82 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
The Hessian Ply. 
Messrs. Editors —Although much has been written and 
published in the different agricultural journals of our country, 
respecting the natural history and habits of the so called Hes¬ 
sian fly; and more particularly as to the mode which it in¬ 
stinctively takes to propagate its species, this seems yet to be 
an unsettled and disputable point among both entomologists 
and farmers. I profess to be but a humble member of the lat¬ 
ter class, making no pretensions to rank amid the scientific 
corps. Having some time ago made some observations, and 
an experiment, not so fully carried out as I could have wished, 
with the view of satisfying myself on the subject, I will pro¬ 
ceed now to detail them to you, lor the purpose of casting in 
my mite towards elucidating this much vexed question. Ma¬ 
ny years past, perhaps as far back as twenty-five, a species of 
wheat was introduced into this section of our country called 
and known as the “ Lawler wheatit was, I believe, at the 
time, said to have been first propagated somewhere in your 
State, and brought thence into Pennsylvania, by a traveling 
Methodist minister in his saddle bags, (whence it was some¬ 
times called the saddle-bags wheat;) from the latter State it 
gradually found its way into Delaware, Maryland, &c. Like 
most farmers in this part of the State, about twenty years ago, 
(I was then a green one,) I procured some of this said Law¬ 
ler wheat for seed, principally because it was then recom¬ 
mended as possessing the power or faculty of resisting, or re¬ 
covering from the attack of the Hessian fly, better than any 
other species of the plant heretofore known among us. Owing 
to this supposed quality, I commenced sowing it on the 19th 
of September, being some twenty to twenty-five days earlier 
than my usual time; by the second week of October, the first 
sown wheat being well up, and having generally put forth its 
second and third blades, I resorted to my field to endeavor to 
satisfy myself by occular demonstration, if I could do so, 
whether the fly did deposit the egg on the blades of the grow¬ 
ing plant, having seen it then lately asserted, by a Virginia 
writer on the subject, that such was the fact. Selecting what I 
deemed a favorable spot to make my observation, I placed 
myself in position, by reclining in a furrow between two wheat 
lands. It was a fine, warm, calm, genial forenoon; and I had 
been on the watch but a minute or two, before I discovered a 
number of small black flies, alighting and setting on the wheat 
plants around me; and so strong seemed to be their predilection 
For the wheat, that I did not observe a single fly to settle on any 
grass, or other thing within my view, but the wheat. I could 
distinctly see their bodies in motion when settled on the leaves 
or blades of the wheat, and presently one alighted and settled 
on the ridged surface of a blade of a plant completely within 
my reach and distinct observation. She immediately com¬ 
menced disburdening her apparently well stored abdomen, by 
depositing her eggs in the longitudinal cavity between the lit¬ 
tle ridges of the blade. I could distinctly see the eggs ejected 
from a kind of tube or sting, or by the elongation of the body; 
the action of the insect in making the deposit, being similar to 
that of the wasp in stinging. After she had deposited, as I 
supposed, some eight or ten eggs, I easily caught her upon the 
blade, between my finger and thumb, not giving her time to 
complete her operation, lest she might escape me; having suf¬ 
ficiently wounded, I wrapped her up in a piece of paper, and 
put her securely in my waistcoat pocket. I then proceeded 
to take up the plant, on the blad e of which I saw the eggs de¬ 
posited ; which I did, with as much as I conveniently could 
of the circumjacent earth, and wrapped it all securely up in a 
piece of newspaper. After that, I continued my observations 
on the flies, caught several similarly occupied, and could see 
the eggs uniformly placed in the longitudinal cavities of the 
blades of the wheat; their appearance being that of minute 
reddish specks. My own mind being thus completely and 
fully satisfied as to the mode in which the egg was deposited, 
I proceeded directly from the field to my dwelling, and having 
procured a large glass tumbler, put the plant with the eggs 
upon it in the tumbler, added a little water to the earth, and 
immediately secured the aperture of the vessel, by covering it 
so securely with paper that no insect could get access to ihe 
interior. The paper was sufficiently perforated with pin holes 
for the admission of air, &,c. The tumbler with its contents 
thus secured, was placed in a south window of my dining 
room, and daily and anxiously watched by myself, to endea¬ 
vor to discover the hatching of the eggs. Being but little about 
the house, however, I was disappointed in my wishes in this 
respect, until coming in about the middle of the fifteenth day 
from the time of the deposit of the eggs, I was so fortunate as 
to discover a very small maggot or worm, of a reddish cast, 
making its way with considerable activity down the blade, 
and saw it till it disappeared between the blade and stem of 
the plant. This, I have no doubt was the produce of one of 
the eggs, and would I presume have hatched out much soon¬ 
er, had the plant remained in the field in its natural position. 
