THE CULTIVATOR. 
65 
crop, and doubled his small grain. In general it is spread upon the clover eve 
ry fourth year, and ploughed in for the next crop. That it is very efficient up¬ 
on sandy soils is evinced by the following striking fact. Some years ago, an 
enterprising farmer, near New-Egypt, purchased two hundred acres of the Pine 
Barren, which, by marling, he has converted into pasture sufficient for one 
hundred head of cattle. Such is the demand for the marl, eYen at a conside¬ 
rable 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 wea¬ 
ve], 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 myself, I think 
the time not far distant, when they will totally destroy the race of 
this destructive little foe. 
In the first place, I have found that the insect which attacks the 
wheat is a small snuff-brown fly, which deposits 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 de¬ 
posit, 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 exist¬ 
ence, 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-animating 
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 
discovered 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 deposit, which produces the little maggot, which we 
term the weavel. 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 remains 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 occa¬ 
sion 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 pre¬ 
maturely 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 weavel, 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 encas¬ 
ed 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 yard, where I had thrown out the straw of my wheat, and I 
found the heaps 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 weavel, and like all other flies, live 
on putrifying and decaying substances; the manure of the yard 
affording them ample subsistence, as they at first cannot fly—nei¬ 
ther 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 tbe blow, is the 
exact time when these flies, by a law of their nature, deposit their 
eggs for the continuance of their species. And this accounts for 
the fact, that very late sown wheat, and some peices of very ear¬ 
ly wheat, escape the time of their deposit. In proof of the forego¬ 
ing, I will mention a corroborating 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 ma¬ 
chine, 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 weavel and mow heat, which he 
might thresh in welcome. Soon after he commenced threshing 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 weavel, 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 ihis fact, to show that the weavel is contained in the dor¬ 
mant state in the wheat, straw and chaff, and hatched in the spring 
following, from manure, barn litter, and heaps of straw; and is pro¬ 
bably in the vigor of its life at the time wheat is in the blow, and 
at that time deposits its eggs to be hatched the next season; and 
that wheat in the soft state, is the only article proper for nourish¬ 
ing their young while in he 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 desiroying which I propose, is to thresh the 
wheat in the fields, which may easily be done by threshing ma¬ 
chines, and burn all the straw and chaffin 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 weavel. The wheat should be floured in the win¬ 
ter, and such as is kept for seed should be subjected to some pro¬ 
cess, to destroy what few insects might be lodged among it. But 
the farmers 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., JY. Y., 5th mo., 16th, 1836. 
GOOD SYSTEM OF FARMING—BENEFIT OF CLAY TO 
CATTLE AND SHEEP. 
Oxford, Chenango, April 22, 1836. 
Dear Sir —I have with few exceptions, pursued the alternate 
system of husbandry, always applying all the manure in its unfer¬ 
mented state to the first crop, which was a hoed or corn crop, 
which, when glazed, was cut up and removed, and the ground pre¬ 
pared by ploughing and harrowing for wheat, using the roller, and 
seeding with timothy if the field was intended for meadow, never 
taking more than two hoed crops, and one culmiferous, from the 
same field, and manuring generously for each hoed crop, expressly 
with a view to increase the fertility of the soil to such a degree, 
that I should not only receive in return an increased quantity of 
corn and wheat, but also of grass, of which I have mowed all of 
three tons per acre, on upland meadow. My method 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 per¬ 
fectly satisfied is not only the most economical, but also makes the 
hay, especially clover, w r orth much more than when spread to the 
full influence of the summer sun. 
This county being by nature a grazing district, our farming ope¬ 
rations 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 lhan one-half of their cattle, attri¬ 
buting the effect to different causes. I had at this time only nine¬ 
teen 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 close¬ 
ly observed the habits of the animal subject to such a 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 w T as 
covered with snow. And as we all know that they are entirely 
governed by instinct, and seldom if ever, eat that which it is not 
beneficial for them to eat; therefore, when I saw my cattle endea¬ 
vor to eat the clay from between the logs of the old house, I de¬ 
termined to try the experiment, whether they would take it from 
my hand, when in their yard; accordingly 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 af- 
