THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



it prefers a moist, shady, situation.* It consists 

 almost wholly of fungin, a white substance, dis- 

 covered by Braconnot, and found by him to be 

 common to the mushroom family. Fungin in 

 appearance resembles the fecula of the Irish po- 

 taio, and in its composition is analogous to animal 

 matter, but in its nature combines the properties 

 both of animal and vegetabie substances. In its 

 natural condition it is indigestible, but by cooking 

 it is rendered quite digestible and highly nutri- 

 lious. C. B. Hayden. 



PROFIT OF PEAS A3IONGST CORN. 



From the Agricultuiist. 



Col. J. W. Clay conlen.ls that his pea crop is 

 worth more this year, than the corn on the same 

 land, and he informs us that his corn crop was 

 heavy. From our titile experience in this matter 

 and what we have gleaned from others, we are 

 satisfied that peas can be advantageously raised 

 in every corn field. 



THE CURCULIO AND FRUIT WORMS. 



From tlie Cultivator. 



Messrs. Editors — In the September number of 

 the 'Cultivator,' (page 136,) you say in answer 

 to a correspondent, that "the worm in ihe apple 

 as well as in the plum and cherry, is a species of 

 curculio.^' Also, that "the worm with the fruit, 

 falls upon the ground, in ivhich the ivorm takes up 

 its abode in the chrysalis state, xintil revivified and 

 changed by the spring, it issues a perfect insect?^ 



I am well convinced there is a mistake here, in 

 two particulars: 1st, as to the worm in apples be- 

 ing a curculio J 2d, as to the curculio continuing 

 in the ground till spring. 



In 1831, seeing it stated in all the books that 

 the curculio, in its chrysalis state, remained in the 

 ground during winter, I undertook to verily the 

 fact by actual e.xperiment. The result was com- 

 municated to the ' New- York Farmer,' (vol. iv. 

 p. 178-9.) But as many of your readers have 

 probably not seen that book, you may do a service 

 by publishing an extract from it. 



" I put some moist earth into a tumbler, about 

 the first of June, and placed about twenty small 

 peaches containing worms, upon the earth, and 

 covered the tumbler with a piece of glass. June 

 SOth, the worms had all left the peaches and had 

 all crawled into the earth below. July the 7ih, 

 the worms had divested themselves of their skin, 

 without having formed a shell or cocoon, and 

 were nearly changed to bugs. At this time they 

 were white, and showed upon the breast the soil 

 rudiments of the proboscis, legs, and wings. 

 These parts had not attained their full size, and 

 appeared immovable. One insect, however, had 

 completed his metamorphosis and was a perfect 

 bug, of a mahogany color. All have since left 

 the earth of their own accord having finished 

 their change, and are now [July 19ih] creeping 

 about the tumbler and feeding on a plum leaf 



* Our word pocosin, is an alteration of the Indian, 

 Word, " pduckassin," the radical meaning of which is 

 the "place of balls." May not this word, in its original 

 application to low wet lands, have had reference to 

 them as the habiatio of the Tockawhoughe .> 



On the 10; h of July I opened the ground under a 

 peach tree and found the insects in great numbers, 

 from two to lour inches beneath the surface, in all 

 stages cf their metamorphosis. July 19!h, I 

 found one in the earth under an apple tree, but 

 could find none under peach trees. Il appears 

 then that this insect retreats into the earth about 

 the first of June, where it divests itself of its skin, 

 and changes into a bug before the I9th of July, by 

 ivhich time it leaves the earth. What becomes of 

 the bug from July to May following, remains to 

 be discovered." 



" The curculio is not the only insect that pro- 

 duces ftie worm in our fruits. 1 stated above that 

 about twenty peaches were placed in the tumbler. 

 In the earth under them were six small, oval 

 cocoons, thick, strong, and smoothly spun, which 

 contain worms that manifest no approach toward 

 a change. The same cocoons are also found un- 

 der peach trees; The worms in these envelopes 

 are difierent from those of the curculio ; they are 

 smaller, they are white throughout, while the 

 larvae of the curculio have orange colored heads. 

 There is reason lor the belief that the larvae of the 

 curculio, all or most of them, leave the various 

 fruits in which they are deposited as early as the 

 beginning of July, and that the worms found in 

 fruits after that time, have a diH'erent parent. 

 Some years ago, I preserved a worm from a 

 Vergalieu pear, which produced a gray miller. 

 Last November a worm (rom a Newiown pippin 

 placed itself in a cavity on a board, covered itself 

 with a web, and remained till April, when it pro- 

 duced a gray miller like that produced from the 

 pear." 



1 continued my observations during th«\t sum- 

 mer, and sent another communication to the 

 'New- York Farmer' (vol. iv. p. 248,) fi^om 

 which the .following is an extract: " I have said 

 there is reason for the belief that the larvae of the 

 curculio, all or most of them, leave the various 

 fruits in which they are deposited as early as the 

 beginning of July, and that the worms found in 

 li-uiis after that time have a different parent. One 

 reason for this belief is, that after that time very 

 little fruit is left in which their eggs can be depo- 

 sited, and what little is left is, for the most part, 

 untouched by the curculio. Let me present a 

 hasty estimate of cherries, apricots, plums, and 

 peaches, in my orchard; on the first of JVlay 

 last, there were probably 200,000. On the first 

 of July, the number lemaining on the trees did 

 not, I am confident, exceed 500, perhaps 20, before 

 the middle of August contained a curculio ; the 

 rest continued fair. I think it would puzzle Dr. 

 Tilton to say where that vast multitude of cur- 

 culios that deposited 199,500 eggs before the first 

 of July, have deposited them since that time, if 

 they ' continue their ravages,' and equally puz- 

 zling it must be to devise a reason why any fruit 

 has escaped — why only 20 eggs should be de- 

 posited and 480 peaches left undisturbed, if this 

 vast swarm of insects has continued its operations 

 ever since the first of July. It may be said that 

 they resort to apples and pears. But before the 

 first of July the greater part of the apples had 

 also disappeared from the trees ; most of those 

 remaining have continued since untouched by the 

 curculio. The worms found in them are 7iot the 

 larvQi of that insect, i have not succeeded in 

 finding a curculio in a pear, at anytime. The 



