VOL. XV III. NO. 7. 



AND PIORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



57 



From ihc Farmer's jMoinlily Visitor. 



It'anier, June 5, ISSIK 

 Mr Hili, : — A frieiid at AFontreal sent iiie tlie 

 '■ .Morning Courier" of April 1;), containing; a coni- 

 miuiicalion on the Wheat Fly. Tlic reasonings of 

 tlie writer, Mr Harwood, I think ore fully sustain- 

 ed by fact;3 and observations in this vicinity. F 

 forward you the article: perhaps you may think it 

 of sufficient interest to rp|uiblish it. 



Yours, &c. L. Bahtlett. 



THE WHEAT FLY. 

 To the Editor of the .irorni..g CoHrier; 



Sir, — I have just seen, in your paper of the 1st 

 instant, a letter frotn Mr Papineau on the subject 

 of the Wheat Fly, wherein he recommends the ap- 

 pication of a solution of blue vitriol to the seed 

 wheat, as certain in its effects to protect the grain 

 Irom the ravages of the wheat fly. 



Lower Canada has, for several pears past, been 

 sidly afflicted by this fly, and the knowledge of 

 any means to destroy its destructive etfocts is very 

 important. 



For my own part, I have no faith in tlie means 

 recommended in JNir Papineau's letter. The in- 

 stance he mentions of Mr Cuillard's success, was, 

 I think, purely accidental, as such instances are 

 no way uncommon, even in parts of the country 

 where the fly has been most destructive. 



The wheat fly, there can be no dotibt, is propa- 

 gated by depositing its eggs on the young ear of 

 wheat ; which egg in a few days produces the gnat ; 

 that, by feeding on the milk of the wheat, robs the 

 farmer of his crop ; this gnat afterwards is changed 

 to a chrysalis, in which state it remains until the 

 next mid-surnnier heat, when it emerges into the 

 fly state. 



If this is true, it is evident that the remedy rec- 

 ommended by Mr Papineau could have no efl%ct in 

 preventing the appearatice of the fly; and that the 

 soaking of the seed grain can affect the future 

 plant, so as to make it distasteful to the fly, at so 

 late a period as when the new grain is formed, is 

 scarcely possible. 



Let any one observe the first appearance of the 

 worm on the grain of wheat ; a mere orange speck, 

 which, in a few days, arrives at its full size ; it 

 then crawls about the kerr.el, and lives upon the 

 milk. In this state it is quite soft and easily crush- 

 ed ; but in a few days tnore it becomes hard, and 

 will roll between the fingers. It is then trans- 

 formed to the chrysalis, in which state it falls on 

 the ground, or remains in the straw dormant, until 

 the next summer's heat. 



The gad fly continues its species by depositing 



will make its appearance whenever the season is 

 sufficiently hot, and such wheat as is so far advanc- 

 d as to be fit to receive the deposite of its eggs is 

 sure to be attacked, and the grain destroyed. 



Now by sowing the wheat early, as is done on 

 old lands, particularly in the French settlements, 

 that wheat is sure to be in the ear when the fly 

 conies, and the farmer's labor is lost.. 



From every information that I can obtain, I have 

 found that in those parts of Lower Canada wliere 

 wheat has been the least injured, tlie fiirmors are 

 in the liabit of sowing their grain much later than 

 in the Frencli settlements, as in the eastern town- 

 sliips, the new land in the rear of Beanharnois, and 

 up the Ottawa. 



In my immediate neighborhood, I have not heard 

 a single exception, where the farmer's first sown 

 wheat has not the most suflered, and the last sown 

 the least. 



Two years ago, a farmer of the name of Daptiste 

 Lalonde, had a very good crop of wheat when all 

 his immediate neighbors' crops were cut off. He 

 sowed as early as his neighbors, but fortunately for 

 him he was careless, and left his fences down, and 

 his sheep and cattle were constantly in his wheat 

 until late in the spring; by this means it was re- 

 tarded and his crop saved. 



