Delaware weekly Republican. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1841-188?, 1857-08-13
p,oseedings Of dc Qaarieri,1 Needing Of NE dg..I

idcnt, Henry Cowgirl, in the Chair. G.. w.
3. Nicholson, Secretary IT,
The President stated that the chief business
before the Society was the condition of the
wheat crop for the present year. Betweenthe
9Th and the 18th Of October, he sowed the blue
stem white wheat. One half his ground was
fallow. He plowed In 200 pounds of Peruvian
gnano to the acre, and drilled in with the seed
about so pounds more. The balance of his
ground was eat stubble. He plowed in equal
quantities OF barn-yard manure and Peruvian
Guano. The fly injured beth--he could per-
ceiye hut little difference VI tA
e. w. 5. Nicholson stated that last year he
selected small field on his farm in eastern
Sussex, tho soil Of which is sandy loan, at
the time in corn. This field had never been
manfred with guano, phosphates or even lime.
Early in October he had plowed in 300 pounds
10 tho acre OF Mexican and Peruvian Guano,
I'm proportion Of u tons of Mexican to l ton of
Peruvian.) About the 18th or Goth Of Octo-
Der he soNed the bluc-stem white wheat. With
the exception of slight injury to tho front part
OF the ield--which was ridge OF two feet rum
ming parallel with the road--by tho storm Of
January, tho wheat came TO harvest uniniured
by ny, worm, smut or anything of tho kind and
insue larger yield than he supposed the soil
capable OF producing.
He further stated that he had noticed that
more crops had been injured by early sowing
than by late. All the fields OF wheat which
mad been completely destroyed by the Hy in
TINS county were sowed heforo the LIST of Jjcto-
per. AS an exemplifcation of this, he instanced
heiu oil wheat near Leipsic, one half of which
t Mas sowed on the last Saturday of October,
the other hall on the Monday sncceedinr. Mr.
J. U. Wilson, its proprietor, noticed that the
portion last sowed was evidently less injured nv
the hy than that first sowed.
he recommended that farmers procure for
seed wheat, that which had entirely escaned
| injury from the fly.
Mr. Il. b. Coursey next gave an account Of
nls crop which was sowed at the usual time
! between the 9th and the 18th of October and
yielded well. He recommended that time q
sowing. lie also gave an interesting statement
OF experiments he was making in the yarion,
guanos and phosphates, and said that Allen
Needles Super-Phosphate, at present, premis
Mr.. G. b. Dickson next spoke of the exper.
lments he had made with the Columbian Guano,
which, the second and third years, turned ont
timely. He also stated that the white wheat
raised this year in Kent county, passed in phil
adelphia only for good red wheat--that the best
specimens Of white wheat no had seen were
those which had been sent up bv the Railroad
from western Sussex.
Mr. i. y. Coursey presented PAPER from
Manloye Hayes, Esq, Cor. Secretary of the
society, which was read as follows
In the notice for this meeting of o,,r sociatv
It was proposed to inquire into the injury sns.
talned by the wheat crop OF the present wear
from the rayages of the HesSianf 1y, and wh.tb-
er any means can be adopted tn ward against
the future depredations Of this insect. This
subject mas received more attention I'm ON
community LOT the last two months than any
other, oil an injurious nature to the crons with.
In my recollection. The llue appearancc n,
the wheat in this county, soon after the omen.
| ing of spring held out for short time great
hopes OF bountitul harvest-thonch asId
| might occasionally be seen which had bean III
Jnred to some extent by the hard winter. there
was no SERIOUS cause of experimenting danger
10 the crops generally until late in the snring
SO far as have been able to learn from ;n
qniries have made in this county. ths IA, w.
not observed in the wheat until abnnt tle 1s1L
OF May. In noticing my own fields at that tinc
perceived that the Improvement OF the whaai
was suddenly arrested and at first attribn
tSo u 10 some change in the weather unfayorn.
