V<»I.. \A I. !V«». 11. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



83 



(From the Aib:iny Ciiltivjilor.) 

 THECiRAIIV AVORM, 



Tlioiiirti (if extreiDily diiiiiiiiitive size, tlireatnis 

 bei-oiiie tlie most f.niniilahlt! insert enemy tliat 

 ■i have ever hud to encounter. Though searce- 

 |)eree|>tihle to th -• nailed eye, sue h are its nuin- 

 rs, and such its voracily, as to destroy annually 

 owsands, if not millions, wiu-tli of the great sta- 

 e of life And we are persuaded its ravafies 

 e not confined to the wheat crop, Hut that it 

 ays upon other grains, which come into head 

 ring ihe existence of the perfect insect, or fiy. 

 We have seen nrmy jireventives recommended, 

 d have tried most o( them without success, as 

 rious prepjirations of the seed, applying lime 

 d salt and ashes, when the grain is in ear, &c. 

 e have hecotne convinced too of the fallacy of 

 iiir's theory, as noticed in Ihe first volume of 

 B Cu!tivator,that Ihe insect is transmitted through 

 3 sap of the plant. Neither steeps nor topical 

 plications will serve any pur|iose. Notj.ing.inour 

 inion, will prolictus from this puny enemy, 

 t sowing early in autumn, and late in spring — 

 that in the first the grain may become indiira- 

 I and hard before Ihe fly makes its appearan<-e, 

 d in the latter so that it may not come into blos- 

 in until after the fly has <lisappeared. The in- 

 jt has progressed from forty to sixty miles a year, 

 11th and west, and has reached Maine on the 

 rlheast. 



Frotn the observations we have been enabled 

 make of the habits of the insect, we think the 



makes its appearance about the last of June, 

 d continues to deposit its eggs till the 20tli or 

 th of July, making its principal deposites in the 

 it half of July, when late sown autumn, and 

 rly sown spring wheat, are in the blossom or 

 Ik. Rye sown late in autumn, and oafs and 

 rley sown early in spring, are believed also to 

 ve suffered materially from the worm ; but of 

 IS fact, we are not yet sufficiently certifieil, 

 lugli the worm is often found in the.se grains, 

 le fly is small and slender, <d'an ash color, and 

 ly be seen towards evening in great numbers 

 the heads of the grain. It punctin-es the calix 

 envelope of the kernel, and de|)osites its eggs 

 thin it, upon the young grain, in the tnanner 

 It the pea fly punctures the pod, and lodges its 

 g ill the young pea, where it may be often de- 

 ;ted when the pea is gathered for the table. — 

 ) topical application, whether liquid or in |)OW- 

 r, can r ach the ova or insect, within the en- 

 lope ; and even if the outer surface of the grain 

 covered with lime, it forms no obstacle to the 

 posite of the eggs, — indeed it has been found 

 It the worm is not destroyed by dry lime, though 

 lied ill It. 



We sowed our Italian spring wheat on the fifth 

 May ; and on the fifteenth of July it began to 

 ad out. We watched it for a week or twelve 

 ys, and until we saw no more of the fly. We 

 iiul on subsequent examination, that that wljich 

 me into head fiist, had from three to five insects 



an ear, while that which developed the head 

 est was generally perfectly sound and untouch- 

 We have examined severid fielrls of spring 

 leat in Washington county, sown from the 15th 

 the '23d May, without being able to finil any- 

 ing of the worm, though the winter wheat there 

 IS nearly destroyed by it — These facts seem to 

 irraiit the conclusion, that if wheat is sown, in 

 Is latitude, after the 15th or 20th May, it will 



As the siibjeel is one of deep interest to tlie 

 whole community, we are desirous of collecting 

 all the information we can, as to Ihe habits of the 

 insHcl, the first appearance and the disap| earaiice 

 of the fly, the period which the insect exists in 

 t.ie larva?, or maggot state, and also in tin; chry- 

 salis. By collating and comparing these facts, we 

 indulge the hope that something may be done to 

 mitigate the evil. We invite postmasters and 

 others to aid us in the investigation, by rommiini- 

 cating answers to either or all of the lollowing 

 queries : 



1. In what year did the grain worm first make 

 its appearance in your neighborhood .^ 



2. .At svhat time in the season was the fly first 

 noticed, and what was its latest appearance.' 



3. What per cent, damage lias it done to the 

 wheat crop the present year .' 



4. Has early sown winter wheat escaped its 

 ravages ? — and if so, at what time was it sown .' 



5. Has late sown s|iring wheat escaped its rav- 

 ages .' — and if so, at what time was the seed put 

 in the ground ? 



6. Have barley, rye and oats been attacked by 

 the worm? — to what extent? — and if yes, at what 

 time were these crops severally sown, or at what 

 time did they come in head .■' 



7. It is believed that the insect changes from 

 the larvae, or maggot, to the pupa, or chrysalis 

 state, and thence to the imago, or perfect fly; and 

 that in the larvae it casts its skin, like the silk 

 worm. Can you communicate any facts in con- 

 firmation of, or in contradiction to, these suppo- 

 sitions ? 



