374 Fly in Wheat. — Strawberries. — Fibrous Covering for Land. Vol. XL 



der favourable circumstances, it is said to 

 yield five hundred bushels to an acre, — a 

 statement whicli I do not ijivc from personal 

 observation, nor mceive without some dis- 

 trust. — Colmati's Tour. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Cause and Preventives of the Fly in 

 Wheat. 



Mr. Editor, — Tn the fall and spring of 

 the year, wiicn the young wheat is very 

 succulent, if tlic soil contains very little 

 alkali, the young plant is very apt to absorb 

 much free carbonic acid. This carbonic 

 acid, in its free .'^tato, when too abundant to 

 be assimilated by the plant, unites chemi- 

 cally with the soft vegetable tissue, and 

 forms a sweet substance, very pleasant to 

 the taste of insects, and attracts them to the 

 plant. They attack the wheat, and are 

 charged with being the cause of the sickly 

 and deformed state of the plant, — while the 

 surplus carbonic acid was the first cause, 

 and they only a secondary one. If, then, 

 we would prevent the fly from attacking 

 the wheat, we must apply to it such sub- 

 stances, as, while they render the juices 

 unpleasant to the taste of the insect, also 

 strengthen the plant. These two objects 

 may be gained by applying alkalies — such 

 as soda, potash, lime, &c., — in the form of 

 salt, ashes, lime, &c., to the plant at the 

 time they are liable to bo attacked. If we 

 apply these substances early enough we may 

 prevent the carbonic acid from doing injury; 

 but we may apply these after the injury has 

 been done, and the plant will absorb them 

 and they will render its juices nauseous to 

 the insects, and thus prevent their attacks. 

 Charcoal is very useful to prevent the sur- 

 plus carlxniic acid from injuring the plant. 



The sail should be applied at the rate of 

 one bushel or less to the acre. The ashes 

 and lime — fresh slacked — at the rate of five 

 bushels or more to the acre. Each farmer's 

 experience, however, with good judgment, 

 are the best guides in these matters, as the 

 circumstances difi'er so widely in different 

 locations, soils, modes of culture, &c. 



Chemico. 



June 22nil, 1847. 



Strawberries in Cincinnati. 



Thk Queen City piornises to bocomc ns fnniniis for 

 Btrnwbcrrics, ns Newcastle is for coal. And five to 

 ten ceiilB a quart tool We have not seen a lot of 

 passable ones in our market the present season, for 

 less thnn twenty cents. Are there any means of as- 

 certuininf; the amount sold in I'hiladelphia ? Why do 

 not (uir farmers and gardem^rs make tlitim as cheap 

 licre as they arc at Cincinnati ? Surely it would be as 



profitable as growing potatoes at even a dollar a 

 bushel.— Ed. 



A Cincinnati paper states, that one day 

 last week, no le.ss than 502 bushels of straw- 

 berries were offered for sale in the markets 

 of that city. Add the quantities left at the 

 hotels and steamboats, and the aggregate 

 would amount to 550 bushels. The price 

 ranged from five to ten cents per quart. The 

 Cincinnati Horticultural Society have agreed 

 that "a premium of one hundred dollars be 

 awarded during any strawberry season here- 

 after, for the production of a new seedling 

 strawberry, sujjerior in size to any now cul- 

 tivated in the vicinity. 



The following, says the Cincinnati Herald, 

 shows the amount of strawberries sold in our 

 markets since the present season has opened, 

 copied from tlie daily record kept by a com- 

 mittee of the Society: 



May 25th, 15 bushels; 26th, 20 bushels ; 

 27th, 20 bushels; 28th, 40 bushels; 29th, 

 50 bushels ; Hist, 50 bushels. June 1st, 296 

 bushels; 2nd, 250 bushels; 3rd, 50 bushels; 

 4th, 247 bushels; 5th, 489 bushels; 7th, 

 200 bushels; 8th, 514 bushels; 9th, 411 

 bushels ; 10th, 237 bushels. 



The actual amount brought in and deliv- 

 ered ut other places than the markets, will 

 increase the above, probably 20 per cent. 

 At the end of the sea.son, the committee 

 will make a Report on the whole number 

 brought into the city, including what has 

 been sold to the Confectioners, Ilotels, &,c., 

 as far as the latter fact can be ascertained. 

 Of course, the above statement is incom- 

 plete, though correct, as far as it goes. 



Fibrous Covering for Land. 



Mil. G. GuRNKY observed that, " if a bush 

 or other fibrous matter were left lying in a 

 field of grass, the vegetation beneath it 

 would soon be observed to be finer or fresher 

 thu-n that around it. This was a fiict known 

 to every one, but the agency by which this 

 increase of growth was brought about, evi- 

 dently involving some great and important 

 but unknown principle, had never been in- 

 vestigated. Flaffs, rushes, straw, bushes, 

 or, in short, any fibrous covering, would pro- 

 duce a similar effect. Reeds, or wheaten 

 straw, applied over grass, at the rate of 

 about a load to a load and a half per acre, 

 would, in a short time, increase the quantity 

 of grass to an incredible extent. The vari- 

 ous grasses under it would be found to be 

 healtliy, and rapidly passing through the 

 stages to maturity, some growing, some 

 flowering, some seeding. Part of a field of 

 grass placed under this operation for one 

 month had increased in weight, over the re- 