It was my intention to have carried out the experiment, by 
endeavoring to hatch out the insect from the flax seed state of 
the larvae, into the perfect fly again ; but being called from 
home, the plant was suffered to perish, and thus terminated 
my experiment and observations in this instance. That the 
insects I saw making their deposit in the wheat plants in the 
field, were the real so called Hessian flies, I had no doubt at 
the time, nor have I since had any reason to change that opin¬ 
ion. The fly that I caught on the blade of the wheat as above 
stated, I enclosed in a letter to Mr. John S. Skinner, the then, 
as now, Editor of the American Farmer of Baltimore, who, 
having examined it, as well as I now recollect with a niicro- 
scope, pronounced it to be a genuine Hessian fly, and identi¬ 
cal in appearance with others then recently received from 
Virginia. I have not the American Farmer hy me, and can¬ 
not therefore refer more particularly to Mr. Skinner’s article 
on the subject. I have not myself, for, say the last twenty 
years, had the least doubt that the Hessian fly deposits its eggs 
on the blades of the growing wheat principally; that in a few 
days, how many I don’t pretend to determine, the egg hatch¬ 
es into a worm, which descends to its resting place between 
the blade and stem of the plant, where it is to be found in the 
maggot state, in which it does the principal, if not the only in¬ 
jury to the plant, by extracting and feeding on its juices; 
thence it changes into the flax seed, or dormant state, and 
thence hatches out into the perfect fly. And I further believe 
that this most destructive little insect does not always confine 
itself to the wheat alone, but occasionally resorts to other 
plants somewhat similarly constituted, on which to deposit its 
eggs. I well recollect, that many years ago, while examining 
a species of grass growing luxuriantly in the yard of the dwell¬ 
ing house at Swan Point, in Kent County, I discovered therein 
- ~ am i.nsect, which I then thought, and 
still believe, were those of the Hessian fly in the flax seed state. 
That grass had leaves or blades with a ridged surface, similar 
to the wheat plant. There is another insect which probably 
does more injury to our growing wheat, than is generally ap¬ 
prehended ; the larvae ofthis, may sometimes be found in the 
spring of the year, in the center of the main stem of the plant, 
in the shape of a small worm. It was once shown to me, 
about the first of May, 1820, in plants taken from my wheat 
crop here, by the late Dr. Ewnalls Martin, of Easton, Talbot 
County ; but he wholly repudiated the idea of its having any 
connection with the Hessian fly; he called it, I think, the bud- 
worm. It is my belief that the eggs of the Hessian flies, depo¬ 
sited in the fall, remain in the torpid flax seed state during the 
winter, and hatch out thence during the first apparently warm 
weather in the succeeding spring, lhave frequently had many 
of them alight on my clothes, while passing about the farm in 
the months of March and April. I have thus, Messrs. Edi¬ 
tors, given you my observations and crude notions on this, to 
farmers at least, most interesting subject; and in doing so, 
have extended my letter to much greater length than I had 
any idea of doing when I first took up my pen to write to you. 
