574 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



The weevils inhabiting nuts, acorns, chincapin?, and chestnuts, are distiti- 

 guisbed by their very k)ng projecting and slender bills or trunks. The egg ia 

 deposited in the young fruit, and the grubs are found in the iuterior. They 

 afterwards enter the earth and change to pupie and perfect weevils. Ko remedy 

 has yet been found. 



The pea weevil destroys the interior substance or future seed-leaves of the 

 pea, seeds of locust and other leguminous plants. The egg is deposited singly 

 in punctures made by the female, on the pod. The larva;, when hatched, pene- 

 trate through the pod and bury themselves in the pea opposite the punctuitJ, 

 where they eat the interior of the pea. The pupa is formed in the pea itself, 

 and in spring the perfect insect comes out of a round hole eaten through the 

 skin. Many of these worm-eaten peas will germinate, as the germ is seldom in- 

 jured by the larva. Latreille and others recommend putting the seed peas in 

 hot water a minute or two just before planting, by which means the weevils 

 will be killed and the sprouting of the peas be quickened. Curtis states that 

 '' an immersion of four minutes in boiling water will kill almost all the peas." 

 The American Agriculturist, 1860, says "that the water should not be above 

 170 to 180° Fahrenheit," Late-sown peas escape their attacks, and if sown 

 as late as the middle of June, are seldom infested with this weevil. If peas 

 are kept over the year, they are free from this pest, the beetle having deserted 

 them. Mr. Curtis states that " kiln-drying at a heat of 133 to 144 degrees will 

 kill the insects without altering the quality ef the pulse, but such seed will no 

 longer vegetate." 



The New York weevil is a very large curculio of a gfay color, marked with 

 whitish lines and black dots. It destroys the buds and gnaws the young twigs 

 of the pear, plum, cherry, maple, o»k, &:c. As they are not very numerous 

 yet, and appear to be local, no remedy has been proposed. Hand-picking and 

 shaking tbem oft' the trees in a similar manner to the plum weevil might 

 answer, if they should increase so as to become very injurious. 



Many of the small bark beetles destroy trees, by eating holes in the soft inner 

 substance of the bark. Familiar examples of their work may be seen in 

 almost any old dead tree or fence-rail. When the bark is removed it exhibits 

 singular parallel passages or galleries diverging at almost right angles fi*om a 

 main stem or shoot. Other passages eaten by these insects look like coarse, 

 irregular printing or drawings. These bark beetles injure apple, pear, peach, 

 elm, pine, cedar and other trees. The pear-blight beetle is sometimes very 

 destructive to pear trees, causing the branches to wither and die in an ap- 

 parently unaccountable manner. The egg is deposited probably behind the 

 root of the bud on a twig, in July or August. The larva or grub eats from the 

 heart of the bud through the sap-wood to the heart-wood, afterwards forming a 

 circular burrow in the heart-wood, thus cutting off the circulation of the sap. 

 The pupa is formed at the bottom of the burrow, and the perfect insect appears 

 from Jmie to August. Dr. Harris says that " the remedy, as suggested by 

 Mr. Lowell and Professor Peck, to prevent other limbs from being subsequently 

 attacked in the same way, consists in cutting off the blasted limb below the 

 seat of the injury and burning it before the perfect insect has made its escape.'* 

 The trees should be examined daily in June, and every blighted limb imme- 

 diately cut off. The injury caused by this insect being merely local, should 

 not be confounded with the real fire blight of the pear, which appears to be a 

 constitutional disease of the tree, caused, some say, by atmospheric influences, 

 and others by severe winters. Dr. Berckmans says " it is owing to the un- 

 healthy condition of the tree, bad or improper soil, too much moisture, sudden 

 variations of the temperature, (we have observed several of our trees to be 

 affected immediately after a severe thunder-storm,) and incompatibility of 

 graft and stock." In the Cultivator of 1862, it is said to be a cryptogamic 

 plant. Mr. Walsh, in the Prairie Farmer, thinks a blight can be caused by the 



