THE SOUTHEKN PLANTER. 



the hard wheats from the Russian ports of that 

 sea, will now he competitors to a large extent with 

 us for Egyptian wheat. This will apply also to 

 Turkey, which derives a large quantity of wheat 

 from South-eastern Russia when at peace, as well 

 as from her own Danubian provinces. Upon refer- 

 ring back to my letter of the 17th August, 1853, I 

 find that out of about nine million quarters of 

 wheat shipped at Odessa in six years, above six 

 millions were sent to the Mediterranean ports, in- 

 cluding Constantinople ; whilst only one-fourth of 

 the entire quantity came to the United Kingdom 

 direct, and the small remainder to Northern Eu- 

 rope. This supply is now wholly cut off, as well 

 as that from the Danubian provinces ; and Egypt 

 is the only country in the East from whence we can 

 look for any considerable supply. 



Under all these circumstances, and looking at 

 the small amounts of the imports the first six 

 months of this season, I do not see how we shall be 

 able to make up the year's importation beyond 2h 

 million quarters, which will be only sufficient to 

 replace half the stock cousumed last year, and will 

 consequently leave us minus 1\ millions of the 

 usual stock of old wheat on the eve of harvest, — 

 And this will be further reduced by the lateness of 

 the .season, it being almost certain that the harvest 

 will be at least a fortnight or three Aveeks later than 

 usual, which delay will be further increased from a 

 week upwards by the shortening of the days. We 

 must depend for this season's consumption, wholly 

 upon our own produce of wheat, and shall have but 

 little of any kind to begin upor.the next. Whether 

 the supplies will be brought forward to market 

 regularly will depend in some degree upon the 

 opinion entertained by the farmers of the probable 

 continuance of the war ; and whether under any 

 circumstances, the price of wheat is likely to con- 

 tinue for any length of time at or near its present 

 maximum. This, however, is a branch of the sub- 

 ject which must form the subject of a future letter. 

 Yours faithfully, 8. C. 



London, May 26. 



THE CHINCH BUG. 



Christy's Prairie, Ind., May 26th, 1855. 



Mr. Tucker — 1 send you a few specimens of the 

 corn fiy — the most destructive insect that has ever 

 appeared in this part of the country. If they come 

 to hand alive, I would advise you to keep them 

 close prisoners ; for they increase very rapidly, and 

 you might have more of them on hand than you 

 would desire. 



I had purposed writing to you, to make some in- 

 quiry respecting this insect ; supposing, of course, 

 that it was well known through the country, and 

 especially to editors of agricultural papers. I 

 was told, however, a few days ago, by the Rev. T. 

 Lowry, of Park County, that he had written to 

 you on this subject, and was informed that it was 

 the first time you had heard of the existence of 

 such an insect. The name he gave it, if I mistake I 

 not, was the corn chinch, the same that it has some- j 

 times been called by here. In North Carolina, j 

 where it is said to have existed many years, I am i 

 told that it is called the chinch bug. But I would j 

 consider no name more appropriate that the one 

 I have given it, the com fiy, as it is properly a fly, | 

 not a bug ; and commits its ravages on all kinds of! 

 cor" that grow here, wheat, rye and oats., as well' 



as maize. It also attacks some of the more suc- 

 culent grasses, particularly the annuals. 



In. the latter part of May, it commences breed- 

 ing. At what precise time the young swarms may 

 first be seen alive, I am not able to say, nor can I 

 tell whether they are produced in successive 

 swarms, through the season, or not, but judging 

 from the myriads that appear soon after wheat 

 harvest and the apparently regular increase of 

 their numbers, as they spread over large fields of 

 maize, especially in dry seasons, it seems prob- 

 able that they are produced in regular succession 

 through the entire season. 



The first time they were ever observed in this vi- 

 cinity, so far as I have been able to ascertain, was 

 nine years ago last summer. They we.e seen in a 

 corn field, about three miles from this place. They 

 appeared to come from the stubble of a wheat field 

 that bordered on the corn. They did but little 

 damage. A few successive days of rainy weather 

 put a stop to their progress, and nothing more was 

 seen of them, that season. Two years later, they 

 appeared on the farm of one of my neighbours, 

 about half a mile distant. They came apparently, 

 as before, from wheat stubble, though none had 

 been observed in the wheat while growing ; and 

 they began on that part of the corn adjacent to it. 

 But few appeared at this time, and not much dam- 

 age was done. In 1851,1 observed them for the 

 first time, on the farm where I now reside. The 

 field in which they made their appearance had 

 corn on one side and oats on the opposite side, 

 with a strip of wheat between. They were seen 

 immediately after the wheat was cut, on the rows 

 of corn next to the stubble ; and were so nume- 

 rous, as to cover from one fourth to one half of the 

 stalk, in many of the hills. The corn soon began 

 to wither. They did not devour the solid parts of 

 the plant, but pierced the outer part, or skin 

 full of holes, or destroyed it in large patch- 

 es, here and there, over the stalk, and ap- 

 peared to feed on the juice. A few rows next to 

 the wheat, were completely destroyed. The crop 

 was more or less injured to the distance of about 

 eight rods from the stubble. On the opposite side, 

 the oats were killed to the distance of two or three 

 rods from the wheat. The remainder ripened 

 without injury. 



They appeared again the next year, and about 

 the same time of the year ; but did little damage 



Strange to say, it had not yet entered raj 

 thoughts, that they had done, or could do, any dam- 

 age to wheat. The next spring, (1853,) my wheat 

 looked unusually promising. I knew the wheat 

 fly was found in it the fall previous, and expected 

 it would suffer some injury, but little expected it 

 would have to encounter a more destructive enemy 

 in connection with this. When it had grown to the 

 height of a foot or more, I observed that more than 

 half of it had stopped growing. This portion was 

 only six or eight inches in height, and it grew no 

 more, but withered and died ; from what cause, I 

 could not imagine. The same fiy appeared again 

 in the corn, after the wheat was cut. The rank 

 growth of the corn, together with one or two heavy 

 showers, prevented it from doing much injury. 



Last summer, there was the same appearance i£ 

 the wheat, as the summer previous. A part of if 

 dwindled away, after it had grown to the height of 

 a few inches. At the time of cutting the wheat 

 these insects were observed, in motion toward* 

 the corn, which was close by. In a few days, tht- 



