1868.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
1 4:1 
from the ground, and shocked in rows, so as to 
leave spaces 20 to 30 rows wide. A harrow or 
heavy roller is passed over these stubs in the 
direction in which it is designed to run the plow, 
so as to break them down and favor their being 
well covered by the plow. After plowing, the 
roller is again passed over, and the wheat is then 
drilled in. They usually make it a point to drill 
in the wheat before the plowed ground gets rain. 
Neat and experienced farmers do this so < nicely, 
as to leave very few corn stubs on the surface. 
The corn is left standing in the shock until it is 
sufficiently dry to harvest and house, when it is 
husked, and, with the fodder, hauled from the 
ground. After this crop is taken off, the ground 
is well manured, and plowed as early after har¬ 
vest as circumstances will permit, and again 
seeded in wheat, with which it is set to grass. 
The limiug is not often repeated under 12 or 15 
years. Sowing wheat upon corn ground in the 
manner described is a very general and success¬ 
ful practice; from 20 to 25 and even 30 and more 
bushels of wheat to the acre are yielded. Where 
land is in good condition, it is thought to pay 
much better than oats, as in strong land they are 
apt to fall, and be light in the head or grain. 
Some very good farmers let their grass fields lie 
but one year before turning them over; but 
generally they are left two, though rarely more. 
Some farmers put in two crops of corn in suc¬ 
cession, manuring the ground well before put¬ 
ting in the second crop, and then follow with 
wheat, as above stated. Some put a coat of ma¬ 
nure on the sod before turning it down for corn. 
This secures a good crop of wheat after the corn, 
but if another coat is not given with the second 
crop of wheat, the grass will not be so heavy. 
I know a farmer who put a moderate coat of 
manure on the sod, turned it down, and planted 
in corn, seeded in wheat in the fall, and next 
summer put a moderate coat on the stubbles ; 
plowed and sowed wheat again, seeding to 
timothy and clover, and left the land two years in 
grass. The farm was divided into five fields, 
which gave him one for corn, two for wheat, and 
two for grass, and brought them round in reg¬ 
ular order. Ilis uvheat was almost invariably 
good, yielding from 25 to over 30 bushels per acre. 
Judging from the. success and prosperity of 
our farmers, I think there are few places which 
excel us, and many which might profitably fol¬ 
low our example. There are many sections 
where the soil is rich and strong, which I believe 
would profitably bear the system of culture we 
practice. Forty to fifty bushels of corn to the 
acre is a moderate crop on our best land; seventy 
to eighty is good, and is sometimes exceeded.” 
- ^>-4 -55==*—-- 
Subsoiling — A Defense Against Drouth. 
The theory of subsoil plowing has been fre¬ 
quently explained in the Agriculturist, and the 
practice has been advocated for the last quarter 
of a century. Nevertheless, the use of a sub¬ 
soil plow is a rarity on American farms, and 
almost always marks a really progressive farmer. 
The action of a mole near the surface represents 
tolerably well the manner in which a subsoil 
plow works, only at such a depth that little or 
no elevation of the top soil is visible, while more 
ground is moved in proportion. These plows 
are usually employed following in the furrow 
of a common plow, and driven as deep as the 
team is capable of drawing them. Crops upon 
land thus prepared are much more likely to 
send their roots deeply, to gain more nutriment, 
to sustain themselves during drouth, and to 
mature heavier crops, than where subsoiling is 
not practiced. Indeed, the only circumstances 
under which a subsoil plow does not work to die 
advantage of the crops, is on very light, thin, 
leachy land, and where the water stands within 
a few inches of the surface. For corn, potatoes, 
and roots, this preparation is expedient, and 
for the latter class of crops especially so. 
Subsoil plows are of steel and cast iron, and 
are of either the lifting or mole patterns. The 
lifting subsoil plows may have a wing (which 
takes the place of a mould-board in common 
plows,) on one or on both sides of the standard. 
There is a great diversity of sizes, from the ad¬ 
mirable little one-horse plows, used to run 
between the rows of root crops and potatoes 
after the ground has been compacted by the 
horse hoe or cultivator, to those requiring a 
team of three or four horses to draw them. 
There is not a crop which the subsoil plow 
may not greatly benefit, either in the prepa¬ 
ration of the soil or in the summer culture. 
o e —-aMaOP ”"" » o- 
Grubs and Their "Work. 
Those insects which in their grub state liv« 
underground are among the most annoying to 
the cultivator. Their presence is not suspected 
until their mischief is done, and the task of at¬ 
tacking them in their concealment is a difficult 
one. The grubs greedily devour the roots of 
plants and do not seem to be particular as to the 
variety; they are equally destructive in the veg¬ 
etable and fruit garden, and nurserj’’, as in the 
/ x meadows and fields. Straw¬ 
's L berry and raspberry plants suf- 
fer much from their attacks, 
and the annual loss in young 
\ nursery trees may be estimated 
' afc thousands of dollars. The 
/ ’ b most common of these destruc- 
L ) tive grubs is that known as the 
Fig-1. White Grub, the larva of the 
common May-bug, (Lachnosterna fusca), the 
brown beetle so common in the first warm days 
of spring. This beetle (fig. 1) is destructive in 
its perfect state and feeds on foliage and flowers. 