Should you however, deem the communication worthy of a 
place in the columns of the Cultivator, I shall not regret the 
time or trouble it has given me to make it, as perhaps it will 
lead others much more capable than I pretend to be, to make 
more minute investigations on this most important subject, and 
give the result of their observations and experiments to the 
agriculturists of our country, through the medium of your most 
interesting and useful journal. Yours truly, 
EDWARD TILGHMAN. 
White House, Queen Anns County, E. S. Maryland. 
Ash House and Smokery. 
Messrs. Editors —Having the 
season past had occasion to 
erect a dwelling-house, togeth¬ 
er with carriage-house, wood- 
house and other out buildings, 
I have endeavored to make what 
I considered some little im¬ 
provement in their construc¬ 
tion, and adaptation to use. I 
herewith send you a rough 
draught or sketch of my ash and 
smoke-house. The ground plan 
is 7j by 5| feet; the lower part, 
or ash-house, built of thin quar¬ 
ry stone, the edges dressed to a 
line with the stone hammer and 
laid in lime mortar; the walls 
6 feet high. The upper part, or 
smoke chamber, of wood; the 
sills six inches square, and se¬ 
cured with iron anchors incor¬ 
porated into the walls below, to 
prevent injury from wind. Sleep¬ 
ers or joists, 6 inches deep, are 
framed across the sills, and a 
tight, rough floor laid; the sides 
planked with seasoned hemlock 
[Fig. 51 ] 1, inches thick, the edges made 
to fit close, and ctapboarded outside. The floor to ash-house 
stone; the ceiling lathed and plastered, so as to be nearly 
fire proof; four tin tubes introduced through the floor of the 
smoke chamber and ceiling of the ash-house below ; serve to 
supply the chamber with smoke. We build the fire in the ash 
vault, which is nearly air tight; a small supply of fuel is suf¬ 
ficient to supply the smoke chamber with smoke for some length 
of time. By this method we avoid the danger of over heating 
during the process of smoking, (occasioned frequently by care¬ 
lessness in the fire builder,) which, in some cases, proves ru¬ 
inous to the ham, for summer use; the danger of firing the 
building is greatly diminished. The labor and hard work of 
reaching to and fro in putting up and taking down the hams or 
other meats, is greatly lessened, as we can at all times have a 
clean floor to stand upon during the process. The hams are 
kept clean, and free from dust, ashes, &c. Should they be al¬ 
lowed to remain through the warm season, by closing the ven¬ 
tilators, are secure from flies and other insects. The chamber 
being dry, an occasional fire in the ash vault will prevent them 
from moulding. 
A. door to ash vault—B. door to smoke chamber—C. ventila¬ 
tor which should be in each gable end. CURTIS MOSES. 
Marcellus, N. Y., March 15, 1S41. 
Suggestions to the State Agricultural Society. 
Esteemed Friends —I perceive in your last paper, a criti¬ 
cism by Holkham, on a communication of mine, (inserted 
in the 7th volume of the Cultivator, page 197,) in which he 
charges me with gross blunders and palpable contradictions. 
Since reading his remarks, I have reperused my letter, and am 
free to confess that it is wanting in that perspicuity which 
ought to characterize the writings of all who assume to instruct 
the public. On that account the rebuke is merited ; and should 
I hereafter write any thing for your columns, I will endeavor 
to be more careful in this respect. As a partial excuse, how¬ 
ever, I would observe that the paper in question was not inten¬ 
ded to teach agricultural chemistry, but to show how much 
would be gained by farmers if scientific knowledge was super- 
added to their practical skill; and it was my intention to have 
followed up this with another, in which the facts and reason¬ 
ings contained in it, would have been applied to establish the 
necessity of an agricultural school; but as I saw from your no¬ 
tices to correspondents, that your columns were overburthen- 
ed, I forebore to send it. 
If Holkham will carefully reperuse my letter, I think he will 
find that he was wrong in charging me with self contradiction. 
I stated that the sulphate, as well as the soluble salts of iron, 
are injurious to those soils in the composition of which lime 
is not an ingredient. This 1 reassert to be true. A simple and 
obvious experiment will satisfy Holkham of its correctness. 
