THE CRUSADE AGAINST THE GRAND TURK. 



irds are not here now; — thoughtless boys, and barbarous men, have hunted 

 until only an occasional timid wanderer, can be seen. 



I have put the following questions, to the oldest people in the neighborhood, and re- 

 ceived, invariably, about the same answers. " Are your apples as sound now, as those 

 you raised thirty or forty years ago.'" " Oh no! they're gnarly and wormy now — the 

 seaso7is aint as good as they used to be." " Are the birds as plentiful now, as former- 

 ly.?" " Oh law, no! they used to make noise enough to deafen you, when I was 

 young." "Do you raise as much poultry?" " Why no! guess not, we get more butch- 

 ers' meat now." It will be readily observed by the first reply, that those persons have 

 not the least idea of the present cause of failure — (I do not insist that the curuclio is the 

 only troublesome thing.) I know of a solitary apple tree, in a forty acre field, where every 

 fallen fruit shows several crescent shaped punctures. 



I have never yet conversed with a person who understood the natural history of the 

 curculio. The only one that seemed to have any previous idea of it, was an Irishman. 

 He complained to me, that his plums were all falling to the ground. As I make it a rule 

 to talk to every one who will listen to me, about the curculio — I commenced an explana- 

 tion — he suddenly threw up both hands, and exclaimed stcntoriousl}', " is it the baby's 

 nail, A'ou mane.' by this, and by that, I alwa3-s minded the thing as a token of bad luck, 

 and so I did." By the way, his is a stiff clay soil, and that dont save him. 



Paving under the trees, or white-washing the fruit, may save the crop, but both plans 

 are expensive; and even when we have done it — the greatest vigilance is necessary, be- 

 cause we are still surrounded by the enemy. Nothing short of total extermination, should 

 be the aim of the fruit grower; — let him explain the nature of this insect, to every one 

 who owns a tree, to every man, woman and child, on his premises; — let him be a grower 

 of poultry, as well as a grower of fruit; — let him give accommodation and encouragement 

 to the birds of the air, in every possible way; — let him petition the proper authorities, 

 that stringent laws may be enacted for their preservation; that all dishonest persons may 

 be prevented from coming on our land, to shoot, or ensnare them. The word dishonest may 

 appear too severe for this place — let it pass. Those who feed the birds, (namely, the own- 

 ers of the soil,) have a special claim to their services, and no straggling sportsman should 

 deprive them of it. 



People around me, pay but little heed to my advice, in regard to the curculio, because I 

 have never been able to save a crop of fruit. This war of extermination must be general; 

 a few individuals, scattered over the face of the country, cannot effect it. I think if the 

 N. Y. State Agricultural Society should have a simple history of the nature and habits 

 of the curculio, with the best means of destroying it, printed and posted up, in every 

 country tavern, and district school-house, in the state, the good arising therefrom, would 

 be seen in a very few years. Yours, &c. William Hopkins. 



Vomona^ Brunsivich, Rens. Co., N. T., Dec. 13, 1850. 



[We are glad to find that our correspondent, despairing as he seems to be, has still 

 IJvith in fowls. We, also, believe that plums and the poultry-yard, should go together. 

 There are some districts like his, where the curculio seems almost to "rain down," — 

 while others, like Hudson, Albany, and Schenectady, produce the finest plums, as easilj'- 

 as currants. We have seen hundreds of bushels of delicious plums — green-gages, etc., in 

 the famous orchard of Mr. Denniston, near Alban}^ — the soil a stiff cla}^. Yet the coun- 

 try at large, suffers sadly from the Grand Turk, and we want more light. Ed.] 



