THE CULTIVATOR. 
23 
THE CULTIVATOR—-APRIL, 1834. 
TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND. 
THE WHEAT INSECT. 
The wheat crop has been more or less injured in the northern 
states, for some years, by small maggots which prey upon the ker¬ 
nel while growing in the field, and before the grain has become 
hard. In some instances nearly the entire crop has been destroy¬ 
ed, while in other cases the injury has only been partial. It has 
been generally believed, that the maggots have proceeded from a fly, 
which deposites its eggs while the wheat is in blossom, or soon af¬ 
ter. It has also been remarked, that the fly is seen but for a few 
days; and that if, during its presence, the wheat ear has either not 
burst in the sheath, or is far advanced towards maturity, no evil is 
experienced from the insect. In some instances late sown grain has 
escaped most, and in other cases it has suffered most. No general 
rule upon this point can be laid down. Nor has any preventive of 
the evil been published among us. The most plausible recommen¬ 
dation that we have heard mentioned, is to strew fresh slaked lime 
over the field soon after the grain is out of blossom. This is recom¬ 
mended to be done early in the morning, while the dew is upon the 
grain. At this time the maggots are small and tender, and the 
causticity of the lime, brought in contact with them by the dew, it 
is thought will destroy them. If the field is laid in ridges, or nar¬ 
row lands, the lime may be thrown from the middle or water fur¬ 
rows without prejudice to the grain. Though this is mere theory, 
we think it worth a trial; and we beg to be apprized of the result 
of any trial that may be made upon this suggestion, be it favorable 
or otherwise. 
A very sensible writer in the Penny Magazine, F. Bauer, has 
written several communications upon the diseases of wheat and 
other grain, which contain the result of close and continued exami¬ 
nation, and are accompanied with drawings, showing the appearance 
of the diseased grain, and of the fungi and insects which cause 
these diseases. He considers the smut of grain a parasitic plant, 
or fungus, whose seeds are so minute as to pass from the seed grain 
in the soil, with the ascending sap, to the ear of the grain, where it 
grows and produces smutty grain. His preventive is to steep the 
seed in strong lime-water, which he supposes kills the seed of the 
smut. There is no doubt that the steeping and liming seed wheat 
is a sure remedy against smut. Thousands of trials, made in this 
country and in Europe, leave not a doubt upon this subject. 
Mr. Bauer’s last communication is on what he calls the grain 
worm, (vibrio tritici,) and is accompanied with drawings of the dis¬ 
eased grain, and of the insects as they appeared under a highly 
magnifying power. The disease is known in England under the 
different names of ear-cockle, brown-purple and burnt-corn. Mr. B.’s 
experiments and observations were commenced in 1807, and were 
continued down to 1823, at which time he communicated a detailed 
account of them to the Royal Society, which may be seen in the 
Philosophical Transactions of the latter year. We do not feel com¬ 
petent to decide, whether the grain worms described by Mr. Bauer 
are the same as those which attack our wheat, but we are inclined 
to the opinion that they are identical. We subjoin an extract from 
Mr. B.’s communication, which cannot fail to interest the farmer as 
well as the naturalist. 
