244 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
more concentrated fertilizer than stable ma¬ 
nure, and large quantities of muck should be 
used in connection with it, in order to keep 
the land in balance. To the farmer near the 
shore it is the cheapest fertilizer he can use 
and our advice to him is to procure all 
the fish and muck possible during the remain¬ 
ing summer and autumn months.— [Ed. 
the land is sandy or very much exhausted, 
it would probably pay well to sow 200 pounds 
of Peruvian guano to the acre with the buck¬ 
wheat.— [Ed. 
WHEAT INSECTS—WEEVIL, HESSIAN ELY, 
MIDGE, &C—WHICH IS IT. 
one and sometimes two eggs. From the 
egg a grub or worm is hatched, which eats 
its way into the kernel, closing up the aper¬ 
ture behind it with excrements, so that it lies 
concealed from observation, and shielded 
from external injury. This worm grows to 
about one-twelfth of an inch in length. Its 
body is white and soft, with nine rings 
around it. The head is small, round, yel¬ 
low-colored, and is provided with boring or 
cutting instruments. It cuts out most of the 
flour portion of the kernel, then goes through 
its transformation and comes out a perfect 
Weevil, which eats its way out through the 
shell, and goes forth to deposit its eggs in 
turn upon other sound kernels. They are 
very productive, a single pair often multiply¬ 
ing to five or six thousand during a single 
year. Both the* insect and the grub feed 
upon the grain. The perfect grain Weevil, 
at the time it deposits its eggs, is a dark red¬ 
winged beetle or bug, about an eighth of an 
inch in length. It has a slender proboscis 
or snout, curving a little downward. The 
thorax or chest constitutes about half of the 
body, and is punctured by a great number of 
holes, which give it a rough appearance. 
The abdomen or belly, lying back of the mid¬ 
dle ring is covered with thin, delicate wings, 
which are shielded by wing covers, having 
lines or furrows upon their surface, parallel 
with their length. This outline description, 
with the understanding that the insect is 
only to be looked for in the nearly-ripened 
grain, will enable the common observer to 
decide whether the “ Weevil ” is troubling his 
wheat field. 
The Wheat Midge, Wheat Gnat, and 
Clear winged Wheat Fi.y, (Cecidomya Tri- 
lici,) are synonymous terms used in different 
parts of the country to indicate the same in¬ 
sect. The latter term, Clear-Winged. Wheat 
Fly , is the preferable term. It is this insect, 
we suspect, which caused most of tire injury 
to the Wheat crop the past season. From 
personal observation we put it down as the 
Chief ravager in the “ Genesee country ” 
where the Hessian Fly began and nearly 
finished its work several years ago. The 
Clear-winged Fly resembles the Hessian Fly' 
in its gdneral size and form, but differs from 
the latter in having an orange-colored instead 
of a black body ; clear or transparent wings 
instead of dark ; its antennae or horns are 
longer and more fringed; its legs are longer 
and slenderer, and its abdomen or belly is 
covered with short hairs, and is blunt at the 
extremity, instead of smooth and pointed 
like that of the Hessian Fly. It undergoes 
its changes in the soil, and attacks the blos¬ 
soms and soft immature grain instead of the 
stalks or ripened grain. The clear-winged 
wheat flies conceal themselves among the 
grass and leaves during clear mid-day, but 
morning and evening, and on cloudy days, 
they appear in swarms over a Wheat 'field, 
and deposit their eggs in the heads. In the 
course of six or eight days these eggs hatch 
out orange-colored maggots, which feed upon 
the pollen of the flower, and finally attach 
themselves to the soft grain. They cannot 
injure it after it has acquired some degree of 
hardness. These flies do not make their ap- 
EUCJvWHEAT AS A GHEEN CLOP. 
The practice of turning in clover, buck¬ 
wheat, and other green crops for manure, is 
very little followed in New England. The 
abundance of muck, and the high price of 
all kinds of fodder have probably prevented 
this mode of enriching the soil. It seems a 
waste to the northern farmer to turn in a 
heavy crop of clover, worth, standing upon 
the field, ten or fifteen dollars per acre. He 
has never paid out that amount of money 
for manure upon an acre of his farm, and he i 
does not believe it will pay. 
But in many localities, remote from the 
muck swamp, we are persuaded that plowing 
under green crops is the cheapest method 
of renovating worn out land. Last summer 
we turned in a crop of buckwheat, and from 
the working of the soil this season, and the 
healthy appearance of the crops, we are con¬ 
fident it was a good operation. 
