306 



THE FARMERS CABINET. 



VOL. I, 



which way extend one fourth of an inch. 

 The small ends of Die frustums, may be three 

 fouiths of an inch assunder : and the springs 

 and planes, placed so as to force the ear 

 against the projections on both wheels, and 

 the whole composed of iron and steel, or part 

 of these and wood. The bearings of the 

 shafts may be one inch diameter, and the 

 whole supported by a frame of proper dimen- 

 sions. 



CheUer Co., Pa., 2Qth March, 1S37. 



For the Fuimerb' Cabinet. 



Tlie Observer.— Wo. 6. 



THE WHEAT FLY. 



In the present unsettled and conflicting 

 £tate of opinion, respectmg tiie Wheat Fly, 

 and the appropriate remedies for tlie evil 

 which it produces; it is highly important that 

 we should distinguish between truth and error ; 

 and endeavor to systematise what is certainly 

 known, so as to bring order out of confusion. 

 With this object in view, I attempted in my 

 last, to identify the true wheat fly, (cecydo- 

 myia destructor,) and to furnish some mate- 

 rials for a history of its habits. Those who 

 have written on the subject, seem to have in- 

 troduced confusion, by confounding this with 

 other depredators on the wheat crop, whose 

 habits are essentially different; such, for ex- 

 ample, as the Maryland fly. Of this insect 

 I possess very little knowledge. It, however, 

 appears to be one of those who deposit their 

 eo-gs hi the grain before it is cut, much in the 

 game way that the weevil, or calandra gra- 

 narius, does after it is carried into the barn, 

 The similarity will probably extend further. 

 Both deposit their eggs in the grain for the 

 express purpose, that the larvae may feed upon 

 it. To secure this object, the eggs are 

 speedily hatched, and the insect passes through 

 the intermediate stages of larva and pupa, to 

 the perfect state before winter. I think it 

 may be laid down as an established rule, that 

 the eggs of insects deposited in early sum- 

 mer, hatch the same season. 



By confounding the histories of the wheat 

 fly and the Maryland fly together, a sort of 

 niungrel opinion has been formed, that the 

 wheat fly lays its eggs in the grain. Hence, 

 also, originated the unphilosophical notion 

 of sowing the eggs along with the wheat, 

 where they undergo a queer sort of animal 

 vegetation in the soil, and continue to " grow 

 with the growth, and strengtlien with the 

 strength" of the plants which they inhabit. 

 Some one has told us, (Cabinet, p. 7'3,) " that 

 with the aid of a microscope, the egg is dis- 

 cernible, in the form of a glutino.us matter," 

 on the gram. But is he certain of the fact, 

 that the glutinous matter was an egg] We 

 are not even told that it was in the form of 



an egg, but " in the form of glutinous matter." 

 Now, glutinous matter is not, necessarily, an 

 egg, and he has afforded us no evidence that 

 it was so in the present case. We are again 

 told, (Cabinet, p. 145,) that somebody " ob- 

 served the egg on the grain." Admit all this, 

 and what sort of eggs did they see? were 

 they the eggs of the wheat fly — of the Mary- 

 land fly — of some other fly — or of no fly at 

 all 1 Here we are again lett without evi- 

 dence. Therefore, 



" The sceptic will remain a sceptic ilill.'' 



Again, admit that they were, bona fide, 

 the eggs of the wheat fly : — are we to under- 

 stand that they require the fostering care of 

 the seedman to propagate them from year to 

 year ! That they can only hatch or vegetate 

 in the ground ? and that having done so, they 

 ascend with the young plant ! In short, thai 

 nature has provided tor the production of a 

 sort of eggs, the vivification of which, requires 

 the kind attention of the very creature whc 

 is most deeply interested in their destruction 1 

 This seems to place the advocates of the doc- 

 trine in a dilemma. Whatever other advan- 

 tages may result from steeping seed wheat — 

 mixing it with quick lime, &c., it seems tc 

 me too hypothetical to do so, for the purpose 

 of destroying the eggs of the wheat fly, unti 

 their existence on the grain is sustained bj 

 better evidence. Nor can it be more usefu 

 to kill the eggs of the Maryland fly, if it: 

 habits are what I have mentioned. 



If I have correctly described the habits o 

 the cecydumyia dtslrw.tor, it will appear ob 

 vious to the reader, that no application to tin 

 grain before sowing, can destroy it. An( 

 I fear that it will prove equally true, that n^ 

 application to the wheat while growing, ca 

 answer any better purpose. Burning th' 

 stubble, or ploughing it down immcdiatel 

 after harvest, can do no good, for the fly i 

 not then there. After good husbandry, th 

 only rational means of preventing the mis 

 chief, seems to be late sowing. If the fl 

 can only survive our ordinary winters in th 

 pupa state — we may, by sowing late, prever 

 them from getting into that stale before col 

 vvealh5r comes on — when they will necessE 

 rily perish. By this means, too, we woul 

 prevent a deposition of eggs in the sprin< 

 and so save one crop from destruction, at leai 

 by the fly. 



Happily, nature has done what art coul 

 not accomplish, in furnishing a preventiv 

 check to the increase of the wheal fly. Ever 

 one knows that the " great fish eats the snia 

 ones, the world over;" — but every one do( 

 not know that the small as certainly devoi 

 the large ones. 



There is a very numerous family of insec 

 which were included by Linnseus, in h 



