabled to see the 

 chrysalis, which is of the common shape, and a- 

 bout one inch long. It was alive and moved its 

 tail Aery briskly when disturbed. 



The caterpillar undoubtedly fed on the leaves 

 of the tree on which it was discovered. It ap- 

 peared to have ceased feeding, having fixed itself 

 firmly by its feet to the bark of the tree, prepara- 

 tory to co\oring itself with its cocoon. 



It will be well to apprize your readers that the 

 second lirood of slug worms uill shortly appear, 

 some of them as soon as the 15tii. of the presen; 

 ntonth. The first brood was numerous, and ac- 

 cording to former experience, the second will 

 greatly exceed it in numbers. Those who have 

 young and valuable trees had best immediatelj 

 (irnvide themselves with the simple apparatus for 

 sifting ashes, &c. on the leaves, as recomineuded 

 by Mr Lowell. 



You may have observed that the squash and 

 other cucurbitaceous vines frequently die, during 

 this month, down to the root. On e.^amining the 

 stalk, near the root, you may discover a smai! 

 wliitish grub, which lives in the centre, and is the 

 cause of this preiriuture decay. The grub, ivhei; 

 it has atti1i.^ed its full size, is about one inch long :' 

 it then enters the ground, Ibrms a cocoon of 

 coarse silky substance covered with grams of 

 earth, and becotnes a chrysalis. This survives 

 the winter, and about the last of June or first of 

 July the jterVert insect is disclosed. It is nearly 

 related to the Peach-tree insect, and belongs to 

 the same genus. It iloes not appear to have been, 

 described by Linnteus nor Fabricius. Still, as I 

 have not access to many of the works containing 

 descripiltii.H if .American insects, I cannot confi- 

 dently pronounce it to be a nShdcscript, and there- 

 fore give it a sjiecific name provisionally, only til! 

 it shall prove to be entitled to an older one. 



JEgcria Cucurbita:. — Body tuv/iiy, vv^ith four or 

 five black dorsal spots ; anterior wings olivaceou.s 

 brown ; posterior wings, except the margin and 

 nervnres, hyaline ; tibiie and tarsi of the hind legs 

 densely (ringed with fulvous and black hairs. 

 Length of the body three-tenths of an inch. '"The 

 wings ex])and one inch and one quarter. 



The above brief description will serve to iden- 

 tify the female, and the specific name will indicate 

 the genus of plants on which the larva feeds. 



On the lOth of July I observed one of these in- 

 sects in the act of depositing her eggs. She con- 

 tinued flying and frequently alighting near the 

 roots of the vines, and each time she alighted bent 

 the tail downwards to drop an egg. So intent 

 was she in this business, that she suflered me to 

 approach very near and remain watching her a 

 long tinre without being alarmed. 



As the eggs are deposited and the larvas make 

 their first attacks near the root, it may be sug- 

 gested to your agricultural tWends, that, possibly 

 smearing the vines round their roots with blubber 

 oil may repel tbe invader. The experiment, to 

 be successful, should be made early in July. 



The antunmal caterpillar, or, as it is ccmmonly 

 called, wcb-worin, has made its ajipearance hi o-reat 

 numbers. Not only our forest and ornamental 

 trees, but our fruit trees are now disfigured ^^itll 

 their webs. The eggs are deposited in a clustei- 

 on a leaf near the extremity of a branch. The 

 young larva, when hatched (which happens from 

 the last of June till the middle of August, some 

 broods beirg early, others late,) cover the upper 



