THE CULTIVATOR. 
53 
In general it is spread upon the clover every fourth year, and ploughed 
in for the next crop. That it is very efficient upon sandy soils is evinced 
by the following striking fact. Some years ago, an enterprising far¬ 
mer, near New Egypt, purchased two hundred acres of the Pine Bar¬ 
ren, which, by marling, he has converted into pasture sufficient for one 
hundred head of cattle. Such is the demand for the marl, even a t a 
considerable distance, that it has become an article of great profit to 
the proprietors of the pits, and more than one individual was pointed 
out to me who had risen to wealth by the sale- of marl.” 
THE WHEAT-WORM. 
Jesse Buel —Having seen a call in one of the numbers of thy useful 
paper, the Cultivator, for information in relation to the weevil, or 
wheat insect, I send thee the result of my observations and discoveries, 
which, if not fully satisfactory to thy readers, I hope it will induce some 
of them to pursue my investigation, and if the farmers generally arrive 
to the same conclusion as myseif, I think the time not far distant, when 
they will totally destroy the race of this destructive little foe. 
In the first place, 1 have found that the insect which attacks the 
wheat is a small snuff-brown fly, which deposites its eggs in the hull of 
the wheat, when it is in the blow, the hull at that time being open. 
These eggs produce from three to fifteen little maggots to each deposite 
and by the time the kernel gets to its milky state, they are sufficiently 
matured to convert it to their food. And as the wheat becomes hard, 
they are so far advanced in the stage of their existence, as to prepare 
for their next and more elevated state of life, in the form of the fly. To 
effect this, they form to themselves a covering or incrustation, which I 
shall compare to that of the cocoon of the silk-worm, in which they are 
protected for a next year’s development. And in this dormant state they 
still remain in the hull of the wheat, to be brought forth by the re-ani¬ 
mating heat of spring, in the most perfect form of this insect life, the 
small snuff-brown fly ; but like all other insects, can at all times be 
brought to active life by a proper degree of heat. I have carefully 
watched the wheat from the time of heading to maturity, and have dis¬ 
covered the fly, in numerous instances, pushed into the hull of the wheat 
while in the blow, and on examining, could discover the small eggs, or de¬ 
posite, which produces the little maggot, which we term the weevil. 
It is but a short time they remain in the active maggot form, but the 
precise time I cannot say, but probably about as long as the wheat re¬ 
mains in the milky state. A few years past, at the time of harvesting 
my wheat, the season of harvesting was very rainy, and I put my wheat 
into the barn very damp, which caused it to heat in the mow. In the 
course of the fall I had occasion to go to the upper part of the barn, 
and I found the inside of the roof literally covered with this same little 
fly, which had been prematurely hatched by the heat of the mow. I 
threshed the wheat by a machine, and on cleaning, got several quarts 
of the cocoons of the weevil, probably half of which were hollow, and 
the hole plain to be seen, where the fly escaped. The others were 
sound, and contained the insect in the same state of life as when it en¬ 
cased itself to be incubated by the heat of the next season. And this 
perfectly accounted for the innumerable swarm of flies which were in 
the roof of the barn. 
In the spring following, or near the first of June, I was in my barn 
ard, where I had thrown out the straw of my wheat, and I found the 
eaps covered with the same kind of fly as was in the roof of the barn 
the fall before. And I have no doubt these flies were produced from 
the cocoon of the weevil, and like all other flies, live on putrifying and 
decaying substances; the manure a of the yard affording them ample sub¬ 
sistence, as they at first cannot fly—neither could those in the roof of 
the barn. 
Now I conclude that these flies are all hatched out about the same 
time, and at the usual season that wheat is in the blow, is the exact 
time when these flies, by a law of their nature, deposite their eggs, for 
the continuance of their species. And this accounts for the fact, that 
very late sown wheat, and some pieces of very early wheat, escape the 
time of their deposite. In proof of the foregoing, I will mention a cor¬ 
roborating circumstance, which happened to a friend of mine, the 
same season I have been mentioning. He went east to sell the right of 
a threshing machine. When in Orange county, in Vermont, wishing to 
show the powers of his machine, requested the privilege of threshing. 
A man, whose name I have now forgotten, told him he had a quantity 
of wheat which was very much destroyed by the weevil, and mow heat, 
which he might thresh in welcome. Soon after he commenced thresh- 
ing he found himself and machine covered with an immense quantity 
of small flies, which could not fly, which no doubt were the production 
of the weevil, and hatched in the fall by the heat of the mow. The 
next parcel which he threshed, in the same neighborhood, and put up 
in good condition, produced no flies. I am particular in mentioning 
this fact, to show that the weevil is contained in the dormant state in 
the wheat, straw and chaff, and hatched in the spring following, from 
manure, barn litter, and heaps of straw ; and is probably in the vigor 
of its life at the time wheat is in the blow, and at that time deposites its 
eggs to be hatched the next season; and that wheat in the soft state, is 
the only article proper for nourishing their young while in the maggot 
form, and affording them safe keeping through the winter. 
