42 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
occurred here, (and pretty extensively,) in my recollection. About the 
time the crops of wheat were generally out of the boot, (the first time 
I think was 1789, the next, 1807, and not since.) hosts of caterpillars 
made their appearance in wheat fields, commencing usually at the ma¬ 
nured spots, and extending generally through the wheat, and destroy¬ 
ing, first every green blade, and then falling upon the shuck of the 
head, if green —otherwise, moving off, (always in one direction,) by 
millions, to the next green spot. These insects were one inch and a half 
or quarter long, striped and hairy. To the astonishment of the owners, 
the wheat at harvest was found to be rather benefitted than injured, 
where the blade only had been eaten off. Where the head of the wheat 
continued green and ripened very slowly, the wheat was frequently 
entirely destroyed. I have seen these worms destroyed, by cutting 
ditches between fields. I have seen ditches from three to four inches 
deep with the worms, destroyed by spreading on and burning them 
with straw and leaves. Now I should be glad to know if your wheat 
worm resembles the above % 
The chinck bug is a much more formidable enemy with us than the 
wheat worm, or even the Hessian fly. They, (the chinck bugs,) at¬ 
tack both corn and wheat crops—the latter in May, the former gene¬ 
rally in the month of June. They continue to injure the wheat, by 
extracting the sap as long as there is a particle of it in the stalk. The 
consequence iis, where they are numerous, the grain, when harvested, 
is nearly worthless and the straw vastly injured. By the time the wheat 
is cut, the bugs, (then flies,) take wing, and immediately spread over 
the neighboring corn fields, concealing themselves under the blade 
slips, under the roots, &c. where they deposite millions of eggs, which 
are hatched in eight or ten days, and continue through rapidly succeeding 
generations, to prey upon the sap as long as any thing green remains 
upon the stalk—finally taking shelter for the winter, under the bark of 
stumps and logs, under large clods, &c. to be ready for the work of 
destruction the next season. When first hatched, they are very small 
and as red as cochineal. They grow very rapidly, and in a week .at¬ 
tain half the size of a bed-bug—in a week more, they acquire wings, 
fly and spread themselves over the field, depositing' their eggs general¬ 
ly. They are, in the last state, about twice the size of a flea, have 
white wings, and their bodies being dark, have a speckled appearance. 
I have been thus minute in describing these insects, because I observe, 
from the Farmer and Gardener, they have never been seen in Mary¬ 
land, and suppose they are unknown with you. They resemble the 
bed-bug in nothing but their abominable scent when erusheed. I 
should have stated, that the injury to the corn crop is never very great, 
except in very dry seasons. I have said, that the chinck bug is a much 
more injurious enemy than the Hessian fly. I may say that I do not 
consider the latter to have been, upon the whole, a very pernicious 
thing. They certainly do but little injury where the land is capable 
of producing as much as fifteen bushels of wheat to the acre, and 
farmers having generally made this discovery, have heen induced to 
improve their wheat lands, and have thus more than counterbalanced 
the injury. Our system of improvement, however, is, I apprehend, 
about to be greatly retarded by the general cultivation of tobacco, in 
consequence of the high price of that article. It is now selling from 
10 to 15, and even as high as 20 dollars the hundred weight. This will 
require all the manure that can be raised, and other crops must con¬ 
sequently be neglected. The high price of tobacco and cotton, and 
the general movement about internal improvements—such as the James 
River canal, now under contract, from Lynchburgh to near Richmond, 
upon Judge Wright’s plan; the Fredericksburgh and Potomac rail¬ 
road, under contract from Richmond to the Potomac, and others in 
contemplation by petitions now before the legislature, have had a ten¬ 
dency greatly to increase the rates of slave labor, and have raised the 
price of that species of property, within the last two years, from four 
to eight and nine hundred, and often as high as one thousand dollars, 
for male slaves, from twenty to thirty years of age. Indeed, I think, 
among other pernicious effects to that unhappy race, northern fanati¬ 
cism has tended to augment their value. I believe one thousand male 
slaves could now be hired on the rail-roads and canals, at one hundred 
dollars or more for each, which is nearly one hundred per cent above 
the ordinary rates. 
I began this desultory scrawl merely to ask you to request Mr. Be- 
ment to send me a pair of pigs, and shall conclude by asking the favor 
of you to describe your Dutton corn in the Cultivator, and if practica¬ 
ble, send me with the pigs, a small quantity of seed. Is it white corn?* 
* The Dutton corn is yellow. It does not produce more ears than other va¬ 
rieties. It does not grow tall—it is dwarfish in height, though it spreads much 
from the bottom, and afiords much fodder. It is a twelve rowed variety—the 
grain sets very close upon the cob. If transferred to Virginia, we think it 
would become acclimated there, and in the course of years, attain the growth 
and habits of Virginia corn. We plant three feet apart, or two and a half by 
three, four stalks in a hill. Thus we obtain 23,232 stalks, and an equal num- j 
ber of ears on an acre. The Virginia mode of planting, if we apprehend cor- I 
rectly, is five feet between the rows, and three feet between the hills—two H 
If so, it will probably suit our climate. Does it produce more ear& 
than usual to the stalk? Does it grow tall ? Has it much fodder? 