Another man named Jacqtie Sinette dit la Rente, 

 ploughed up an old meadow of about 1 3-4 acre of 

 landj in the fall of 183G, intending to sow it in oats 

 in the spring. It was consequently left until his 

 regular wheat crop was put in, as well as all his 

 other grain, when finding that he had no seed oats 

 left, he sowed two minots of spring wheat late in 

 May, and they produced him the large yield of 41 

 0-4 minots. 



His regular wheat crop did not give him three 

 seeds for one. 



It will be observed that in this case the old sod 

 had time to heat before the grain was sown. 



In the springof ]8'37, I sowed some wlieat on 

 the 2Gth May, and it was not in the least injured by 

 the fly, nor suffered from the rust, but ripened per- 

 fectly well. 



Last year I did not begin to sow wheat until the 

 20th May, and sowed some on the 1st June : the 

 wheat again escaped the fly, nor did it suffer from 

 the rust, so much dreaded by late sowing. Aspart 

 of the land sown last spring had been in wheat the 

 year before, there was to be seen now and then 

 tufts of wheat far advanced of the others, probably 

 the product of the seed fallen from the previous 

 crop, and invariably every grain of that advanced 

 wheat was destroj'ed by the fly, which shows that 

 the enemy had been there. 



I have never suffered much from rust, except 

 wheii I have sown wheat immediately after manure. 



I may be in error in the system I pursue, but I 

 lay it frankly before the public ; but I think 1 am 

 not, and if it be the means of inducing more intel- 

 lio'ent agriculturists to sliow their views of defeat- 

 ing the attack of these destructive insects, a great 

 public benefit will be obtained. 



I am, sir, your obedient servant, 



R. U. HAIIWOOD. 

 Montreal, April 8. 



ON KEEPING POULTRY. 



Messrs Editors : I once knew a couple of indus- 

 trious sisters, who lived near a never fiiiling brook 

 or streatn in Massachusetts, who kept generally 

 through the winter thirty geese, male and female. 

 They had erected some suitable but not costly sheds, 

 in which they had apartments for them to lay, set 

 and hatch. Their food in the winter was meal of 

 the various kinds, to soine extent, but principally 

 apples and roofs. In the suminer they had a pas- 

 ture enclosed with stone wall, or board fence, which 

 embraced the water. They kept their wings so 

 clipped that they could not fly over such tetice. — 

 Their owners well knew (what we all know,) that 

 live geese feathers are a cash article, at a fair price. 

 They picked off their feathers three times in the 

 season. Those thirty geese wintered, would raise 

 say seventyfivegoslins or young geese, and of course 

 they had that number to dispose of every fall or in 

 the beginning of winter, when they are sent to 

 market, and again picked, tnaking four times that 

 they obtained feathers from those they wintered, 

 and twice from the young ones that they killed. 



I tell the story to induce some family, sisters or 

 brothers, fathers or mothers, situate near some nev- 

 er failing brook of water, to go and do likewise. 

 Those remote from water cannot be benefited by 

 the history, yet their friends may ; but if I can by 

 this account, cause one family to partake of the ben- 

 efits of the business, I shall he satisfied. Many fam- 

 ilies there are, in all our towns, so situated that they 

 may aKike the raising of geese a profitable business ; 

 yet perhaps have never thought of their privileges. 

 It is known that we must import most of our feath- 

 ers ; and is it necessary to send abroad for an ar- 

 ticle so easily produced among us ? Those who 

 calculate to commence the business must prepare 

 for it the ensuing fall, and not kill their geese. No 

 one will object to the keeping of even more than 

 thirty geese, if an enclosure is made suflScient to 

 keep them at home and out of mischief — Maine 

 Farmer. 



Cheap Manuring. — Many farmers in this State 

 of late years have adopted the practice of manuring 

 their land for wheat the ensuing season, by turn- 

 ino- in green crops. For instance, take a field 



