TE GOLD WASHING MACHINES. (LEAVENWORTH'S PATENT.) THE superiority of these machines over all others is, that the Gold, Platina, Cinnabar, (ore of Quicksilver,) and black sand, (containing a large per centage in gold) cannot escape; and that the gravel and dirt pass off without detention.These machines will perform more and better work than any other ever constructed. They may be operated by land, horse, water or steam power. Price of hand Machines, $25 to $35 each; horse power machines, $50 each. Additional sieves, castings, irons, and boxing extra. In addition to the above, emigrants to California, will find at our Warehouse a large and complete assortment of the best and most recently constructed mining tools of all kinds; smelting and assaying apparatus, crucibles and retorts, with printed directions for using, Pumps and Hose, Whitney's celebrated Rifles, Wagons, Carts and Wheelbarrows, Agricultural Implements, Field and Garden Seeds, &c. &c., at the lowest prices. The public are cautioned against purchasing Gold Machines, imitations and counterfeits of Mr. Leavenworth's patent, as he has directed his Agent at San Francisco, E. Crosby, Esq. to enjoin all persons from using such on their arrival at California. A. B. ALLEN & CO. 189 and 191 Water-st., New York. feb 1-2t Warranted French Burr Mill Stones. COLOGNE, COCALICO, & LIME. Tricultural Lime at the depot on the Back Basin, corner Editor of the American Farmer. GUANO! GUANO! feb. 1. PERUVIAN, PATAGONIAN and AFRICAN GUANO, HE subscriber has now on hand full spring supplies of warranted pure, which he offers for sale, wholesale or retail, at the very lowest market rates. W. WHITELOCK, Corner of Gay and High-sts. ALSO, Clover Seed, various qualities. Prime Timothy Seed. feb 1t* PERUVIAN GUANO. HE cargoes of the ships Xylon and Deucalion of direct imthe State to be of the very best quality. This Guano has been put in good new Cotton Osnaburg hags. For sale by feb 1. JAMES I. FISHER, No. 76 Spear's Wharf. MONTGOMERY COUNTY LANDS. OR SALE-A LARGE TRACT of 450 ACRES, adjoining the town of Rockville, will be sold on SATURDAY, the 24th FEBRUARU, at the Court House in Rockville. beg leave to inform their cus-F Orders from any part of the TH Feb. 1 LIME AND MARL, HEIR Agricultural uses, with explanations of their properties and management, the soils to which they are applicable, and the precautions to be observed in their use, especially adapted to the wants of practical farmers-by JAMES HYATT, Chemist of Mt. Airy Agricultural Institute, Germantown, Pa. Copies of this treatise, more particularly noticed in the American Farmer, of Nov. last, can be had of SAMUEL SANDS, Office of the American Farmer, 12 cents per copy. It can be sent by mail to any post office. F feb. 1. MOR SALE.-100 bushels of BONE SHAVINGS-by R. BALL, feb 1-tf East Falls Avenue, near the Bridge, Baltimore. This sale offers a rare opportunity for the purchase of Lands at very reduced prices, in a location possessing every facility and advantage for agricultural improvement. The terms will be most liberal, and such as will suit the convenience of every purchaser. For particulars, refer to the advertisement in the Rockville Journal or National Intelligencer,for to O. Horsey, Esq., Baltimore, or Henry Harding, Esq.,Rockville. fe 1 IME LIME--The subscriber is prepared to furnish from his depot at the City Rlock, Baltimore, ALUM STONE LIME of the purest description, deliverable at any point on the Chesapeak Bay or its tributaries, at such prices as cannot fail to please. He is also prepared to furnish superior building Lime at 25c. per bushel, in hlids., or at $1 per bbl. E. J. COOPER, july 1 City Block, Baltimore. AMERICAN FARMER, SPIRIT OF THE AGRICULTURAL JOURNALS OF THE DAY. Vol. IV. "O FORTUNATOS NIMIUM SUA SI BONA NORINT "AGRICOLAS." Virg. BALTIMORE, MARCH, 1849. PRIZE ESSAY ON THE BEST MEANS FOR No. 9. Preventing the Destruction of various Crops by Birds, Insects, &c. By THOS. S. PLEASANTS, of Petersburg, Va. [To the following Treatise was awarded the Premium of $20, offered by the Maryland State Agricultural Society. The committee, consisting of Dr. Jos. E. MUSE, of Dorchester Co., Col. W. W. W. Bowie, of Prince George's Co., and F. P. BLAIR, Esq. of Montgomery Co., made their award at the Quarterly Meeting of the Managers of the Society, on the 7th February, 1849-which was approved of, and the Essay ordered to be published in the AMERICAN FARMER.] AMONGST the various plants cultivated by the hand of man, a large number appear to have their peculiar enemies. Thus wheat is liable to be attacked, and is not unfrequently destroyed by the Hessian fly; corn by the cut-worm; tobacco by the tobacco-worm; and cotton by the boll-worm. The cultivated trees also, including those both for use and ornament, are subject to similar injuries. The apple tree has its borer and canker-worm; the peach its grub; the pear its