voi,. XVI. NO. r. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



53 



E. P. Roberts. — Res|ieotecl Friend : — Appre- 

 hendiiif,' than any experiments or information rel- 

 ative to raising tlie Morns Mnlticanlis, or new 

 Chinese Mnllierry tree, woniil lie aeccptable at 

 this time of general inqniry aliont it, and raising 

 of silk, having found by six years ex|)erience. that 

 the uhnve mulberry does not stand our winters 

 well, if raiscil on rich land, especially in low fros- 

 ty situations; in such places, their growth is apt 

 to he young and tender, anil consequently, easily 

 affected by frost, when left exposed to it— I there- 

 fore, in the spring of 1836, planteil some of said 

 trees in a high, gravelly, clay soil, of poor quality. 

 On this, <luringthat season, the trees grew slowly, 

 but even the latter growth was ripC and fine. — 

 1 left them out last winter for trial, and had the 

 satisfaction to find the last spring, that those had 

 passed the winter without any injury by frost, 

 even to the ends of the twigs, and are now grow- 

 ing finely. 



By the success of this expern)ient, I was en- 

 couraged to plant, the last si)ring, one and a half 

 iicres.'and am preparmg ground for planting two 

 acres more next spring, with the sai.t mulberry, 

 as a permanent mulberry orchard, for feeding the 

 silk worms. 



I have also, about 20,000 ninllierry trees now 

 "rowing, and from ))resent appearances, I think 

 They will have fine roots by autumn, and be from 

 3 to 6 feet high. With these, I propose filling 

 the orders of my customers, with care, and at 

 moderate prices. 



Respectfully, 



ROBKRT SINCLAIR, 

 ClairmoiU Nursery, near JJaltimore. 

 — Fanner S,- Gardener. 



(From llie Vermont Chronicle.) 

 THE WHEAT WORM. 



Messrs Richards S,- Tracy: As I live in a part 

 of Vermont that is not good for raising corn, I 

 have turned my attention to wheat. For a num- 

 ber of years ! have raised from 100 to 150 bushels 

 a year ; but for two years past it has been consid- 

 erably injured by the grain fly. 



I have (lernsed the two late articles respecting 

 this insect with interest. 1 presume that few of 

 our farmei-s know what this fly is. Although I 

 have tried repeatedly to ascertain what fly it 

 was, (some say one kind and so'ne say anotlier,) 

 1 have not been able to ascertain till within a 

 week. 



I always supposed the egg or worm (I do not 

 believe it undergoes any change from the time it 

 is laid till it leaves the kernel, only it increases in 

 size.) was laid in the kernel, and coidd not be dis- 

 covered till some time after the blossoming of the 



wheat but having examined my wlieat carefully 



in the bloom, and before the heads fairly get out 

 of the sheath, I can find worms in the heads plen- 

 tifullv wherever they work, whether in the bloom 

 or just at the time the head makes its appearance. 

 T find by examination, that the maggot first makes 

 its appearance between the buds [i. e. the green 

 husk that contains the embryo kernel] and stalk. 

 Take hold of the buds and the stalk, and gently 

 open them so that the eye may have a t'air view 

 of that part of the stock which was mostly cover- 

 ed by the buds, and you will discover the maggot, 

 and sometimes a great number together, hardly 

 discernable to the naked eye, and some of them 

 in thj act of making their way through the husk 



into the kernel. This led me to conclude that 

 the fly must he very small to lay the egg in so 

 small a place as between the stalk and kernel. — 

 Having examined a number of times in the day, 

 1 hapjiened to be in tli-; field just about sunset, 

 to my astonishment I found a host of small flijs, 

 about the cohu- of the maggot, (perhaps between 

 a red and yellow,) busily engagei, going from 

 one part of the head to another. Being so small, 

 and their abdomen so slim, they would hang by 

 the-r feet, and work themselves into the place 

 described, to lay their nits. No one that has wit- 

 nessed the operations of this fly, can have any 

 doubt respecting it. I have showed them to my 

 neighbors, and they were equally surprised with 

 myself, hut were fully convinced that this is the 

 fly. It is not much larger than the maggot, 

 when it leaves the grain, — I should not think 

 much more than half as large as the common 

 miisquito. 



I have examined a number of times in the day 

 since, but can find the flies at work on the grain 

 only at sunset. I think they can only he found 

 on the grain about that time. I presume they 

 would never be noticed at any other hour, but 

 go into your grain carefully, and if you can find 

 any weeds or grass, shake them slightly with the 

 hand, and the flies will start from their hiding 

 placi'S. But at sunset you can find them plenty 

 on the wheat heads. 



