THE GENESEE FARMEE. 



239 



teiiiperature of the first fifteen days of June, tliis 

 vi .ir, was four degrees higher than in 1859. 



I'uder such circumstances, it is easy to under- 

 ,t:uid wliy tlie midge appeared seven days earlier 

 n 18G0 tlian in 1859. We cannot sujjpose for a 

 iionient that the midge maggots, lying in the earth 

 II the spring, can tell whether the farmer has sown 

 m early or a late variety of wheat, and so regulate 

 fic time when they shall change into pupa3, and 

 --:iiii into insects. The time of their trausforma- 

 ions is determined by natural causes which are 

 utirely disconnected with the variety of the wheat 

 »\vu. Except when wheat is sown after whfat, 

 a' midge insects do not arise out of the soil on 

 inch the wheat is sown: and how tliey are to 

 ■11 whether Mediterranean or Soules wlieat is grow- 

 ig in a distant field, we are at a loss to conceive. 

 Tlie fact mentioned in regard to the N'orthem 

 '->l/ apple, though an interesting one if true, has no 

 aring on the question under consideration. The 

 on lis are hatched on the tree itseJf— not in the 

 nil, as in the case of the wheat midge. If the 

 CH' is later, the worms may liatch out later. The 

 1 'lv, also, would doubtless undergo its trans- 

 itions earlier in a warm, early soil, than in a 

 • w, late one. 



A\'e see no reason to change our opinion on this 

 sl'ji'ct. It does not rest on mere speculation. The 

 <ly varieties of wheat are more exempt from the 

 nl;^e than the later kinds. This is an admitted 

 i t. We have seen part of a field of wheat that 

 vs a few days earlier than the rest, escape the 

 iilge, while that which was later was materially 

 "nx'd. The time of the appearance of the midge 

 K' k'termined by temperature and other natural 

 C' ses ; and if we can get wheat ten days earlier 

 ill bloom -without disturbing these causes, the 

 Wat would escape, as it would be beyond the 

 "■h of the midge before the flies made their ap- 

 [xrance. 



i IT Best to Hill Ooen?-B. E. Darnell, of 

 Filing Co., Ky.^says: I answer it is. Your 

 ■< espondents do not say what sort of tools they 

 ;■ I hill mine with a double shovel. I could 

 u work my thirty acres of corn, and hill it with 

 ii)e. I can do as much with Eoaney and double 

 «brel, as two men with hoes ; the shovel will hill 

 t Y degrees, and in plowing four times, twice in 

 » w, it will be sufficiently hilled. We raise some 

 301 here, but those twenty-two ears of Egyptian 

 xi— they are ahead of Patrick Soott's— his 

 itvc only had thirteen large ears and a gourd on 

 to;with a quart of shelled corn in it. 



ENGLISH AGEICULTURE. 



Luther II. Tucker, Esq , of the Country Gen- 

 tleman, who spent last summer in Europe, has 

 published a pamphlet of about sixty pages, entitled 

 ''Americmi Glimpses of Agriculture in Great Brit- 

 ain;' which we have read with much pleasure. 

 Several pages are devoted to the consideration of 

 the caifses of the acknowledged superiority of 

 English and S-cotch ugriculture. Prominent nmong 

 them Mr. T. mentions 1, abundant capital and com- 

 pact population; 2, a decided national proclivity 

 for the country and for rural ].ursuits— a taste so 

 strongly marked and so etJective that M. de La- 

 VERGNE, the author of a French work on English 

 agriculture, has not hesitated to pronounce it " the 

 chief cause of her agi'icultural wealth.' Agricul- 

 ture is fashionable. " We are slow," writes Alder- 

 man Mkchi, " to give up our predilection for land 

 as an honorahle qualification, A man may be a 

 inillionaire in mills, machinery, consols or shipping; 

 his mind maybe gigantic in learning or science; 

 but, unless wedded to a certain acreage of cold 

 clay or hard gravel, vain must be his aspirations to 

 a legislatorial seat in St. Stevens." The " gentry" 

 not only put their country residences after their 

 names in the oflicial publications, instead of their 

 town addresses, as Lavergne remarks, but it is in 

 the country that they are most at home. " Show 

 and splendor," he continues, "are reserved for the 

 country. Town work pajs for the luxury of the 

 country. * * =i= j^gt as elsewhere great atten- 

 tion is paid to the handsome parts of large cities, 

 so in England it is the country from which every- 

 thing that may offend the eye is removed, that the 

 mind may have only peace and contentment to 

 dwell upon." 



"There can be no doubt," says Mr. T., "that 

 efforts in the advancement of agriculture are more 

 highly appreciated in England than anywhere else. 

 It was the voice of England tliat gave Liebig his 

 early fame. Popular testimonials are an almost 

 every-day affair to those who have been fffective 

 laborers in the good cause, to such men as Lawes 

 and Meohi, to the conductors of long established 

 agricultural journals, to prominent breeders and 

 farmers. The names of Hope of Fenton-Barns, 

 Hudson of Oastle-Acre, and their compeers, are as 

 widely known as belonging to earnest and success- 

 ful farmers, as those of many men of political emi- 

 nence. Jonas Webb, of Brabaham, was born in 

 very humble circumstances, unless I was misin- 

 formed, but he became first a thorough farmer, and 

 then elevated himself to tlie South Down champi 



