222 



that they will have but a short reign. But 

 be this as it may, no means has as yet been 

 devised for their destruction. I now propose, 

 instead of perplexing ourselves about them, that 

 we fa rmers, one and all, get into a good humor 

 and join at once in the race of irradication. — 

 Moisture, shade, &c, is said by some writers 

 to shorten their lives; if that be so, let's pre- 

 pare for them as early every spring as possi- 

 ble. This, I suggest, can be done by seeding 

 the earliest varieties of wheat, which may be 

 brought to maturity much earlier than it 

 now is by early or summer fallowing, subsoil- 

 ing, and a moderate use of superphosphate of 

 lime, or guano, drilled in with the wheat at 

 the time of seeding. I have observed this 

 season a field of 40 acres of wheat, which is 

 now estimated at 20 bushels per acre, which 

 was plowed very early last season and seeded 

 in Mediterranean wheat. This field is sepa- 

 rated at one point by a narrow lane from a 

 field that was very much injured last year, 

 and is now in white, smooth wheat and cannot 

 make one-fourth as much as it did last season, 

 whereas the joint worm was scarcely percepti- 

 ble in the 40 acre field last season, and the 

 present crop is said to be better than the last. 

 After seeding this (40 acres,) a 60 acre clover 

 fallow, which was plowed after the stubble, was 

 seeded in the same way with a drill, with the 

 addition of 3 tons of guano, and the addition 

 of 3 J tons of plaster in December. The joint 

 worm is more numerous in this field than I 

 ever saw them, and much the larger portion 

 vail scarcely be worth cutting ; it was bound- 

 ed by a public road, by grass land and a corn 

 field. I account for this difference from the 

 fact that one was plowed early and seeded 

 first — the other being regarded a good chance 

 for 25 bushels per acre without the guano or 

 plaster, was fallowed last and seeded late, and 

 it being very dry, came up very late. A few 

 months since I had a conversation with a gen- 

 tleman residing in Washington City, who owns 

 450 acres of land in Scotland, which he had 

 recently hired, and more recently visited. I 

 asked him if they were annoyed in his country 

 joint worm? "Yes," he replied, "with all 

 sorts of worms." I then asked, "what do you do 

 to guard against them, or can you raise good 

 crops of wheat ?" "Yes," was his reply, "our 

 farmers make from 40 to 60 bushels per acre." 

 " Pray, how do they do it ?" he replied, " they 

 plow well, for every crop, about 7 or 8 inches 

 deep, and fallow with 'a subsoil plow, about the 

 same depth, which disturbs the soil on an 

 average about 15 inches, and they manure 

 heavily for every crop with phosphate of lime, 

 bone dust, or any good manure they may 



have." I then asked him what land rented 

 for ; he replied, "that land was never tenanted 

 out in that country for less than 19 years, and 

 that no rent was paid the first year, but 

 double rent was paid the last year, which was 

 done to enable the tenant to purchase manures 

 and put the land to clover and grass the first 

 year; and that land rented at from $15 to $30 

 per acre, it mattered not whether it was kept 

 exclusively for grazing or cropped. He also 

 mentioned that many of the best farmers 

 would not permit a sheep to come upon their 

 land, because they regarded them as being the 

 most injurious stock to grass, or clover, it be- 

 ing their habit to take the bud out of every 

 plant in early spring they had access to, which 

 if it did nothing more kept it back a month 

 later. The joint worm, fly, &c, together with 

 the droughts we are now-a-days liable to, will, 

 I think, force us to reflect upon the course we 

 have been and are yet pursuing, and also to 

 enquire into the manner of preparation, &c, 

 in those wheat growing countries that outstrip 

 us so far in the growing of that most beautiful 

 of all crops. I have been unable to account 

 for the want of success on the part of those 

 few farmers in Virginia who have attempted 

 to subsoil their land, but am inclined to think 

 that it must be for the want of an effective and 

 reliable subsoil plow. 



Since the joint worm has become so bad, 

 many farmers who do not feed it to cattle keep 

 their straw over one year and then spread it 

 very thinly over the young clover, which im- 

 proves the clover and the land too, by the time 

 it comes to be a fallow. I have long wanted 

 to subsoil for corn, but could never find the 

 time, (as I thought,) but the last spring, I re- 

 solved to subsoil 25 acres, and actually sub- 

 soiled 60 or 65 acres out of 1 00 I put in corn, 

 and had it planted by the 2nd of May. I in- 

 tend to subsoil a portion of my fallow for 

 wheat, and I request all who can to do like- 

 wise every spring and fall, until we Virginians 

 can, in some degree, rival the smaller yields of 

 Scotland, whose soil is not to be compared to 

 the average soil of Virginia. We have the 

 soil and the climate, and we have a number of 

 good farmers who have labor without paying 

 hire, and we have the means (or the credit) to 

 purchase manure ; then why not raise better 

 crops despite of the joint worm? 



I. I. HlTE. 



White Post P. O., Clarke Co., Va., 

 June 18th, 1855. 



To broil hama properly, the aliees should be 

 first soaked in hot water; dried in a cloth, aad broil- 

 ed on a gridiron oyer a clear ftra. 



