THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
3a 
may be, they should be combined; The farm- 
er’s vocation in this respect presents singular 
and extraordinary advatitagds; His seasons of 
relaxation from toil in our favored climate fui - 
bish enviable opportunities for reading and in- 
quiry. Besides this, none of the labors of the 
farm, excepting where they are excessive, re- 
quire any intensity ol application or any ab- 
fetraction of mind, which would interfere with 
the most active exercise of the intellectual pow- 
ers on subjects quite foreign from his immediate 
occupation. The farmer may commune inti- 
mately with nature even when bending over his 
hoe; he may talk reverentially with God about 
his wonder-working providence from between 
the handles of his plough; and he may often in 
his fields hear the deep voice of a divine philos- 
ophy speaking to his soul, as the shepherds 
heard a message from Heaven, while they were 
counting the stars and Avatching their sleeping 
flocks upon the plains of Babylon. 
MANURE. 
Comparative benefits of Manure turned under or 
applied on the top. By Dr. W. J. Dupuy. 
Your society requires of each member to con- 
tribute something in the Avay ol’ experiment to 
advance the great cause of agriculture. Al- 
though just recovered from a .severe indisposi- 
tion, I am, nevertheless, unwilling to be a delin- 
quent, though I must m’ge that as a reason for 
the very brief and summary Avay in Avhich my 
communication shall be made. 
I proposed at your last meeting to give the re- 
sult of an experiment, the object of Avhich was 
to establish the comparative merits of falloAving 
in putrescent manures with marl, and of the ap- 
plication ol similar manure, on the surface, af- 
ter the falloAving in of marl. 
During the summer of ’41, I marled an ex- 
ceedingly poor piece of land, at the rate of 250 
bushels to the acre, averaging from 40 to 50 per 
cent of carbonate of lime. I should suppose 
the land would not produce one barrel of corn 
to the acre, in its unimproved state. During the 
month of November, I began to haul out, as I 
found leisure, Avith a pair of carriage horses, 
good putrescent manure, from my lot in tOAvn, I 
•should say about the same quantity to the acre, 
of which marl was appUed. In the month of 
January, the marl and manure having been scat- 
tered, the field Avas fallowed. I will say, how- 
CA'cr, that up to this time, not more than half 
the field had been manured. The manuring 
progressed, without any delay, after the fallow- 
ing, upon that portion which had not been ma- 
nured, though fallowed Avith the marl as before 
stated, i Avas not able to procure manure enough 
of the same richness to extend throughout the 
field, though enough to extend a considerable 
distance beyond, and contiguous to that which 
was turned under. The last of the field was 
manured in the spring, with the best rotted ma- 
nure which I could procure from my winter 
farm-pen — all spread broadcast. The whole 
field Avas cultivated alike. Throughout the 
whole season, a marked diflerence corftd be seen 
to the line, through the field, in favor of that 
portion Avhere the manure was turned in at the 
time of falloAving; that which was top-dressed 
in the spring, with the farm-pen manure raised 
during the previous winter, being inferior to 
either. And here I Avould remark, that the the- 
ory of the decomposition of manures, and the 
necessity of applying them in a partially de- 
cayed state in order to secure the dissipating 
gasses, has, in my opinion, led to the opposite 
error of applying them before they are suffi- 
ciently decomposed. Such has been the result 
of my experience for years. It may perhaps 
be my misfortune in not knowing the precise 
state when the manure should be applied. — 
Though, in fact, I have been able to get very 
little from my winter farm-pen in a suitable 
state, (according to my notion,) to apply during 
the spring, notAvithstanding it has been my prac” 
tice to heap it in February, which very much 
facilitates the decay, ’With these views, I have 
been compelled to let a great portion of my faim- 
peh manure remain for summer application. — 
On this subject I should be glad to be properly 
informed. 
I regret that I am not able to state to the soci- 
ety, in something like dettiniie terms, the coim 
parative product on the different portions of the 
field, as I had proposed. It will be remember- 
ed, that in Augu.st there was an easterl}'' storm, 
AA'hich laid prostrate the com. NotAvithstanding 
this, however, (although it might have been at- 
tended with some difficulty,) a measurement 
could have been made, but in a journey which 
I took about tlie time of gathering corn, my 
hands had, before my return home, gotten in the 
Avhole field, which put it out of my power to 
make the comparison. If, however, I should 
venture to guess at the comparative result, I 
should say that that portion of the field which 
had the manure fallowed in, produced four bar- 
rels, while that Avhich had the top dressing of 
the same kind of manure did not produce more 
than or at most 3 bamels. 
While I am on the subject of this communi- 
cation, I AV^ould state a few facts Avhich may not 
be uninteresting to the society. In Ma)^ or J une, 
1841, one of the auctioneers of our town stop- 
ped me to propose to let me haA^e some spoiled 
shad, then lying at his door, provided I AA'ould 
take them aAvay in a given time. Havung ob- 
tained from the police master, (who was about 
to impose a fine for such a nuisance,) an exten- 
sion of time sufficient to enable me to remoA'e 
them, I set to work, and in a fcAv hours carried 
to my farm 17 barrels. These I deposited in 
one pile in the field Avhich is the subject of this 
communication, and covered them over well 
with marl, supposing that they Avould be in a 
properly decayed state to spread as manure for 
the corn this year. Indeed, from th^ offensive 
character of the fish, I had supposed they would 
be in a condition to fallow in during the Avinter. 
HoAvever, during that whole summer and Avin- 
ter, and subsequent spring, (1842,) I was sur- 
prised to find, from the occasional exposure made 
by the scratching of dogs, that the fish were not 
only 7wt decayed, but that they even smelled 
sweet. 
