NO. 12. 



TUB FARMERS CABINET. 



185 



heavenly bodies are governed, tliere is little 

 to be anticipated for the reward of bis enlbu- 

 siastic toil, but disappointment and sorrow 

 at least; while the same labor and investi- 

 gation bestowed on subjects connected with 

 the culture of the soil, would proba!)ly have 

 revealed some fact, unknown before, or at 

 least might have gone far to arrange and 

 classify the discordant facts witii which the 

 annals of agriculture abound. While the 

 rules that govern the planetary system have 

 been recorded with the most scientific exact- 

 ness, so that every star, and every star's mo- 

 tion is known and recorded ; the laws that 

 rule the productive powers of the soil, and 

 a knowledge of which seems the first and 

 most natural tendency of the human mind, 

 have been but dimly and obscurely traced. 

 — Upon what does the claim of agriculture 

 to be considered an exact science resf? The 

 answer is, upon a thousand contradictory 

 facts and opinions handed down from the 

 earliest period of history, and augmented till 

 the present day, so that they now form a 

 heterogeneous mass, which requires and in- 

 vites the study and attention of scientific 

 minds to separate truth from error. Let the 

 laws that govern tiie soil and its powers be 

 observed — let every fact received as a canon, 

 be subjected to the test of philosophy and 

 exact experiment, and at least be classified 

 and arranged, and then we may boast of 

 having brought agriculture to the rank of a 

 science. 



It is a fact to be lamented, that there does 

 not exist among the tillers of the soil, a more 

 inquisitive spirit concerning the nature and 

 habits of the objects they have most to do 

 ■with, and upon the perfection of which de- 



f lends their hopes of gain. There is very 

 ittle of that spirit alive. What does it con- 

 cern the farmer, whether a root is indige- 

 nous or oxotio ; whether a plant is at home 

 in clay or in sand ] as long as it has hap- 

 pened to come up where he has happened to 

 ■drop the seed. 



"A primrose by the river's brim, 

 A yellow primrose is to him, 



And nething more." 



But before any very great change can take 

 place in the present state of agriculture, 

 several radical obstacles must be removed. 

 The apathy of agriculturists must be over- 

 come ; the dignity of the pursuit must be 

 made known ; and last, and most of all, the 

 great and fundamental cause of national 

 wealth, must receive encouragement from 

 national legislation. This is the true policy 

 of the government, and if the real productive 

 power of the soil was known, I hesitate not 

 to say, that millions might be yearly added 

 to our coffers, by a liberal and prudent 



course of government patronage to the cause 

 of agriculture. Make it an object of toil, 

 and the wilderness everywhere will blossom 

 like the rose. 



These are a few general considerations, 

 and if considered acceptable, are willingly 

 given. — Cultivator. 



Hessian Fly. 



The annexed article relative to the habits 

 and progress of this destructive insect, is 

 from the pen of a gentleman in this vicinity 

 who carefully and minutely watched it 

 through all its stages during the past year. 

 We have reason to think it is a faithful nar- 

 ration of its history through all its stages 

 and changes. He adverts to a probable 

 remedy to destroy the insect before doing 

 mischief to the young wheat, but tiiat is in 

 some degree conjectural. The individual 

 who can introduce a certain and eflectual 

 remedy against the ravages of the fly, will 

 indeed be a blessing to his species and a 

 benefactor to his country. The subject is 

 deserving great consideration, and should 

 awaken a spirit of inquiry among our agri- 

 cultural friends at this season of leisure. 



The fly itself is a small insect with long 

 bluish wings, and may be seen hovering 

 about over a wheat field in a warm day in 

 the fall, after the wheat is up and has got 

 into stooling — it then deposites its eggs 

 from one to five or six, on the lower leaf 

 where it joins the stalk. The eggs, when 

 first laid, are about the size of the point of 

 a pin, and white; they grow until they be- 

 come the size and shape of flax-seed, when 

 they change their color to brown, and ap- 

 pear in shape and color of a flax-seed. 

 While in the white state they appear to ex- 

 tract nourishment from the stalk of wheat, 

 from their wounding it, the eggs continue 

 the flax-seed state in the stalk at the junc- 

 tion of the lower leaf, until the next spring. 

 In the spring, after the wheat begins to 

 grow, no eggs can be found in the live 

 wheat, but on examining, there will be found 

 dead stools of wheat, and on taking these 

 up you will find the egg at the root of the 

 stool where it was deposited, appearing like 

 a flax-seed. When the weather becomes 

 warm in the spring these eggs hatch, and 

 the little creature crawls up out of the 

 ground, and begins to lay eggs on the sur- 

 viving wheat close to the stock on the lower 

 leaf, where the egg remains, going through 

 its changes until fall, when it comes out a 

 fly again, and then commences on the new 

 sown wheat. 



The fly will lay its eggs on Rye, but the 

 rye stalk grows strong and fast, and bursts 

 open the husk leaf where the egg is laid 



