180 AGRICULTURAL ESSAYS. 



chrysalis state, under the shelter of a dry curled leaf or two, 

 bound with filaments like cobwebs ; these should be searched 

 for and destroyed. It is said that caterpillars will take shelter 

 under woolen rags, Avhen put on trees where they resort, from 

 which they can easily be taken and destroyed. 



Grubs are large maggots, produced from the eggs of a cer- 

 tain species of the butterfly, very injurious to corn by eating 

 its roots. They are said to produce the beetle. Frequent 

 ploughings will nearly destroy them. 



Top, or spindle worms, are white worms, resembling 

 grubs, found in the central hole which is formed by the leaves 

 of Indian corn ; and they there cut off the stem which forms 

 the top of the plant. They are mostly to be found near barn- 

 yards, and in rich spots. They are discovered by their excre- 

 ment appearing on the leaves. Sprinkling the corn with a 

 weak ley ;"of wood ashes will extirpate them. 



Black worms, called also the cut worm. Ash colored 

 worms, with black stripes on their backs. When full grown 

 they are of the thickness of a goose-quill, and about an inch 

 and a quarter long. They hide in the soil by day and commit 

 their depredations by night. They eat off young plants above 

 ground, and frequently endeavor to draw them under. It is 

 said that manuring the ground with salt will drive them from 

 it and that lime and ashes will also have neraly a similar effect. 



Red worms. These are slender, about an inch long, with 

 a hard coat, and pointed head. They eat off wheat, barley and 

 oats, above the crown of the roots ; and they also eat through 

 turnips, potatoes, &c. No remedy known better than lime 

 and soot, and effectual summer fallowings, which destroys 

 them by depriving them of food. 



Timber worms. The smaller kind merely eat into the sap 

 of wood, and turn it into powder post, as it is commonly called. 

 Felling timber about the middle of winter, the time it has the 

 least sap in it, will obviate this difficulty. The large boring 

 worm takes its residence chiefly in pine timber. They are 

 hatched in the cavities of the bark, and being small when they 

 enter the cavities of the wood, they grow larger as they pro- 

 ceed, till their boring may be heard at a considerable distance. 



