No. 150.] 
359 
Hessian fly on Long Island, by driving the farmers to manure their 
lands, instead of a curse had actually been a blessing. He says, 
‘ ! the land in Suffolk county and other parts of Long Island, was 
easily tilled, and by continual cropping with wheat was so reduced, 
that on an average not more than live or six bushels was raised to 
the acre. Ihis mode of husbandry was still pursued, and although 
the land was gradually impoverished, the farmer found the crop, 
although small, more than would pay for his labor and expense. 
The Hessian fly put an end to this kind of husbandry, and in that 
respect has proved a blessing instead of a curse; no other way being 
found to prevent the injury done by this insect, but by highly ma¬ 
nuring the land.” {Trans. JV. Y. Soc. for Prom . of Jlgric ., frc., i. 
57). A writer in Delaware also states that the universal predilec¬ 
tion there, was to have large rather than rich fields of wheat; that 
this insect was counteracting this, by compelling them to cultivate 
less land, in order to cultivate it well; and that its tendency conse¬ 
quently was, to make our population more dense, by making it the 
interest of every man to own no more land than what he could ma¬ 
nure highly and till carefully. {Carey's Museum, xi. 301). We 
thus have, even in the devastations committed by this destroyer evi¬ 
dent indications of that 
“All partial evil, universal good,” 
which is every where manifest in the works of the Supreme Archi¬ 
tect of nature. It is doubtless the additional strength and vigor 
enjoyed by plants growing upon a rich soil, which enables them to 
withstand the depredations of this insect. Those shoots which are 
first sent up from a kernel of seed, are the ones which are common¬ 
ly attacked and destroyed, and in an impoverished soil the seed it¬ 
self thereupon perishes; whilst in a rich soil, its vitality continues, 
and other shoots are sent forth by it, which grow vigorously and 
unmolested. In the spring attack also, the weak and slender stalks 
growing upon a poor soil, are much more liable to become broken 
and fail of maturing any grain, than the large, robust, well nourish¬ 
ed stalks of a fertile soil. Hence a rich soil enables a plant to ela¬ 
borate a sufficient amount of fluids for its own sustenance, in addi- 
dition to that which is abstracted from it by a few of these insects. 
We therefore regard this as a primary and indispensable measure, 
and one which must accompany others next to be considered, in or- 
er to their full success. 
