106 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
observations of Mr. SherrifF, they exist throughout a period of thir¬ 
ty-nine days. The hue of the fly is orange, the wings transparent, 
and changing colour according to the light in which they are view¬ 
ed. It lays its eggs within the glumes of the florets, in clusters va¬ 
rying in number from two to ten, or even to fifteen, and the larvre feed 
upon the grain. They are produced from the eggs in the course of 
eight or ten days; they are at first perfectly transparent, and assume 
a yellow colour a few days afterwards ; they travel not from one flo¬ 
ret to another, and forty seven have been numbered in one. Occa¬ 
sionally there are found in the same floret, larvae and a grain which 
is generally shrivelled, as if deprived of nourishment, and although 
the pollen may furnish the larvae with food in the first instance, they 
soon crowd round the lower part of the germen, and they, in all 
probability, subsist on the matter destined to form the grain. The 
larvae are preyed on by the ceraphron destructor , or icJmeumon fly, 
which deposites its eggs in the body of the larvae of the wheat-fly ; 
and this is the only check hitherto discovered for preventing the to¬ 
tal destruction of the wheat crops attacked by the cecidomyia. Mr. 
SherrifF, speaking of the ichneumon, says, ‘ I could not. determine if 
it actually deposites its eggs in the maggot’s body ; but there can 
be no doubt, however, of the ichneumon piercing the maggots with 
a sting; and from stinging the same maggot repeatedly, it is proba¬ 
ble the fly delights to destroy the maggot, as well as deposite eggs 
in their bodies. The ear-wig, also, destroys the maggots as food.’ 
Mr. Gorrie estimates the loss sustained by the farming interests in 
the Carse of Gowrie district alone, by the wheat-fly, at .£20,000 in 
1827; at £30,000 in 1828 : and at £36,000 in 1829. The same 
writer, in May, 1830, thus depicts the prospects of the wheat crop 
in the Carse of Gowrie : ‘The cecidomyia are still alive in formida¬ 
ble legions. That the flies will this season be in as great plenty as 
ever, is quite certain : that they will lay their eggs on no other plants 
than those of the wheat genus, is also true : the only chance of es¬ 
cape is in the time the pup® appear in the fly state: should the sun¬ 
ny weather bring them forward within a fortnight or three weeks 
from this date, the greater part will have perished before the wheat 
is in the ear, or should the earing take place before the fly appears, 
the late or spring sown wheat will suffer—but these appear slender 
chances. We know the history and habits of the insect too well to 
believe that either mist, or rain, or dew, or drought will either for¬ 
ward or retard their operations, if the main body appear about the 
time the wheat comes to the ear.’ ” 
From my own observations 1 am convinced it is the same species 
of insect described above, that we have got here. I am not aware 
that it has been known in Canada before last year, and it appears to 
have multiplied prodigiously. Now that the wheat has got ripe and 
hard, the maggots have disappeared ; it is only when the grain is in 
the soft and milky state they prey upon it, or rather upon the matter 
destined to form the grain. Wheat on new lands does not appear 
to have suffered so much as that on lands long cultivated ; this 1 
know by experience. My wheat was on new land this year, and 
has not been much injured ; this circumstance should induce further 
inquiry, which might, perhaps, lead to the discovery of some remedy 
for an evil which may otherwise be a very great one here, where 
wheat is the principal crop that farmers cultivate. 
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, 
Cote St. Paul, August 13, 1834. WM. EVANS. 
[From the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, Mechanics, <£c.] 
THE RELATIVE PLEASURES AND PROFITS OF AGRICULTURE. 
BY H. W. DELAVAN. 
Sir, — I have received your letter of the 15th of March, and re¬ 
gret that neither my experience or ability is adequate to do justice 
to the vaious topics you have intimated relating to the subject of 
agriculture. 
Since you have paid me the compliment to consult my opinions, I 
will endeavor briefly to state them, in a manner which will substan¬ 
tially constitute a reply to your several inquiries. 
