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THE FARMERS CABINET. 



VOL. I. 



Depredators — Insects. 



Considered as individuals, the class of de- 

 predators to be ibund in the insect tribes, 

 would be hardly worthy of notice; yet 

 their numbers and activity render them 

 formidable enemies to the farmer; and there 

 cm hs no doubt, but that altogether the in- 

 s gniticanc creatures cause him more loss 

 thui is occasioned by both beasts and 

 birds. They seem to bo sensible that they 

 run their course with an eagerness and activ- 

 ity, that, with some, is truly astonishing. — 

 But a single step removed from the lower 

 orders of creation, if they are not capable of 

 indefinite production by the simple division of 

 their bodies, as is the case with the polypi 

 and others of that class, there are some of 

 them, siicii as the aphis, which are capable, 

 by a single connexion with the male, of pro- 

 ducing young for as many as eight or ten suc- 

 cessive times, thus afibrding a rate of in- 

 creise otherwise witiiout a parallel. Almost 

 every species of plant has its corresponding 

 species of insect, which are thus furnished 

 with an appropriate and grateful food. Owing 

 to some causes at present not fully understood 

 by us, insects are subject to gr>^at variations 

 of number in their appearance. For instance, 

 in some seasons, and perhaps for several suc- 

 cessive ones,the grass-hopper may be found in 

 countless numbers in some sections of the 

 country, in other years not one will be found. 

 The locust, too, furnishes another familiar ex- 

 ample to the same effect. 



Of the class of insect depredators on the 

 labors of the farmer, the Hessian Fly, called 

 by Dr. Mitchell Tipula vaginalis tritici, is 

 one of the .most fo.'midable, as it rarely in- 

 termits its attacks on wheat, but annually 

 destroys more or less of the wheat that is 

 sown. It has generally been imagined th:it 

 this insect was introduced from Germany or 

 England, by the Hessian troops sent over to 

 this country during the revolutionary war : 

 and this is not impossible, as the chrysalis of 

 the insect is sometimes deposited in higher 

 joints of the stalks of grain, and hence could 

 have been imported from abroad ; yet it is 

 stated by Dr. Ackorly that no such insect is 

 known to infest grain in Great Britain ; and 

 one only on the continent of Europe, which 

 feeds upon wheat in ihe ear. 



Be its origin as it may, the insect first be- 

 gan to attract notice by its ravages on the 

 east end of Long Island in 1786, and the 

 crops of wiieat were almost entirely destroy- 

 ed in tliat, and in the two successive years. It 

 has since spread generally over the country, 

 through its favorite region seems to be tlie 

 country between ihe secondary hills and the 

 eea coast, including Long Island, most of New 

 Jersey, and part of Pennsylvania, Maryland 



and Virginia, where the soils are m general 

 inclining to sand. Dr. Ackerly eriumerateB 

 the following as the most likely means 

 to arrest the ravages of the Tipula vaginalis. 

 Sowing late — sowing the bearded wheat, or 

 any wheat producing a thick hard stem- 

 manuring high — making use of a heavy rol- 

 ler afler the chrysalis is formed in the autumn, 

 or in the spring before it is hatched — plough- 

 ing lip the stubble, and thus buryirg the chry- 

 salis in the earth ; and lastly, burying the 

 stubble, an operation which, where it can be 

 performed, and is thoroughly done, must de- 

 stroy the chrysalis most effectually. 



Another new and serious enemy of wheat 

 has la'ely made its appearance, and promises 

 to exceed in destrucliveness all that have 

 preceded it. This insect is the wheat worm. 

 Vibrio tritici, and is yearly extending its 

 sphere of injury. Like the pea-bug, or clo- 

 ver seed worm, the grain worm makes its 

 lodgment in a kernel of wheat, the inside of 

 which it devou~s. Tiie insect which pro- 

 duces it, and the manner of its introduction 

 into the kernel, does not yet appear to be 

 fully understood. Mr. Bauer, the celebrated 

 investigator and discoverer of the manner in 

 which smut is propagated, has turned his at- 

 tention to the grain worm, and he maintains 

 that a multitude of eggs, or rather organized 

 insects, are deposited m the infected kernel ; 

 that these by the process of inoculation, are 

 taken inlo the circulation of other growing 

 kernels, and are thus taken to the ear, where 

 they establish themselves in the tender germs 

 and increasing in size convert the wheat ker- 

 nel into a tenement for themselves. — That 

 Mr. Bauer's theory may be true of .some 

 kinds ot the Vibrio, is very possible; but we 

 have some doubt whether his description re- 

 fers to the insect which injures wheat in this 

 country; and we incline to the opinion that 

 the egg is deposited in the kernel soon after 

 ihe ear is out of the sheath and blossom, by 

 a fly which propagates its race in this me- 

 thod. The well known puncture of the young 

 pea, clover seed, plum, and cherry, in a simi- 

 lar manner; the deposition of an egg, and 

 the consequent production of an insect, would 

 seem to justify the belief that the wheat worm 

 is produced in the same way. The wheat 

 worm has hitherto confined its ravages prin- 

 cipally to the valley of the Hudson river, and 

 New England. It is occasionally found in 

 Western New York, but no serious in- 

 jury has as yet resulted from it. The first 

 we ever saw was in the county of Onondago, 

 twelve years since, when a miller placed in 

 our hands a quantity of infected kernels, per- 

 forated by tlie worm precisely as is the clo- 

 ver seed and the pea. No efiectual remedy has 

 as yetbeea discovered to prevent its ravagea 

 or spread. Lime promises the most, whether 



