148 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



" I will here mention an instance that occurred in the sprinc^ of 1856. 

 Early in April I plowed a piece of land on which the midge had destroyed 

 a crop of wheat the previous season. Soon after the plowing- was finished, 

 there was a heavy fall of rain; the next day I chanced to pass over the 

 field, and to my great astonishment I saw millions upon millions of the 

 midge in the low places where the water had carried them. They were 

 then apparently in the same condition as when they first issued from the 

 wheat to enter the earth. As the water subsided, they gradually disap- 

 peared by burrowing in the earth again. 



"According to the statements in the article referred to in the beginning 

 of my letter, the midge would necessarily become a perfect insect iu the 

 fall, when they take refuge in the mullen. What nonsense." 



What makes Color in Grapes ? 



Mr. S. R. Dunn, Woburn, Mass., wants to know "the difference between 

 the white and purple or colored grapes chemically? What is the coloring 

 matter, whether iron or not, and the effect on the sjstetn in their consump- 

 tion?" 



Mr. Geo. Bartlett. — This question is wholly unanswerable, as to what 

 makes the color. It has no effect on those who eat colored grapes. 



Dodder, the Flax Parasite, 



is said to be medicinal by Mr. John Graves, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. "It was 

 considered, in England, an efficient remedy for hypochondriasis and bilious 

 complaints; and the medical faculty of that period used to import from Italy 

 and Turkey, as being still more efficacious, the Guscata minor, (the Dodder 

 being Cuacata major,) which attaches itself only to the Thymum durins, 

 (our common garden thyme,) that herb growing wild in those countries. 

 Perhaps even now, in some cases, it might beneficially supercede the min- 

 eral medicaments so frequently used for the cure of such diseases." 



Apple Trees that Bear Inundation. 



Mr. S. W. Gavitt, writes from Kern River, California, that in several 

 inundations that he has witnessed in that State, he has found the Northern 

 Spy apple trees have lived, when all other sorts have perished, and there- 

 fore recommends it for all situations subject to overflow. 



Economy in Wheat Growing. 



Mr. P. D. Beckwith, Dowagiac, Cass county, 3Iiel)., wants the Club to 

 discuss the subject of grain raising in all its various relations. I think 

 we, as a people who raise grain, and particularly wheat, do not sufficiently, 

 understand the subject in scarcely any one particular. He says: "It is 

 admitted by all farmers who have used grain drills, that they cannot afford 

 to sow their grain broadcast, but should use a drill by all means," and he 

 thinks Gage's roller drill superior to all others. The advantages of drill- 

 ing wheat ave: Saving of labor and seed, increase in yield, [and protection 

 from winter-killing and drouth. All the seeds is buried out of the way of 

 the birds, and seeding can bo done in windy weather. 



