200 HOW TO GROW GOOD CORN. 



means of destroying the eggs or young larvse, unless feeding off* the 

 blade with sheep would effect the object ; and when their progress 

 is detected by their mischievous works, at a more advanced period, 

 nothing, I apprehend, but sacrificing the crop would arrest them. It 

 appears, therefore, to be an evil to which we must occasionally 

 submit ; but, to guard against its immediate recurrence, it will only 

 be necessary to collect and burn the stubble after the corn is reaped, 

 by which means the larva? and pupae which are concealed at the base 

 of the stalk will, of course, be destroyed. 



Now, in reference to wheat stubbles, we would re- 

 mark that the old-fashioned plan of leaving them long 

 as a protection, and, we may add, a preserve of food 

 for partridges, had its good effects in an agricultural 

 point of view ; but if this be done, we advocate the 

 burning of the stubs on the soil, as they will thus act 

 better as a manure, while the destruction of insects 

 by the process must be enormous. All concur that 

 modern agriculture suffers increasingly from insects ; 

 hence, then, an extended study of their habits seems 

 daily more desirable : and we boldly assert that if 

 our country schoolmasters would teach their pupils 

 to observe insect life, they may be doing more good 

 to agriculture than all our present so-called agricul- 

 tural colleges and schools put together. 



4. The Aphis flea {Aphis granaria) is a creature 

 destructive to the grain by " sucking the verdure 

 out on't." We have this year (1864) seen this insect, 

 more especially the apterous — wingless — females, 

 sticking on to the green wheat ears to such an extent 

 as to render a walk into the crop a disgustingly dirty 

 process. It would seem that a continuous dry and 

 warm season favours the increase of these creatures ; 

 but, as we have always observed that the earlier 

 sown wheats nearly always escape, from their coming 



