No. 2. 



Wheat. — The Locusts. 



45 



Tomato Omelet. — Slice and stew your 

 tomatoes. Beat up half a dozen fresh eggs, 

 the yolk and while separate ; when well 

 beaten, mix them with the tomato — put 

 them in a pan and fry them, and you will 

 have a fine omelet. 



Tomatoes for winter. — They may be 

 preserved for winter use, by placing them 

 in layers with salt, in jars or tight boxes. 

 When wanted, they must be soaked in wa- 

 ter, as you soak cucunibers preserved in the 

 same way. Some stew the tomatoes till 

 well cooked, then spread the mass on plates, 

 or other smooth surfaces, and dry them fully, 

 when they can be put in bags, and kept in 

 a dry place. 



Some are fond of them raw — eating them 

 as we eat an apple. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Wheat. 



When we recollect that the wheat crop 

 of the United States is more than one hun- 

 dred millions of bushels, we at once perceive 

 its vast importance, and can more readily 

 appreciate the value of any suggestions that 

 may lead to its preservation, or increase. 

 This is the season for putting it in the 

 ground, and I make this short communica- 

 tion, in order to remind my brother farmers 

 of the expediency of practising upon the 

 many hints, which have from time to time, 

 been published, so far as their judgment may 

 approve of them, or their love of enterprise 

 induce them to experiment. 



In the first place, good seed is essential ; 

 and I believe we shall always be gainers, if 

 we first wash it well in water — then again 

 in strong brine — and then, while it is damp, 

 roll it well in plaster of Paris. We should 

 be careful too, to get it in the ground early. 

 For the last few years, the early sown wheat 

 and rye, have very decidedly fared the best. 

 When the late sowed, has been injured, or 

 almost ruined by the rust, that which has 

 ripened early, has entirely escaped. Colonel 

 Barclay, in his Agricultural Tour through 

 our country, gives it as his opinion, that we 

 are almost uniformly too sparing of our seed : 

 this also is becoming the opinion of some of 

 our best wheat growers. The kind of wheat, 

 too, is an important consideration, and must 

 be fixed upon, according to the best judg- 

 ment of the grower. The Mediterranean 

 variety is getting much into favour: and 

 where the ground is light, and in but mid 

 dling heart, we are inclined to think it is 

 the best. When the farmer is about to sow 

 his wheat without manure, he can hardly do 

 better than to sow the Mediterranean. A 

 friend, a day or two ago, informed me that 



Elisha Bassett, of Salem, N. J., sowed a 

 field of this kind of wheat among his corn 

 last fall, and the crop, which is now threshed, 

 yielded 34 measured bushels ; and the extra 

 weight made it equal to 36 bushels per acre. 



R. N. 



Svveetlesborou^h, N. J. 



The Locusts. 



To the Editor of the Baltimore Ame- 

 rican — A paragraph in the American of 

 this morning, copied from the Newark Daily 

 Advertiser, states the fact that the "eggs of 

 the seventeen year locusts are now hatch- 

 ing;" describes the young insects very accu- 

 rately, except as to the size, which is repre- 

 sented to be a third of the size of a grain of 

 rice,* and concludes by observing: "This is, 

 we believe, the first discovery of the time 

 of the quickening of the eggs." Permit me 

 to state, that this quickening of the eggs 

 was discovered and fully described by me in 

 1834, as was every particular of the habits 

 of the insect, from the time of leaving the 

 ground to the return of the young insects 

 to it in August, and until the setting in of 

 winter, when they disappeared from view. 

 In fact, I then prepared a complete history 

 of the insects, embracing every item, except 

 the location of the various districts of coun- 

 try in which they appear. To enable me 

 to complete this part, which, next to the 

 length of time they require to complete the 

 cycle of their existence, is the most curious 

 part of their history, I have deferred publish- 

 ing the work in full to the present time. I 

 have now full information of the existence 

 of twenty-four distinct Districts, in which 

 they appear; and twelve of the seventeen 

 years which form the cycle of their exist- 

 ence. I hope yet to obtain information of 

 the appearance of the insects in each of the 

 other five years, but fear that these years 

 are occupied by them in the Western wilds, 

 whence the information cannot be obtained, 

 until those parts of the country are more 

 fully occupied by inhabitants. The years in 

 which I have not been able to hear of the 

 appearance of the locusts, are 1827, 1837, 

 1839, 1840 and 1841, with their correspond- 

 ing terms of seventeen years. If any per- 

 son knows of their appearance in either of 

 those years, I shall be greatly obliged by the 

 information. I herewith send you a plate 

 representing the insect in all its stages. 

 The egg and the young insect are magnified 

 one thousand times. 



Respectfully, 



Gideon B. Smith. 



Baltimore, Aug. 26th, 1843. 



* The young insect is one-twelfth of an inch ii 

 length, and one seventy-second of an inch in width. 



