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1861. 



THE TLLIKOIS FAEMEE. 



203 



and they die. If this course is not pursued 

 plowing deep furrows will arrest their course 

 They travel slowly and in solid column, and 

 can be easily headed off. No one need lose 

 more than the grass where they hatch, un- 

 less they neglect this precaution. When 

 grain is headed out and they get on the 

 heads, two men with a long rope will quick- 

 ly sweep the field, when they will drop to 

 the ground and few of them again attempt 

 to rise, but travel to the next field, where 

 they can be headed off with the ditching 

 process. They seldom leave a field in more 

 than one direction, but this is not always to 

 be depended upon. Now that we know the 

 time of their appearance, and their habits, 

 we no longer fear them, knowing as we do 

 that we can head them ofi' with little 

 trouble, and thus put an end to their de- 

 vastation. 



The Time to Sow Wheat and Rye. 



Custom, for a long series of yenrs, has 

 settled the time of sowing of winter wheat 

 and rye. The last half of August has been 

 considered the best by those advocating 

 early sowing, but these have too often found 

 that they are just in time for the miller of 

 the Hessian Fly to lay their eggs in the 

 young plant. The last attempt that we 

 made of early sowing was a dead loss, in 

 consequence of thus furnishing this insect 

 with an early lodgment for its destructive 

 brood. This effort alone has induced us to 

 advise farjners to sow late in September, to 

 avoid the fly, but in this we often meet 

 another drawback. Should it prove dry at 

 that season, as is often the case, the seed 

 does not come up in time to become suf- 

 ficiently established to stand the severe 

 changes of winter, and between these two 

 dilemmas the culture of winter wheat has 

 to a great extent been abandoned. Now, it 

 is evident that some new process, or some 

 other time must be selected to make the 

 culture of winter wheat a good, sure paying 

 crop. 



In the culture of spring wheat for a long 

 time the practice common at the East was 

 adopted, but with very indifferent success; 

 but so soon as our farmers abandoned that 

 for fall plowing and early seeding, from a 

 precarious and comparatively insignificant 

 crop, it has assumed a prominent position, 

 and become the leading staple of the com- 

 mercial metropolis of the West. It is not 

 therefore improbable that by a like change 

 winder wheat and rye might again take rank 

 where it stood before the Hessian fly and 

 the open country sunk them to the second 

 rank. On the prairie good pasture is al- 

 ways a desideratum, and many people are 

 sowing rye for this purpose and find it a 

 profitable practice. We last year sowed 

 some ten or a dozen acres in the early part 

 of August. As soon as it came up the 

 calves and colts kept it fed close, and as the 

 season advanced, and the fall rains increased 

 its growth, the horses and cows gave it lit- 

 tle chance to make headway, and it was not 

 only eaten close, but thoroughly trampled 

 into the earth, and when winter set in no 

 one would suppose that this field would ever 

 return the seed sown ; but so soon as the 

 spring rains came on it came out with a 

 vigorous growth and soon covered the 

 ground, and the result was the best 

 crop of rye that we have seen. Some may 

 say that this is an isolated case, and should 

 not be relied upon for general practice. In 

 answer to this we have to say that in the 

 new State of Oregon, which i? said to be 

 one of the best for wheat, the farmers now 

 practice sowing In June, pasture the crop 

 through the summer and fall, and make a 

 fine crop of wheat. In Oregon the winters 

 are open, and the wheat, unless fed down, 

 would head out the same season and be lost. 

 But by sowing two months in advance they 

 have the benefit of a fine pasture and an in • 

 creased yield. The old summer fallow is 

 generally abandoned, and with the proposed 

 change will soon become a matter of history, 

 and yet the same principle of treating it as 

 a biennial will be retained. In this case we 



