90 



SILK MANUAL, AND 



no flifficiiity in keepiii<{ calves well on skimmed 

 niilk or whey. Care, however, should be taken in 

 every stage of feeding, not to feed calves to the 

 full extent of their appetites. This is deemed 

 quite important. 



It is admitted, that calves kept upon skimmed 

 milk and whey are more liable to disease than 

 when they are allovi^ed to suck, or are fed upon 

 new milk. It is said, the principal and n;ost 

 dangerous disease to which they are exposed, is 

 that of looseness or scouring. For this there is a 

 very tiinple remedy, which is said to be prompt 

 and effectual, is prescribed, it is only to pour 

 into the food prepared for the sick calf, two or three 

 spoonsfull of rennet, such as is used in cheese- 

 making. If calves are costive, the remedy re- 

 commended is, to give them pot liquor, in whick 

 })ork, mutton, or bacon has been boiled. 



JVew-York State, 1836. A Father. 



Cold Weather. — On the 5th, 6tb and 7th of 

 Sei)tember were smart frosts, and fires in our 

 dwellings were very comfortable. A rgentlemnn 

 from Europe says the summer has been remark- 

 able for cold weatiier. Another gentleman from 

 China says that snow fell last winter in Canton 

 two inches deep, to the a:nazement of the Chi- 

 nese, having never before been known or seen m 

 Canton — they thought that the spheres were 

 wheeling about. 



Intelligence from the westward confirms the 

 reports of an unfavorable season and of short 

 crops. Even in our own fertile valley the crops 

 look sorry. However unfavorable appearances 

 may be respecting the crops, circumstances may 

 yet falsify all these predictions, and give the far- 

 mer a plentiful harvest. 



A PREVENTIVE OP THE "WHEAT PI^Y, 



The following communication we copy from 

 the 15altimore American, and commend it to our 

 readers as being worthy of their attention. We 

 published under our head of '* Work for Septem- 

 ber," in our 18th number last year, the same re- 

 cipe, with the exception that we recommenfled the 

 seed to be passed through strong ley, or lime wa- 

 ter, instead of pickle. — Bait. Far. 



Messhs Editors — Some time since in a com- 

 munication published m the Baltiniore pa[)ers, I 

 stated my views on the destruction of wheat by 

 the 'Hessian fly, and offered a remedy against its 

 ravages. As this season will be lemarkable for 

 the devastation committed by this insect, and as 

 tlie time is a[)jiroaching for seeding for the next 

 crop, 1 request a small space in yoMr columns to 

 bring before our farmers again the remedy then 

 proposed, fully believing that if followed much 

 good will be the result from it. 



On observation it has been found that the insect 



producing the fly- progresses with the growth of 

 the wheat ; and if the wheat is early sown, and 

 the season is favorable to a luxuriant vegetation, 

 the fly will be very perceptible in the autumn.— 

 The progress of the insect, as is observed in a for- 

 mer communication, is from the seed upwards, on 

 one stem between the root and surface of the earth. 

 The question then arises, how is this insect gen- 

 erated, and what means should be used to destroy 

 it ? It is either generated in the grain of wheat 

 similar to the bug which infests the pea, or the in- 

 sect when in its winged state deposites an egg on 

 the surface of the grain when in the ear and thus 

 when the wheat is sown and begins to vegetate, 

 the egg vivifies and the destructive worm is 

 formed. 



For the following reasons I am strongly inclin- 

 ed to the latter opinion. It is known that this in- 

 sect releases itself by bursting the blade that cov- 

 ers it, when the head is forming, and assumes its 

 winged state, and there is to my mind no doubt 

 that this fly deposits its egg on the wheat when 

 filling and coming to perfection. Jf I had any 

 doubts on this subject they would be removed by 

 the fact that with the aid of the microscope the 

 egg is discernible in the form of a glutinous mat- 

 ter. If this opinion be correct, the remedy is sim- 

 ple, and worthy at least of a fair trial. Provi- 

 dence inflicts no evil upon mankind without also 

 providing some remedy, and unless this is intend- 

 ed as a special curse upon the husbandman, there 

 is and must be a remedy which he must find out 

 Ity actual experiment. 



In the course of twenty years experience in 

 this matter, I have known but one experiment 

 made to destroy this fly, and that proved success- 

 ful. An intelligent farmer in Loudon county, Va. 

 having understood that some of his neighbors with 

 the ail of a microscope, had discovered a glutin- 

 ous matter on the surface of wheat which they be- 

 lieved to be the egg of the fly, determined to try 

 an experiment for its destructic n and succeeded in 

 that cro[) ; but unfortunately it was not followed 

 up, and whether it will be an effectual remedy in 

 all seasons, remains yet to be tested. This plan 

 which he followed, and which it is the object of 

 this communication to recommend to the notice 

 of the farmers, is simply to pass the seed vuheat 

 through a strong lirine or pickle, washing it well, 

 and then rolling it in slackened lime, (similar to 

 rolling it in Plaster of Paris) not preparing at one 

 time more than a day's sowing. Washing the 

 wheat in brine, and rolling it in the lime are done 

 primarily for the purpose of destroying the egg, 

 but it answers another good purpose — that of pre- 

 venting the growth of smut. The lime will also 

 bo found to act as a powerful stimillant to the 

 growth of the wheat, and superior to that of plas- 

 ter. 



