316 



# v '' J . ' .:;' ; >i - ' • t '*t'f£ 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



its free passage, and the syphon gradually 

 stopped of its own accord. This complete 

 draining of the milk from the cream, ren- 

 dered the butter very superior ia its keep- 

 ing properties. — Cultivator. 



HESSIAN FLY. 



Among the many things that annoy the 

 wheat crop, this is frequently the most annoy- 

 ing. It is not now our purpose to touch upon 

 its history or nature; but we wish to sum up 

 what is considered by the most experienced 

 as the best measures to avoid its ravages. 

 "We have never heard of any remedy which 

 we could deem effectual ; and we have given 

 up all hopes of the discovery of such. But 

 although we cannot entirely protect our wheat 

 from the depredations of this insect, there are 

 ways of opposing and avoiding them, and 

 means by which we can insure fair crops. 



The best authenticated of all remedial mea- 

 sures is to manure the soil. If you make 

 your land rich, you wilt have little reason to 

 fear either the fly, or the rust, or the. winter- 

 kill. All observers agree that other things 

 being equal, poor lands invariably suffer the 

 most. We may see this proven by any field 

 of wheat that has suffered from the fly. The 

 parts that have suffered most are invariably 

 the poor knolls and ridges. Yet the fly is by 

 nature prone to, damp and shady situations. 

 If the intervening hollows were as poor as the 

 hills they would prefer them; but they are 

 enriched by the fine particles of earth, which 

 have been washed down from the ridges. 

 Consequently from their greater fertility the 

 grain is there able to withstand the attacks of 

 the enemy. This is the true reason why san- 

 dy soils suffer most from the fly. Such soils 

 are easily exhausted of the fertilizing agents 

 which they contain. It is, doubtless the addi- 

 tional strength, that the plant derives from a 

 rich soil that enabLes it to spare some of its 

 fluids for the sustenance of the insect, and 

 still produce a vigorous growth. Besides, it 

 is the first shoots sent up by the seed, that are 

 attacked. When these are destroyed if the 

 soil is an impoverished one, the kernel itself 



dies; but if the ground is rich iss vitality wil? 

 continue and it will send up' fresli shoots,, 

 which being after the time of tha fly, will have 

 a fair chance. 



From this fact, that it will only do to sow 

 wheat in rich ground, the fly has proved a 

 blessing instead of a curse in many farming 

 districts. A writer (Ezra L'Homedieu in the 

 Tram. N. Y. Soc. jor Prom. Agric, frc, I. 5), 

 says,. " The land in Suffolk county and other 

 parts of Long Island was easily tilled and by 

 continual cropping, with wheat was so reduced 

 that on an average not more than five or six 

 bushels were raised to an acre. This mode 

 of husbandry was still pursued, and although 

 the land was gradually impoverished,, the far- 

 mer found the crop, though small, would more 

 than pay for his expense and labor. The Hes- 

 sian fly put an end to this kind of husbandry,, 

 and in that way has proved itself instead of 

 a curse, a blessing;, no other way being found 

 to prevent the injury done by this insect, than 

 by highly manuring the land." The same 

 thing has taken place in Delaware. 



A rich soil then is the surest way of alL to 

 get a good crop and to defy the Hessian fly. 

 The next best measure to. save the wheat, is 

 one very easily resorted to, and which is re- 

 commended on all. sides by the most trust- 

 worthy cultivators. It is late sowing. As is 

 well known the fly comes just after the wheat 

 is a little above the soil if sown at the usual 

 lime. If sown later than the usual time of 

 their advent the wheat is safe. It is every- 

 where allowed that the earliest sown fields of 

 wheat are the most infested, and where early 

 sowing has been practised for a number of 

 years,, a visit from the fly may be expected, 

 Dr. Asa Fitch (in an able pamphlet upon this 

 insect,, which we recommend to oue readers.) 

 says: ; "Just before harvest our attention was 

 directed to two fields of wheat in the neigh- 

 borhood of the town of Stillwater, one of 

 which was seriously injured by the fly, whilst 

 in the. other not a solitary straw, broken by the 

 insect; could be found. The only cause to 

 which this striking contrast, could be imputed 

 was that the latter field had been sowed a fort- 

 night later than the other. Analogous in- 

 stances have often occurred to every one living 