aphis, producing its blight; the plum its curculio; and the noble elm its own peculiar enemy which congregates upon it in immense numbers, destroy. ing it in its pride of foliage, while it appears to be harmless to every thing besides. The list might be extended so as to embrace many other plants. Thus, in addition to the labor of cultivation, man has to contend with difficulties oftentimes of a more serious nature, the whole of which combined causes him to realize in its full extent the burden imposed upon him in the beginning, that he should earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. To discuss the subject in full would require a space far exceeding the limits of an essay. Moreover, human ingenuity has been taxed to the utmost without discovering any preventive in many of the cases cited. All that can be done is in the way of palliation; by waging, namely, a war of extermination, so as to diminish the injury by a reduction of their numbers. The tobacco fields, for instance, must be overlooked at stated times, and the young brood of worms destroyed by hand; and the roots of the peach tree must be annually examined and cleaned of the grub. This treatment, however, it is impossible to extend to many of the insects which in fest our crops; and it is only by a judicious cultivation that their depredations can be even partially guarded against. In regard to Birds, it is believed that they are, on the whole, a benefit and a friend to the farmer rather than a nuisance. The writer will therefore venture to take the position that the safety of our crops justifies their protection rather than their destruction. Birds of nearly every feather,-those at least which are most familiar to us,-feed upon insects, and thereby prevent the enormous increase which would otherwise attend these pests. Every farmer has doubtless observed how eagerly his barnyard fowls follow the plough in search of the worms that are exposed to view. The number of insects destroyed by a flock of turkeys is incalculable. Their predatory habits are sometimes exceedingly annoying, insomuch that the farmer would oftentimes re joice if his good wife would give them up; but she is undoubtedly rendering him a service in every young flock that she turns out upon his grounds.But it may be said there is a necessity for rearing fowls. Let us then advert to those which are not under our control. And first, of the crow: By common consent he is regarded with almost as much antipathy as that which we hereditarily cherish for snakes. None ever passes in reaching distance of the fowler that he does not discharge his gun at him. All the good lessons we have been taught in our childhood against cruelty to birds, have an exception in him. His nests are plundered, and the young destroyed, by all classes. Even premiums have been offered for their scalps by grave legislative bodies. The sagacity by which he is enabled to elude his pursuer only serves to stimulate the desire to destroy the wheat, which hatch in the course of a few bim. And after all, what do his offences amount to? days-when the little maggots crawl to the bottom The most serious depredation he commits is to tear of the blades and find their nourishment in the up the young corn in the spring, thus subjecting the juices of the plants. The circulation in the plants farmer to the necessity of planting again. If there becomes thereby impeded: the blades first assume was no remedy for this, there would be some justi- a dark green color, subsequently they turn yellow, fication for the hatred with which he is pursued. and finally the whole plant perishes or lives out a But with a tithe of the trouble that is taken to de- sickly existence. The prevalence of the fly has stroy him, the seed corn may be effectually prepared been the means of bringing about a great revolution so that he will have no relish for it. A pint of tar in the culture of wheat. Before it was known it diluted in a quantity of hot water sufficient to cover was customary to sow from one to two months eara bushel of corn, will afford to each grain a coating lier than can be now done with safety. By early which renders it distasteful to every bird. The seeding, the stools acquired such strength as to enacrow, from his excessive timidity, may also be ble them to tiller well in the spring, and the conse. readily frightened away by stuffed figures, familiarly quent early harvest secured the crop from another termed scare crows; or by anything of unusual ap- enemy, no less formidable than the fly, namely, rust. pearance in the field. In smaller fields or patches, Since the introduction of the fly it has been found a few strings of cotton twine stretched across the unsafe to sow wheat sooner than about the period of ground will effectually keep him off. This is the the first sharp frost. Even then, or in cases of still common mode of protection in melon grounds, later