THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



301 



few fixeil principles amonfifst afjriculturists, and 

 very difficiili lo account for. There is scarcely 

 a sinde point that seems to be i'ully settled, and 

 that we do not hear controverted by men ol 

 sense and experience. Ae lonoj as this continues 

 10 be the case, we may despair ol any great pro- 

 gress in improvement.. Many very successful 

 and observant liirraers, with the advantage 0/ 

 long experience too, contend for grazing from the 

 time clover is fully headed, as necessary lo insure 

 heavy crops of wheat; taking care, however, 

 not to graze the land too long, or too closely ; 

 and this ir.decd appears to be the prevailing 

 opinion amongst the best managers of my ac- 

 quaintance. The experience of others, however, 

 is that the more clover turned in, the larger will 

 be the crops of both wheat and corn, and the 

 greater the improvemei^.t of the land. Perhaps 

 the use of lime and marl, or perhaps the nature 

 of the soil, may satisfactorily account for this dil- 

 ference of opinion. 



I have recently learned, from the highest autho- 

 rity, that rye is fast substituting the place of clover 

 as an improver in Ohio. The rye is sown at tlie 

 last working of the crop of corn, and at maturi- 

 ty hogs are turned in to get all the benefit they 

 can Irom the grain, on which they are said to 

 thrive very rapidly, and the land is thought to be 

 very much improved at the same time. There 

 is often a second crop, without oiher cultivation 

 than is afforded by the rooting of the hogs, Irom 

 the seed left in the straw, or dropped by the hoas. 

 Kye is not very well suited to this climate, but 

 perhaps on light, thin lands, that cannot be relied 

 on to bring clover, this may prove to be a valua- 

 ble practice even here. 



On all lands adapted to the clover culture, 

 the result of my own very limited experience is, 

 ihat clover is the most valuable ol all putres- 

 cent manures, because applied at less expense 

 and more extensively than any other means of 

 improvement, known to me, will profitably admit 

 of I would decidedly prefer giving up all other 

 manures in use amongst us, with the exception 

 of lime and marl alone, rather than abandon the 

 cultivation of clover, of which it seems to me 

 very difficult to give the land too much. Indeed, 

 without the use of clover, the effects of lime and 

 marl would in my opinion be diminished at least 

 one half. 



Our wheat and clover are sufficiently advanced, 

 and promise well, but the prospect for corn is bad 

 beyond precedent. W. B. H. 



Prince George, May I5th, 1841. 



HESSIAN FLY AND OTHER WHEAT INSECTS. 

 From Ihe Farmers' Cabinet. 



The Hessian fly, I believe, first made its ap- 

 pearance on Long Island, N. Y., in 1776, or soon 

 after the Hessians were there, and is supposed to 

 have been introduced among so.me straw which 

 they brought with them; hence the name; but 

 the laie Judge Peters, ihat great friend and patron 

 of agriculture, in his notices for a young farmer, 

 says, that the insect was unknown in Hesse, " that 

 its name does not prove its importation, for that 

 appellation was bestowed during our revoluiionary 

 excitements, when every thing we disliked was 

 called Hessian." The insect has been accurately 



I described by Mr. Say and Dr. Chapman; but 

 I Mr. Say was mistaken reepeciing the deposiie, as 

 the aperture which he noticed in the sheath of 

 the leaf, was occasioned by the insect passing 

 [into the winged state, and not perl()ralod in the 

 ! act of depositing its eggs. The fly is of a dark 

 I color, about the size of the mosquito, and the n)ale 

 { much like it, except the wings ; the body of the 

 j lemale is larger ; the wings rest horizontally, and 

 where they join the body are almost pointed, gra- 

 dually expanding towards the other end, where 

 they form nearly a semicircle. The egg is scarce- 

 ly discernible to the naked eye, is oblong, of a 

 ! pale red or amber color, and placed in the gutter 

 ' of the leaf, fr-om half an inch to an inch or more 

 ! from the stalk ; the caterpillar, of a pale red color, 

 is hatched in a few days' time, (according to the 

 state of the weather,) and passes down the leaf to 

 itsjunction with the stalk, thence between the 

 siieath and stalk, to near the root or joint; it 

 there becomes stationary, feeds on the sap of the 

 plant, and, being l»lanchpd by its covering, is 

 mistaken lor the egg. The first deposiie takes 

 place fi'om the fifteenth to the last of April, (as the 

 season may be,) changes to the pupa from the first 

 to the middle of May, and evolves in the winged 

 stale, the latter part of that month. The second 

 generation commences from the first to the middle 

 of June ; the fly chooses the stunted plants, and 

 deposiies both on the top ami underneath the upper 

 leaf, and the larvee pass to near the two upper 

 joinis, but are found mostly about the upper, and 

 in such numbers as many perish lor want of food, 

 the increased number being so disproporlioned to 

 the plants which su't their purpose : I have count- 

 ed upwards of two hundred eggs on a single leaf. 

 The third deposite is made in the manner of the 

 first, and commences about the filieenth or later 

 in August, and is continued on until cold weather ; 

 the irregularity of this generation is occasioned 

 by the various situations in which the pupa of 

 the second is thrown, it is lodged in the straw 

 of the stunted plants, so that in harvesting, much 

 of it is scattered about the stubble-fields and the 

 rest is carried to barns or stacked ; such as is early 

 exposed to heat may produce a fourth generation, 

 whilst that which is covered till winter may not 

 give a third. 



On discovering a fly in the act of despositing, 

 I secured it, and on examination (making the 

 best calculation that I could, and not knowing 

 whether it had deposited any eggs before) I sup- 

 posed it to contain one hundred eggs ; if such be 

 the fact, the first deposite would be one hundred ; 

 the second ten thousand, and the third one million, 

 all in the course of one year ; happily, however, 

 they have enemies which vastly reduce their 

 number. 



The only plants, according to my observations, 

 which are subject to the depredations of the fly, 

 are wheat, rye and barley ; rye, owing to iis early 

 s|)ring growth is not much injured ; grains 

 should be sown (in this climate) about the first 

 day of October, as that sown afterwards suffiers 

 more from the winter than the fly. 



The only remedy which I have any confidence 

 in, must be applied to the second, or summer 

 generation, (it is the only one that I think can be 

 assailed with any prospect of success,) whilst in 

 the pupa state^ by ploughing the stubble-fields 

 before putting in the next crop; in Ihat case, 



