1846. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



23 



From tho American Agriculturist. 



A New Fact. 



It is generally believed that the eggs of wee- 

 vil, deposited in grains of wheat, are hatched out 

 in the same season before winter, or if not hatclied 

 out tlien, that they perish and do no injury to the 

 grain. This may be the case with the white wee- 

 vil, hut it is not true of the black. In the fall of 

 1843, two years ago, I received from Virginia a 

 shot bag filled with Conner wheat — an early ri- 

 pening variety much valued by some farmers in 

 that State. It was a fair, sound, baautiful sample 

 of grain. I had just sown, before its rece])tion, 

 a small quantity of the same variety, and deter- 

 mined to keep this to sow the next year, fearing 

 some accident to the seeded crop. The shot-bag 

 of wheat was carefully put away in a clothes 

 press, so carefully that it did not again come to 

 light till about ten days ago. On opening the 

 bag, a number of black weevil were seen, which 

 had come out. Others were in the act of coming 

 out of the grain ; and on cutting open grains 

 which appeared sound, the insect was found in 

 the grain. Do not the eggs of insects remain 

 dormant like seeds of plants, till the proper con- 

 juncture of circumstances for their active exis- 

 tence takes place ? This may not be for years, 

 or may happen the same year. 



The black weevil also hatched out of grain 

 here of the j)resent yeafs Jiarvest, for one of my 

 neighbors culled from his field a small sack of 

 wheat he thought might be a valuable kind, clean- 

 ed it out, and suspended it by a rope in an upper 

 room of a house. When he took it down to sow 

 a ^e\v weeks ago, he found great numbers of black 

 weevil hatched out since harvest in his sock of 

 selected wheat. The conclusion at which I ar- 

 rive is, that no season favorable to the active life 

 of these insects has occurred here in 1843. or 

 1844; but that this season being favorable, not 

 only those deposited this year, but those also re- 

 maining dormant in the grain deposited in pre- 

 vious years, have been excited into active exist- 

 ence. 



Great injury has been done in this state by 

 these insects this year, and much of the wheat 

 cleaned out has been destroyed by black weevil ; 

 and in cases where it was got out of the straw 

 and left in the chaff, it has been injured by the 

 white weevil — a circumstance causing astonish- 

 ment, as leaving it in the chaff has been thought 

 a sure preventive of injury by them. The wheat 

 /eft in the .s^«cA"5 till this time is generally injured, 

 and in some stacks utterly destroyed by the white 

 weevil. Can any of your correspondents tell us 

 how to avoid these injuries to the grain after it is 

 made ? John Lewis. 



Llangollen, Ky., Oct. 18, 1845. 



The village of Ravenna, on the Ohio Canal, 

 shipped during the past year, seven hundred and 

 thirtv tons of cheese. 



Professor Liebig's Opinions on the Potato 

 Disease. — The researches I have undertaken up- 

 on the soimd and diseased potatoes of tlie present 

 year have disclosed to me the remarkable fact that 

 they contain in the sap a considerable quantity of 

 vegetable casein (cheese,) precipitable by acids. 

 This constituent I did not observe in my previous 

 researches. It would thus appear that, from the 

 influence of the weather, or, generally speaking, 

 from atmospheric causes, a part of the vegetable 

 albumen which prevails in the potato has become 

 converted into vegetable casein. The great in- 

 stability of this last substance is well known, hence 

 the facility with which the potato containing it 

 undergoes putrefaction. Any injury to health 

 from the use of these potatoes is out of the ques- 

 tion, and nowhere in Germany has such an effect 

 been observed. In the diseased potato no solam- 

 in can be discovered. It may be of some use to 

 call attention to the fact, that diseased potatoes 

 may easily, and at little expense, be preserved 

 for a length of time, and afrerwards employed in 

 various ways, by cutting them into slices, of a- 

 bout a quarter of an inch thick, and immersing 

 them in water, containing from two to thi-ee per 

 cent, of sulphuric acid. After twenty-four or 

 thirty-six hours, t!ie acid liquor may be drawn off, 

 and all remains of it washed away by steeping in 

 successive portions of fresh water. Treated in 

 this manner, the potatoes are easily dried. The 

 pieces are white and of little weight, and can be 

 ground to flour and baked into breiid along with 

 the flour of wheat. I think it probable that the 

 diseased potatoes, after being sliced and kept for 

 some time in contact with weak sulphuric acid, 

 so as to be penetrated by the acid, may be preser- 

 ved in that state in pits. But further experiments 

 are necessary to determine this. It is certain, 

 however, that dilute sulphuric acid stops the pro- 

 gress of putrefaction. 



Giessen, Nov. 5. 



To KILL Moss ON Roofs. — A gentleman in 

 Hadley states that the moss which sometimes at- 

 taches to the roof on the north side of buildings, 

 causing a ]:»remature decay of the shingles, may 

 be completely removed by a little dry white lead 

 sprinkled near the top of the roof just before a 

 rain. The rain washes it down among tlie moss, 

 and, as he believes, is poisonous to it, as the moss 

 dies and the roof is cleared. He was first led to 

 make the trial of it from observing that while a 

 considerable quantity of the moss grew upon a 

 particular roof, the part ojjjjosite the chimney, 

 which had been painted white, was enitrely free 

 from it. — Amherst Express. 



The "Cow Tree," in South America, produ- 

 ces milk, from which the people obtain regular 

 supplies. 



The Nepentiuis of India furnishes water in 

 its leaves, which not only have pitchers, but cov^ 

 ers to them.. 



