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226 



THE COUNTRY GENTLEMAN. 



%)Xt CftttOW(rl00ii8lt. 



[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] 



No. 26— THE WHEAT MIDGE. 



In an address which I delivered at the recent Annual 

 Meeting of our State .Vgiicultural Society, I spoke of some 

 of our most important injurious insects as having been re- 

 markably diminished or wholly extinct the past summer, 

 I regard a portion of the information given in this address, 

 particularly that relating to the wheat midge, as of such a 

 character that it merits to be widely disseminated among 

 our farmers before the opening of the coming season. I 

 therefore communicate it, with some alterations and ad- 

 ditions, for insertion in the Coontry Gentleman. 



It is now about thirty years since the wheat midge first 

 invaded our State. During all that period it has been one 

 of the most formidable enemies with which our a"ricul- 

 turists have had to contend — greatly injuring, and in some 

 instances totally destroying their fields of wheat. Though 

 its depredations have been much greater some years than 

 others, almost every year it has been so numerous as to 

 materially diminish the productiveness of this crop. 



The liabits and transformations of this insect I will brief- 

 ly state, as some of our renders may not be familiar there- 

 with. The larvae, or little yellow worms, which occur in 

 the ears of wheat arc so nnivci'snlly known that it is un- 

 neces.sary to describe them. These worms get their 

 growth about the time the wheat ripens ; and when a 

 cloudy, damp day occurs, and the straw is wet with rain, 

 whereby they they can adhere to it, they come out of the 

 wheat heads and erjwl down the straw to the ground. 

 Some make this de.?eent before the grain is cut, others 

 when it is standing in stooks in the field, and others which 

 are belated in their growth arc carried with the grain into 

 the barn. On reaching the ground they crawl slightly into 

 it, or under any decaying leaves or straws which they find 

 on its surface, and there remain, at rest during the autumn, 

 winter and spring. The warmth of this last named season 

 changes it to a pupa, in which state the worm appears as 

 though it had a kind of vest or hood drawn over the head 

 end of its body, with some little cords hanging down in 

 front. 



From this pupa the perfect insect or midge comes out 

 in June. This resembles a minute fly or musquito. The 

 reader will form a very good idea of its .size, color and ap- 

 pearance by imagining one of the little bright yellow 

 worms which he has seen in the wheat heads, with long 

 and very slender legs and a pair of small wings attached 

 to it. There arc two species of these flies found together 

 in our wheatfields. One {Cccidomyia 7'ritici, Kirby) has 

 the wings perfectly clear and glossy. The other (which 

 I have named Cecidomyia cerealis,) which is more rare, 

 has seven dusky spots on each of its wings. But as we 

 know of no dissimilarity in their habits, this distinction is 

 unnecessary, except where scientific accuracy is required 

 Most of these flies are hatched, each summer, in fields 

 where wheat was grown the year before. They remain 

 at rest during the daytime, and become active in the even- 

 ing. Innnediately after they are hatched they are fiyin" 

 about everywhere in search of the fields in which the 

 new crop of wheat is growing. In these fields they all 

 gather themselves in the coui'se of a few evening8,'and 

 there remain. They repose during the daytime, standing 

 upon the wheat stalks down near the ground. After siui- 

 set they take wing and hover in swarms around the heads 

 of the wheat. The females will now be seen dancing up 

 and down these heads, intently occupied in selecting a 

 place thereon which is suited totheir wants. Such a s'pot 

 being discovered she alights upon it and pierces through 

 the chaff with her sting or ovipositor. This is a hollow 

 tube like a very fine hair, which she protrudes from her 

 body. Through this she passes h«r <*gs, one after an- 

 other, into the chaflT, placing them in contact with the germ 

 or young kernel of grain. When this act is completed 

 the labor of her life is finished, and she soon dies. Some- 

 times she is so exhausted by this work that she is unable 

 to withdraw her sting from the chalf, and perishes liang- 

 ing thus chained thereto. 



Long ago I found that these flics began to appear in the 

 wheatfields on the 16th of June, and that they became ex- 

 cessively numerous there, in the cour.«e of a day or two 

 afterwards. Yet I knew not but that they might have 

 been hatched one or two weeks before that time, occupy, 

 ing the first period of their maturity in selecting and pair- 

 ing with their mates, and only resorting to the wheat when 

 tliey were ready to deposit their eggs and die. How to 

 ascertain when this insect is first disclosed from its "pupa 

 and how long it is occupied in migrating from the old to 

 the new wheatflelds is a problem which has been often in 

 my thoughLs, without being able to devise any convenient 

 mode for its solution. Last season, however, it occurred 

 to me that as these flies are attracted into our dwellin''s 

 by the lights therein, it might hereby be found when th?y 

 first heK"! to appear abroad and how long they continue. 

