DESTRUCTION OF THE CURCULIO. 257 



movement originated by a lady in New Jersey, and in 

 which the Massachusetts Horticultural Society was in- 

 vited to join, to raise by subscription the sum of two 

 thousand dollars to be appropriated as a reward for the 

 discovery of an effectual means of destroying the curcu- 

 lio. A committee appointed to consider Dr. Mease's 

 communication recommended that two hundred dollars 

 be appropriated from the funds of the Society for the 

 object in view, and that a subscription should be opened 

 to add to the amount ; but it is not known that any 

 person ever claimed this premium. There were several 

 applicants for the premium offered in 1841 ; but neither 

 of the methods proposed was thought so effectual as to 

 entitle its discoverer to the reward offered. Among 

 these applicants was Dr. Joel Burnett, who communi- 

 cated to the Society a full account of the character and 

 habits of the curculio, forming the most valuable result 

 of the offer of this premium. 1 



The season of 1842 opened with an increased interest 

 in the exhibitions of the Society. The New England 

 Farmer speaks of the shows as more gorgeous, and the 

 visitors as more numerous, than usual. The cultivators 

 of the rose, having learned how to prevent the ravages 

 of the slug, were encouraged to increase their collec- 

 tions ; and the exhibition of roses, pseonies, and other 

 flowers, on the 25th of June, is described as finer than 

 any previous display at that season of the year. July 2, 

 sixty varieties of seedling strawberries were presented 

 by Samuel Walker, whose experiments with this fruit 

 led to the production, a few years later, of the very 

 fine flavored variety introduced to cultivation under the 



1 Dr. Burnett's paper was published in the Transactions of the Society 

 for 1843-46, page 18. 