The beetles are very lively during the evening, 
but are quiet towards morning, and gather in 
the trees, from which they may be shaken upon 
sheets and collected in large numbers. They 
must be captured very early, as they fall to the 
ground about daybreak and conceal themselves 
in the grass. The female lays her eggs in the 
ground, and the larva, which lives for several 
years, attains the size of the little finger. Its 
body is soft and white, with six legs; the head is 
hard and horn-like, and of a light mahogany 
color. When found, the body 
of the grub is curled up in 
a semicircular form, as shown 
in figure 2. Probably the 
grubs of a number of spe¬ 
cies are equally mischievous, 
though that of the Muck¬ 
worm, which is so often found 
in manure heaps, and is in 
general appearance like the 
White Grub, is said to live on decaying vege¬ 
table matter only, and is comparatively harm¬ 
less. The grub of the Muclc-worm is lead- 
colored throughout, from the contents of the 
intestines showing through the semi-transparent 
body, while that of the White Grub shows the 
lead color only near the tail. Cut-worms, also 
very destructive, are the larvae of moths and not 
of beetles, and differ altogether in their habits. 
The larva of the Tumble-bug (Gautlwn laris), 
which has not formerly been classed among the 
injurious insects, is probably as bad as the rest. 
It is the common impression that the grub of 
the Tumble-bug feeds only on manure. The 
balls of manure containing the eggs which the 
insect so industriously rolls about are buried in 
the ground, the manure apparently serving as 
delicate food for the grub while young. Mar¬ 
garet Cliappellsmith, of New Harmony, Iud., 
sends us an account of her observations on this 
insect, from which we extract the following: 
“ The ball of dung made by the two Tumble- 
bugs contains, I think, about seventy eggs, and 
the amount of dung contained in the ball is a 
very inadequate supply of food for the number 
of grubs to be developed from these eggs. If 
dung were to be their food, why do not the pa¬ 
rent bugs leave their ball in the heap from which 
they have taken the dung? Everyone knows 
that the ball is found more frequently where 
there is not any dung than among dung. I have 
seen two Tumble-bugs roll their ball from my 
dung-heap down a long path, then turn up 
another one by the side of a strawberry-bed, 
then up the little elevation of the bed, and then 
make the hole into which they dropped the ball, 
by the side of a strawberry plant. I have seen 
another pair of these bugs come in another di¬ 
rection, down one path from the dung-heap, 
then down another long path, then up a little 
bank to a rhubarb plant, and there, by its crown, 
make the hole for their ball. They do this 
without hesitation, having evidently fixed oil 
the feeding ground for their young before¬ 
hand. I kill the bugs and burn their balls. 
“I dig for the eggs of the June Bug. This crea¬ 
ture makes holes in the earth, and at about one 
foot down it deposits its eggs, each egg sepa¬ 
rated from the rest by earth. I dig up a spade¬ 
ful of earth, and if I find one egg, I search un¬ 
til I have found at least thirty; but I have found 
above sixty in one hole. In last July and 
August I dug up about 1,400 of these eggs; 
and might have found many more but for the 
dry state of the earth. They are hatched in a 
very short time, and then are not so easily found. 
“ In the Semi-Weekly Tribune of Feb. 27, the 
idea is indirectly conveyed, that the frost in this 
country kills the grubs. This will not be be¬ 
lieved by any one who has much knowledge on 
the subject. Nor would any one believe it who 
reflects on the variety of insects that, above 
^ground, survive frosts which here vary from 
about zero to twenty-one degrees below it; as, 
for instance, do squash bugs, and the chrysa¬ 
lids of moths and butterflies which hang from 
trees, window sills, and fences. The grubs are 
protected by the earth, and by that 'which lies 
on the earth ; and many of them abide in cold 
weather, when undergoing their transforma¬ 
tion, at a depth of two feet below the surface.” 
The larva of the beautiful Gold-bug or Gold¬ 
smith beetle, must be included among the inj u¬ 
rious grubs. The many who have written us 
for directions to destroy the grubs will see t hat 
the work must be a slow one, and that there is 
no specific to be recommended. Kill the insects 
in every stage, whether of beetle, larva, or egg. 
The. catching of the beetles has already been re¬ 
ferred to, as the destruction of one female pre¬ 
vents the production of many grubs. When¬ 
ever a grub is turned up in working the soil it 
should be destroyed. When a strawberry or. 
other plant suddenly wilts, dig down and find' 
the grub. Encourage fowls to follow the plow, 
and in meadows that are badly infested, 1 turn in 
hogs and let them root. In France, considera¬ 
ble reliance is placed upon the hedgehog as an 
aid in destroying a similar, but different grub. 
