264 



Hessian Fly. — Destrnctive effect of Wheat on Sheep. Vol. V. 



seem to me to have any bearing on the argu- 

 ments just recited ; nor can I suppose thiis 

 matter is interesting to the readers of the 

 Cabinet. Tliey are curious about a mis- 

 chievous insect, and not about the deficien- 

 cies or faults of an obscure individual in Phil- 

 adelphia. The paper was inspected by tiiose 

 who had given recent attention to the sub- 

 ject. If a struggle of mutual vanities were 

 desirable, as it is not, it would not be difficult 

 to commence one. The credit of first disco- 

 very is, indeed, a question of justice to indi- 

 viduals, whether the praise be due to Miss 

 M. or to some prior inquirer. Any effort, 

 however, towards settling this point, I must 

 be excused for omitting or at least postponing, 

 for the reasons stated at the commencement 

 of the present note. I observe the " pale, 

 green worm," described by Miss M., in a pa- 

 per of Mr. James Worth, which certainly 

 goes to strengthen her views. Any one ac- 

 customed to watch the progress of the natu- 

 ral sciences or the useful arts, knows that it 

 is in this manner that the most important im- 

 provements are made ; by repeated observa- 

 tions and such occasional advancements, great 

 or small, as opportunity enables us to make. 

 I would wish, further, to remind some of 

 your correspondents of the great danger 

 which exists of converting the license con- 

 ferred by anonymous writing into a source of 

 impropriety, especially when assailing per- 

 sons who give their names at full length. 

 I am, very respectfully, 



B. H. Coaxes. 



PhiJadelphia, 3mo., 1, 1841. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Hessian Fly. 



The late numbers of the Cabinet afford 

 evidence that the Hessian or wheat fly at- 

 tracts at least a portion of that attention from 

 the agricultural community which its im- 

 portance demands ; they also show that though 

 much has been attempted and something 

 done, there are still some points in the his- 

 tory of that insect, to be elucidated before 

 any remedy which can be proposed will be 

 likely to receive the entire confidence of all. 



A fact of some importance in relation to 

 this matter lately fell under my observation, 

 and as a similar one has not been noticed by 

 any other person, so far as my knowledge ex- 

 tends, 1 thought it might be proper to give it 

 a place on the pages of the Cabinet. 



About the 25th of 9th month last I planted, 

 in a bed in my garden, some wheat which I 

 had carefully selected from a favourite kind, 

 with the view of still further improving it. 

 On one of the warm afternoons which occur- 

 red between the 1st and 5th of the following 

 month, whilst looking at my wheat, then just 

 up, I saw something on one of the leaves, 



which I supposed was the insect in question ; 

 and upon stooping down to examine it more 

 closely, I found it with its body curved, its 

 oviduct in contact with the leaf, and 1 had no 

 doubt in the act of depositing its eggs. Be- 

 ing desirous of observing its operations as 

 long as possible, I made no immediate at- 

 tempt to secure it, and it shortly after flew 

 away. 1 very soon after compared what I 

 recollected of its appearance with specimens 

 of the fly in my possession, which were pro- 

 duced from piipfB found in the wheat, and had 

 no doubt of its identity with them. I pulled 

 the leaf from which the fly had flown, and 

 upon applying a magnifier, found three or 

 four "elongated, linear, pale-fulvous" eggs, 

 nicely glued down in one of the stricB or mi- 

 nute grooves near its middle, but so small as 

 not to be distinctly seen without the aid of 

 the glass. Tlie wheat at that time had shot 

 forth but one blade, and that stood erect ; the 

 one on which the eggs were deposited had 

 its concave or upper surface turned towards 

 the south or south-west — being thus exposed 

 to the sun's rays and sheltered from the cold 

 winds, which sometimes blow at that season 

 of the year, they would probably very soon 

 hatch, and the larvcc descending but a short 

 distance, would find their appropriate food 

 and accommodations for the winter. 



If the above-stated fact should be consi- 

 dered sufficient to settle the question as to 

 the place and manner in which the eggs of 

 the fly are deposited in the autumn, we may 

 still inquire whether the perfect insect ever 

 survives the winter in a state capable of pro- 

 pagating its kind in the spring — and whether 

 the young ever hybcrnates in any plant ex- 

 cept wheat, or some other of the biennial ce- 

 real grasses. If these questions can be an- 

 swered in the negative — and I doubt not the 

 first of them at least may be — the remedy for 

 the evil, and probably the only effectual one 

 that can be applied, is that suggested by W, 

 L. H., in the last number of the Cabinet, viz. 

 the abandonment of every crop which nour- 

 ishes the insect, for such a length of time as 

 will ensure its total destruction. 



P. Passmore. 



East Goshen, 3 mo. 1st, 1841. 



DestructiTs effect of Wheat on Sheep. 



A FLOCK of sheep, more than 200 in num- 

 ber, broke into a field where was a quantity 

 of wheat bound up and fit for carting to the 

 barn ; they had fed heartily upon it before 

 they were discovered by the shepherd, when 

 they were removed to their pasture from 

 whence they had strayed ; the next morning 

 4 of them were found dead, and several oth- 

 ers were ill — the morning after, 24 more had 

 died, and as many more were all but dead — 

 and then, the owner sent for the doctor ! 



