U2 



CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT 



appear to be the special objects of its vengeance 

 below the surface of the earth. 



" These are serious evils ; to combat which, 

 every scientifick inquirer is loudly called upon to 

 e*xert his talents ; every industrious farmer to dou- 

 ble his diligence ; and all benevolent characters to 

 contribute their mite. 



" Naturalists have been accustomed to destroy 

 vicious insects, by employing their natural enemies 

 to devour them. We are unacquainted with any 

 tribe of insects able to destroy the curculio. All 

 the domestick animals, however, if well directed, 

 contribute to this purpose. Hogs, in a special 

 manner, are qualified for the work of extermina- 

 tion. This voracious animal, if suffered to go at 

 large in orchards, and among fruit trees, devours 

 all the fruit that falls, and among others, the cur- 

 culiones, in a maggot state, which may be contained 

 in them. Being thus generally destroyed in the 

 embryo state,, there will be few or no bugs to 

 ascend from the earth in the spring, to injure the 

 fruit. Many experienced farmers have rioted the 

 advantage of hogs running in orchards. Mr. Bord- 

 ley, in his excellent ' essays on husbandry,' takes 

 particular notice of the great advantage of hogs 

 to orchards : and although he attributes the bene- 

 fits derived from these animals to the excellence of 

 their manure, and their occasional rooting about 

 /the trees, his mistake in this trivial circumstance 

 does by no means invalidate the general remarks 

 of this acute observer. The fact is, hogs render 

 fruits of all kinds fair and unblemished, by destroy- 

 ing the curculio. 



tt The ordinary fowls of a farm-yard are great 

 devourers of beetles. Poultry, in general, are re- 

 garded as carnivorous in summer, and therefore 

 cooped some time before they are eaten. Every 

 body knows with what avidity ducks seize on the 

 tumble bug, (scarabwus carnifex^) and it is probable 



