1849. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
257 
have proved failures. Slaked lime has been recom¬ 
mended to be sown on tho heads of the wheat, while it 
is in blossom; but some careful experiments, instituted 
at the request of Dr. Fitch, showed that the lime had 
no effect whatever in preventing the fly from depositing 
its eggs within the chaff. Dr. F. however, suggests a 
mode which appears much more feasible. He says:— 
“A method is sometimes resorted to abroad, for 
saving grain fields from the depredations of certain in¬ 
sects of peculiar lrabits. A rope is drawn along over 
the grain by two men walking at a brisk pace; which 
rope thus knocking against the heads of the grain, 
causes the depredators to drop themselves instantly on 
the ground, and it is a slow and tedious task for them 
to get up to the heads of the grain again. A similar 
process, but with a different apparatus, I contemplate 
employing against the wheat-midge. This apparatus is 
a light net made of gauze., three or four feet deep and 
one or two rods long; its mouth reaching the entire 
length of the net, and opening to a width of about 
eighteen inches. A small rope is to be stitched to the 
upper and another to the lower side of the mouth, 
reaching slightly beyond the net at each end, which is 
to be carried by two persons holding the ends of these 
ropes. If on closely examining the wheat-fields of my 
vicinity, from the time that the heads begin to protrude 
from their sheaths, the fly is found to be gathering in 
swarms in any one of them, I intend repairing to that 
field in the evening, when the insects will be hovering 
in such myriads about the heads of the grain, and, with 
an assistant, carrying the net so that the lower cord 
will strike a few inches below the heads of grain, the 
upper one being held nearly a foot in advance of it, 
and about the same distance above the tops of the 
heads; by keeping the cords tense and walking at a 
uniformly rapid pace from side to side of the field, until 
the whole is swept over, I shall be much disappointed 
if countless millions are not gathered into the net, 
which is to be instantly closed whenever a pause is 
made, by bringing the cords together. It is nt>w to be 
folded or rolled together into a smaller compass, and 
then pressed by the hands or otherwise so as to crush 
the vermin contained within it. This measure has 
been suggested to me, by observing the perfect facility 
with which the small entomological fly-net becomes 
filled with these flies, on sweeping it to and fro a few 
times among the heads of infested wheat in the evening. 
Of course this operation should be resorted to on the first 
appearance of the fly in numbers, and before its eggs 
have oeen deposited so profusely as will occur in the 
course of a few days. I feel strongly confident, that 
by sweeping over a field a very few times in the man¬ 
ner above described, the fly may be so completely 
thinned out and destroyed, as to be incapable of injur¬ 
ing the crop perceptibly.” ' 
Cement for Floors 
Eds'. Cultivator —I have a question to ask about 
cement, for a floor to stand frost. Somewhere in the 
The Cultivator, it is said that sand and coal ashes mix¬ 
ed with coai tar, make a good floor for a yard. Now, 
the thought came into my head, that hydraulic cement 
and sand in the same proportions as when used for plas¬ 
tering a cistern, mixed with coal tar, would make\a 
good floor for a piazza. As a certain portion of water, 
is needed to make the cement “set,” as it is technical^ 
called, the question seems to arise whether it would not] 
be proper to mix the cement first with water, and th 
sand with coal tar, and immediately afterwards incor 
porate them in the proper proportions. This won 
seem to me to be the most proper way, as a certain 
portion of water is necessary to pass into the solid state 
with the cement to render it hard; and the coal tar 
would, I think, secure the whole from the action of the 
frost. I have no means of trying the experiment, as 
the coal tar is not to be had in this quarter. What is 
the price per barrel with you ? And how many square 
feet, in your judgment, will the cement made from a 
barrel cover with a sufficient thickness to be perma¬ 
nent ? C. B. Princeton, Bureau Co,, III., July 12, 
1849. 
We learn from Mr. Mehrifield, the secretary of the 
Albany Gas-Light Company, that they have coal tar 
for sale at $1.25 per bbl. of 30 gallons, without the 
barrel, or $1.75 with the barrel. We should be glad 
to receive an answer to the other inquiries of our cor¬ 
respondent. Eds. 
Harvesting Machines. 
The Prairie Farmer states, that without the use of 
machinery in gathering the grain in that section, the 
harvests of the two past years would have gone to some 
extent ungathered. It adds that the use of those ma¬ 
chines will be much increased the present season, and 
offers the following estimate:—“ McCormick’s Reaper 
has been now sold in the West for three seasons exten¬ 
sively, and somewhat before that. The sales amount, 
say to the following figures: For the year 1847 to 500, 
the year 1848 to 800 and 1849 to 1,500—equal to 2,- 
800 in all. Other reapers of various patterns have 
been pnt in use, say to the number of 100. Of Estcr- 
ly’s Harvester the whole number in use this harvest, 
may reach 180. Each Reaper will save as claimed, 
with the horses attached to it, the labor of four and a- 
half men. Each Harvester, it is claimed, with the 
horses employed, will save the labor of twenty men. 
Our 2,900 Reapers will then stand in the place of 13- 
050 men; and our 180 Harvesters will displace 3,600 
in addition, or 16,650 laborers. In this estimate we 
count the day’s work of the Reaper at 12 acres, and 
of a Harvester at 16 acres, each being run with four 
horses—the latter attended by four men. 
Sheltering Manure. 
Manure which is protected from evaporation or 
washing, is richer or stronger than that which is ex¬ 
posed. The advantage of cellars for manure, is that 
they keep the manure in its natural condition, unchang¬ 
ed, and therefore secured against waste. The system 
of feeding stock in “boxes,” now considerably practic¬ 
ed in England, is recommended, partly on account of 
tho better quality of manure so produced. The animals 
are kept thoroughly littered, so that all the urine is 
absorbed. We do not discover that the system has ariy 
advantages over our mode of feeding in barns and de\ 
positing the solid and liquid manure, properly mixea^ 
with absorbing substances, in cellars or under sheds. \ 
The following analysis, made at the English Agri¬ 
cultural College, shows the difference in box manure 
and yard manure—or that which had been sheltered and 
that which had been exposed in a yard, in the ordinary 
manner: 
Box Manure. 
Yard Manure 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
Water. 
71.04 
- 71.00 
Nitroger.ised matter, capable 
of yielding ammonia, 100 
parts dried .... 
2.37 
1.07 
Salts soluble in water, contain¬ 
ing organic and inorganic 
matter . 
10.07 
4.06 
Organic ... 
5.42 
1.82 
Inorganic .. 
4.28 
2.78 
Phosphoric acid............. 
0.03 
0.26 
Alkalies—Potash and soda... 
2.09 
0.08 
