■which it has traversed in an easterly course,, at the 
rate of twenty or thirty miles a year.” 
A writer in the Rural New- Yorker of Sept. 4, over 
the signature of P., says, “ the midge, one of the 
frailest of insects,, is in its ravages the most destruc- 
tive enemy the farmer has to contend with, and its 
power will soon be felt over the whole continent. In 
this State alone, its ravages have cost the farmers not 
less than ten millions of dollars for this year. When 
they reach the black lands of the prairies in the Western 
States, as they will in some three or four years, for 
they are now in Michigan, it will become a grave ques¬ 
tion as to where we shall obtain our wheat bread.” 
In the face of such gloomy prospects, it becomes 
the wheat-growers of the whole country, where the 
midge prevails, to unite a3 one man, in taking every 
precaution “ to head ” and nip the evil in the bud. 
Legislative enactments and penal codes would avail 
little in this case. Self-interest and the public good, 
should prompt to efficient action. 
Thorough manuring and preparation of the soil with 
early sowing, has been found tolerably successful in 
arresting the ravages of the insect. The earliest va¬ 
rieties of wheat should be sought out for cultivation, 
even if not of quite as good a quality as the u best 
Genesee.” Both autumn and spring sown wheat 
should be sown without grass seeds, and the stubble 
turned in after harvest. Though, in this case, it would 
be advisable in the spring to sow clover seed and plas¬ 
ter, for the express purpose of plowing in with the 
stubble—if this was done early in September, the pro¬ 
bability is, that the decomposing vegetable matter 
buried in the soil would produce heat sufficient to hatch 
out the grubs ; if so, and the fly came to the surface 
of the ground, it would be harmless, as there would 
be no place of deposit for its eggs. Though we think 
it very doubtful whether many of them would ever, 
when plowed in eight inches deep, reach the surface, 
either in fall or spring. 
When the stubble is plowed in as suggested, it could 
he sown with winter wheat or rye, or grass seeds alone. 
A good crop of grass would usually follow the next 
season ; or spring grain, oats, barley or rye and grass 
seeds might be sown on the inverted stubble land—but 
only the cultivator and harrow should be used in pre¬ 
paring the land for the crops ; or by manuring, culti¬ 
vating, &g , corn would succeed well. But whatever 
culture should follow the inverted stubble, the great 
object should be to keep it undisturbed. 
The idea of starving out the midge by a general 
cessation of wheat growing, in any section of country 
now ravaged by it, is out of the question. Thousands 
upon thousands of farmers would continue to sow, if 
they were certain of not reaping over five bushels per 
acre. 
Whether the midge was originally a native of this 
country, or an imported evil, we have no means of 
determining; but incline to the belief that within the 
past l'orty years, it must have been brought to some 
part of Canada or Vermont, in the straw used in pack¬ 
ing crates of crockery ware, from whence they have 
spread in every direction. Why they have been so 
much more numerous and destructive here than in the 
British Isles, we have attempted to show. 
If the midge has been imported as above suggested, 
might not the parasites that prey upon it, or some of 
them,- spoken of by Mr, Gorrie and Mr. Curtis,, also be 
imported to checkmate, in some degree at least, this 
terrible scourge of our wheatfields. j,. f. 
- » 9 1 -. 
How to Save Potatoes from the Rot, 
Messrs. Editors —That your numerous readers 
may have the benefit of my experience in potato cul¬ 
ture the present season, I will give you a short sketch, 
as follows r 
From the 18th of April up to the 1st day of June, I 
planted at intervals some 23 varieties of potatoes. In 
respect to these several varieties my general course of 
culture wa3 the same, and every aspect was of the 
mast flattering character in all eases until at leastone- 
half had passed the period of ripening' in apparent 
safety. What then ? Why, dark, dead spots began 
to appear upon some of the leaves-, otherwise ef a deep 
green color. 
What could be done ? These early varieties must 
ripen; their tops must die; and to die a natural 
death amid a pestilential atmosphere, was impossible 
without a miracle. 
It soon turned in my mind that by purling the tops 
of ripe potatoes previous to the time when the juices 
of the stacks should become vitiated and descend to 
the tubers still joined to their parent roots, the tubers 
might be kept sound in the earth until desired for the 
table or for shipping, and also secure the toughening 
of their tender skins before removing them from the 
soil, as well as gain a cool and more pure atmosphere 
before exposing them above ground. 
Every circumstance that has transpired sine® I put 
the above suggestion in practice, has only served to 
confirm me in the belief that it is the only sure way 
to save early potatoes from becoming infected, if they 
ripen between the 15th of July and the 5th of Sept. 
No variety to which I have applied the above rule 
of prevention to the rot in due season, has suffered at 
all, but it is just as light and fine flavored when cook¬ 
ed as it was before the blight appeared. 
If any one has tried the same plan to save his ripe 
potatoes, with or without success, he should let the 
public know it. 
I did not harvest the tops of any of my potatoes be¬ 
yond what was needed for the table, before the Is/ of 
Sept.; and yet I was in time on every variety that 
was still in a thriving condition ; whereas, I ought to 
have begun the harvest by the 10th or 15th of Aug., 
and I need not have lost a tuber. In the application 
of the rule of prevention, in regard to time, a mistake 
of one day would prove fatal in some cases. This ap¬ 
parent exception to the rule would thus only serve to 
confirm it. 
If we can determine from the appearance of the 
surface of the stalk or tuber the approach of disease, 
we can, by applying the rule of prevention the same 
day, arrest or prevent it. 
The stalk must continue fresh and green, and the 
tuber bright and smooth, or otherwise if an occasion¬ 
al stalk or tuber appears of a pale or dull color, the 
“ plague has begun there is no time to lose. Ob¬ 
servation and practice will give the agriculturist 
power to determine and anticipate the approach of 
danger with a precision sufficient for every useful pur¬ 
pose ; and thus thousands of bushels of summer and 