 Accordingly, employing my evenings iu reading beside an 



Open window, it was on the 13th of June that one of these 

 flies was first seen to alight on the paper before mo. Upon 

 the two following evenings quite a number of them were 

 noticed, after which they were aeon no more. It hence 

 appears that two or three evenings suffice them for finding 

 their way Iroin the old into the new wheat fields. 



It may here be remarked that among the hosts of midges, 

 flies, and other small insects, which enter our windows 

 upon warm sultry evenings, and are so great an annoyance 

 around our lamp.s, the wheat midge is readily recognized 

 by the bright yellow color of its body. None of our other 

 minute flics which occur in the same situation are of a 

 similar color. 



The wheat midge, it is probable, varies somewhat in the 

 time of its appearance, as the season is more backward or 

 forward in dififcrent yeara, for the same atmospheric in- 

 fluences which hasten or delay the advance of vegeta- 

 tion operate similarly and to an equal degree upon •the 

 insect tribes, causing each species to come forth at the 

 exact period when its food has grown to be in readi- 

 ness for its use. And to the south of us, in Pennsylvania, 

 the midge no doubt makes its appearance some days earlier 

 than it does in this vicinity. Hence it is desirable that we 

 have some other indication besides the mere date of a par- 

 ticular locality, by which we may be aware of the time 

 when this insect comes abroad to commence ita annual 

 career. And it may therefore be observed that when the 

 first solitary fireflies are seen sparkling in the evening air, 

 and when the white flowers upon our locust trees are be- 

 ginning to fade, so that some of them are dropped to the 

 ground beneath the trees, we may be aware that the wheat 

 midge is then newly hatched and is beginning to gather 

 in the wheat fields. 



^ote. — I perceive that to complete this subject will ex- 

 tend the present article to a length inconvenient for in- 

 sertion, and I therefore defer my observations upon the 

 disappearance of this insect to another number. 

 Salem, N. Y.. March 11, 1861. ASA FITCH. 



Bad Milli and Butter in Winter. 



It is said that when cows are allowed to eat the litter 

 which is thrown out of horse stables, impregnated as it is 

 with liquid manure, their milk and butter will be tainted 

 with the taste, in the same way that the flavor is injured 

 by eating turnips, but to a more disagreeable degree. If 

 litter is allowed to be eaten, it should be only given to 

 other cattle, and not to milch cows, which should have 

 nothing but the sweetest and purest food. 



April 4, 



[For the Country Genlleman and Cultivator.] 



"CHESTER COUNTY BUTTER." 



The best butter in this country is admitted by con- 

 noisseurs to be made in the dairies of Chester and Dela- 

 ware counties in Pennsylvania, from meadows a hundred 

 years in grass, and whiph the owners never think of plow- 

 ing up. The sod is said to be a foot thick, and conse- 

 quently little afTccted by drouth. This butter is appro- 

 priated by the markets of Philadelphia, Baltimore and 

 Washington, and a person once accustomed to its aroma 

 and flavor, becomes fastidious for life in that article. 



The dairy-people work their butter with a damp cloth, 

 upon a marble or hardwood slab, (instead of a bowl and 

 ladle,) — rinsing and wringing the cloth in cold water as 

 often as it becomes saturated with the milk. The butter 

 will not become waxy or saivy by this process, as it is 

 made perfectly dry, with half the manipulation. A single 

 trial will convince of this. Of coui-se the butter must be 

 salted and cooled, and time allowed for the salt to be en- 

 tirely dissolved, before it is worked for packing, or for the 

 table. The cloth must be close in texture, and not at all 

 linty — a lump of ice will prevent the butter becoming oily 

 in very warm weather. An ounce and a half will be found 

 about the right quantity of salt for a pound of butter by 

 this process, as the cloth extracts more salt than the ladle. 

 Mansflehl, Pa. g j; jj 



[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] 



INQUIRIES ABO UT C HEESE-MAKING. 



Editors ok Co. Gent.— I have read with much interest, 

 the articles on Cheese, by your correspondent D., Oneida 

 Co. As my aim is to make a good cheese, and as my ex- 

 perience is limited, I am dependant on the experience of 

 others. 



1st. As to capping — will a rich cheese keep its shape 

 without a band around it? 



2d. As to scalding, he says, be sure and have the curd 

 thoroughly cooked. How can I tell when it is so? 



3d. Cook or scald to 100" to 110°, according to the 

 weather. Does it mean that the curd should be scalded 

 the highest in very hot weather? 



4th. As to pressing — I have been taught that to press 

 too hard at first would injure the cheese. 



5th. How long ought cheese to be in tlie press ? 