I have hut two small pieces of wheat that 1 

 can find very many in, and tliose lie near a piece 

 of stubble ground, wliere I had wheat last year 

 that was bailly injured. This stubble ground 

 was put down to grass. It has invariably hap- 

 pened, that every year when I havi; had wheat 

 near a piece that was stocked, and on which 1 

 raised wheat the year before, the worms have 

 been five times as numerous. I have had large 

 |)ieces"of wheat adjoining ground where 1 had 

 wheat the year before, hut the stubble being 

 ploughed in, they have troubled me in such cases 

 hut little. 



From these facts, it appears to me that if far- 

 mers would raise wheat on no ground but such 

 as they would plough after the crop, so as to cov- 

 er the stubble, (or if the ground could be thor- 

 oughly burnt over,) soon we should cease to be 

 troubled with the worm. 



1 have but very little doubt that the maggot 

 leaves the kernel, and lies on or very near the 

 surface of the ground, till the time arrives next 

 season for it to appear; so that when the ground 

 is ploughed, it buries them so deep that few ever 

 find their way out. 



As to lime and ashes, I am making the trial — 

 I hope that it may be useful. What effect it will 

 have I cannot tell. Any effort that promises the 

 least success, siioukl be made. 



A Yankee Farmer. 



August 7, 1837. 



We are greatly obliged to tlie author of the 

 above. I! he is correct, as we presume he is, 

 in reganl to the fly, the liuio may probably be 

 applied best a little earlier than has been recom- 

 mended. The winter location of rhe insect is an 

 important point, which we hope our cories- 

 poiulent will investigate. ]f he is right in this 

 particular, the preventive measure that he sug- 

 gests, is of immense importance. — Eds, Chroni- 

 cle, 



Good way of raislng Radishes. — We have 

 reseived of Samuel Chadwick, Esq., a present of 

 radishes as handsome as any we ever saw, and as 

 good as we ever tasted. A descri[ition of his 

 method of raising them, will be useful to tho.se 

 whose gardens have been long cultivated and fil- 

 leil with insects that destroy radishes. lie took 

 white moist sen sand and raked a little into the 

 soil, then covered it about four inches dcei), and 

 sowed the seed in the sanil, covering it about an 

 inch and a half dee|). 



In a little niorw than three weeks from thelinKi 

 the seed was sown, some of the radishes were 

 large enough to u^e, while others were just com- 

 ing up, which aflbrds them some time in succes- 

 sion. The seed coming at different times, may 

 be owing to their bei.ig planted at different depths ; 

 or some of the seed may not vegetate so readily 

 as in pure sand. Those who cannot convenient- 

 ly obtain such san<l for tliis purpose, can use any 

 other sand, or pure earth taken some distance 

 frem the surface ; and it may be well to ap|dy 

 salt water to the sand. Salt is a good m.iniire 

 for radishes, and destructive to insects. — Yankee 

 Farmer. 



Tomatoes. — Mrs Cliild gives the following di- 

 rections for cooking this valuable vegetable : 



"Tomatoes should be skinned by pouring boil- 

 ing water over then. After they are skinned, 

 they should be stewed half an hour, in tin, with 

 a little salt, a small bit of butter, and a spoontnl 

 of water." This method is for sauce to eat wil'.i 

 roast meat for dinner. When plucked green, to- 

 matoes make an excellent pickle. An excellent 

 catsup may be made of them, when ripe, in the 

 following manner: — "The vegetable should he 

 scpieezed up in the hand, salt put to them, and set 

 by for twentyfour hours, and after being passed 

 through a seive, allspice, pepper, mace, garlic and 

 whole mustard seed should be added. It should 

 be boiled down one third, and bottled after it is 

 cool. No liquid is nece-sary, as the tomatoes are 

 very juicy. A good deal of salt and spice is nec- 

 essary to keep the catsup well." h is delicious 

 with roast meat ; and a cupful adds much to the 

 richness of soup and chowder. The g»rlic should 

 be taken out before the catsup is bottled. — Gene- 

 sec Farmer. 



Burying Potatoes. — It is well known when 

 planted, that the deeper potatoes are buried, the 

 longer they are in vegetating. An experiment 

 was once tried in France, by burying potatoes 

 three and a half feet deep, where tbey were pre- 

 served two years, and came out sound and good. 

 They were probably not buried, as is common in 

 this country — by pouring a large lot into a hole, 

 and then covering — but mingled with the earth, 

 anrl pressed down, as in planting. Three feet 

 and a half would not be deep enough to preserve 

 them effectually, from the frost in this country, if 

 they were to remain duiing the winter. 



But might they not be buried in this way in 

 the spring, and dug out occasionally for use ilur- 

 ing the summer ? It would cost but little to try 

 it.— 76. 



Insect Propagation.— A fly lays four times 

 during the summer, each time eighty eggs, which 

 makes 320 ; and it is computed that the produce 

 of a single fly, in the course of the summer, a- 

 mounts to 3,080,320. 