The pursuit of husbandry has not yet attained to the rank to 
which it is entitled in the northern portion of the United States—a 
rank which is conceded to it in some other sections of our country, 
and among the most enlightened nations of Europe. This circum¬ 
stance will serve to retard advances in the most useful avocation, 
which a higher estimate on the part of the enlightened classes of 
our citizens could not fail to create. Yet it cannot be doubted that 
this department of life will more and more be sought for, its intrinsic 
advantages, presenting, as it docs, a healthful occupation to mind 
and body, and a stability which no other pursuit can equal. It migh 
seem invidious to institute comparisons among the several occupa¬ 
tions incident to civilized life. Let it suffice that each has its ap¬ 
propriate usefulness, and that husbandry is not the least useful or 
least honorable among them. Many illustrious men have borne tes¬ 
timony to the diversified pleasure of rural life, and that it affords oc¬ 
cupation to the most enlarged capacity. 
in reply to the question, whether “ capital may be properly in¬ 
vested in cultivated land,” I confidently answer it can; and I am of 
the opinion, that in no other way can a moderate fortune he so profitably 
employed. In adopting this conclusion I am supposing the objects 
to be safety, productiveness, comfortable life, pleasant occupation, 
the education of children, and the transmission of property to de¬ 
scendants. 
It may, on a superficial view appear paradoxical, that the cultiva¬ 
tion of land can compete in profits with the adventures in commerce, 
or the operations of machinery. It is the greater uniformity in the 
products of land contrasted with the ever fluctuating character of 
commerce and manufactures, which establishes the point in question. 
If it be true, as is asserted, that in our own country, every twenty 
years witnesses the insolvency of the whole aggregate trading com¬ 
munity, what does it not argue in favor of a pursuit in which a man 
need never fail 1 
The habits of expense, engendered by commerce, constitute a hea¬ 
vy annual levy upon the income of the prosperous merchant. Those 
habits are too likely to survive the prosperity which fostered them, 
than which a more deplorable condition cannot well be imagined.— 
But he who resides on a landed estate, and practises assiduity, and 
evinces the intelligence of the merchant, the manufacturer or pro¬ 
fessional man, may sustain himself during periods of depression with¬ 
out diminution of capital at any rate. His habits are frugal, which 
is equivalent to wealth ; his daily occupation is a lesson of economy, 
a term seldom addressed and never palatable to American ears ; a 
virtue as far removed from meanness as it is from prodigality, the 
more general practice of which could not fail to give greater stabili¬ 
ty to private and public prosperity. 
The trading classes usually incur debts beyond the capital pos¬ 
sessed by them, and frequently, credit alone is the expedient relied 
upon. The farmer of even small possession need incur no debts ; 
this difference is vital, and gives to the land proprietor a guarantee - 
of success and certainty which other classes cannot possess. My 
object in the preceding remarks, is to inculcate the idea, that to those 
who are in circumstances to elect their mode of life, agricultural 
pursuits are the most eligible. But in order to succeed in husband¬ 
ry in the condition of things existing among us, the proprietor must 
vigilantly conduct his own affairs ; he may hire men to labor, but he 
cannot so readily hire them to think. A man with us, who has a 
small respectable capacity, will become a small proprietor rather 
than a hireling. Agriculture is not an amusement, more than law or 
commerce are such ; and what lawyer or merchant could dream of 
success while leading a life of idleness or pleasure. 
Agriculture is not incompatible with mental cultivation ; it is fa¬ 
vorable to virtue, as the farmer knows nothing of the strifes and ri¬ 
valries, which grow out of competition in other pursuits, and which 
lead men to look with an evil eye upon the prosperity or skill of a 
neighbor. The country resident escapes many of the time-destroy¬ 
ing frivolities of the town, and, on the other hand, has fewer of the 
social advantages which conduce to refinement. These things may 
be offset to the freedom and healthfulness of rural existence, where 
man draws less of his satisfaction from others, and more from him¬ 
self and the works of God, divested of the conventional rules which 
constitute an artificial existence. 
There is one part of your letter which I deem it important to no¬ 
tice, the most pactical part, and relates to the articles of cul¬ 
ture which an agriculturist should select as his own, among the 
many. ******* 
In determining the objects of culture to which a person at¬ 
tempting farming should select as primary, thefcircumstances of 
soil, position, and the price of land, should govern. In western 
New-York, wheat is the great staple, for the reason that much of 
the soil of that region is well adapted to its production. The Hud¬ 
son river counties, on the contrary, seem, by the variety of soil, 
to be favorable to the dairy, wool-growing, and stock generally, 
as also to the growth of all the grains produced in a northern la¬ 
titude. 
What is denominated convertible husbandry, or rotation of crops 