sowing, there is no certain exemption from its where crows are sometimes exceedingly mischiev-ravages, while the change of seed-time renders it ous; for they appear to have an especial fondness unprofitable to put any land to wheat which is not in for pecking into young watermelons. They are also a good state of improvement. The only compensasometimes destructive in autumn. Their habits then tion therefore to the farmer for the injury to his become gregarious; and when they light on a field crops by the fly, and the necessity he is under of of corn which the farmer has permitted to remain sowing late, is to place his wheat land in a condiungathered too long, they are apt to diminish the tion to render it productive. He must give his product. Indeed, whole fields have sometimes been wheat not only nourishment enough for the fly, but destroyed, but only when the growers have neglect- enough also to stimulate its growth beyond the abed to harvest thein in good season. On the whole, straction of its juices which is caused by the fly. In then, it is confidently believed that even crows, favorable seasons he may then calculate on reaching which are amongst the most rapacious of birds, do the maximum degree of productiveness. But upon far more good than harm. During the summer, ordinary or poor lands, especially after corn, withwhen they are breeding, they destroy infinite num- out the benefit of manure, the farmer is hardly ever bers of insects, for the nourishment of their young, reimbursed for his expenses in seed and labor.and thereby more than compensate for all the de- Counting every expense, less than a crop of ten predations they commit on the crops of the farmer. bushels to the acre will not yield a sufficient profit The same remarks will apply, with more or less to justify the cultivation of wheat. And yet how modification, to other members of the feathered many farmers there are whose crops fall greatly betribe. We would moreover consider that provision low that average, and who still persevere in the culfor birds was especially made by divine Providence, ture from year to year. The presence of the Hesand that our hostility to them is therefore in con- sian fly should then teach the farmer an important travention of the order of nature. "Behold the lesson. Indeed some persons have gone so far as to fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they say that they considered it a blessing instead of a reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly curse, from the absolute necessity created by its exFather feedeth them." "Shall he not then muchistence of using every means to increase the producmore clothe [and feed] you, O ye of little faith?" Seeing then that birds should be regarded as friends and not as enemies, the indiscriminate massacre to which they are subjected cannot be too severely reprobated. If there are any exceptions it is only in the case of hawks and owls, which not only prey upon all other birds of inferior strength and activity, but are particularly destructive to domestic fowls. Though they sometimes feed on moles and mice, and even snakes, yet on the whole no defence can be offered in their behalf. It is therefore from the numerous orders of insects that the farmer suffers the greatest loss, and chiefly those in the diminution of whose numbers birds can afford him no essential relief. Some of these which do the greatest amount of damage to our field crops will now be particularly considered. The Hessian Fly.-The Hessian fly "is a small two-winged fly or midge, nearly black," and was supposed to have been brought to America by the Hessian troops during the Revolution. Volumes have been written concerning this insect, and its natural history is well understood; but no discovery has been made by which it can be entirely arrested in its ravages. In the fall of the year, and again in the spring, it deposites its eggs on the blades of tiveness of the soil. Without fully receiving this opinion it is yet not without force; and he who adopts the plan of improvement for the purpose of obviating these difficulties which nature interposes to his success, is the only intelligent farmer-the only one who deserves success even when he does not command it. The writer was once acquainted with a very practical and observant farmer who for many years (indeed as long as he knew him,) was in the habit of sowing as much of his crop of wheat as he could accomplish during the month of July. Wheat sown then, he remarked, was never injured by the fly, while that sown in August and September was invariably destroyed. The reason is that the fly does not make its appearance so early in the season, but it becomes very numerous by the time the grain left in the harvest fields begins to vegetate, which is seldom or never before August. By that time the wheat sown in July either gets strong enough to resist the