A MONTHLY PUBLICATION, DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE. 
Vol. IV. ALBANY, SEPTEMBER, 1837. No. 7. 
PUBLISHED BY THE N. Y. STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
J. BUEL, Conductor. 
O’ Office No. 3 Washingion-streel, opposite Congress Hall. 
TERMS. —Fifty Cents per annum, ro be paid in advance. 
Special Agents , — Judah Dobson, Philadelphia—Messrs. Hovey, Boston— 
Israel Post & Co. Booksellers, 88Bowery; Alex. Smith, Seedsman, Broad¬ 
way. Alex Walsh, Lansingburgh, gratuitous agent. Any gentleman who 
will enclose ns $5, free of postage, will be considered also a special agent, and 
will be entitled to every eleventh copy, or its equivalent, as commission. 
irf The Cultivator, according to the decision of the Post-master General, is 
subject only to newspaper postage, viz: one cent on each number within the 
stale, and within one hundred miles from Albany, out of the state—and one 
a nd a half cents on each number, to any other part of the Union. 
_Tiltt CtILTIV ATOK._ 
TO IMPROVE TIIE SOIL AND THE MIND._ 
THE GRAIN WORM, 
Though of extremely diminutive size, t.reatens to become the most 
formidable insect enemy that we have ever had to encounter. Though 
scarcely preceptible. to the naked eye, such are its numbers, and such its 
voracity, as to destroy annually thousands, if not millions worth, of the 
great staple of life. And we are persuaded its ravages are not confined to 
the wheat crop, but that it preys upon other grains , which come into head 
during the existence of the perfect insect, or fly. 
We have seen many preventives recommended, and have tried most of 
them without success, as various preparations of the seed, applying lime 
and salt and ashes, when the grain is in ear. Sic. We have become con¬ 
vinced too of the fallacy of Bauer’s theory, as noticed in the first volume 
of the Cultivator, that the insect is transmitted through the sap of the 
plant. Neither steeps nor topical applications will serve any purpose. 
Nothing, in our opinion, will'protect us from this puny enemy, but sow¬ 
ing early in autumn, and late in spring—so that in the first the grain may 
become indurati d and hard before the fly makes its appearance, and in 
the latter so that it may not come into blossom until after the fly has dis¬ 
appeared The insect lias progressed from forty to sixty miles a year, 
south and west, and has reached Maine on the northeast. 
From the observations we have been enabled to make of the habits 01 
the insect, we think the fly makes its appearance about the last of June, 
and continues to deposite its eggs till the 20th or 25th July, making 
its principal deposites in the first half of July, when late sown autumn, and 
early sown spring wheat, are in the blossom or milk. Rye sown late 
in autumn, and oats and barley sown early in spring, are believed also to 
have suffered materially from the worm; but of this fact we are not yet 
sufficiently certified, though the worm is often found in these grains. The 
fly is small and slender, of an ash color, and may be seen towards even¬ 
ing in grgat numbers on the heads of the grain. It punctures the calix or 
envelope of the kernel, and deposites its eggs within it, upon the young 
grain, in the manner that the pea fly punctures the pod, and lodges its 
egg in the young pea, where it may be often detected when pea is ga¬ 
thered for the table. No topical application, whether liquid or in powder, 
can reach the ova or insect, within the envelope; and even if the outer 
surface of the grain is covered with lime, it lorms no obstacle to the de¬ 
posite of the eggs—indeed it has been found that the worm is not destroy¬ 
ed by drv lime, though rolled in it. 
We sowed our Italian spring wheat on the 5th of May; and on the 15th 
July it began to head out. We watched it for a week or twelve days, and 
until we saw no more of the fly. We found on subsequent examination, 
that that which first came into head, had from three to five insects in an 
ear, while that which developed the head latest vvas generally perfectly 
sound and untouched. We have examined several fields of spring wheat 
in Washington county, sown from the 15th to the 23d May, without being 
able to find any thing of the worm, though the winter wheat there was 
nearly destroyed by it. These facts seem to warrant the conclusion, that 
if wheat is sown, in this latitude, alter the 15th or 20th May, it will es¬ 
cape the worm 
As the subject is one of deep interest to the whole community, we are 
desirous of collecting all the information we can, as to the habits of the 
insect, the first appearance and the disappearance of the fly, the period 
which the insect exists in the larvte, or maggot state, and also in the chry¬ 
salis. By collating and comparing these facts, we indulge the hope that 
something may be done to mitigate the evil. We invite post masters and 
others to aid us in the investigation, by communicating answers to either 
or all of the following queries: 
1. In what year did the grain worm first make its appearance in your 
neighborhood? 
