306 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Seft. 



Blight in Timothy. 



Mr. Editor : — Within a few years past the 

 farmers of Central New York have observed a 

 blight in their meadows, particularly those of 

 Timothy [Plihum ])ratens,) which has during 

 the past season become very destructive, particu- 

 larly .in the counties of Otsego, Madison, Che- 

 nango, Cortland, Onondaga, and some others, I 

 believe, and is becoming truly alarming, as it 

 threatens to work great mischief to this highly 

 valued grass. Having my attention called to 

 this, I set myself about ascertaining the cause of 

 this blight. On examination, the straw was 

 found to be decayed just above the joint, some- 

 times the upper one and sometimes lower down. 

 By the naked eye no cause of this decay was 

 perceptible , but by placing the straw under a 

 good compound microscope a little insect magni- 

 fied to the size of a honey bee made its appear- 

 ance, and seemed so much at home that I did not 

 doubt but the death of the straw was the result of 

 his depradations. 



The animal, when you know where to look 

 for him, may be seen by the naked eye, of a 

 whitish yellow and about as large as a grain of 

 Indian meal. When magnified, it is a perfectly 

 developed insect without wings, having six legs, 

 with scattering hairs on its body, and except its 

 color, which is a light yellow, resembles a bee 

 with its wings removed. It is easily injured by 

 handling and therefore needs care in searching 

 for it. 



The most natural conclusion concerning its 

 origin, is, to my mind, that it hatched from an 

 egg dropped down between the leaves before 

 heading, and as the grass grew and headed, it 

 remained between the stalk and leaf, where it in 

 due time hatched and commenced its work of 

 destruction. In some meadows it hatches and 

 begins to work (for it must eat sometliing) so 

 early that the grass does not head at all. This 

 was the case in some parts of the meadows of A. 

 N. Annass, Esq., of De Ruyter, Madison Co. 



The insect, to be found, must be looked for as 

 soon as the head begins to turn white. But your 

 next inquiry is, how can it be prevented ? This 

 question I cannot answer satisfactorily to myself; 

 yet if it is produced as I have supposed, its rav- 

 ages might be somewhat mitigated by feeding off 

 the grass just after the egg is deposited, if this 

 time could be ascertained. It might be well to 

 BOW clover instead of timothy, and then, if my 

 conclusion is true, no danger of blight from this 

 cause need be feared. I hope that future obser- 

 Tation will put this matter beyond a doubt, and 

 if possible devise a plan for preventing the evil. 

 GiTUDON Evans, 



De Ruyter, Av^. 5, 1847. 



The wisest man may occasionally do a weak 

 thing — the niost honest a wrong thing — and the 

 worst of men will sometimes do a good thing. 



Hydra#€s for Farmers. 



BY e. N. BKMENT. 



NUMBLR !1. 



Monlgolfier's- Ram. — To Montgolfier, of 

 France, we are indebted for the discovery, or 

 rather the improvement of this useful machine — 

 hence its name, Montgolfier'' s Ram. 



The belier hydraulique of Montgolfier was in- 

 vented in 1796. Although it is on the principle 

 of Whitehurst's machine, its invention is believed 

 to have been entirely independent of the latter. 

 But if it were even admitted that Montgolfier was 

 acquainted with what Whitehurst has done, still 

 he has by his improvement, made the ram entire- 

 ly his own. He found it a comparatively use- 

 less device, and he rendered it one of the most 

 efficient. It was neglected or forgotten, and he 

 not only revived it, but gave it a permanent 

 place among hydraulic machines, and actually 

 made it the most interesting of them all. 



The device by which Montgolfier made the 

 ram self-acting, is one of the neatest imaginable. 

 It is unique. There never was any thing like 

 it in practical hydraulics, or in the whole range 

 of the arts ; and its simplicity is equal to its nov- 

 elty and useful effects. Perhaps it may be 

 said that he only added a yalve to Whitehurst's 

 machine. Be it so; but that simple valve in- 

 stantly changed, as by magic, the whole charac- 

 ter of the apparatus. 



Montgolfier's great improvement, which made 

 the machine self-acting, was to substitute an out- 

 let valve, shutting upwards in the place of the 

 cock used by Whitehurst, which valve was 

 weighted so as just to open when the water in 

 the main pipe was in a state of rest. But the 

 moment the outlet valve was opened by the 

 weight upon it, the water then rushed out acquir- 

 ed a power in addition to its gravity — the power 

 oj its momentum — which was sufficient to close 

 the outlet valve, when the same effect was pro- 

 duced that was produced by the shutting of the 

 cock, and a jet of water was thrown upwards 

 into the smaller pipe, which may be called the 

 " raising main." The water in the main pipe 

 was thus brought to a state of rest, when the 

 weight on the outlet valv.e was again sufficient 

 to open it, and the water rushing out of it crea- 

 ted again the momentum necessary to close it, 

 when a further supply was forced into the rais- 

 ing main and so the outlet valve kept constantly 

 opening and shutting, or pulsating, as it may be 

 termed, and a regular stream was made io pass 

 up the raising main. An air-chamber was at- 

 tached to the last, to produce an uniform flow of 

 water, similar to that used in a common forcing 

 pump. Bui the weight on the outlet valve was 

 an imperfect contrivance, after all ; because if 

 the head of the water varied, the weight required 

 to be varied also ; and so long as the weight was 

 the only method of making the ram self-acting. 



