THE CULTIVATOR. 
Dec 
into his hands the homely fable of the dog and the 
wolf, which inculcates the love of independence as a 
boon above all price. 
It is the independent spirit of our people that ranks 
them above all other nations of the earth: because each 
man has, in himself, the ability and resolution to ac¬ 
complish his ends of and by himself; it is on this ac¬ 
count that an American can be cast penniless and alone 
in any corner of the earth, and amongst any people, 
and instead of wasting his life out, a poor and despised 
stranger, he will summon his energies and bear himself 
like a conqueror. 
Whatever the natives are doing, he does it better 
than they; he makes the most money—exerts the most 
influence, and soon becomes a leader and a prince among 
them; from soling a shoe to heading an army, he shows 
himself in all things capable, in all things superior; 
and having accumulated sufficient fortune for himself, 
and honor for his country, abroad, he returns to lay at 
her feet the spoils of other lands, and enjoy, in his na¬ 
tive home, the society of equals. What does such a 
man want of official patronage or protection. He scorns 
to eat the bread he has not earned, or to enjoy honors 
he has not deserved. 
I should give, however, but half the praise that is 
due to my countrymen, did I not add that, remarkable 
as they are for independence of spirit and ability to 
take care of themselves, they are squally distinguished 
for benevolence, true politeness, and a liberal and en¬ 
lightened regard for the best interests of others. No 
where on the globe are women treated with more ten¬ 
derness and respect* and no where are they more worthy 
of it. It is, indeed, under the gentle and kindly influ¬ 
ence of mothers, sisters, and wives, that the best points 
of our national character have been formed; and who 
would not yield t® that influence? If men have all the 
Strength, women have all the loveliness; strength is 
needed to protect loveliness, and loveliness is equally 
needed to adorn strength. 
Depend upon it—the young man who pretends to de¬ 
spise the society of virtuous females, does so because 
his conscience tells him, secretly, he is unworthy of it. 
Intending always to practice what I preach, it has 
been with me a matter of pride to appear before you to¬ 
day, clothed in the produce and manufacture of our own 
country. With the labors of our own husbandmen, 
and the skill of our own mechanics, no man need send 
abroad for subsistence or clothing. For my own part, 
so fully am I impressed with the importance of looking 
for comfort and happiness, within ourselves, that I 
would have the very children in our schools taught to 
sing the old song, whieh says: 
“I’ll eat my own ham— 
My own chicken and lamb, 
I’ll shear my own fleece and I’ll wear it.” 
Z. Pratt. 
ENTOMOLOGY. 
L. Tucker, Esq.—Being very desirous of completing 
the history of some of the insects that are injurious to 
wheat, I take the liberty of writing to you, to beg the 
favor of your aid in promoting my object. 
In the sixth volume of that most excellent paper, 
“ The Cultivator,” there is a description of a depredator 
on the wheat, stated, by the lamented Willis Gaylord, 
Esq., to be a caterpillar, provided with 12 feet, six of 
which are near each extremity of the body, and having 
the power of spinning and of suspending itself by a 
silken thread. Mr. Gaylord says that it is of a yellow¬ 
ish brown or butternut color; that it not only feeds on 
the kernel in the milky state, but also devours the ger¬ 
minating end of the ripened grain, without, however, 
burying itself within the hull; and that it is found in 
great numbers, in the chaff, when the grain is threshed. 
(Cultivator, VI., p. 43.) 
Mr. Nathaniel Sill, of Warren, Penn., has given a 
somewhat different description of it. (Cultivator, VI., 
p. 21.) On threshing his winter-wheat, immediately 
after harvest, he found among the screenings a vast 
army of this new enemy. He says that it was a cater¬ 
pillar, about three-eighths of an inch in length, when 
fully grown, and apparently of a straw color; but when 
seen through a magnifier, was found to be striped 
lengthwise with orange and cream color. Its head was 
dark brown. It w r as provided with legs, could suspend 
itself by a thread, and resembled a caterpillar in all its 
motions. Insects of the same size as these caterpillars, 
and of a brownish color, have been observed in various 
parts of Maine, where they have done much injury to 
the grain, devouring the kernels in the milk, and also 
after they have become hard. These wheat-worms, or 
wheat-caterpillars, are supposed by some persons to be 
identical with the clover-worms, found in clover, and 
often seen spinning down from lofts and mows where 
clover has been stowed away. A striking similarity 
between them has been noticed by a writer in the “ Ge¬ 
nesee Farmer,” as quoted in the seventeenth volume of 
the “ New England Farmer,” p. 164. 
If these creatures be really caterpillars, as they would 
seem to be, from these several accounts, they must 
eventually change their forms, first to chrysalids, and 
then to winged moths. In order to go through their 
transformations, they may either, like the canker- 
w'orms, go into the ground, or they may conceal them¬ 
selves in rubbish or in crevices about the barn, before 
turning to chrysalids. If a considerable number of 
these caterpillars were confined in a box, partly filled 
with moist earth, and covered with a little moist moss, 
(sphagnum,) they would probably complete their trans¬ 
formations therein, but they must not be entirely ex¬ 
cluded from the air more than a day or two, before they 
have changed to chrysalids. Secured in this way, the 
insects would probably bear transportation to Boston. 
If a collection of them, or of the chrysalids, properly 
secured, could be sent to the care of my friend, Joseph 
Breck, Esq., agricultural warehouse, North Market 
street, Boston, they would reach me immediately, and 
the receipt of them, in good condition, would gratify 
me very much, and would enable me to obtain the in¬ 
sects in their winged state, and thereby to determine 
their scientific characters. 
As “ The Cultivator” has an extensive circulation 
through the region where these insects have prevailed, 
if you should be pleased to call the attention of your 
numerous subscribers to the subject, it is my hope that 
a return corresponding to my wishes may be obtained. 
Thaddeus William Harris. 
Cambridge, Mass., Nov. 9, 1846. 
Remarks. —The insect ©oncerning which informa¬ 
tion is requested in the above communication, or a very 
similar one, was known to us several years since. In 
1834, while the writer was residing in Maine, it occa¬ 
sioned him considerable damage by attacking his w heat. 
At the time the wheat was threshed, (the month of 
September.) the insect was found among the grain, in 
great numbers, both in the larva) and perfect state. It 
is believed to be the same which at one time created 
considerable alarm in central and western New-York, 
under the name of ce wheat-worm ,” and which, by some 
persons not familiar with insects, appears to have been 
considered identical with what in New England, and 
some other sections, was mis-called “ the weevil .” 
We are inclined to think it is the same insect that is 
described by Curtis, in one of his papers on the “ Na¬ 
tural History and Economy of various Insects affecting 
the Corn-crop,” &c.—Journal of the Royal Agricultural 
Society, vol. V. pp. 481, 505. He places it with the 
family of Night-moths, under the name of Noctua cu- 
bicularis , ( N . quadripunctata, of Fabricius, N. sege- 
tum, of Esper.) His description of the moth is as fol¬ 
lows: 
“It is of a brownish mouse-color; antennse like bris¬ 
tles; eyes fuscous; palpi short and scaly, with a pitch- 
colored patch on the outside; abdomen rather slender, 
obtuse at the apex in the males, conical in the females: 
wings lying horizontally and incumbent in repose, 
forming an elongated triangle, superior long and nar¬ 
rowed at the base, with three irregular and crenated 
transverse lines, forming little black spots on the costa j 
