No. 150.] 
369 
ing to chicanery. But our own observations impress upon us 
strongly the conviction that he is in error in one most important 
point in his argument, namely, that seed slightly covered, dies 
whenever its blades are destroyed by the fly. It is only in an im¬ 
poverished soil that it thus dies ; in a rich soil, as has been already 
stated, its vitality continues, its roots are so well surrounded with 
nutriment that they readily sustain it, and its first shoots being de¬ 
stroyed, it sends up a second set which grow unharmed. It thus 
performs the same operation which the King William Farmer con¬ 
tends, it can only do when deeply buried. Our specimen, from 
which the drawing (fig. A,) was taken, plainly shows this fact. The 
illustration is an exact copy from nature, of two shoots which were 
separated from a tuft of similar ones, all growing from one shallow 
covered seed ; and in every infested field which we have examined, 
myriads of similar specimens might have been gathered, whilst com¬ 
monly only on knolls and other barren or dry parts of the fields 
were the plants found to be wholly destroyed, as they are repre¬ 
sented in the figures of the American Farmer. A fertile soil there¬ 
fore insures the same results which are claimed for a deep covering 
of the seed. In both cases, the shoots which first appear are de¬ 
stroyed ; another set appear afterwards, which are unharmed—not 
because the seed is buried too deep for the worms to crawl down to 
it, as the King William Farmer seems to infer, but because there 
are no flies any longer abroad to deposite their eggs upon the leaves. 
The exact truth then, with regard to this matter, we are firmly per¬ 
suaded is as follows. In a meagre soil, the seed will die, whether 
it, be covered slightly or deeply. In a less impoverished soil, if the 
weather be dry in September as it frequently is, seed near the sur¬ 
face will often perish, when that which is deeply buried will survive. 
In a fertile soil the seed will survive, whether it be covered shallow 
or deep. That suits of specimens can therefore be easily procured 
which will appear to demonstrate a state of things in every particu¬ 
lar the very reverse of those figured in the American Farmer , 
scarcely admits of a doubt. Our conclusion then is, that the King 
William Farmer is measuiably correct in his position, but by no 
means correct to the extent contended for. When the Hessian fly 
is present in any district, deeply covering the seed, especially if it be 
early sowed, will in most cases be an additional safeguard against 
[Assembly, No. 150.] 26 
