No. 8. 



Hessian Fly. — Decayed Turnips. 



269 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Hessian Fly. 



Esteemed Friend, — Havinor made a visit 

 to my patch of" Odessa wheat," the seed of 

 which thou gave me, I found it almost all de- 

 stroyed by the Fly, a specimen of which I 

 herewith send to thee. From this it appears 

 evident that Miss Morris's plan for guarding 

 against the fly, will do nothing ; and it is 

 equally erroneous to suppose that the eggs 

 of the fly are deposited in the grain, for the 

 sample of wheat here spoken of was from 

 Europe, where the fly is not known, and was 

 sown in this country for the first time. It is 

 fallacious, also, to believe, that the frost will 

 kill the fly in its larva or pupa slate, for I 

 found many of the stalks cut ofl^, and lying 

 loose on the frozen ground — which must, 

 therefore, have been exposed to the severest 

 part of the winter — with the flies so forward 

 as to be ready to take wing, so soon as the 

 sun shall have warmed them into existence. 



But the destruction of the Odessa wheat 

 is not the worst of it, for I find that my whole 

 crop has, during the winter, sufl^ered much 

 from the same cause, so that the field which 

 was so green and beautiful at the first clear- 

 ing off of the snow, now lies brown and dry. 



Now I believe the only remedy for this 

 great evil is, to manure well, and sow the 

 crop from the 5th to the 10th of October ; 

 that is the time which I always observed, 

 until the two last years, and was always suc- 

 cessful in raising a crop of wheat; the last 

 year I commenced sowing on the 24th day 

 of September; the Odessa wheat was sown 

 on the 25lh of that month. 



Sincerely thy friend. 



Homer Eachus. 



Egmont, Delaware Co., 27th Feb., 1841. 



Our friend should pass a heavy roller over his crop, 

 go soon as the frost has left the ground, and the land 

 is dry enough to bear the operation ; the plants would 

 then be enabled to strike fresh root, and if at the same 

 time a sprinkling of ashes, marl, poudrette, or lime were 

 applied, as atop-dressing, it is believed that it would 

 be the means of recovering, to a considerable extent, 

 a crop that would otherwise be a total loss. Few per- 

 sons are aware of the value of a heavy Roller. — Ed. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Decayed Turnips. 



Sir, — Seeing many inquiries as to the 

 cause of the rotting of a turnip crop, without 

 the least appearance of the disease externally, 

 and having had much experience in the rais- 

 ing root-crops of various kinds, I v/ould say, 

 the evil arises from a wet and retentive sub- 

 soil. Four years ago, I sowed a fresh broken 

 up piece of land with ruta-baga; it had been 

 in wood, and this was the first cultivated crop 



that had been raised upon it. The plants 

 came well, and flourished for a season, when 

 some of them began to turn blue, and they 

 were then soon full of the animal, called fa- 

 miliarly, the plant-louse ; others, however, 

 retained their healthy appearance, while their 

 internal parts were one mass of corruption ; 

 and it was curious to observe, on putting one's 

 foot on a large healthy-looking turnip, and 

 full of foliage, how suddenly the whole super- 

 structure would crush down into complete 

 rottenness, the shell not being more than 

 half an inch in thickness. On examining 

 the tap-roots of many of them, they were 

 found rotten, although the disease had not 

 extended, in some cases, to within several 

 inches of the bulb, while the effluvia which 

 arose, from many, even of the comparatively 

 sound-looking roots, was convincing proof of 

 incipient decay. Many of the roots, to ap- 

 pearance perfectly sound, were packed away 

 for winter provender, but, I believe I may 

 say, that not one of them proved in reality 

 so, and no cattle would touch them. 



The winter following revealed the truth, 

 for, on e.xamining the land, it was found to be 

 full of stagnant water to within a few inches 

 of the surface; since then, it has been drained 

 and well cultivated, and I have no idea that 

 the crop of turnips, which I intend to grow 

 upon it the present season, will decay on the 

 land. Should they, however, deceive me, I 

 will tell the truth, and inform you of the re- 

 sult, " right or wrong." 



John Sturges. 



Delaware State. 



P. S. A writer in the Yankee Farmer 

 complains that many of his diseased turnips 

 were injured by Grubs. I beg to say this 

 would not have been the case, had not the 

 turnips been first diseased. 



To the Editor of the Farmers" Cabinet. 

 Preservation of Apples, Roots, etc." 



Sir, — We often hear of the decay of the 

 winter stock of roots, and are told, that to 

 preserve them, it is necessary to open the 

 doors of the magazine every fine day, for the 

 admission of fresh air ; and also, to leave a 

 passage from the top of the cellar, or deposi- 

 tory, by which the damp and foul air might 

 escape, and thus prevent fermentation, which 

 is sure to take place, unless these directions 

 are observed. Now I believe all this is 

 wrong from the beginning, and that to pre- 

 serve our roots, we ought to bury them so 

 deep, and effectually, as to place them en- 

 tirely out of the influence of the atmosphere 

 at all times ; the next best thing being, to 

 place them in cellars, where no ventilation 

 can ever take place ; carefully observing to 