fly, or, which is more probable, is not regarded as so good a matrix for the deposite of its eggs as the younger and tenderer growth of August. The success of the gentleman spoken of was invariably good whenever there was sufficient moisture in the land to promote the germination of the grain. In rust. consequence, however, of the drought which freqently prevails during that month, there is of course some uncertainty on this poin'. But even if only one-fourth of the seed vegetates, the plants acquire such vigor during the autumn that a single one is more productive at harvest than several from seed sown in October or November on land of the same quality. Moreover, the wheat ripens so early as to be in a great measure, if not entirely, exempt from The writer has witnessed several experiments, made by other gentlemen, of seeding wheat in July, all of which were successful; but he only remembers the facts connected with one of them. On a small field of about six acres, on which a crop of cotton was growing, the wheat was seeded at the time of the last working. Owing to dry weather, but a small portion of the seed vegetated,-scarcely a peck, and probably even less, to the acre. By the fall the stools had acquired an enormous size, each one covering a space probably equivalent to a square foot; and yet there was a good deal of vacant ground. At harvest the crop was 22 bushels to the acre, full twice as much as the land could have yielded under ordinary circumstances, or had ever yielded before. The gentleman who grew it, formerly a near neighbor of the writer, is yet living, and could certify to the truth of the statement; but it is not known whether he has continued the practice of summer seeding. Indeed, the energies of the farmer at that season are so busily directed to the cultivation and seeding of other crops, that it is an inconvenient time to break in upon his general routine; and it cannot therefore be expected he will do it without the prospect of decided advantage. It is respectfully submitted, however, to wheat growers, whether they might not, by making the necessary preparations in time, advantageously devote a small space to this object, at least for the sake of experiment. In those latitudes where the wheat crop is harvested in June, it would be entirely practicable. Farther north, the time for sowing should doubtless be regulated according to the progress of the season. Chinch Bug. This insect has the same disgusting smell as the domestic bug of the same name, and is a species of a very numerous genus. It is well known in all the Atlantic States so th of the Potomac ; but north of that it is believed to have made very little progress. It is a winged insect, though it seldom flies; and then only at short distances, in the sum mer, when it is in search of a place to deposite its eggs. Its prolificness is extraordinary. It has been estimated that in every two weeks a new generation is brought into existence. The young insect is of a reddish color, and as soon as it is hatched it begins to suck the sap of the plants on which it is propagated. When it has reached its full size it is nearly black. Fortunately, the chinch-bug does not prevail every year it is only once in four or five years that it appears in such incalculable numbers. What becomes of them in the meantime-whether they are destroyed by the severity or changeableness of the winters-has not been satisfactorily ascertained. They choose for their refuge during cold weather places covered with litter; but chiefly the woods, either amongst the leaves, in the old stumps, or in the bark of trees. When their state of hibernation is over, they emerge from their winter quarters and congregate on the tender wheat; and in a few days hatch out a young brood which immediately commences the work of destruction. The wheat is seldom entirely killed, but continues to make a feeble growth and to put up its stems until harvest. At the time of ripening it changes to a pale, almost to a white color; the heads are destitute of grain, and the stalks offer little more resistance to the scythe than so much dry straw. After the field is reaped, they abandon it and march to the nearest corn or oats.Oats, however, in the state in which they find it, offers but few attractions; but the rich and saccharine juice of the corn is a favorite food. To see them marching in myriads from one field to another is an appalling sight. They remain on the corn as long as it affords them any nourishment-increasing their progeny between the sheaths of the blades and the stalks-after which they spread themselves out on the various kinds of natural grasses growing amongst the corn, such as the bottle-brush, cropgrass, &c. Various expedients have been resorted to to stay their ravages, but none has proved entirely effectual. When they leave the wheat for the corn, they collect on the first few rows, covering