18 



hatched, soon penetrate the pod, and bury themselves 

 in the pease, by holes so fine, that they are hardly per- 

 ceptible, and are soon closed. Sometimes every pea 

 in a pod will be found to be thus inhabited ; and the 

 injury done by the pea Bruchus has, in former times, 

 been so great and universal as nearly to put an end to 

 the cultivation of this vegetable. That it should pre- 

 fer the prolific exotic pea to our indigenous, but less 

 productive pulse, is not a matter of surprise, analogous 

 facts being of common occurrence ; but that, for so 

 many years, a rational method for checking its ravages 

 should not have been practised, is somewhat remark- 

 able. An exceedingly simple one is recommended by 

 Deane, but to be successful should be universally 

 adopted. It consists merely in keeping seed pease in 

 tight vessels over one year before planting them. 

 Latreille recommends submitting them to the heat of 

 water at sixty-seven degrees of Fahrenheit, by which 

 the same results might be obtained ; and if this was 

 done just before the pease were to be put into the 

 ground, they would then be in a state for immediate 

 planting. The Baltimore Oriole, or hang-bird, is one 

 of the natural enemies of the Bruchus, whose larvae it 

 detects, picks from the green pease, and devours. 

 How wonderful is the instinct of this bird, which, un- 

 taught by experience, can detect the lurking culprit 

 within the envelope of the pod and pea: and how 

 much more wonderful that of the insect ; for, as the 

 welfare of its future progeny depends upon the suc- 

 cession of a crop of pease the ensuing season, the 

 rostellum or sprout of the pea is never injured by the 

 larva, and consequently the pulse will germinate, though 

 deprived of a third of its substance. 