8. What are the extreme points, west and south, 

 where the worm was discovered in 1S36, and also 

 in 1837 ? 



Effect of Climate and Cultivation. — 

 The myrtle tree, which with us is a small 

 shrub, grows in Van Dieman's Land to the 

 height of two hundred feet, and has a trunk 

 from 30 to 40 feet in circumference. The 

 wood resembles cedar. The Chinese have an 

 art by which they are a-ble to produce miniature 

 pines, bearing a perfect resemblance to the 

 gigantic specimens of our own country, and 

 only five or six inches high. Few persons on 

 our seaboard are aware of the height to which 

 the white pine grows among the primitive for- 

 ests of the interior. They are incredulous 

 wlien you tell them that there are forest trees 

 in Sullivan county some fifty miles back of 

 Newburgh, to which the tallest trees upon the 

 coast are mere shrubs in comparison ; and yet 

 many of our North River sloops have masts 90 

 feet high consisting of a single piece, which 

 must have been shaped from the stem of a tree 

 before coming to a branch. Now, by giving 

 the usual top to such a trunk, we must allow at 

 least 40 or 50 additional feet to the uppermost 

 bough. These primitive fjrests are rapidly dis- 

 appearing from this state. Upon the estates of 

 those who have the good taste to preserve a 

 grove of them, — and tkey can only be kept in 

 groves, — they will be shown a few years hence, 

 "as black cattle are exhibited on some feudal 

 manor — a most singular relic of former times. 

 When exterminated entirely, none who look at 

 the dwindled modern growth will believe that 

 the soil ever produced such a vegetable. 



TV V IT,' 



Messrs Thomas & Son, Auctioneers, of Pliilti" 

 delphia, will hold an ini|iortaiit sale some time ii^ 

 Se| tember, of thirty short-horned cattle, which 

 have just arrived from England, Colonel Pow- 

 ell, whose agricultural enterprise is well known, 

 has lately induced iMr Whittaker, one of the most 

 ilisliiiguished fai risers of F,ngland to send these 

 cattle hillier, under the assurance that, bi'ing the 

 best sp( cimcus of modern improved breeds, ihey 

 would readily find purchasers. We have before 

 us the Herd Hooks, published annually in I'.ng- 

 laiid by an agriiniltiiral society of Hritish noble- 

 men, which contain the pedigree and meiilsof 

 the most select liritish caiile, and we remark 

 among those portraits and histories hire given, 

 several of those identical animals, so that the ex- 

 cellence of the whole number is placeil beyond 

 doubt. We will not enforce on Ihe minds of our 

 agriculniral readers the individual and national 

 advantages of having W dl slocked farms, but 

 merely suggest to them, far and near, the im- 

 |)ortance of giving this sale their earnest attention. 



.National Gazette. 



I5kk Story. — The Winchester Virginian gives 

 this story of the bee : 



A gentleman of this town, on Saturday last, 

 took from two hives about twenty-five pounds of 

 honey, which he placed in dishes, in an upper 

 room of his dwelling, with the windows up, in 

 order to let the bees escape which were on it.^ — 

 The next morning the bees were found to be col- 

 lected in considerable numbers removing Ihe hon- 

 ev, and before they could be expelled, which was 

 done vi et annis, they had succeeded in carrying 

 off the whole. Thus, in the short space of two 

 lioins, and we are credibly informed they were 

 not engaged at it a greater length of time, they 

 had carried away about twtnty-five pounds of 

 honey The gentleman has but six hives on big 

 premises, 'i his affords one of the most singular 

 insiances on record of the industry of the honey- 

 bee. 



Sugar krom Pumpkins A discovery has been 



made in France, which, if transplanted into this 

 country, will make the pumpkin fields of New 

 England ilangerous rivals to the cancfields of 

 Louisiana and the West Indies. A French paper 

 says : — 



' A complete revolution is expected to take 

 place in the manufacture of native sugar — a revo- 

 lution which will probably compel the beet-grow- 

 ers to ' hide their diminished heads.' In other 

 words, the pumpkin is about to enter the field as a 

 rival of the beet root, and to force the Chamber 

 of Deputies to revise its late enactmenis on the 

 sugar question. An industrious speculator is on 

 the point of establishing a manufactory for ex- 

 tracting sugar from this overgrown and liilherto 

 despiseil production of the vegetable world, the 

 first experiments on which, it is added, have been 

 crowned with complete success.' 



There are no less than 320,000 mulberry trees 

 growing in the vicinity of IJurlinglon, N. J. ; of 

 whiidi 200,000 belong to the Messrs Cheneys ; — 

 the Hon. G. D. Wall and Mr Stone have 40,000 ; 

 .Messrs Guinmci-e & Smith, 40,000, and Mr Kins- 

 man Ihe same. Cocooneries are being prepared 

 for the worms this season. 