them and almost blackening them by their numbers; and if they are vigorously attacked at that time, by killing as many as possible by hand, and burning those which take shelter from the hot sun under heaps of litter laid for the purpose, their numbers may be materially diminished. Weevil. The weevil is a moth, sometimes very destructive to wheat and corn, and originates from eggs laid on the ear in its green state, in the same manner as the pea-bug in the case of the English or garden pea. It is very distinct from an insect of the same name which is frequently found in great numbers in mills and granaries, and which is more properly a beetle. When the wheat is left to remain in the straw for any length of time after harvest, the weevil is almost certain to make its appearance. Threshing the grain as early as possible, and throwing it into bulk in the chaff, arrests its progress in a great measure, owing to the absence of the necessary conditions for hatching the eggs. In those districts of country where the weevil was formerly very destructive, farmers have learned to guard against its ravages by sending their crops into market without delay. As the course of remark thus far, in regard to insects, has been chiefly in connexion with wheat, it may not be deemed irrelevant to extend a little further consideration to the subject of the wheat crop. Of all cereal grains grown for the sustenance of man, it is undoubtedly the most important. In some particular countries others may take the precedence, as for instance the rice in Asia. In America also, the maize or Indian corn can scarcely be considered of secondary value. But no other grain is subject to the same number of casualties as wheat. It is liable to almost as many ills as flesh is heir to. Besides the enemies already enumerated, it is sometimes seriously injured, and indeed almost destroyed by the smut and rust; and if the opinion of the great majority of farmers is entitled to implicit credence, it is transmutable into cheat and spelt. From various causes therefore it is the most precarious of crops. The smut, with due precaution, needs not to be feared; but for the rust no adequate preventive has yet been discovered. It cannot be doubted that the intelligence of man is competent to such an achievement; but, with due deference, it is believed that its powers have not been concentrated upon it with the force which its importance demands. If half the ingenuity had been exercised in this branch of enquiry, as has been done in endeavoring to establish the transmutation of wheat, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the most important results might have been attained. But the usual practice of Cut Worm.-This grub is sometimes very destrucfarmers has been unfavorable to the establishment tive to the young corn, from the time it begins to of any definite principles in regard to rust. When show itself above the ground until the weather beever a new variety of wheat is brought into notice, comes hot. It then either undergoes one of the every one tries to obtain it as soon as possible, and changes of its life, or the hot sun causes it to retreat discards the old. If a farmer in a neighborhood further beneath the surface,-probably the former. raises a productive crop, others resort to him for To some extent it commits depredations on other seed, in the hope that it is better than the varieties plants, particularly garden vegetables, during the they have been cultivating. As long as the propen-summer; but it is most numerous in the spring. The sity proceeds merely from a spirit of change or cut-worm prevails on all lands covered with sod, or novelty, no good results can be expected. What we standing in clover or weeds. The only preventive need is a well considered series of experiments made is fall or winter plowing, which is destructive to the with prominent varieties of wheat, sown at different eggs or the larvae, by exposing them to the action of times on soils of various qualities, with or without the frost. the application of several kinds of manures, as the Moles and Mice.-In light soils these little animals case may be; and the results accurately noted. In are frequently great pests, the latter being found the meantime, however, there can be no doubt that generally to accompany the former. It has been the a fund of valuable information might be obtained, if opinion of some naturalists, and, amongst the rest, the proper measures were taken to elicit it. The of the gentle and accomplished Godman, that the object of these remarks therefore is to draw the at- mole does no other damage than by burrowing: that tention of the Agricultural Society of Maryland to the field mouse follows in its track, and eats the this subject, with a view of collecting such well at- grain, or gnaws the roots of such plants as it finds in tested facts as would admit of generalization. At the