OF FRUIT TREES. 115 



scienttifick inquirer is loudly called upon to exert his 

 talents ; every industrious farmer to double his dili- 

 gence ; and all benevolent characters to contribute 

 their mite. 



"Naturalists have been accustomed to destroy vic- 

 ious insects, by employing their natural enemies to 

 devour them. We are unacquainted with an} 7 tribe 

 of insects able to destroy the curculio. All the do- 

 mestick animals, however, if well directed, contribute 

 to this purpose. Hogs, in a special manner, are qual- 

 ified for the work of extermination. This voracious 

 animal, if suffered to go at large in orchards, and a- 

 mong fruit trees, devours all the fruit that falls, and 

 among others, the curculiones, in a maggot state, 

 which may be contained in them. Being thus gene- 

 rally 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 not- 

 ed the advantage of hogs running in orchards. Mr. 

 Bordley, in his excellent 'essays on hesbandry,' takes 

 particular notice of the great advantage of hogs to or- 

 chards : and although he attributes the benefits de- 

 rived from these animals to the excellence of their ma- 

 nure, 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 un- 

 blemished, by destroying the curculio. 



"The ordinary fowls of a farm-yard are great de- 

 vourers of beetles. Poultry, in general, are regarded 

 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, (scarabceus 

 carnifex,) and it is probable the curculio is regarded by 

 all the fowls as an equally delicious morsel. There- 

 fore it is, that the smooth stone fruits, particularly, 

 succeed much better in lanes and vards, where the 



