I 
358 [Assembly 
which we can with certainty to a great extent, if not entirely, 
shield ourselves against its depredations. Thus it is with the in¬ 
sect under consideration. There is no remedy with which we can 
“ doctor 5 ’ it away—no charm with which we can say to it, ct vanish 
presto; 5 ’ yet there are measures, which employed, will guaranty fair 
crops, when if not reserted to, no wheat will be gathered. Of this 
fact we are well convinced, both from personal observations, and the 
concurrent testimony of a cloud of witnesses. 
A consideration of the various remedial measures which have 
been proposed, is therefore a subject of surpassing interest to every 
cultivator of the soil. We shall hence proceed to review them in 
detail, treating first of those, which, after a careful consideration of 
this topic, we regard as the most important. 
1. A rich soil .—This is a safeguard which has been strongly 
urged by almost every one who has written upon this insect. In¬ 
deed an inspection of different fields of wheat in a district where 
this enemy is present, cannot fail to impress upon the observer the 
utility and importance of this requisite. Other things being equal, 
the crops on impoverished lands invariably suffer the most. Hence 
those on sandy soils, which retain the strength of fertilizing agents 
less than other soils, have in numerous instances been remarked as 
most severely devastated. A striking contrast, even, may very of¬ 
ten be perceived in different parts of the same field. The summits 
of the knolls and ridges, situations where the soil is the most mea¬ 
gre, almost invariably show the greatest amount of damage; whilst 
the intervening hollows, to which the fertilizing matters are w r ashed 
from the surrounding acclivities, sustain a comparatively slight if 
at all sensible injury. Yet the latter situations are the very ones 
which insects of this family are known to be most prone to frequent, 
being more low, shady and damp. There can be no doubt, there¬ 
fore, but the fly is as numerous in the hollows of a grain field, as 
upon its ridges; and that it is only in consequence of the greater 
fertility of the former situations, that the crop there, is enabled so 
effectually to withstand this enemy. Indeed, the farmers them¬ 
selves, in districts where the fly has prevailed, have all learned from 
experience, that it is only upon fertile lands that it will do to sow 
their wheat. Hence Ezra L’Hommedieu long ago intimated that the 