But sulphate of iron may become useful on calcareous soils, be¬ 
cause, as soon as it is incorporated with the soil, it ceases to 
be sulphate of iron; the sulphuric acid quits its combination 
with the iron, and unites with the lime in the soil, forming sul¬ 
phate of lime or plaster of Paris. Dissolve lime in some wa- 
tef and sulphate of iron also, pour the solutions together, and a 
buff colored precipitate will fall down. Let this be analyzed, 
and it will be found to consist of oxide of iron and gypsum. 
Surely there is nothing contradictory in this, nor is it, as Holk¬ 
ham erroneously supposes, purely a theoretical statement; it is 
as much a fact as that 2 and 2 make 4; it is as fully suscepti¬ 
ble of demonstration as that 3 from Cleaves 3. Again, your cor¬ 
respondent does not believe that dung can by decomposition, 
unite with the oxide of iron so as to form a sulphate. _ If be is 
not familiar with chemistry himself, I am not surprised that 
he refuses to take the word of an anonymous writer for it. Put 
it would occupy too much space in your columns, to describe 
all the experiments which are necessary to prove it. The bet¬ 
ter way would be for him to consult some able chemist in 
whom he can confide, and my word for it, he will be told that 
my statement is correct. 
My principal object in writing at this time, is to propose a 
plan for giving increased interest to the meetings of the State 
Agricultural Society, which I had intended to have laid before 
it at the last annual meeting, had I not been providentially pre¬ 
vented from attending it. It is admitted on all hands, by the 
enemies, as well as the friends of book farming, that farmers 
want facts. Scarcely any thing is settled in agriculture. 
Farmers are not agreed as to the best time for sowing plaster, 
nor on the soils to which it is applicable. It is not certain 
whether it is better to plow under a crop of clover in a green 
or a dry state, nor whether whole or cut potatoes are best for 
planting. We cannot tell whether a load of horse manure is 
better orworsethan an equal quantity of cow manure; anditis 
still a matter of dispute whether we ought to plow our manure 
under, or spread it on the surface. There are plenty of expe¬ 
riments on record, with regard to all these subjects, but the 
misfortune is, that no two of these have been conducted alike. 
The results of them differ as widely as the poles; and as the 
collateral circumstances are not stated, we cannot detect the 
source of the fallacy. Now it appears to me that the State So¬ 
ciety might settle these vexed questions conclusively and sat¬ 
isfactorily by the adoption of a plan something like the follow¬ 
ing. Let the executive committee convene some time before 
the annual meeting, and select a list of subjects for experimen¬ 
tal investigation; in order to ensure uniformity, and to enable 
the Society to compare the results with each other, let them 
frame accurate and minute instructions under each head of 
inquiry to be rigidly observed by each member of the experi¬ 
mental committee. Suppose one of the subjects selected is 
“the comparative value of horse and cow manures.” As lati¬ 
tude, or rather climate, will probably have some influence on 
the result, it will be necessary for the report to state the name 
of the county and town where the experiment is made, and if 
practicable, its elevation above tide water. The aspect of the 
land, whether north or south, ought also to be stated. Soils 
will also influence the result; hence each experimenter should 
make the trial on 4 different soils, viz : clay, sand_, loam and 
gravel. To facilitate comparison, equal quantities of each 
kind of soil should be staked ofi', say 2 square rods on each of 
the 4 kinds of soils. Let equal quantities of manure be pla¬ 
ced on each square, say 4 bushels of horse manure on the one, 
and 4 bushels of cow manure on the other. When the grass is 
fully ripe, let all the squares be cut as nearly as possible, at 
the same time; and when it is dry, let the hay on each square 
be carefully weighed; the difference in the weights of the two 
squares will give the relative value of the two manures on the 
4 soils respectively. The committee should consist of at least 
one from each county in the State. It is obvious that these re¬ 
ports, arranged in a tabular form, would be very valuable. 
