48 
of a grain field, as upon its ridges; and that it is only in conse- 
quence of the greater fertility of the former situations, that the 
crop there is enabled so effectually to withstand this enemy. In- 
deed, the farmers themselves, in districts where the fly has pre- 
vailed, have all learned from experience, that it is only upon fer- 
tile lands that it will do to sow their wheat. Hence Ezra L’Hom- 
medieu long ago intimated that the Hessian fly on Long Island, 
by driving the farmers to manure their lands, instead of a curse 
had actually been a blessing. He says, “ the land in Suffolk coun- 
ty and other parts of Long Island, was easily tilled, and by con- 
tinual cropping with wheat was so reduced, that on an average 
not more than five or six bushels was raised to the acre. This 
mode of husbandry was still pursued, and although the land was 
gradually impoverished, the farmer found the crop, although small, 
more than would pay for his labor and expense. The Hessian fly 
put an end to this kind of husbandry, and in that respect has 
proved a blessing instead of a curse; no other way being found 
to prevent the injury done by this insect, but by highly manuring 
the land.” (Trans. NV. Y. Soc. for Prom. /Agric., §¢., i., 57.) 
A writer in Delaware also states that the universal predilection 
there, was to have large rather than rich fields of wheat; that 
this insect was counteracting this, by compelling them to cultivate 
less land, in order to cultivate it well; and that its tendency con- 
sequently was, to make our population more dense, by making it 
the interest of every man to own no more land than what he could 
manure highly and till carefully. (Carey’s Museum, xi., 301.) 
We thus have, even in the devastations committed by this destroyer 
evident indications of that 
“All partial evil, universal good,’’ 
which is every where manifest in the works of the Supreme Archi- 
tect of nature. It is doubtless the additional strength and vigor 
enjoyed by plants growing upon a rich soil, which enables them 
to withstand the depredations of this insect. Those shoots which 
are first sent up from a kernel of seed, are the ones which are 
commonly attacked and destroyed, and in an impoverished soil 