How many rows to the ear? &c. &c. 
I conclude by saying, that all men speak highly of the Cultivator. 
Notwithstanding the difference in our climates, we find it well calculat¬ 
ed to direct our general management. Your terms are different from 
ours. For instance, you use the term husk where we say shuck—you 
specify quantities of land by roods, instead of parts of an acre, as l-5th y 
&c. and many others, only calculated, however, to bother the very 
ignorant. Excuse the trouble you may be at in reading this, and do 
what you please with it. Yours most respectfully, 
T. A. W. PLEASANT. 
AGRICULTURE. 
The pursuit of agriculture, in all its branches, offers to a liberal 
mind, opportunities for research and experiments, which is denied in 
almost every other department of science. The perfection to which all 
[other professions and sciences have arrived, leave nothing to the fol¬ 
lower of them at the present day, but study and toil, in acquiring a 
knowledge of the discoveries and inventions of others. By some acci¬ 
dental circumstance, like that which revealed to Newton’s mind the 
eternal law of gravitation, some new discovery in astronomy may yet 
be made ; but to the devotee of science who starts with the determina¬ 
tion of laboring till he discovers some new principle by which the 
i heavenly bodies are governed, there is little to be anticipated for the 
[ reward of his enthusiastic toil, but disappointment and sorrow at last ^ 
j while the same labor and investigation bestowed on subjects connected 
with the culture of the soil, would probably have revealed some fact, 
j unknown before, or at least might have gone far to arrange and clas¬ 
sify the discordant facts with which the annals of agriculture abound. 
| While the rules that govern the planetary system have been recorded 
.with the most scientific exactness, so that every star, and every star’s 
j motion is known and recorded; the laws that rule the productive pow- 
[ ers of the soil, and a knowledge of which seems the first and most na¬ 
tural tendency of the human mind, have been but dimly and obscurely 
traced. Upon what does the claim of agriculture, to be considered an 
J exact science rest ? The answer is, upon a thousand contradictory facts 
j and opinions handed down from the earliest period of history, and 
j augmented till the present day, so that they now form a heterogenous 
mass, which requires and invites the study and attention of scientific 
minds to separate truth from error. Let the laws that govern the soil and 
its powers be observed—let every fact received as a canon, be subjected 
to the test of philosophy and exact experiment, and at last be classified 
and arranged, and then we may boast of having brought agriculture to 
the rank of a science. 
It is a fact to be lamented, that there does net exist among the til¬ 
lers of the soil, a more inquisitive spirit concerning the nature and 
1 habits of the objects they have most to do with, and upon the perfec- 
! Sion of which depend their hopes of gain. There is very little of that 
i spirit alive. What does it concern the farmer, whether a root is indi- 
| genous or exotic; whether a plant is at home in clay or sand ? as long 
j as it has happened to come up where he has happened to drop the 
seed. 
“ A primrose by the river's brim, 
A yellow primrose is to him, 
And nothing more.” 
But before any very great change can take place in the present state 
of agriculture, several radical obstacles must be removed. The apa¬ 
thy of agriculturists must be overcome; the dignity of the pursuit must 
be made known; and last, and most of all, the great and fundamental 
cause of national wealth, must receive encouragement from national 
legislation. This is the true policy of the government, and if the real 
productive power of the soil was known, I hesitate not to say, that 
millions might be yearly added to our coffers, by a liberal and prudent 
course of government patronage to the cause of agriculture. Make it 
an object for toil, and the wilderness everywhere will blossom like the 
rose. 
These are a few general considerations, and if considered acceptable, 
are willingly given. X. Y. Z. 
Newton, N. J. April, 1836. 
Among the recipes for curing hoven in cattle, I have never seen pub¬ 
lished the easiest and simplest method which I have ever known, viz. 
dissolve in a pint of water, about one ounce of pearlash, and drench 
the animal with it. I have frequently used it with invariable success, 
and it is as speedy as sure. I have never had a case occupy more than 
half an hour to be perfectly cured. G. H. McCARTY. 
stalks in a hill, which would give to the acre only 5,808 stalks, or about one- 
, fourth the number obtained by us. We plant about the 15th to the 18th 
I May, and the crop is fit to cut in the first part of September, and sometimes 
II the last week in August. The grain weighs 60 pounds the bushel.— Cond. 