NO. i -VOL. IV. 
2. At what time in the season was the fly first noticed, and what was 
its latest appearance? 
3. What per cent damage has it done to the wheat crop the present 
year? 
4. Has early sown winter wheat escaped its ravages?—and if so, at 
what time was it sown? 
5. Has late sown spring wheat escaped its ravages?—and if so, at what 
time was the seed put in the ground? 
6. Have barley, rye and oats been attacked by the worm?—to what ex¬ 
tent?—and if yes, at what time were these crops severally sown, or at 
what time did they come in head? 
7. It is believed that the insect changes from the lame, or maggot, to 
the pupa, or chrysalis state, and thence to the imago, or perfect fly; and 
that in the larvae it casts its skin, like the silk worm. Can you communi¬ 
cate any facts in confirmation of, or in contradiction to, these supposi¬ 
tions? 
8. What are the extreme points, west and south, where the worm was 
discovered in 1836; and also in 1837? 
THE WHEAT CROP. 
We expressed a fear in our last number that the general anticipations 
from the wheat crop weregraduated too high. We are daily more and more 
confirmed in this opinion. The winter, the grain worm and the rust have 
seriously diminished the product in many of the best wheat districts. The 
prospect was uncommonly gloomy the first of May; but the season subse¬ 
quently has been so very auspicious,—as to induce the public to carry 
their hopes too far, without making due allowance for the injury which 
had been done by the winter, or that which has been subsequently in¬ 
flicted by the grain worm, or which has resulted from other causes. In 
proof of the correctness of our opinion, we give the following extracts 
from our private correspondence: 
Chalkey Haines writes us from Demascoville, Columbiana, Ohio, that 
“ the wheat was very much frozen out by the winter, but is better than 
was expected in the spring. Oats and corn look well, though the season 
is two weeks later than usual.” 
S. J. Bayard writers us from Seneca county, one of our best wheat dis¬ 
tricts, under date of August 2, as follows: 
“ The grain worm, or brown weevil, is doing much damage to the 
wheat in this and other counties in the vicinity. The rust, however, will 
injure more wheat than all other maladies whatever—whole fields are de¬ 
stroyed by it. The cold nights, and extraordinary humidity of the season, 
is probably the cause of the genera! prevalence of this disease. The hopes 
of the farmer have fluctuated much in (he past season in relation to his 
crops. Early in the spring we thought our wheat would not be worth 
cutting; but in the last three months its appearance has greatly improved. 
Yet when closely examined, it is found thin in many places, and to be 
much injured by the worm and the rust. Take the county generally, 
there will not be harvested quite three-fourths of a crop of wheat. The 
summer crops, grain and roots, look well. My Italian spring wheat is 
good—as good as any winter wheat I have seen—free from the worm and 
rust. Very few of our farmers have yet commenced cutting their wheat. 
So late a harvest was never before known. The lateness of the harvest 
must prevent much wheat being threshed before October; or else the 
operation of putting in the seed for the next years crop will be interfered 
with.” 
Oliver M. Barber writes from Gaines, Orleans, under date of 9th August, 
,as follows: 
“ Our spring crops bid fair for a good yield. Corn is doing better than 
it has done for several seasons. Our crop of wheat will be a light har¬ 
vest. Some fields are entirely destroyed by rust, so that they will not be 
gathered at all; others by the insects and smut. I have not seen a field 
but is very smutty. We had a frost the night of the 6th inst. which in¬ 
jured the vines and leaves, and some potatoes are wholly destroyed.” 
Martin Gage, P. M. Benton, Yates, writes under date of August 9.— 
“ We have just commenced harvesting our wheat. Most of it is struck 
with the rust. A very warm rain has commenced, and some is already 
beginning to grow. The crop, I apprehend, will fall far short of the ge¬ 
neral calculation, and the quality will be bad.” 
The Perry, Gen. paper, of August 2, states, that much of the wheat 
crop, in that region, is injured, if not destroyed, by the rust; and that 
some fields will yield but little more than half a crop, though but a few 
days before they promised a most abundant harvest. 
Edward Wilbur writes from Pittsford, Monroe, August 10, as follows: 
—“ I find the worm, which has been committing such ravages on the 
wheat crop in your section of the state, is extending its works among our 
fields, and I fear that one or two years more will put a stop to wheat grow- 
