60 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



SEPTEMBER 3, 1834. 



EXPERIMENTS IN TOPPING CORN. 



It was discovered early in August, 1810, tliat 

 proper grasses for soiling niy cattle would soon 

 lie very deficient ; and on tlie 20tli of that month, 

 one row of corn in a field of thirteen acres, was 

 topped to ascertain how the plant would bear ear- 

 ly cutting. It was thought that it had received 

 no injury. On the 31st of the same month I com- 

 menced feeding the cattle with the tops cut daily 

 as wanted. These lastod them until the 18th of 

 September. After this the blades were stripped, 

 commencing where the toppings begun. They fed 

 the cattle until the 5th October. 



In the process of topping and blading, one row 

 was left entire, standing between the row which 

 had been topped on the 20th of August, and 

 another row which was topped on the 2d of Sep- 

 tember. These rows were cut off liy the roots on 

 the 2(1 of October, and hauled in, and set up sep- 

 arately under my own inspection. They were 

 husked and measured on the 8th November. 



Produce of the row tliat had not been topped 

 and stri|ipod, nine bushels and five eighths of 

 corn in the ear. 



One of the rows wdiich had been topped and 

 stripped, measured seven bushels and six eights ; 

 and the other topped and stripped row tneasnred 

 seven bushels and three eighths of corn in the ear. 



Thus it clearly appears that mutilating the corn 

 plant before its fruit is perfected, is a very injuri- 

 ous practice. The injury done to my crop by this 

 mode of management was clearly seen some tinje 

 before the three experimental rows were cut of!'. 

 Throughout the whole field the husks were gen- 

 erally dry and open, except on the row whicli had 

 not been topped an<l stripped. On this they still 

 retained a greenish hue, and were close set to the 

 ear when the plants were cut off by the roots. 



In 1811, I selected three rows of maize in the 

 middle of my field, as nearly alike as possible. 

 The plants were then about two feet high. 1 cut 

 off the tops of the middle row as low down as 

 might be readily done without injuring the tassels, 

 which were wrapped in their own leaves within 

 the stalks. I could not observe that the stalks in 

 the row which had b^en cut, grew any thicker, 

 until new leaves had been formed from the crown 

 of the plants. Before this hap[)ened, the stalks in 

 the rows on either side of it, seemed to be as thick 

 again as those standing iu It ; and the ears grown 

 on the plants in this row, shot fille<l, and ripened 

 about two weeks later than the rest of the fielil. 



As several writers on agriculture had asserted 

 that the tops of potatoes might be cut and given 

 to the cattle without injury to tlie crop, I cut ofl" 

 the tops from a row nmning through the middle of 

 a very luxuriant patch. Care was taken to cut 

 them in that way which was supposed least like- 

 ly K) prove injurious to the future growth of tlie 

 plants. The debilitated appearance of the second 

 growtli of the tojjs, determined me not to risk the 

 second cutting of ihem. When the crop was 

 gathered, the roots in the row that had been cut 

 did not seem to be more than half as large as those 

 in the rest of the patch. 



In fact, I have never seen any aihautage arise 

 either from carefully trimming, or ruggedly mu- 

 tilating annual plants; on the contrary, much in- 

 jury certainly follows. It is, however, probable 

 that good housewives and ignorant gardeners will 

 continue to tread and mutilate the tops of their on- 

 ions, as long as the world may liappcn to last, for 



tlie express purpose of making the roots grow more 

 luxuriantly ; unless perchance, they tnay liappen 

 to reflect, that the tops would not have existed, if 

 nature did not consider them as necessary to the 

 well-being of the plant as its roots. Certain it is 

 that the writings of many gentlemen who ought to 

 have known better, are exactly calculated to con- 

 firm them in this truly savage practice. — Lorrain. 



From the Genesee Farmer, 

 THE -WHEAT WORM. 



We have heard great complaints within a few 

 days of the devastation making by this insect incur 

 wheat fields: and it is apprehended, that in many 

 cases there will be a total loss of crop. Its rava- 

 ges are far greater than before known. The at- 

 tention of the readers of the Farmer has been 

 before called to this subject, particularly iu an 

 article published on the 19th of A[iril. The ex- 

 periments and observations of i\lr. IJauer, there de- 

 tailed are worthy of all notice; as the lime em- 

 ployed in tnaking them — some twenty years — and 

 the high standing of the experimentor, lea\'Es little 

 doubt of the correctness of his conclusion, that the 

 seed of the worm is sown with the grain. It will 

 be recollected that steeping the seed grain in lime 

 and water, was found to destroy the seed of the in- 

 sect. However doubtful this may appear, it is 

 worth every one's trial ; Tor independent of this 

 object, it is now a well established fact, that soak- 

 ing seed wheat in lime water, will destroy the 

 seed of smut. N. B. As it is the causticity of 

 quick lime which destroys the seed of the insect as 

 well as the parasite, of the worm as well as of the 

 smut — lime recently burnt should alone be em- 

 ployed ; for when it has been air-slacked, or suf- 

 fered to indiibe carbonic acid by long keeping or 

 exposure, it loses its causticity, and is unfit to he 

 employed, being little better than jiounded chalk or 

 limestone. 