“ Being fully convinced that the worms or their eggs, like the 
seeds of the pepper-brand and dust-brand, [smut,] must be absorbed 
by the germinating seed corn, and propelled by the circulating sap 
into the young germens, and reflecting that I had successfully inocu¬ 
lated the wheat grains with the fungi, 1 determined to try the same 
experiment with the worms; accordingly I selected a sufficient num¬ 
ber of sound wheat grains, and extracting a small portion of the 
worms from the cavities of the infected grains, (which had been 
previously soaked in water about an hour,) and placing some in the 
grooves on the posterior sides of the sound grain, I left them for 
some days to get dry, and planted them in the ground on the 7th 
October, 1807. At the same time I planted some sound wheat 
grains in separate holes, about two inches deep, and in each hole 
two or three infected grains also. About the middle of November 
most of the seeds had come up, and from time to time I took some 
of these young plants for examination, but did not perceive any ef¬ 
fect of the inoculation until the 3d of December, when, out of nine 
plants, five appeared to be affected with worms. In the first plant, 
after carefully splitting the young plant from the root upwards, I 
found in the unorganized substance, between the radicle and plumu* 
la, three young worms, very lively, but not much larger than those 
with which the seed corn was inoculated ; in another plant I found 
a full sized worm, but no eggs about it; in the third plant I found a 
still larger worm than the last, but in dividing the stem I had cut 
the worm in two, and it soon died; it seemed to be full of eggs; 
in the other two plants I found some worms quite young, and some 
half grown; but on the other four plants the inoculation had no ef¬ 
fect. The fact that at such an early stage of the vegetation of 
these inoculated seed grains, such large worms were found, con¬ 
firms my first supposition, that it requires several generations of 
these worms to introduce their eggs into the young germens; the 
large worms found in the substance of the young stem were un¬ 
doubtedly some of the worms with which the seed corn was inocu¬ 
lated, for they were on the point of laying their eggs in that stage, 
and these eggs being again propelled by the rising sap a stage far¬ 
ther, there come to maturity, and then lay their eggs, and thus pro¬ 
gressively reach the elementary substance of the ear, where they 
are finally deposited in the then forming grain; the whole progress 
probably requires three or four reproductions.” 
Mr. B. then describes many subsequent examinations of infected 
plants, and continues: 
“My experiments for resuscitating the grain worms, I have re¬ 
peated almost every succeeding year to this day, and always with 
the same success ; but I find that the longer the specimens are kept 
dry, the grains require to lay in water a greater length of time be¬ 
fore the worms will recover ; and that after the same specimens had 
been kept dry six years and one month, the worms were all really 
dead. 
“ That this disease is contagious, is sufficiently proved by the fact, 
that it can at pleasure be successfully inoculated on the soundest 
seed corn. The infection, however, is not so generally nor so readi¬ 
ly communicated as the disease occasioned by the fungi of the smut 
balls or dust-brand, a few infected ears of which are capable of con¬ 
taminating and infecting the whole contents of a barn. Grains in¬ 
fected with these worms having no embryo, cannot vegetate and 
produce again diseased grains of themselves, but can only commu¬ 
nicate the infection by coming in contact with the germinating seed 
corn in the soil, by the moisture of which the worms are revived and 
extricate themselves, which I have so often observed they do when 
kept some time in water. 
“Steeping the seed corn in lime-water, in the same manner as 
advised for preventing the diseases occasioned by the fungi, is the 
most effectual method of preventing the spreading of this disease. 
I have repeated the experiment by inoculating, very strongly, sound 
wheat grains with the worms, and afterwards steeping them in lime- 
water, and the infection was always prevented ; I have also steeped 
some sound wheat grams in lime-water, and after having kept them 
in a dry state for some days, I inoculated them strongly with the 
worms, but on examining the plants, notone case of infection occur¬ 
red. From these facts it is evident, that properly steeping the seed- 
corn in lime-water before sowing, is a sure preventive of the dis¬ 
ease occasioned by grain worms.” 
THE ORCHARD. 
The most usual practice has been, so far as our observation has 
extended, to prune fruit trees in March or April; but it has been 
recommended by some to omit this work till May, till after the leaves 
are out; and by others still further to postpone it till the last of June 
or beginning of July. Against March and April pruning it is urg¬ 
ed, that the wood, where cut, is liable to crack, through the influence 
of the drying winds of those months, and being unprotected by foli¬ 
age, that the sap is apt to exude and waste, and to corrode the lips 
of the wound; and that, at this season, the efiorts of nature to heal 
the wounded par’s are feeble. May pruning has been objected to 
for the reason, that as at this time all the organs of the plant are in 
active operation, and the growth more vigorous than in any month 
of the year, pruning cannot but be prejudicial. The sap vessels are 
at this time full, and the sap pushing with great force to the extre¬ 
mities ; and if the branches are materially diminished, the sap will 
force itself out near where its flow has been stopped, in numerous 
shoots, useless for fruit, and unsightly to the eye. Those who have 
pruned at this season can judge what force there is in these objec¬ 
tions. Most of our trees, and particularly fruit trees, have two pe¬ 
riods of growth in a season, the first principally in May or June, and 
the other towards autumn. Between these two periods, their growth 
