360 [Assembly 
2. Late Sowing .—This measure also comes to us sanctioned by 
the almost unanimous recommendations of writers; and we regard 
it as one of the most efficient, as it certainly is the most facile of 
any that can be resorted to. It is universally admitted that it is 
the earliest sowed fields that are always the most infested; and we 
cannot but suspect that the present visit of this enemy to this sec¬ 
tion of the country, after so long an absence, has been invited by 
the general practice of early sowing, resorted to by our farmers 
under the probably incorrect idea of hereby escaping from the de¬ 
predations of the wheat-fly. Just before harvest, our attention 
was directed to two contiguous fields of wheat in the town of Still¬ 
water, one of which was seriously injured by the Hessian fly, 
whilst in the other not a solitary straw broken by the insect could 
be found. The only cause to which this striking contrast could 
be imputed, was, that the latter field had been sowed a fortnight 
later than the former one. Analogous instances have often oc¬ 
curred to the notice of every observing person living in districts 
where the fly has been present. Such cases, however, must not 
be deemed to prove so much as they at first view appear to. It 
is not probable that the fly had entirely ceased from depositing its 
eggs before the second of the above fields had become forward 
enough for its purposes. Had the sowing of the first field been 
delayed a fortnight, both fields, it is probable, would have suffered 
equally. The whole injury that fell upon the first field, would 
thus have been divided between it and its neighbor. And so in 
all cases, we presume that the field which is the earliest, attracts 
all of the insects in its immediate vicinity, and these finding all 
the accommodations they desire there, have no occasion for going 
elsewhere. For a more extended elucidation of this topic, sec the 
American Farmer , vol. ii. p. 167. Two objections have been 
urged against late sowing; the liability of the young plants to 
“winter-kill,” and of the crop when near maturity to be attacked 
by “the rust.” There is little danger of th'e first of these casual¬ 
ties, we suppose, upon porous soils, it being a disaster almost pe¬ 
culiar to stiff clays, which retain a large amount of moisture at 
their surface. In such soils, therefore, it may be advisable to re¬ 
sort to the plan employed in some parts of England, namely, sow¬ 
ing only on a newly turned over sward, the grass roots in which 
