327 
No. 150.] 
Public attention was now becoming strongly turned towards this 
formidable foe. The New-York Society for promoting Useful 
Knowledge, issued an advertisement, requesting information res- 
specting it. Two communications were soon received by them, and 
•were directed to be inserted in the secular papers. These are the 
first published documents relating to the fly, that have occurred to 
our notice. They are copied into Carey's American Museum 
(Phila. vol. i. p. 324-326). One of them, dated New-York, Sep¬ 
tember 1, 1786, gives a brief but pretty accurate account of the 
situation and habits of the insect, particularly in the fall and spring. 
The other, dated Hunterdon, New r -Jersey, January 1, 1787, after 
hastily alluding to its habits, proposes as remedies, late sowing, on 
rich land; drawing elder bushes over the young plants; and passing 
•over the wheat with a heavy roller to crush the worms. 
In the Pennsylvania Mercury of June 8, 17S7, is published a let¬ 
ter from Col. George Morgan, addressed to the Philadelphia Socie¬ 
ty for promoting Agriculture. He suggests the importance of their 
appointing some competent person to fully investigate the habits of 
the Hessian fly, and the remedies to protect from it, after the ex¬ 
ample of the Paris Academy of Sciences, which had commissioned 
Messrs. Duhamel and Tillet to enquire out the history of the An- 
goumois grain moth; he alludes to contradictory reports respecting 
the Underhill wheat, copies the paragraphs already given from M. 
Chuteauvieux, as <( answering in every respect to our Hessian fly,” 
and gives an account of the ravages of the insect in his vicinity, 
and its habits so far as observed. 
The Mercury of September 14th, contains another letter from 
Col. Morgan, correcting some inaccuracies in his previous commu¬ 
nication, and giving some additional interesting items. He says, 
“ those who are doubtful whether the fly is in their neighborhood, 
or cannot find the eggs or nits in the wheat, may satisfy themselves 
by opening their windows at night, and burning a candle in the 
room. The fly will enter in proportion to their numbers abroad. 
The first night after the commencement of the wheat harvest this 
season, they filled my dining room in such numbers, as to be ex¬ 
ceedingly troublesome in the eating and drinking vessels. With¬ 
out exaggeration, I may say, that a glass tumbler, from which beer 
