tHE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



101 



writings in ihe Farmers' Rpglster, are marked 

 with soiuul tiense anJ jtidicioiis ohpervMtioii. 



Mr. John S. Skinner has nirain hecoinc the EJi- 

 lor ol' ihe American Farmer. I have lukei'i ii 

 fur the last year, and find it lo contain many valii- 

 ahle papers on agricuhure, horlicuhure and stock, 

 atul perhaps on the prodnciion of silk, seasoned 

 with a h'.ile cookery. I iliink it claims the patron- 

 aye of larmers, |)lanters, graziers, and gentlemen 

 of ilie turf. The mie of specniative philosophy 

 has passed hy. The suhile theories of Hume and 

 the dark oracles of Bolingbroke and Slialisbury 

 are but little known to the present generalion ; the 

 perilous principles of V^ollaire, Helvelius and Con- 

 dorcet, were fully tested by Frenchmen in their ter- 

 rific revolution. They converted civilized men into 

 hordes of savages thirsting (breach other's blood. 

 Science has now taken a new and a better direc- 

 tion. Practical philosophy has become the ruling 

 spirit. Agriculture is novy esteemed among the 

 liberal arts, and men of a high order of talents 

 have enlisted in her service, of whom Sir Hum- 

 phrey Davy, Sir John Sinclair, and the Count 

 Chaptal are among the most distinguished. I 

 have sometimes thought it straniie that inlelli0ent 

 men, who on other subjects seek information from 

 books and papers, on agriculture are satisfied with 

 their own and their neighborhood experience. 

 Our country, in common with the Eastern Shore, 

 Jias suflered by the e.migralion of our citizens, ancl 

 the transportation of the black population; we 

 have not now suffii;ient labor for the cultivation of 

 our lands. Some years ago the tide of adventure 

 set to the south-west, and many were swept into 

 the vortex. But few succeeded, and some returned 

 with ruined fortunes and broken constitutions, and 

 had cause to deplore that they had abandoned the 

 home of their fathers in pursuit of sudden wealth. 

 That large fortunes have been acquired in the 

 new states by fortunate speculation, I readily ad- 

 mit ; but for the purpose of agriculture, I think an 

 exhausted farm might be purchased and improved 

 to more profit than a new settlement made in the 

 new states. Our domestic sources of improve- 

 ment are abundant, and our facilities for market 

 rarely surpassed. Our soil is equally adapted to 

 wheat and Indian corn ; all vegetables and fruits 

 (with the exception of those of the tropics) 

 which grow in all parts of the United States flour- 

 ish here. Apples, pears, peaches and melons at- 

 tain their highest perfection, and the Irish and 

 Bweet potato find a genial soil. Navigable rivers 

 and navigable creeks run into every district ; we 

 stand in no need of turnpikes, canals or rail-roads, 

 which are serious drawbacks to agriculture. That 

 our impoverished lands can he rapidly improved 

 we have abundant proof. The farm of Dr. Tur- 

 pin, which adjoins this town, when purchased by 

 the late Mr. Turpin was greatly exhausted. By 

 his prudence and good judsment it soon became 

 valuable, and I am pleased to see it continue to 

 improve in the hands of his son. 1 have lands 

 which I had ceased to cultivate, deeming t he profits j 

 not equal to the expenses, which by a dressing of! 

 marl and a crop of clover are now in a state of ' 

 profitable production ; and I do not think I make 

 an extravagant estimate when I say that a (arm 

 where an accessible bank of blue marl is disco- 

 vered has added to its value fifty per cent. 



The devastating ware prosecuted by the pow- 

 ers of Europe, for more than thirty years created 



heavy demands (or our bread -stiifl's, and during 

 iluil period wheat ranged from 150 to 200 cents 

 per bushel. Since ihe izeneral peace there has 

 been a great decline in the price anil a diminution 

 ill the |)roducls ; (or the latter, a variety of causes 

 has been assigneil, some have su|iposed the cool- 

 ing of the fires in the centre of the earth ; others 

 that there is an occult native element in the soil 

 nece.-sary to its production which wears out by 

 cultivation, vvhicli no means can restore. I have 

 supposed the fiiilure is lo be found in more obvious 

 cause — the progressive impoverishment of our 

 soil, the inauspicious seasons, and the Hessian Hy. 

 This pernicious insect was unknown to our coun- 

 try till about forty years ago. It appeared first to 

 the norih,and some supposed it was brought over 

 by the Germans, (in their provender) who our old 

 enemy George the 3rd called to his aid lo enforce 

 his roya! authority. This seems lo be an error, 

 a^ there is no such insect known in Germany. 

 Perhaps, like many other insects, it is native lo 

 the country, and, like the tobacco worm and cotton 

 fly, multiplies as cultivation advances. It seems 

 to be a permanent evil fastened upon us, and we 

 can only hope to lessen i's mischiefs. Since I 

 have been absolved from the weighty matters of 

 the law, I have sought for inlbrmaiion upon the 

 habits and operations of this insect, to which I 

 now add my own observation and reflection. It 

 seems agreed that there are regular flighis of the 

 Hessian, fly in the fall and'sprinir, dependent, as lo 

 lime, upon the giaie of the weaiher. I believe 

 that it is ihe natural hislory of the winged insects, 

 that ihey lay iheir eggs upon the leaves of trees 

 or plants, and I have supposed that the llessinn 

 fly, lays upon the blade of the wheat, and alter the 

 egg is hatched the maggot hy i.".stincl seeks the 

 folds of the wheat where it is (ound. Animals 

 and birds seek places of salely (or their yonnor, and 

 the ties of nature are not dissolved till ihey can 

 take rare of themselves ; but it would be placing 

 the Hessian fly in point of sagacity before other 

 insects of the same class, to suppose it sought the 

 folds of wheal as a safe deposit (or its eggs. My 

 theory is, and I shall refer to some facts to support 

 it, that if the egg is hatched on ihe blade of the 

 wheat in its young and tender stale, that its soft 

 and smooth surface enables it lo make its way 

 and penetrate the folds of ihe wheat; but if the 

 blade has some growth if becomes comparatively 

 rough, and the maggot finds the ohsiruction too 

 great (or its strength and perishes, li rarely hap- 

 pens that wheat sown after ihe weather becomes 

 cool is injured by the (iill fly. Cool weather para- 

 lizes stronger insects, as house and vvood flies and 

 musquitoes. If wheat be sown in the fill soon 

 after the fly is disarmed by the weather, in well 

 improved lands, it will take good root by winter, 

 and in the spring it will get such a growth that it 

 will resist thefly after itis hatched, unless there be 

 a very early burst of warm weather. You may 

 esteem my views visionary, I do not advance them 

 with great confi(]ence, but thev are not the result 

 of random speculation. In 1838 I sowed two fields 

 in wheat adjoining each other, one in October and 

 the other in November; the soil (or the most part 

 was the same, both had been marled and otherwise 

 improved and neatly equal in size. The field sown 

 in October took good root before winter and grew 

 ofi well in the spring; the field sown in November 

 canie up well, but was checked by the early frost. 



