]^fo.3. 



Farm Gardens. — Fly in JVJieat. 



107 



ter the labour to keep it so, by such an ar- 

 rangement, as would be necessary in the cus- 

 tomary way of plantinsf crops in square com- 

 partments or beds, intermingled as usual, with 

 trees and flowers, requiring the incessant use 

 of the spade and hand-hoe. 



I should be pleased to see such a plan ge- 

 nerally adopted on our farms ; there can be 

 no pleasure in a weedy or dirty garden, but, 

 in the hurry of the seasons, such must some- 

 times happen to be the case, or the more im- 

 portant duties of the main dependance must 

 be neglected : many of the crops, in such a 

 garden, may be put in and taken out by the 

 plough, and be cleaned by means of the cul- 

 tivator, with one quarter the labour generally 

 bestowed, and this consideration is of great 

 moment, as well as the saving of time. The 

 plan admits of a rotation of crops easy of 

 adoption, and with which nothing can inter- 

 fere, provided it be well arranged at first: it 

 will be seen, however, that it does not admit 

 of trees being planted on the land, as they 

 would prevent the free use of the plough. 



And now, let me say a word in favour of a 

 large garden, even upon a small farm : if the 

 experiment were to be made, it would sur- 

 prise any one to see how much the consump- 

 tion of meat in a family could be reduced, to 

 the manifest advantage and comfort of all, by 

 the substitution of large quantities of vege- 

 tables of different varieties; and I would re- 

 commend, that at all times a greater quantity 

 of these should be cooked than are expected 

 to be eaten by the family ; this, and a great 

 variety, would be an inducement to their ex- 

 penditure, if they were well prepared ; and 

 every fragment that remains should be ga- 

 thered up, and fed to the poultry, with the 

 water also in which they have been boiled 

 with the meat ; all this, if well mashed up 

 and mixed with meal, will afford excellent 

 food for poultry of all kinds, and is by far the 

 best means of affording plenty of eggs the 

 year through, after all that has been said and 

 done upon that subject. 



A calendar of work to be performed every 

 month in the year in such a garden, would 

 take but little space in the pages of the Ca- 

 binet ; and if a few remarks at the commence- 

 ment were to be added, pointing out the be- 

 nefits and advantages to be derived from a 

 more plentiful use of vegetables, and a less 

 consumption of salted meats in this hot and I 

 dry climate, the result would, no doubt, be 

 happy, and very much tend to the preserva- 

 tion of the health of the agricultural com- 

 munity in general. K. 



N. B. It would be an excellent plan for 

 the farmer to devote an hour or so to the gar- 

 den before breakfast in the morning; then, if 

 all hands turn to heartily, much labour could 

 be performed in a very short time. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Fly in Wheat. 



Mr. Editor, — I have received several 

 numbers of the Farmers' Cabinet, forwarded 

 from your office, which favour I think it right 

 to acknowledge and to request that the suc- 

 ceeding copies may be sent on, as it appears 

 calculated to be useful to farmers, though I 

 think the pieces are too short and not suffi- 

 ciently conclusive or confident in their char- 

 acter to induce full faith for extensive expe- 

 riment. Please say at what particular time, 

 and in what manner " the bushel of lime to 

 the acre" should be put on wheat, to prevent 

 injury by the fly? We have sustained much 

 injury in this section of the country from its 

 ravages the last season. I have, however, 

 little confidence in the efficiency of lime, or 

 of spring- grazing, in preventing its progress, 

 as I have discovered this season that the eggs 

 are deposited at different times, and in almost 

 all the different joints of the stalk; three 

 different times were distinctly marked, or at 

 three different growths of the plant, the last 

 of which is in the head or ear; consequently 

 it appears that the insect was abundantly 

 busy during the whole time the wheat was 

 growing ! Those deposited in the first joint 

 (where it has been heretofore commonly 

 looked for) caused the wheat either to fail 

 altogether or to fall by the weight of the 

 stalk ; those in the third, or about the place 

 we cut it off, was filled, in some instances, to 

 bursting ; as many as fifty-four were counted 

 in one joint, and in several others a small 

 yellow worm was found hatched out among 

 tliem ; while those in the last bud had com- 

 pletely enveloped the ear, to the entire pre- 

 vention of the seed ; the stalk appeared 

 wounded, and the plant died, just as the ear 

 was bursting from under the last blade ; they 

 have been found since in the mows and stub- 

 ble-fields: upon all which, please enquire, 

 reason, and philosophise ; and if there can 

 be any adequate remedy devised, it would be 

 of the last importance that wheat-growers 

 should be apprised of it. O. 



In commercial pursuits, a really great na- 

 tional advantage may prove a really great na- 

 tional evil, for its effects might be to intro- 

 duce a taste for luxury, an inordinate love of 

 money, debasing to generous sentiment, and 

 familiarising the mind to chicanery and 

 fraud. 



" I would sooner undertake to educate a do- 

 zen children than attempt to communicate my 

 principles to a single grown person : good 

 seed can never make any progress until the • 

 weeds are all extirpated." 