Even doAvn to the latter part of the last sum- 
mer, some exposure showed that they Avere still 
sound. Whether they Avill be suitable manure 
for my crop of oats next spring is still to be 
seen. From the prominence of the bulk at this 
time, I fear they will not, but ev'en if they 
should, there will be a space of nearly two years 
necessary for their decay. Their state of pre- 
servation may be judged of when I state that it 
Avas often a subject of regret Avith my negroes, 
that such fine fish should be thrown away, and I 
believe, but for my restraints, they would have 
used them frequently for food, being used to fish 
as a diet, and very fond of them. 
There are several reflections to be di’awn from 
the facts just stated. It is evident that marl or 
carbonate of lime is antiseptic, and purifying in 
its effects. At the same time it may be a fact 
that fish are slower in their decaying and decom- 
posing process than most other animal substan- 
ces. Ii marl or lime arrests the decay of sub- 
stances intended for manure, is it the most suita- 
ble thing with which such substances should be 
enveloped and brought in immediate contact, the 
object always being to procure as speedy decay 
as possible! 
That the marl has the facult}’’ to arrest and fix, 
as it were, for useful fertilizing purposes, that 
portion of the decaying matter which Avould 
evaporate and otherwise escape, I do not doubt; 
but perhaps it would be better to let the marl be 
on the outside of such a bulk as has been de- 
scribed, so as to arrest this evaporating portion 
as it would escape on the exterior, and at the 
same time not interfere with the decomposition 
Avhich should go on in the interior. I would re- 
mark, however, that I have not observ^ed the 
same slow decay where cows and horses have 
been thus enveloped with marl; thereby leaving 
the impression that there is something peculiarly 
slow in the decqy of fish. With these views, I 
Acould say that it would perhaps be better to co- 
ver such a bulk first Avith earth or vegetable 
matter, Avhich Would not interfere with the de- 
cay, and then the superincumbent cov'eiing of 
marl. 
THE HESSIAN FLY. 
A few years ago I commenced the business 
of farming, more for the purpose of a pleasant 
relaxation from professional life, than with the 
hope of gain; and my fondness for the occupa- 
tion has led me into many experiments and much 
close observation of things pertaining to the sub- 
ject of agriculture; and I do not know but it 
may lead me to trouble you and your readers oc- 
casionally with the result of them. It I suppo- 
sed I could add any thing to that spirit of enter- 
prise, which you and others seem to have awa- 
kened among the farmers of this day, or suggest 
an idea Avhich a practical farmer might turn to 
a valuable account, I should feel gratified. In 
my pursuit of information on this subject, when- 
ever I have found an opinion with regard to a 
fact, a cause or an effect, to be generally enter- 
tained by farmers whose attention has been call- 
ed to the subject, I look upon it as entitled to re- 
spectful consideration, even if it does not at 
once command entire belief, it is worth a book 
of philosophical theory. 
As you know, this is a wheat growing district, 
and our farmers may be supposed to knoAv 
something of whatever concerns the cultivation 
of that gi'ain. They entertain an opinion with 
regard to the Hessian fly and its appearance, 
which is natural, and which my own observa- 
tion has conv'inced me is in accordance with the 
truth. It is a big-bellied insect, which makes 
its appearance in the tall, when the mildness of 
the Aveather will admit, especially at that season 
called Indian summer, and its coming is easily 
discoA'ered; when it alights upon the ground, it 
divests itself of its wings and assumes the ap- 
pearance of a large black ant, and from its hur- 
ried manner, seems to be seeking a place of de- 
posite for its egg; this it soon finds, either in the 
crevices of the groimd, under a clod, or in the 
wheat plant; and not always in the latter as is 
sometimes supposed. After the egg is deposit- 
ed, the insect seeks shelter for itself in the ground, 
where it remains during the Avinter; and either 
it or its progeny appears again in the spring, to 
go through the same Avork of destruction. The 
opinion is entertained by some, that the egg de- 
posited in the fall remains to be hatched in the 
spring — but not so; nature makes better provi- 
sion for her creatures, than to cause the egg to be 
laid in the fall, exposed to the frosts of Avinter, 
to be hatched in the spring. The egg laid in 
the fall does its injury to the grain then, or not at 
all: its effect is then perceptible; and it is the 
reappearance of the fly in the spring which re- 
peats the evil. My obseixmtion has conAunced 
me that this is the Hessian fly; and that there is 
a most infallible remedy for its destruction— as 
certain as it is simple — the use of the roller. A 
very little care and observation, at that season 
of the year when the farmer expects its ap- 
proach, Avill discoA'er its presence; and then is 
the time, whether it be spring or faU, to roll the 
wheat fields; the weight of the roller not only de- 
stroys the insect itself, whose size and shape pre- 
vent escape, but it destroys also the tender egg, 
whether deposited in the wheat plant or else- 
where. I have used the roller for six years, and 
I have never seen the eff’ect of fly in my AA'heat, 
while crops around me have been partially de- 
stroyed by it. W. 
Farmers’ Cahinet. 
To Wash Woolen Goods. — T he art of 
washing woolen goods so as to preA^ent them from 
shrinking, is one of the desideratum in domestic 
economy AA'orthy of being recorded, and it is 
therefore with satisfaction we explain this sim- 
ple process to our readers, All descriptions of 
woolen goods should be washed in very hot Ava- 
ter Avith soap, and as soon as the article is cleans- 
ed, immerse it in cold water; let it then be wrung 
and hung up to dry . — Southern Planter. 
