1854 . 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
The Season, Crops, &c. 
Remedy for Wheat-Weevil. 
Mr. Tucker—I forward yoif a few lines, respecting 
our crops, and weather, 'taking it for granted that you 
are anxious to learn howaffairs prosper among us. 
Well, we have had, all summer, and now have 
drouth, drouth. We have had but little rain since 
the eclipse, on the 26th of May. To be sure, we have 
had occasional sprinkles, but there has not enough 
rain fallen at one time to wet the soil, more than a 
half an inch in depth. The wheat crop, which is now 
harvested, and suffered but little from the insects, was 
much lighter, in consequence of the drouth, than it 
would have been, if there had been more rain. On 
the whole, the wheat crop is considered very light. 
Although there are many very good pieces of oats 
and barley, it is estimated that there will be but lit¬ 
tle, if any more than half of an ordinary yield, on 
account of the drouth. Indeed, there are many fields, 
of both oats and barley, the straw of which is so short, 
that it is very difficult to gather it with a cradle ; and 
after it is cradled, it is almost impossible to rake it 
at all clean, because it as so short. 
Corn, we fear, will be a complete fa Ture. Hundreds 
of acres have been plowed under, and buckwheat sow¬ 
ed where it stood ; and serious apprehensions are en¬ 
tertained, that buckwheat will be nothing at all, should 
it come up, which it has not done in a great in any 
instances. I have about five acres of corn, the soil for 
which was prepared in the best manner, and highly 
manured, with barn-yard manure, and top dressed, 
and I do not expect to have a single bushel of corn on 
the whole piece. While some of it never came up at 
all, some is six inches in height, and some six feet. 
But the best of it gives little evidence of fructification. 
There has not enough rain fallen to slack the lumps or 
to wet the manure. Ashes and gypsum, that were ap¬ 
plied as top dressing, six weeks ago, remain undis- 
soived. And I discovered yesterday, kernels of corn 
in the hill, unrotted. 
It extorts a sigh to look at our pastures, and mea¬ 
dows. Most meadows look as barren as they do in the 
middle of winter. But few farmers got more than half 
a tun per acre. Pastures are a.ll drying up ;—and the 
first idea, as we look at them is, how Jire would rush 
over them! Should this weather continue a little 
longer, all our stock must be fed at the barn. The 
first and last words among neighbors are, “ what shall 
we do for pasture, and what are we going to do for 
water, for our cattle ?” Were you to go through the 
town, and inquire how much the dry weather has 
damaged each farmer, the answer would be, according 
to the size of the farm, from $50 to $500. It is no 
uncommon thing to hear farmers, who own about one 
hundred acres of land, say that the present drouth 
has damaged their crops from one to three hundred 
dollars. 
How futile are all our science, our judicious manage¬ 
ment, our thorough preparation of the soil, and our 
most efficient fertilisers, if our bountiful Benefactor 
does not send refreshing showers in due time. Truly 
yOurs, S. Edwards T.odd. Lake Ridge. Tomp’s Co. 
N.Y. 
In answer to a recent inquiry, we gave it as our 
opinion that one of the most promising means of avoid¬ 
ing the weevil, was to sow early wheat on good soil, 
that it might advance towards maturity soon enough 
to escape the depredations of this insect. Since mak¬ 
ing this suggestion, we have conversed with a skilful 
farmer of Western New-York, who lives in the midst 
of a fine wheat region, (where the soil is rather light 
and gravelly, but usually produces excellent wheat,) 
and vyho has given it as his opinion that the severe 
weather of spring added to the attacks of the insect, 
has reduced the crop in this region to an average of 
ten bushels per acre , or one half the usual average, 
which is estimated at twenty bushels. He has just cut 
a field of the finest wheat, that has yielded over thir¬ 
ty bushels per acre, and a single weevil was scarcely 
to be found in any part. This crop was put iu just at 
the close of summer—very early—onground prepared 
as follows : A pasture possessing a fair amount of fer¬ 
tility, was well plowed with a double team, ana a good 
dressing of well rotted or compost manure spread over 
the inverted sod. It was then thoroughly harrowed, 
to break it fine, and to mix it with the soil—an opera¬ 
tion of great importance. The whole was then turned 
under with a gang-plow, without disturbing the invert¬ 
ed sod. The wheat was then sown with a drilling ma¬ 
chine. The soil was rather gravelly, not liab e to be¬ 
come water-soaked, and none of the crop was winter- 
killed. This gentleman gives it as his opinion that 
wheat put into the very best soil prepared in the best 
manner, and sown as early as the last of summer, need 
excite no apprehensions of the weevil—he thinks it 
will be quite safe. Other wheat, which he harvested 
this year from ground last year in corn, was half des¬ 
troyed, and he intends to raise none but in the tho¬ 
rough manner above described. 
Salt for the “Grub.” 
Several agricultural papers have reccommended the 
broadcast application of a few bushels of salt per acre, 
as an efficient means of destroying or repelling the 
grub and cut worm. A late number of the American 
Farmer gives the report of an intelligent and enter¬ 
prising farmer on this subject, as follows :—His corn- 
ground, previously clover and grass, was found “ lite¬ 
rally filled with grub and cut worms.” He applied 2 
bushels of packer’s Salt, and 2 bushels of plaster well 
mixed, per. acre. The insects were destroyed, and the 
corn saved. Now, this quantity of salt, when dissolved 
into the soil, would not constitute a ten thousandth 
part —can it be that so minute a portion actually des¬ 
troyed the insects ? Was not their absence owing to 
some other cause 7 We have formerly applied salt in 
a dense circle around the stems of cabbage plants, to 
exclude the grub, but have found that he did not hesi¬ 
tate to crawl through the pure .salt, and after destroy¬ 
ing the plant and having filled himself, we have in 
some instances found him very coolly and quietly re¬ 
posing in the salt, apparently without the slightest in¬ 
convenience. It strikes us that we need futher experi¬ 
ments on this subject. 
