Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 4G5 



dry until tlireslied and used for seed. I have conversed witli many 

 wheat growers, and have raised wheat some fifteen years, and all ray 

 observations and inquiries have led me to the above conclusions. 



Mr. George W. Ames, of Union county, Oregon, says : Let those 

 who are pestered with smut in wheat soak their seed in vitriol. To 

 every live bushels dissolve one pound of vitriol in enough water to 

 thoroughly saturate the wheat, and let it stand over night, or twelve 

 hours, before sowing. When I came here, in 1862, mj neighbors 

 told me I must vitriol my wheat before sowing, to prevent smut. I 

 did so, and had a good crop. Thinking, perhaps, that was labor and 

 expense for nothing, the next year I sowed a small patcli in the midst 

 of my field without vitrioling it, and it was at least one-third smut, 

 while the rest of the field was clear wheat. My nearest neighbor 

 was unable one year to procure vitriol in time, and, being a little 

 skeptical about its virtue, sowed without. The result was about one- 

 third smut. The next season, to give it a more thorough test, he 

 sowed a small strip in the midst of his field without vitriol, and it 

 was half smut. 



Is THE Tomato Worm Poisonous. 

 Mr. Jonathan Askliam, Phelps, N. Y., has seen it stated in a 

 Rochester paper that the tomato worm is poisonous ; that it is capa- 

 ble of ejecting virus from its mouth a distance of several inches ; and 

 the same journal, he says, cites one or two cases where this virus, 

 coming in contact with an abrasion of the skin, produced fatal results. 

 Mr. John Crane. — The worms are the same species that infest 

 tobacco plants. I have caught thousands and sufiiered no harm. 

 Turkeys eat them and grow fat on the diet. 



Mr. Thomas Cavanagh. — If they are the same as are found on 

 celery and parsley, they are to be avoided. I have known persons to 

 suffer considerably for a number of days from having come in contact 

 with these. 



Mr. D. B. Bruen. — The tomato and potato worm are alike, and not 

 dangerous, I think, though they will destroy the foliage of the plants. 

 Mr. A. S. Fuller. — The tomato worm is perfectly harmless. I 

 have heard the stories to which our correspondent alludes, and can 

 understand how it may have happened. I have known persons to 

 be poisoned by the prick of a pin, and I heard recently of a lady who 

 was poisoned by a rose geranium ; yet no one will say that either of 

 these things are dangerous. Simple herbs may poison one, and yet 

 be handled by another with impunity. 

 [IxXST.] ' 30 



