414 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 7 



clined position, and by cutting it in the opposite di- 

 rection, as much of ii is saved as with a cradle. 

 Fourteen acres in corn lands were cut between 10 

 A. M. and 7^ P. M. Tlic hands had never 

 worked with the machine before, nor was it a 

 trial day's work. For owing to the shortness of 

 tile siraw, the machine was not allowed to cut when 

 passing over the ridges from one side of the ground 

 to the other, and this time was consequently lost. 

 From the principle on which the cutting is par- 

 formed, a keen edge to the cutter is by no means 

 essential. The toughest weeds, an occasional 

 corn stalk, or a stick of the thickness of a man's 

 little finger, have been frequently cut, without at 

 all affecting its operation: it can be sharjiened, 

 however, in a few minutes with a file. The width 

 of" the swath may be increased by having the cut- 

 ter made longer, and the same machine will cut 

 a stubble of several didi^rent heights. 



There is ample room to make the different parts 

 of any size, though the strength of every part has 

 been fully tested. The machine has been often 

 choked by oyster-shells getting tiie into cutter, in 

 attempting to cut too low a stubble. The motion 

 of the machinery being checked, the main wheels 

 slide on the ground, the strain on every part being 

 equal to the power exerted by the horses. It can 

 be managed by any intelligenc careful negro. We 

 deem it a simple, strong, and effective machine, 

 and take great pleasure in awarding unanimousl}- 

 the meritorious inventor of it a handsome pair of 

 silver cups. 



BOBT. H. GOLDSBOROUGH, 

 SAMUEL STEVENS, 

 SAML. T. KENNARD, 

 ROBT. BANNING, 

 SAML. HAMBLETON, Sr. 

 KICHL. GOLDSBOROUGH, 

 ED. N. HAMBLETON, 

 JAMES L. CHAMBERLAIN, 

 BIARTIN GOLDSBOROUGH, 

 HORATIO L. EDMONDSON, 

 TENCH TILGHMAN. 



From tlie Genesee Farmer. 

 HESSIAN FLY AND WHEAT INSECTS. 



Good entomologists are few in proportion to 

 other cultivators of the sciences. When their at- 

 tention is directed therefore, to such insects as in- 

 terlere with our rural economy, and successfully 

 point out to us practicable methods lor counter- 

 acting such invaders of our rights, we are always 

 thankful — though we have to regret that to be use- 

 ful seems to have occupied less of their attention 

 than the interests of gardening and agriculture de- 

 maml. 



The following extracts are from a letter which 

 we lately received, and were written by one who 

 has looked closely into such matters. We only 

 add that he is a practical farmer. 



"The Hessian fly and wheat insect, both belong 

 to the same genus, called Cecidmmjia by modern 

 entomologists. Tipula I believe was the old ge- 

 nus from which the former was separated. 

 * * # * # 



"The best and most interesting part of the sto- 

 ry has not been told : — The Hessian fly is destroy- 

 ed by a minute but formidable enemy, called the 

 Ceraphron destructor by Say ; and the wheat in- 



sect by two enemies that destroy it in the same 

 manner as the Ichneumon does the caterpillar. 

 [That is to say, they deposite their eg<rs in the 

 skin, and the larvas which hatch out from those 

 egcs, then feed on the living caterpillar, or wheat 

 insect, till they destroy it.] 



"I see no good cause for alarm, either on ac- 

 count of the hessian fly or of the wheat insect, as 

 both are are thinned by their winged enemies, 

 sometimes nearly extirpated. If our winter had 

 been an ordinary one, we should have had tolera- 

 ble crops of wheat in despite of the fly. The 

 more I become acquainted with the habits and 

 manners of insects, the more I have to admire the 

 wisdom and goodness of God as manifested in the 

 creation." 



Friiin the New England Farmer. 

 SILK CULTURE. 



From the correspondence of Gen. Tallmadge, it 

 appears. 



1. That one great source of the national wealth of 

 France, is the product of the vineyard, under the 

 culture of the husbandman — and the silk worm 

 under the fostering care of the wife. 



2. That in Italy, partially, and chiefly in France, 

 the culture of silk is carried on by private and in- 

 dividual industry. 



3. That a damp climate is injurious to the silk 

 worm — and that the culture of silk does not pros- 

 per near the ocean. 



4. That France does not produce one half of 

 the raw silk which she manufactures. Her pop- 

 ulation is so dense that she cannot furnish suffi- 

 cient space for mulberry trees. 



5. That the warm dry sunnners of the inland 

 parts of the United States are admirably fiUed for 

 the culture of silk in families, and that we shall 

 succeed in it. That when the leaves of different 

 kinds of mulberries are mixed together, the worms 

 will select and gather the Chinese mulberry. 



6. That in Europe the mulberry trees are cut 

 off and kept dwarfed, for the convenience of gath- 

 ering leaves. 



7. That although the Chinese mulberry is vast- 

 ly superior to any other for feeding silk worms, 

 yet from the inaptituce of French farmers to 

 change habits, there are comparatively but few of 

 the Chinese mulberry set out in France. At this 

 time there are probably growing in America more 

 Chinese mulberries than in all Europe. Even af- 

 ter the experience of ages, Europeans are said to 

 act more ii-om usage and habit, than skill and ex- 

 perience. The demand for mulberry in America 

 is so great, that the French this year have sold us 

 100 trees where they have set out 10 lor their 

 own use. 



From tlie Genesee Farmer. 



ACID IN WOOD — ITS EFFECTS ON SALT AND 

 BUTTER. 



It has been frequently remarked by those who 

 are in thehabitof packing butter, that that kept best 

 put down in stone, the next best in oak or white ash 

 firkins, the wood of which had been boiled for se- 

 veral hours previous to working, and that butter 

 packed in firkins made of unprepared wood fre- 