way. Dr. Godman dissected a number of moles, what time does the rust begin to manifest itself? and found their stomachs to contain nothing but What is the character of the weather for a few days earth-worms or insects. He was of opinion that preceding the attack? What is the nature of the their teeth were not fitted for eating solid substances. soil? Does the rust prevail on calcareous soils, or The carefully formed opinions of a naturalist should soils dressed with ashes, to the same extent as on be received with the greatest respect, but it is well neutral or acid soils? Does the early sown wheat known that moles bite with severity enough to inescape, when the late sown wheat is attacked? Or flict a good deal of pain. The writer has the auare early varieties more exempt than late varieties? thority of a highly respectable neighbor for stating Are certain portions of the same field liable to rust, that he has nearly destroyed the moles in the grounds while others are exempt-and what are the distin- around his house by occasionally dropping in their guishing points of difference between them? Care- tracks bread pills containing a small quantity of ful observations and reports made in reference to arsenic-say a fourth or a half grain to each hill.these and other appropriate subjects of investigation The Palma Christi bean also causes them to disapmight be of incalculable importance to the wheat pear; but whether they are repelled by its odor, or, growing interest. Of course, it is unreasonable to which is more probable, whether they are destroyed expect that the rust can be entirely prevented in all by the coating of the seed, which is said to be seasons and under all conditions, any more than that poisonous, is not certainly known. It is believed man can at all times effectually guard himself against that moles are seldom very numerous in cultivated the approach of disease. But in the one case, as in grounds, as a single one, by his industry and persethe other, the intelligent mind may be able to attain verance, will work his way through a considerable a degree of safety which will seldom be realized by space. But they seldom or never wander to any the ignorant and thoughtless. It is now well ascer- remote distance; for the same track, though it may tained that the rust is a fungus or parasitic plant-cross a frequented road, and therefore be liable to the seeds of which, so to say, being wafted in the air, fall on the wheat plant, where they vegetate and strike their roots into the stems and leaves. They grow with such rapidity that in a few days they throw out spores and pass through all the stages of their existence. The popular opinion, therefore, that rust is caused by extravasation of the sap, proceeding from plethora, is erroneous. Its effect is to exhaust the juices of the plant for its own support, but with a suddenness far transcending the powers of insects. Certain conditions, however, are necessary to the complete development of the rust. Hot, sultry weather promotes it; while dry, cool weather retards or prevents it. If the wheat is nearly ripe, it can do but little damage; if it is rank, and green, and full of sap, it will fall a certain prey, provided the season is at all unfavorable. It is believed that the rust never makes its appearance till the season has advanced to a certain stage; hence by early sowing, and the use of stimulating manures, especially guano, it is regarded as practicable to anticipate its accession by an early harvest. Since it is obvious then that the effect of rust bears a resemblance to that of insects, the writer ventures to repeat the hope that his remarks will not be found inappropriate or uninteresting. be pressed down every day, as well as to be closed by rains, has been known in repeated instances to be re-opened and continued in use for a succession of years. In submitting the preceding remarks the writer has not resorted to the use of scientific terms, as they are probably not familiar to the majority of farmers; and even if they were, popular language is entirely sufficient for discussing the subjects which have been brought under review. In fact, those authors who have made birds and insects a matter of scientific study, have contributed only in a small degree to the benefit of the farmer. Nor is the contrary to be expected, for theirs is a distinct branch of knowledge." Years of close observation, and the daily experience of active life, are necessary for the acquisition of that kind of knowledge which the farmer requires. Much yet remains to be learned; and if the writer has been so fortunate as to submit any views which may serve, in the slightest degree, to add to what is already known, or to stimulate those interested to a more watchful observation, he will have accomplished all that he could reasonably have anticipated. THOS. S. PLEASANTS. Petersburg, Va., November, 1848. |