No. 4. 



Hessian Fly — A Remark. 



139 



Our excellent friend J. G. must pardon us 

 for publishing his letter ; it is far too interest- 

 ing to be lost to the community. The man 

 who has the moral courage to plough up the 

 finest crop of wheat (to appearance) in the 

 country, that it might not remain an " eye- 

 sore," and brave the remarks of his friends 

 and neighbours, as he has done, deserves 

 honourable mention, truly. 



But, is he sure that he will escape the fly 

 in the spring 1 If " Vir's" theory be correct, 

 he is not secure, for an extra ploughing and 

 manuring (the crop just turned down) will 

 only add to the danger, by a double dressing 

 and pulverization ; he will still remain depend- 

 ent upon the season ; if that be propitious, he 

 will, of course, be safe, maugre all attempts 

 of the fly ; if otherwise, however, it is to be 

 feared that the stimulating effects of such 

 extra culture will force onward a growth, the 

 softness of which will tend exceedingly to 

 render it obnoxious to the cold and cutting 

 blasts of an unkindly season in the spring. 

 In that case, however, he would be pretty sure 

 of a full crop of potatoes, for he has shown 

 that he has nerve enough to turn down " a 

 mass of corruption" at any time ; and by doing 

 this at that season, he would obtain a capital 

 dressing for that crop — an expensive one, it 

 must be confessed — but, in the event, let him 

 look to future crops for payment, debiting 

 them accordingly. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Hessian Fly. 



Dear Sir, — I have this day finished a work 

 which I never did before, and, I hope, may 

 never be under the necessity of doing again. 

 What your correspondents, " Vir," and " Ed- 

 mund Cross," as well as yourself, may think 

 of the operation, I do not know. It is nothing 

 more or less than this : A few days ago, I 

 started my teams and ploughs into a wheat- 

 field, which had a most flourishing and pro- 

 mising appearance to a superficial observer. 

 The wheat was sown the 15th of September, 

 but, owing to the dry season, it did not make 

 as much progress as it sometimes does in the 

 same length of time, yet, it was the best field, 

 to appearance, in tiie neighbourhood. Every 

 person that passed along the turnpikes would 

 stop, and inquire the reason of so unusual an 

 occurrence, as ploughing up a fine wheat- 

 field. Some think me mad ; some advise one 

 thing, and some another ; all would beg of me 



to leave, at least, a part unturned, to convince 

 me, as they think, of my folly — but all to no 

 purpose — because, had I left part standing, 

 this would have been a nursery for the fly to 

 stock the whole field again in tlic spring. 



Now the cause of all this mi^chief is (he 

 fly — the fly. Not a plant or a sprout could I 

 find in the field, but what had from two, to a 

 dozen, or more, of nits, or eggs, at the root ; 

 and, I am confident, that henceforth the wheat 

 would have been getting less, and the weeds 

 more, until the whole would have been no- 

 thing but a mass of rank weeds — an eye-sore 

 — that I dreaded to look upon. I liave, how- 

 ever, some satisfaction, in burying such a 

 mass of corruption, and, if the season is fa- 

 vourable, liope to reap a better crop tlian if I 

 had left the first remaining. T])is wheat was 

 attacked by the fly as soon as up, and was 

 certainly not diseased at that time, and, in 

 fact, did not show symptoms of disease, above 

 cround, at the time I ploughed it under. 

 The fact is, if the season is favourable to the 

 fly, and unfavourable to the wheat, attack it 

 they will, no matter what kind of a soil, or 

 how the soil has been cultivated. Wlien the 

 soil is highly manured, either with dung or 

 lime, or both, it sometimes outgrows the fly, 

 and they do very little damage ; but if the 

 wheat is kept back, as your correspondents 

 say, to harden it, the fly has the advantage. 

 Fortunately, the samples of wheat you sent 

 me, with ten others, received from Boston, I 

 did not sow until after frost (22d September), 

 and these are all clear of fly, as yet. I am 

 afraid the fly will do much damage, this fall 

 and next spring : I see it in other fields be- 

 sides my own. Respectfully, 



J. G. 



October 23, 1840. 



A Remark. 



" I CONCEIVE there is a great deal of use- 

 ful information to be obtained from the differ- 

 ent agricultural journals. In our State the 

 land has generally been hard-worn by coih- 

 stant cropping and light manuring. Much, 

 however, may be done by every fiirmer, to 

 restore fertility to his soils and increase their 

 productiveness, if he will make good use of 

 all his resources. Let him employ all hands 

 every leisure moment in collecting weeds, 

 leaves, and every article of which manure 

 can be made, into compost heaps for spring 

 use. Let him keep his crops carefully cleaned 

 of weeds during summer, and after the early 

 crops are got in, keep the weeds close, to 

 prevent their going to seed, either by plough- 

 ing them in or removing them to his hog- 

 pens, and he may rest assured of a rich re- 

 ward for his labour and care, in the increase 

 of his crops." 