Now should these become established facts, it is plain to be seen that 
the united exertion of the farmers can, in two or three years, totally 
destroy their race. 
The manner of destroying which I propose, is to thresh the wheat in 
the fields, which may easily be done by threshing machines, and burn 
all the straw and chaff in the fields, and burn over his stubble ground. 
Let this be practised by every person who raises wheat, and in two 
years, I am bold to say, we shall not be troubled with the weevil. The 
wheat should be floured in the winter, and such as is kept for seed 
should be subjected to some process, to destroy what few insects might 
be lodged among it. But the farmer may rest assured, that the great 
evil of the insect is not in the seed wheat, but in the straw and chaff. 
From thy friend, HENRY GREEN. 
Kingsbury, Washington Co. N. Y. 5th mo. 16th, 1836. 
GOOD SYSTEM OF FARMING—BENEFIT OF CLAY TO 
CATTLE AND SHEEP. 
Oxford, Chenango, Jlpril 22, 1836. 
Dear Sir —I have with few exceptions, pursued the alternate sys¬ 
tem of husbandry, always applying all the manure in its unfermented 
state to the first crop, which was a hoed or corn crop, which, when 
glazed, was cut up and removed, and the ground perpared by plough¬ 
ing and harrowing for wheat, using the roller, and seeding with timo¬ 
thy if the field was intended for meadow, never taking more than two 
hoed crops, and one culmifrous, from the same field, and manuring ge¬ 
nerously for each hoed crop, expressly with a view to increase the fer¬ 
tility of the soil to such a degree, that I should not only receive in re- 
! turn an increased quantity of corn and wheat, but also of grass, of which 
11 have mowed all of three tons per acre, on upland meadow. My me- 
Ithod of making hay is, (the weather being favorable,) never to spread 
clover or timothy, but to make them in the swath and cock, which I am 
| perfectly satisfied is not only the most economical, but also makes the 
ihay, especially clover, worth much more than when spread to the full 
I influence of the summer sun. 
| This country being by nature a grazing district, our farming opera- 
- tions tend to the growing of cattle and sheep, and to the dairy. In the 
winter of 1819, the hoof-ail, as this disorder is commonly called amongst 
farmers prevailed to an alarming extent in this town ; some farmers 
lost more than one-half of their cattle, attributing the effect to different 
causes. I had at this time only nineteen head of cattle on my farm, 
which were kept confined to the barn-yard, and only out of it when going 
to and coming from water. They were watered at a trough standing 
near an old log-house; and as some farmers attributed the disorder to 
their cattle being fed with June or spear grass hay, the ends of which 
were black with ergot, which was the case with mine, I therefore, the 
more closely observed the habits of the animal subject to such disorder, 
and observed that they would very often, after they had drank, turn to 
the old log-house, and endeavor to eat the clay with which the spaces 
between the logs were filled; that is, when the ground was covered 
with snow. And as we all know that they are entirely governed by in¬ 
stinct, and seldom if ever, eat that which it is not beneficial for them to 
eat; therefore when 1 saw my cattle endeavor to eat the clay from be¬ 
tween the logs of the old house, I determined to try the experiment, 
whether they would take it from my hand, when in their yard ; accord¬ 
ingly I took a peck measure, and filled it with the clay, and then offered 
it to them in pieces of a proper size, and found that they ate it greedily. 
They were afterwards fed with clay twice or three times a week, until 
the snow disappeared, and never were cattle healthier or in better con¬ 
dition when the spring opened. 
Since then, my horses, cattle, calves and sheep, when the snow has 
prevented them from obtaining earth or clay for themselves, have been 
supplied with it as often as three times a week, the sheep and calves 
from their trough, and horses from the manger. I have fed it to calves 
in the spring and summer, when they refused to suck, or drink milk 
from the pail; that is, after they had learned to drink, and it has never 
failed in restoring to them their appetite, correcting all acidities of the 
stomach, as magnesia does in children, and stopping all scourings. And 
as to calves I never have lost one in winter, and of the sheep not two 
in a hundred since I commenced feeding clay to them, as I have above 
stated. Out of an hundred and forty, which I have wintered the past 
winter, I have not lost one, and the most of them are good mutton. 
I will notice one more instance of its effect upon sheep. My neighbor 
Dr. Benjamin Butler, one of our most extensive wool growers, and best 
practical farmers, had a year ago this winter, a number of his sheep 
taken with the scours, and before he was informed of it some of them 
had died ; he requested his superintendent to have some clay dug up 
and thawed, and then placed upon boards under their sheds; it was 
done, and Mr. Butler did not lose another sheep, 
I am perfectly satisfied that it is as necessary that cattle and horses 
should have clay given to them in winter, when the fields are covered 
with snow, as it is that they should have salt in summer, and as to 
