1867.] SECRETARY'S REPORT. 31 



a "gay and festive " occupation for those who like it. It has been suggested 

 that the State Constabulary might employ the spare moments of their fascinat- 

 ing and lucrative profession, in this work of genuine, even if not ostentatious, 

 philanthropy. But to this it is objected that the Currant Worm is a nuisance 

 conceded by all ; and that to engage in a business which would provoke neither 

 controversy nor ill-feeling, would be alike uncongenial to their tastes and foreign 

 to their nature. The American Robin, secure in its statutory panoply, with its 

 bill profoundly inserted in a superb strawberry, cocks his eye impudently and 

 would be pleased to know of what benefit he was ever yet found that he, a 

 vegetarian I '^ Natus consumere Jruges,^^ should be expected to make a meal 

 off such disgusting objects ! No I what we want, and must obtain, if we 

 would have Currants, is a material of cheap purchase and easy application ; 

 that will at the same time do its appointed work. Whale-Oil Soap is beneficial 

 to the bush, kills many of the young worms, and is also innocuous to the fruit, 

 which some have doubted. But its use is not pleasant, nor is it sufficiently 

 thorough. A limited ^experiment by your Secretary, sustained, as it is, by the 

 practice, on a large scale, of Pomologists in New York and elsewhere, induces 

 hope and almost warrants a belief that the required panacea for this alHiction 

 will be found in Air-Slaked Lime. If the Worms can survive an application 

 of such caustic properties, if not administered by itself, after a previous asper- 

 siou with Whale-Oil Soap, it will be safe to conclude that the impenetrable 

 cuticle of the Rhinoceros is but the diaphanous panoply of the Black Crook, in 

 comparison with the vermicular epidermis. For the benefit of those who would 

 make trial of the Lime another season, it should be stated that it is an article 

 seldom kept on hand by dealers, but one which all can easily prepare for them- 

 selves, if they attend to it in time. 



The injury to Fruit of all sorts, as well as to some kinds of vegetables, by 

 the Birds whieh the Great and General Court has taken under its sagacious 

 protection, proved even more extensive during the late season than ever before. 

 Some may have thought that too much consequence was given to this matter, 

 in these Reports. On the contrary, not a tenth part of the annoyance and 

 damage to Pomologists, occasioned by these " chartered libertines," has ever 

 been narrated. Yet all remonstrance is met with the coolest indifference. We 

 are asked if we are unwilling to spare a few Cherries in return for the countless ! 

 benefits conferred by the Birds? Were it a question of Cherries, simply, but 

 little interest would be felt in the subject. But in 1867, as in every year preced- 

 ing, the Triomphe de Gand among Strawberries, the Franconia and Brinckle's 

 Orange among Raspberries, the Bartlett among Pears, and the Diana and 

 Delaware among Grapes did " daintily furnish forth " the feasts of our modern 

 Harpies. During the present year. Peas have been neatly extracted from their 

 pods, and the kernels stripped from ears of sweet corn, as a sort of variety in 

 feathered larceny. And of all the birds, thus protected and thus destructive 

 no species is so hurtful, because no other is so active or numerous, as the 

 Tardus Migratorius — the American, or pseudo Robin. 



