1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



453 



INSECTS ON WHEAT. 



We have been exceedingly sorry to see wheat 

 fields all around us utterly ruined this season by a 

 little black insect that swarms upon it in indefi- 

 nite legions. In a field that we frequently visited, 

 they began their depredations during the last half 

 of July, and soon multiplied into such astonishing 

 numbers as to preclude all hope of saving the 

 crop. This insect is not the wheat midge which 

 proves so destructive to the wheat crop in West- 

 ern New York and in the AVestern States, but a 

 much smaller, and infinitely more numerous de- 

 stroyer, and one which baffles all human skill. 

 Indeed, we stand powerless before its invasions, 

 and look on its devastations with mingled feelings 

 of wonder and fear at its terrible power of cutting 

 oflf the chief staple of human subsistence. 



The only remedies we have ever heard suggest- 

 ed, are to sow slaked lime plentifully over the in- 

 fested grain, or thoroughly coat the seed before 

 sowing it. But this must be a hopeless remedy. 

 The cost of the material, the labor of applying it, 

 and the desti'uction to the crop in doing so, would 

 probably exceed the value of the crop itself. 



These destroyers sometimes infest the wheat in 

 Europe to a great extent, and are called the 

 Thrips cerealium. In its larva state, "it is small- 

 er than the wheat maggot, is orange-colored, and 

 is provided with six legs, two antennae, and a 

 short beak, and is very nimble in its motions," as 

 described by Dr. Harris. It is supposed to suck 

 out the juices of the seed, thus causing it to shrink 

 and become what the English farmers call pun- 

 gled. It belongs to the order IlEnMlPTEllA, 

 which means that half of their upper wings resem- 

 ble a piece of leather, and the other half are mem- 

 branaceous, that is, having a thin, flexible skin. 

 This order includes the various insects which we 

 call bugs, and locusts, plant-lice, &c. 



We regret this partial destruction of the wheat 

 crop in New England, because its tendency v/ill 

 be to prevent its culture another year. Our peo- 

 ple have now become interested in it, having suc- 

 ceeded well for several years past, and this partial 

 failure will tend to discourage the good work 

 which has been begun. 



We hope, however, that farmers will not fail to 

 sow their usual breadth this flill, and give it a fair 

 trial. 



Bee Pasturage. — The Bee Journal says : — 

 "The rapidity with which bees will build comb, 

 and gather honey, under favorable circumstances, 

 is 80 extraordinary as to be almost incredible. Mr. 

 Brink says that he has known a strong swarm to 

 fill its hives with comb in seventy-two hours ; and 

 that colonies expelled in August, put into empty 

 hives, and transported to the heaths, would fill the 

 hive with new comb, and gather from thirty to 

 forty pounds of honey, in the brief season for work 

 in which they could labor." 



FOREST TREES OF AMERICA. 



During the recent session of the U. S. Agricul- 

 tural Society at Washington, Dr. J. G. Cooper, of 

 the Smithsonian Institute, delivered an interest- 

 ing lecture before the Society, on the Forest Trees 

 of America, illustrating his subject with compari- 

 sons with the distribution of European forests : — 



The thinning out of timber in the older States 

 has reduced the proportion, and we are fust creep- 

 ing toward the point when it will be scarce and 

 dear. The western boundary of the timber coun- 

 try is a waving line which runs from the west end 

 of Lake Erie to the Gulf of Mexico at the eastern 

 boundary of Texas, which line exactly corresponds 

 with the general direction of the moist winds from 

 the Gulf of IMexico, northward and eastward. The 

 prairie country is bounded by the 30th and 60th 

 degrees of latitude, and the 92d and r20th merid- 

 ians. Westward come the plains, rendered sterile 

 by the sweeping dried and hot winds from the 

 Pacific. In the prairie country, and, to some ex- 

 tent, in the desert itself, the margins of streams 

 are wooded, and they alone. Along the Pacific 

 slope a belt of timber extends along mountain 

 ranges, becoming thinner as we go southward. 



The forests of America are disappearing, and 

 unless some means of preservation are adopted, 

 wood will become very scarce in our own time. 

 In Russia, forests extend nearly ten degi'ees fur- 

 ther northward than in America. The extent of 

 timber land, compared with arable, is greater here 

 than in Europe. In Russia the proportion is 36 

 per cent., Austria, 30 6-10, Prussia, 21 8-10, 

 France, 16 6-10 ; for the M'hole of Europe the pro- 

 portion is 26 1-4 per cent., while in the United 

 States and Canada it was as high as 48 4-10. In 

 Europe the proportion was increasing, with us de- 

 creasing. The computations do not take any note 

 of mere firewood, but solely of the timber suitable 

 for building, &c. In the United States and Can- 

 ada, north of latitude 43 degrees to 50 degrees, 

 there is To to 90 per cent, of the country wooded. 

 South of latitude 43 degrees to Virginia and Ohio, 

 there is 55 per cent. ; add Virginia, Kentucky and 

 Ohio to this district, and we have 58 per cent, 

 wooded. Indiana, with the Southern States, ex- 

 cept Texas, gives 68 per cent. The prairie States, 

 with wood only along their streams and rivers, 

 have 30 per cent, of timber land ; and west of the 

 prairie there is but 5 per cent, in all. 



From the statistics of our last census we dis- 

 covered that 1,500,000 acres out of 2,000,000 had 

 but 5 per cent, wooded. Assuming that in 1790 

 all the eastern country was wooded, then it had 

 fallen from 90 per cent, to 47 1-2 per cent., or six 

 per cent, each decade, and if the thing went on 

 at this frightful rate, in 30 years more we would 

 reduce our proportion of timber in the older States 

 to but 30 per cent. In Russia it has been ascer- 

 tained that a country having 37 per cent, of tim- 

 ber lands was well wooded, 37 to 22 foirly wood- 

 ed, and below that point poorly wooded. 



In 1694 laws were passed in Prussia for the pro- 

 tection of timber, and in 1720, trees were first 

 planted by Government, German pi'ofessors em- 

 ployed, and regular schools opened. It has proved 

 highly profitable to the Government, and the sys- 

 tem has been greatly enlarged. Up to 1850 there 

 had been surveyed 24,000,000 acres of timber, 