 And now let me say one word in favor of the Cochtrt 

 Gentleman. I see four other Agricultural papers, and I 

 prefer the Co. Gknt. to the allm. Your paper seems to be 

 full of practical every-day matter — not a child's paper, full 

 of puzzles or stories ; and as I know that fanners as n 

 class, do want a paper that culls itself Agricultural, to 

 come to them with practical information in regard to busi- 

 ness, I take tho pains to say a good word for my favorite. 

 I'yne. Ct. M. T. 0. 



'§nvnl ^m\mvment. 



[For the Country Gentleman and Onltlvator.) 



LANDSCAPE ENGINEERING— 17th Article. 

 Repairing: Hi|!:Im'ay8. 



It must be apparent to any intelligent mind, that tho 

 whole system of management connected with the con- 

 struction and repaira of the common roads of this country 

 is very defective, and that it would be an easy matter to 

 devise a plan that should be free from some or even all 

 of its many objections. In the first settlement of a new 

 country, we may be compelled to recognize the principle 

 of a labor tax to develop those public improvements which 

 arc positively necessary, but as in the progress of civiliza- 

 tion, each one assumes his separate calling, and capital is 

 easily controHcd, it would .seem necessary by every course 

 of reasoning, that road-making and repairing should be- 

 come an independent pursuit, requiring thorough qualifi- 

 cations, and paid for by a money tax. It seems quite 

 absurd that so diflicult a branch of civil engineering should 

 be controlled and diiccted by those who know nothuig, 

 either theorectically or practically, of the principles. Road- 

 making, and whose forces consist of representatives of 

 neaily all the trades and profe.«sions, the farmer, the cooper, 

 blacksmith, physician, tavern keeper, bar-room loafer, &c., 

 &c., meet alike on a common level on the common, road, 

 and liowever excellent or inelTicicnt each may be in his 

 own pursuit, the law presumes that nature has stepped 

 aside from her customary plans, and generously bestowed 

 upon each a full knowledge of road-making, and regard- 

 less of capacity or intellect, repeated herself" in a manner 

 no where else to be met with. It cannot be supposed that 

 a road-master is appointed from any superior attainments 

 in that science, as all know that merit is not a condition 

 of success. To know how to read and write, is by no 

 means essential, his duties being not so much in planning 

 and directing work, as in keeping account of the tax 

 worked out. Probably there cannot be found elsewhere 

 so much concentrated ignorance, on the subject of road- 

 making, as is represented by the pathmaster and his gang 

 of hands. If any proof of this assertion is required, look 

 at tlie practical examples everywhere about us. " By their 

 works ye shall know them ;" wherever a good piece of 

 road can be found, it is impossible to trace its excellencies 

 to any skill on the part of these roadmakere. By acci- 

 dent, or perhaps by the annual tax not holding out, some 

 natural drained portions of a road have been spared the 

 annual coat of manure, (road-waste (rom the ditches,) this 

 mending process proving a yery material injury. We 

 sincerely believe in some cases that have come under our 

 investigation, that the road would, by its imtuial wear and 

 tear, actually remain in a better condition than it is by 

 being annually repaired by the unskillful representatives 

 of a system that dates back to a barbarous age. 



If one single argument can be advanced in support of 

 this system, let liiin who uninks he can sustain it, step out 

 and undertake it. If it is not false in every principle that 

 applies to successful and strictly economical road-making, 

 wo are ready to acknowledge it. Proper enough in the 

 feudal ages, when one of the conditions of the tenures 

 was the making and repairing roads for the use of the 

 Lord of the Manor, it seems out of place and inconsistent 

 with the requirements of this enlightened age, and more 

 like the last resort of a country or state on a war footing, 

 than the operation of a system of internal improvements 

 in a peaceful community ; by this plan we never have liad, 

 nor ever will have good roads, and yet the value of the 

 time and money expended on them would if judiciously 

 and skillfully applied, be more than suflieient to put tliem 

 in and keep them in first-rate order. The right time to do 

 the right thing in the right place, is the essence of the 

 principle — that brain to control which has studied the sub- 

 ject thoroughly, and mastered every principle of construc- 

 tion relating to it, that docs understandingly and in the 

 most proper manner all that is necessary, and whose quali- 

 fications should be those of a high order of merit. 



It may be argued that the payment of a road tax will 

 come more easy to pay in labor than money ; but if it is 

 easier to earn a dollar on the road than to furnish the dol- 

 lar from the purse, why is it not full as easy to spend the 

 .same time in earning the money from another source and 

 paying the road tax ? The tax must be paid in money, or 

 its equivalent in labor, and if it is honestly poid, the same 

 labor elsewhere will earn the required amount. If an ac- 

 complished superintendent of roads should be furnished 