But for the wheat worm, the crops in the coun- 

 ty of Albany have a promising appearance. The 

 season has been very favorable for barley, one of 

 our staple crops. Corn is rather backward, but it 

 stands well, and the recent showers and warm 

 weather have brought it forward remarkably. 



I am making an experiment with bees which I 

 will detail to you. My boxes or hives are iriade in 

 pairs, one to set on^another, and when tlius dou- 

 bled, there are two hooks on the u|iper, and two 

 liuttous on the lower box to keep them in ]dace. 

 In the one intended for the lower box, which is 

 about nine inches ileep, I make one, two, three or 

 four holes with an auger, and invert over each of 

 these a half gallon glass jar, such as are used by 

 apothecaries, the months of which are slightly set 

 into the cover of the lower box. I then clap the 

 iipper box over thesu^glasses, and fasten it to the 

 lower ones with the hooks. The bees have ac- 

 cess to the jars, but not otherwise to the up])er 

 hive, the cross pieces in which keep the glasses 

 in place. The ex|iectation is, that these jars will 

 be filled with pure honey, and that 1 shall be able 

 at any time to ri;move them, in part or whole, and 

 to substitute other glasses without disturbing the 

 bees. I have seen tumblers thus filled with honey, 

 and there is little doubt of my succeeding with 

 tho jars. My bees in the garret continue to do 

 well. I took considerable honey from their habi- 

 tation last winter ; they Inive since filled the 

 space, and considerably enlarged llie cond) other- 

 wise. J. 15. 



Jllhany, Juli/ fjih. 



From the Montreal Daily AUvertiser. 

 THE WHEAT-Pl-T. 



Sir, — In a paragraph which appeared in your 

 Courier of Friday last, copied from the Sher- 

 hrooUe. MvocaU, the damage to the kernel of wheat 

 in the ear of the growing crop, has been attribut- 

 ed to the insect called the wevil. This surely is 

 a mistake, the wevil is a very diflerent sort of in- 

 sect from that which has damaged the wheat in 

 this neighborhood. 



The Encydoprtdia of Agriculture describes the 

 wheat-fly, which has been one of the greatest ene- 

 mies to the wheat crop in Scotland of late years, 

 and I have every reason to su|)pose it is the same 

 species of fly that has caused the injury to wheat 

 this summer. 



The following article is from the Encyclope- 

 dia : — "In the njodern nomenclature, the Rev, 

 W. Kerby informs us that the wheat-fly, fornjerly 

 the Tipida Iritici of Linneus is now the Cecidoviyia 

 tritici ; and the Hessian fly the C.deslruclor. The 

 wheat-fly generally makes its appearance about 

 the end of June ; and according to the observa- 

 tions of Mr. SherriflT, they exist throughout a pe- 

 riod of thirly-nine days. The line of the fly i» 

 orange, the wings transparent, and changing col- 

 or accoriling to the light in which they are view- 

 ed. It lays its eggs within the glmnes of the flor- 

 ets, in clusters varying in lumdjer from two to 

 ten, or even to fifteen, and the larvEe feed upon 

 the grain. They are produced from the eggs in 

 the course of eight or ten days; they are at first 

 perfectly transparent, and assume a yellow color 

 a few days afterwards; they travel not from one 

 floret to another, and forty-seven have been num- 

 bered in one. Occasionally there are found in 

 the same floret larvas and a grain which is gener- 

 ally shrivelled, as if deprived of nourishment, and 

 although the pollen may furnish the larva^ \vith 

 food in the first instance, they soon crowd around 

 the lower part of the germen, and they in all 

 probability subsist on the matter destined to form 

 the grain. The larva; are |ueyed on by the fc?a- 

 phron dcslrncior, or ichneumon fly, which deposits 

 its eggs in the body of the Iarva3 of the wheat-fly; 

 and this is the only check hitherto discovered for 

 preventing the total destruction of the wiieat crops 

 attacked by the cecidoiiiyia. Mr. Sherrift", speak- 

 ing of, the ichneumon, says, ' I could not deter- 

 mine if it actually deposits its eggs in the maggot's 

 liodv; but there can be BO doubt, however, of the 

 ichneumon jiiercing the maggots with a sting; 

 and from stinging the same maggot repeatedly, it 

 is probable the fly didigbts to destroy the maggots, 

 ys well as deposit eggs in their bodies. The ear- 

 wig, also, devours the maggots as food.' Mr. Gor- 

 rie estimates the loss sustained liy the farming in- 

 terests in the Carse of Gowrie district alone, by 

 the wheat-fly, at £20,000 in 1827 ; at £30,000 in 

 1828 ; and at £36,000 in 1829. The same writer 

 in May 1830 thus depicts__tl*e — prospects of the 

 wheat crop in the Carse of Gowrie: 'The ceci- 

 domyia are still alive in formidable legions. That 

 the flies will this season be in as great plenty as 

 ever, is f]uile certain; that they will lay their eggs 

 on no other plants, than those of the wheat genus, 

 is also true: the only chance of escape is in the 

 time the pu|);c appear iu the fly state: should the 

 snnny weather bring them forward withm a fort- 

 night or three weeks from this date, the greater 

 part will have perished before the wheat is in the 

 ear, or should the earing take place before the 

 fly appears, the late or spring sown wheat will 



