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Stunt and Black Grub. 



One of our correspondents, (S. Preston, Esq.) whose 

 communication, in extenso, is, from necessity, omitted ; 

 informs of his having observed the stunt in timothy grass, 

 as well as in wheat. He mentions a fact of his own 

 knowledge, having repeatedly practised it, that firing a 

 musket near the ground, over garden beds infested by 

 the black grub, which annoy and cut oft' cabbage and 

 other plants, will kill them, by the concussion in the air, 

 or some cause producing the effect. It seems they are 

 migratory, like the corn grub ; and those not killed may 

 rembve to some other scene of depredation. How to 

 account for this fact, or how to improve it to more im- 

 portant purposes, must be left to philosophers, and other 

 savans. We barely state it, as communicated. Dead 

 birds, insects, &c. are frequently found after thunder 

 storms ; and it is not uncommon for dead bodies of per- 

 sons drowned, dead fish, &c. to be raised and discovered 

 floating on the surface of rivers and other deep waters, 

 after severe thunder ; and even after heavy cannon having 

 been fired. When the British fleet and army occupied 

 New York, during the war of the revolution, the fre- 

 quent firing of cannon either banished or destroyed the 

 lobsters, which had been plenty in the bay and waters at and 

 near that city. They returned, gradually, after the peace ; 

 but are said not to be now in such plenty as they had 

 been in early times. Other causes may have contributed 

 to the latter circumstance. A violent blow or concus- 

 sion on the ice, when rivers, or other large streams, or 

 dams, are frozen over, will torpify or kill fish, so that 

 they have been taken, thus stunned, out of air-holes, or 

 those cut through the ice for the purpose. 



