1850. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
343 
arch, (and which is represented in the cut as open 
and fastened up,) shuts up the front of the upper 
part of the oven. In the middle of this upper door 
or flap, is a round vent hole, for the escape of the 
moist vapor, k, is an iron damper, or slide, to be 
placed in the flue at l l, in order to regulate the 
heat.” 
Locusts and Grasshoppers. 
An impression prevails among our people that the 
Cicada Septendecim, commonly called the “ seven¬ 
teen years locust,” is the same insect, or a species 
allied to it, which, under the name of locust, some¬ 
times commits fearful ravages on the vegetation of 
some eastern countries. The two insects bear but 
little resemblance to each other. The Cicada feeds 
wholly under ground, and on the roots of plants, 
during the period of sixteen years which it requires 
to reach its perfect or winged state, and during the 
latter state it eats nothing —the damage it occa¬ 
sions, being caused wholly by the perforations of 
branches of trees, by the female, in preparing re¬ 
ceptacles for her eggs. 
The true locust—( Acrydium )—on the other hand, 
is an insect whose whole period of existence is but 
one season ; it feeds entirely on the leaves and stalks 
of plants, and its voracity is such that it devours 
every green thing it can reach. It is what is popu¬ 
larly called, in this country, a grasshopper, though 
naturalists, very properly, make a distinction be¬ 
tween grasshoppers and locusts. The “ red-legged 
grasshopper,” so called,—the most devastating 
species, perhaps, belonging to this country,—is con¬ 
sidered by Dr. Harris as a proper locust, which he 
calls jicrydium femur-rubrum. It is this species, 
principally, which has overrun different sections of 
our country, and caused very great damage by eat¬ 
ing up the vegetation of all kinds. They prevail 
most in dry seasons. Heavy rains, or continued 
wet weather while they are young destroys them in 
great numbers. We think it probable that it is this 
species which has been very numerous and has done 
much injury the present season, in some of the 
northern counties of Ohio, where a severe drouth 
prevailed in May and June. A correspondent of 
the Ohio Cultivator , writing from Erie county, in 
that State, under date of Aug. 8, says he had 
never seen grasshoppers (locusts) in anything like 
such numbers before, as they have appeared this 
season. “ They covered the fences by the road¬ 
side—the bushes and small trees were loaded with 
them, when they went up to roost, so as to bend as 
with a crop of fruit. I only saved my peach crop 
in my newly grafted orchard of 500 trees, by driving 
them off the trees just at evening every night for 
weeks together, otherwise they would have stripped 
the leaves all off, and left the fruit bare, as they did 
in some cases after all our efforts. In many meadows 
they left scarcely any thing but the bare stalks, and 
our pastures are gnawed to the ground, notwith¬ 
standing the abundant rains. Oats and potatoes are 
also badly injured by them. They have been taking 
themselves off for a w T eek in large numbers. They 
fly so as to fill the air like a swarm of bees, for hours 
together, in the middle of the day, almost invariably 
taking advantage of a lake breezeto waft them south, 
and flying at a great height, are not perceivable 
except by looking towards the sun.” 
This migratory habit is possessed by several 
species of locust. We have accounts of their flying 
in such numbers in oriental countries, as literally to 
fill the air, and obscure the sun at noon-day. The 
same propensity has been manifested by the u red- 
legged” species above mentioned. The late Presi¬ 
dent Dwight, of Yale College, notices their ap¬ 
pearance in Massachusetts and parts of Vermont in 
1797 and 1798. He observes: 
“ At times, particularly a little before their dis¬ 
appearance, they collect in clouds, rise high in the 
atmosphere, and take extensive flights, of which 
neither the course nor the direction [?] has hitherto 
been discovered. I was authentically informed that 
some persons employed in raising the steeple of the 
church in Williamstown, were, while standing near 
the same, covered by them, and saw, at the same 
time, vast numbers of them flying far above their 
heads.” 
Thick and Thin Seeding. 
The proper quantity of seed, for the various grains, 
to be sown to the acre, is a subject on which much 
has been said and written, especially in England, 
where many experiments in relation to it have been 
made. The question cannot be fully settled, with¬ 
out along series of carefully conducted experiments, 
made and repeated under the same circumstances. 
The Transactions of the N. Y. State Ag. Society 
for 1849, contain the results of some trials, by Mr. 
Adam Clark, of West-Dresden, Yates county, in 
sowing various quantities of wheat to the acre. The 
communication of Mr. C. was referred to a commit¬ 
tee, of which John Delafield, Esq., was chairman, 
who submitted a report from which we take the fol¬ 
lowing: 
The experiments of Mr. Clark show that wheat 
planted uniformly at distances of 1| inches apart, 
will require about 224^ lbs. or 3 bushels 44^ lbs. 
per acre. This weight of wheat consists of about 
2,890,320 grains. Mr. Clark planted a portion of 
ground in this manner, which was harvested at the 
proper season and thrashed on the 22d of August, 
and weighed on the 17th December—estimating 
every ounce to contain 800 grains, as weighed by 
him. The product of an acre similarly treated pro¬ 
duces 63,248,000 grains, or 4,160 lbs., which is 
equal to 69 bushels 10 lbs. of wheat per acre. 
The second experiment shows that about two bush¬ 
els of wheat, or 126 lbs., sowed on an acre of ground 
at the ‘uniform distance of two inches apart, will 
yield 3,580 lbs. of wheat, or 59 bushels 40 lbs. per 
acre. In this experiment the number of grains 
sowed to an acre is about 1,616,000. 
It has been usually estimated that in broad-cast 
sowing of wheat under favorable circumstances as 
to weather and condition of the soil, the average depo¬ 
sit of seed is 48 grains per square foot; if so, an 
acre of broad-cast requires 2,090,880 grains; and 
estimating this quantity at the weight of Mr. Clark’s 
wheat, it gives 2 bushels and 44 lbs. per acre. It 
would have been advisable to measure and weigh 
the seed before planting, as well as after harvest, as 
season and cultivation may essentially vary the rela¬ 
tive quantity and quality of the seed and the product. 
We would have been pleased to know, also, whether 
every seed planted, arrived at maturity; if not, what 
proportion was imperfect or destroyed. It is well 
known that a large per centage of the wheat sown 
broad-cast is lost to the farmer. We need therefore 
very exact observation, to approximate a fair esti¬ 
mate of comparisons. 
The following is the substance of Mr. Clark’s state¬ 
ment : 
On 23d September, 1848, I prepared four beds of 
ground to plant with wheat, on a summer fallow 
that had been twice plowed during the summer. 
The ground was prepared by finely pulverising it 
with a hoe and rake, to the depth of eight inches. 
Four beds were accurately measured, each one- 