Ole TO its growth, but on the 2gth I mad -
close examination, and the real callse soon ho
came apparent. The insect was then in Tia
Whltc ana maggot state, lying close 10 tba ot,,,,
OF the plant under the blade below tbn Grst
JOINT but few of the larvae had arrived n, the
age When II assumes the brown or aavsaaJ
s'ale' paced number of stems-some ron
tanning as many as eight or ten of these insects
in aiglass jar, the top of which was ,n,,oraJ
with paper punctured to admit tho air In
lew Gays their transformation began ia amman
and in about one we k all had c6anged ~ Ia
peculiar brown color by which il n 81 vol
known and in which state, ACCORDING IN tha
oest authorities IL requires no further nourish-
'sn. eAuihlIeu my PRISONERS daily, heartily
wishing the whole race as well secured IN
the 9Th Of Junc--being eleven DAYS from, ~
time they were enclosed in the iar-the Irst
winged insects made their appearances rea,r,i,.
mug iI n'as.iuitoes, put IN size much less, with
wings transparent, Dut of dark color and not
so pointed. j noticed several of n larger .i,a
which may have been the females. bnt 1yitt alI
my attention could not discover any deuosjt.
ing their eggs they lived only (onr mr. Ava
days, though Others continued TO cut out ~
their shells from time to time, and ly abont tbe
jar LOT ten days or two weeks after the first
hiaae iheir appearance. BY this time com
plant had become generalth Throughout the Stafe
the hy being discovered further north after :,
mad SHOWN itself here. The wheat in man,
nelds We're so much injured, that the owners
uespairing Of their crops, plowed them nm and
planted them in corn other fields were t,kon
III grass that outgrew tho wheat, which was IN.
eIn,y shlothered ny the rank growth of timothy
ana clover. About the middle of lima 10 ~
wheat straw became less sncculent the enom,,
10 us growth appeared to have become snrfeit
cd win ms lood, and was found either in the
puph or naxseed state, or had cut out. leaving
the brown shells adhering To tho stems. The
eggs were at that perio t, doubtless denositnd
on the blades and upper part Of the stems OF
the wheat and RrIss which abounded in the
fields, as the female insect has been seen 10 do
10y close observers how long these eggs re-
main, before new generation OF this interest
ing family see the light, must leave for some
one better acquainted with the habits of the
Insects to decide; (valuable information ON
this point may be found In tho Farmer's Enr,,-
ciop9dd,) the time is said to vary from tonr IN
| fifteen days and even longer under cirrum
stances more or less favorable. Thousands a,
| insects IN the haxseed state could be seen in
the stubhle when the wheat was reaped. and Il
10 reasohaoio 10 suppose that the lily will con.
tlnue 10 hateh and deposit its eggs as long as
the heat OF the summer and autumn sun is snc
ncient to admit of its development and trans
formation. ""'''
Ihougn uld not examine nv wheat last
autumn, have but little doubt The larvnn VA
in it during the winter and if so. there annears
to be no degree Of cold that will not destroy
tine wheat which cannot be endured by IFS
eIeatess ohynly' mad several acres oil wheat
covered with water after the snow drifts lad
melted In February. The ground was frozen
and lhe water diu not subsidc for a week or
more. The wheat was not materially ninrad
by 1t, IN iact looked greener in J une than other
parts oi tue usld which had been much exnos.
ca 70 inc lrost and cold. Icxamined the wheat
AT that pace win some curiosity and was sur
prised TO find the fly as preyalrat there ~ .iy.
where in the field, W. '''e1
Though the llessian fly is known to iniuro
the wheat to some extent almost away
year, such-a visitation as we have hnnn s,fian,s
cd to tho present season is unusual. and IN,
many old farmers it is believed that lis coming
in swarms like the locusts, is periodical faS
nearly twenty Years tiy hasnot generally caused
serious alarm, and may there not be some nat.
ural causes operating to produce these rs
tructlve lnseets IN such formidable numbers
and over so large space at the same period