In a recent visit to Danielsonville, Conn., 
we saw a fine crop of rye upon land that 
had been renovated by this green crop alone. 
It was upon the farm of one of the manu¬ 
facturing companies under the management 
of A. B. Lockwood, Esq. It was the fourth 
crop taken from the same land, in four years. 
Buckwheat matures inorfe rapidly than cio 
ver, and two crops may be turned under in 
one season. This was done the first year 
upon’the above land—a very light sandy soil 
upon the banks of the Quinebaug. In the 
fall it has been sown with rye. The crop 
is taken off about the middle of July, and 
the land immediately plowed and sowed with 
buckwheat. This is plowed in before the 
seed begins to ripen and rye is sown imme¬ 
diately. Thus the ground is manured and 
cropped every year. 
The result of this process we are inform¬ 
ed is satisfactory. The yield of rye in¬ 
creases every year, and the cost of the rye 
is about fifty cents a bushel. The yield this 
year, w r e think, will be full twenty bushels 
to the acre. 
There is a great deal of land sown to rye, 
that produces less than ten bushels to the 
acre, and it costs probably from seventy-five 
cents to one dollar a bushel to raise it with 
such a yield. This is certainly very poor 
cultivation, if it can be grown upon the same 
land at half the cost. This experiment of 
Mr. Lockw r ood is suggestive. The question 
now arises whether it is not cheaper to ma¬ 
nure land by turning in green crops, than to 
cart muck. We should like to see some 
comparative experiments carried on for a 
term of five years to determine this ques¬ 
tion. 
If buckwheat is sowed the first week in 
August, it will be large enough to plow un¬ 
der for rye the la6t week in September. If 
Among a large number of letters referring 
to the wheat crop, we find several referring 
to injuries from insects. In nearly every 
case the insect is called either the Weevil 
or Hessian fly, while we have reason for 
supposing the depredations are committed 
by an entirely different animal. To furnish 
the means of greater accuracy in these re¬ 
ports, we give a brief description of three 
of the insects which are the most destructive 
to the wheat crop. A full and detailed de¬ 
scription of several kinds of grain pests may 
be found by referring to the American Agri¬ 
culturist, for August 23, 1855—(No. 102 of 
the New Series). 
The Hessian Fly ( Cecidomya destructor ) 
was so called because introduced in the grain 
brought over by the Hessian soldiers em¬ 
ployed by the British during the Revolution¬ 
ary war. It was first discovered on Long 
Island, near New-York, and from that point 
has extended its ravages in all directions, its 
usual rate of advance being from fifteen 
to twenty-five miles a year. There is a 
parasitic enemy which multiplies faster 
than the Hessian fly, and which extermi¬ 
nates the latter after it has prevailed for a 
few years in any locality. The full grown 
Hessian fly is nearly the size of a small 
mosquito, which it resembles in general 
form, having a larger thorax or chest, and 
a smaller abdomen or belly. It has no 
blood-sucking bill. It breeds twice a year. 
The first brood of eggs, which are very small 
reddish grains, are deposited in the upper 
channel of the wheat leaf soon after the 
stalks begin to branch out. Late-sown 
wheat escapes its attacks. The eggs hatch 
in about 15 days, producing a small worm 
which works its way down between the leaf- 
sheath and stalk, where, in the form of a 
white or spotted maggot, it lies concealed, 
and sucks out the juice of the plant. In a 
few weeks it changes to a pupa or chrysalis 
state, in shape like a flax seed. In this 
state it lies until the following Spring, when 
it comes forth a perfect fly, and then depo¬ 
sits a second brood of eggs, from which a 
worm is hatched that attacks the wheat 
stalk above the ground, but near the lower 
joints. It is the extraction of the juice that 
weakens the stalk, causing it to crinkle and 
bend down before harvest. The grain on 
stalks thus attacked fails to fill out or ma¬ 
ture. Let it be noted then that the Hessian 
fly attacks only the stalk and not the gram. 
The Grain Weevil ( Calandra Granaria, or 
Circulio Granarius of Linnaius.) This in¬ 
sect preys only upon the grain, commencing 
its ravages about the time of ripening, and 
continuing them long after it is gathered into 
the granary ; hence the name of grain or 
granary Weevil. The perfected female Wee¬ 
vil punctures the ripened or nearly ripened 
grain with her rostrum or beak, and deposits 
