366 
[Assembly 
subject, we would observe, that we should by no means be solicitous 
of procuring any variety of wheat, merely because of its fly proof 
qualities, believing as we do, that in all ordinary visitations of the 
fly, other measures are a sufficient safeguard. If vigor of root, 
firmness of stalk, and rapidity of growth, are, as would appear, the 
points which render these varieties fly proof, a fertile soil will cer¬ 
tainly go far towards imparting to most other varieties the same 
quality. 
7. Steeps for the seed. -These have been recommended with a 
two-fold view. 1st. To destroy the eggs ; decoction of elder, juice 
of elder, boiling water, &c. These assume the erroneous position that 
the eggs of the fly are deposited upon the grain ; it is manifest 
therefore that they can be of no utility. 2d. To insure a quick and 
vigorous growth of the young plant. Where sowing is deferred un¬ 
til late in the season, it may be judicious to resort to some measure 
of this kind to stimulate the seed to a more speedy and rapid ger¬ 
mination and growth. In Carey's Museum, (voli xii page 182,) an 
experiment of a Poughkeepsie farmer is related, who had soaked his 
seed wheat in a solution of saltpetre, four ounces being dissolved in 
water sufficient to wet a bushel. After soaking twenty-four hours, 
it was spread out and dried twelve hours, and then sowed, so late as 
the first of November. Early in the following June, this crop is 
reported as being in advance of neighboring ones which had been 
sowed early. This experiment, and others of a similar character, 
strikingly indicate that it lies much within the compass of human 
instrumentality to accelerate the growth of vegetation, by measures 
of this kind. 
8. Oats as a decoy .—It has been recommended, to furnish a crop 
of young or of “ volunteer” oats to the insect, on which to deposit 
its eggs ; and when it has nearly or quite completed this operation, 
plowing the oats under, thus burying the eggs and larvae, and then 
sowing the wheat upon their graves. To us, this appears only as 
u a tub to amuse the whale or in other words, an admirable pro¬ 
ject for wheedling honest (< Farmer John ” into late sowing, upon 
an enriched well pulverized soil. We have no clear evidence that 
the fly will deposite its eggs upon oats. It certainly will not be in¬ 
clined to do so if there is any young wheat, barley, or rye in the vi¬ 
cinity to which it can resort. 