Suppose on the sandy meadow, the square which was manured 
with cow manure, yielded 40 lbs. of hay, and that with horse 
manure yielded 30 lbs., then by a simple statement in the rule 
of three, a farmer can accurately determine which of the two 
kinds he can most profitably purchase for a sandy meadow ; 
suppose the price of horse manure is 50 cents, then 30:40::50e. 
:66; hence he determines that cow manure at 66 cts. per load, 
would be as cheap to him as horse manure at 50 cents. Many 
other obvious results would follow from these experiments, in¬ 
teresting alike to the farmer, the statesman and the political 
economist. 
Though the above experiments would only give the compara¬ 
tive value of the two manures as applied to grass, yet the same 
committee might be charged the next year with similar experi¬ 
ments in relation to potatoes, and the next in relation to corn, 
and so on, until their respective values for all crops were fully 
ascertained. The meetings of the Society, as at present con¬ 
ducted, are not very interesting to farmers; to be sure there is 
an interesting address from the President, and valuable reports 
from the committees, but these can be as well read in the Cul¬ 
tivator, by his own fire side. To be sure, the great magnates 
of the profession are there, but the farmer is unacquainted in 
Albany, and has no one to introduce him to them; hence he de¬ 
rives no pleasure from their society. There was no living man 
with whom I was so desirous of becoming personally acquaint¬ 
ed, as with the late Jesse Buel, but as I was not acquainted in 
Albany, I could not be introduced to him, and hence I forever 
lost the pleasure and advantage of his acquaintance; but this 
is a digression. The truth is, that when a farmer attends the 
meeting of the Society, he has nothing to do and nothing to see ; 
hence he feels like a blank, and does not care to repeat his at¬ 
tendance. This in my opinion is the grand cause ol the apathy 
which is manifested by our brethren in the prosperity of the 
State Society. But if the proposed plan is adapted, this apathy 
will, I verily believe, be succeeded by eager interest. If carri¬ 
ed out, it will give ample employment to all the members, each 
one will have his appropriate business to perform, his own re¬ 
port to make; he will feel anxious to hear the measure of com¬ 
mendation which is bestowed on his labors ; he will feel a pro¬ 
per and consoling sense of his own individual importance in 
the body, and hence will be anxious to attend its meetings. 
If the plan should work as well as I suppose it will, it might 
be a means of inducing the farmers of our country to establish 
a National Society on similar principles; and as this is such a 
favorite object with our friends Garnett and Robinson, perhaps 
they will raise their “ trumpet” tones to give the scheme a fair 
trial. Much more might, and perhaps ought to be said on the 
subject, but as your columns are crowded, I will not trespass 
upon them longer. Perhaps if you approve the plan, you will 
yourselves fill up my omissions. Very respectfully, 
Stockport, 3 mo. 5, 1841. N. N. D. 
Planting in Prills. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —In the November No. of 1840, page 
167, last column, of the Cultivator, is a description of the culti¬ 
vation of the sugar beet, exactly corresponding with my prac¬ 
tice, except the manner of planting the seed. The writer above 
referred to, draws a line with marks on it at intervals on the 
ridge, thus denoting the place of planting, &c. In place of a 
line, I have constructed a wheel as follows : The cogs on the 
surface . made 2 inches long and 1 inch in diameter at the base 
and S inches apart; the wheel of any circumference you please ; 
the larger the circumference, the better it will work. With 
this wheel, a man may, after the ridge, is prepared, mark out 
the ground as fast as he can walk; small children may drop 
the seeds in the holes thus made, followed by another person 
with a small hand roller, as fast as he can walk, covering the 
seed, and the work is accomplished. T consider passing over 
the ridge with the hand roller very important. It presses, and 
pulverizes the earth around the seed nicely, and causes it to 
vegetate nuickly and with more certainty. I have an excellent 
varietv of Indian corn, and shall seek an opportunity of sepding 
you a few ears. Respectfully yours. C. OSBORN. 
Westfield, N. J., Feb . 16, 1841. 
Cultivate your head and your heart as well as your fields. 
