On Peach Trees. 189 



of the bark, the destruction of the root and puncture of 

 the fruit, all proceed from insects : and even that sickly 

 appearance of the tree, called the yellows, attended by 

 numerous weakly shoots on the limbs generally, is at- 

 tributed to insects, by a late writer in our news papers. 



A little beetle, called curculio, about the size of a 

 pea bug, is the insect w'hich punctures the fruit, and 

 occasions it to fall off or rot, before it comes to matu- 

 rity. I have been so tormented by this insect, as to be 

 at great pains to investigate it. You may see the re- 

 sult of my enquiries, in Dr. Mease's edition of the Do- 

 mestic Encyclopaedia, under the head "Fruits." 



The wasp-like insect which bores the bark of the 

 tree, and delights especially in that region just below 

 the surface of the earth, I am not so well acquainted 

 w ith, but do not believe it so important in its mis- 

 chief as the curculio. 



But besides this large wasp -like worm, which you 

 always find solitary under the bark, there are millions of 

 little gi'ubs or maggots, that appear in great clusters, 

 round the roots of the trees. Some naturalists have 

 supposed these are of the same kind as the large worm, 

 only in the infant state ; but I am strongly inclined to 

 be of a different opinion : for their number is above all 

 proportion to that of the large worm ; and they are as 

 uniform in size as the large worm, so as to manifest 

 nothing like growth or progi'ess towards greater matu- 

 rity. It deserves consideration, whether or not these 

 small worms are the curculiones, in the maggot or grub 

 state. Their numbers, as well as the natural history 

 of the beetle order, would seem to indicate this. I have 

 observed- too, that in the districts of our country, viz. 



