THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



only worms that I liave (bund in [)enr9, [and I 

 liave taken pains to collect a considerable nutiiber 

 this summer,] are llie larvic [I believe] ol'\\\e gray 

 miller memioned in my Ibrmer commimicaiioii. 

 They resemble liie larvtv ol' ilie cnrciilio in having 

 orange colored heads, l)u!dilier from them by be- 

 ing larger, and having a slight tinge ol' scarlet or 

 brick color upon portions ol' llie liody. Instead 

 of popping into the ground, they crawl under the 

 rough bark ol' the trees, inclose themselves in a 

 web, and are translbrmed into a chesrnut colored 

 chrysalis. Placed in a tumbler with moist earih, 

 they (brm a web upon the cover ol' the tumbler, 

 and there undergo their change. As none have 

 yet left the chrysalis state, [ suppose [as was the 

 case wiih those which I have before preserved] 

 that they do not complete their meuimorphosis liil 

 spring. All the worms Ibund by me in apples, 

 since the first of July, Aajjc been similar lo those 

 in the pear. ^^ 



An excellent observer, David Thomas of Ca- 

 yuga, maintained the prevailing opinion in regard 

 to the worms in our fruits, and wiih a view to 

 show that I was incorrect, he took " a worm with 

 an orange colored head, from a bell peir, and put 

 it in a tumbler, with moist earih," on the fifth of 

 August. On the eighth of August he look from 

 a/7/?/es " three n:ore worms vviili orange colored 

 heads, and which appear lo be the Itill grown 

 larvfe of the curculio — another similar, but only 

 half as long — and two others resembling the 

 fbrmer with brown heads, but 100 [10?] limes less 

 in bulk than the first kind. Viewmg these last 

 under the microscope, i am satisfied that they also 

 are larvce of the common curculio, thus (iir con- 

 firming Dr. Tillon's remark, that this insect ' con- 

 tinues its ravages from May until autumn.' " — 

 New- York Farmer, vol. w. p. 205. 



In a subsequent communication, in October, 

 wiih his accustomed candor, he says, "N. Darling 

 may be interesied to learn ihatihe worms which 

 I confined, ' wiih orange colored heads,' left the 

 moist earth, and encased themselves in a web un- 

 der ihe cover of the tumbler. S 'on after one ol 

 them came forth a dark gray miller ; and / con- 

 clude there was no curculio amongst them. We 

 are therefore indebted to him lor tlie interesting 

 discovery that the larvae of several insects lieed on 

 our fruits ; and it is now rendered at least probatile 

 that Dr. Tilton ascribed too much of this mischief 

 to the curculio." — A'. Y. Farmer, vol. iv. p. 281. 



With these ficls before us I 'hink we may salely 

 conclude that the worm in apples is a larvce (if a 

 gray miller, and 7il>< of the cu7cnlio, rrhich is a 

 bug. Also that the. curculio leaves the ground in 

 ashort time after entering it. lis want er retreat has 

 not, within rny knowledge, yet been discovered. 



If your correspondent will look under Ihe rouijh 

 bark ol' his apple trees in October, he will find a 

 great many ol' the worms from his fruit, which 

 have shut themselves in with a web. and are trans- 

 formed into a chestnut colored chrysalis. If he 

 will carefully preserve them, he will find them 

 comingout a gray miller. By sfiiiply scratching 

 off, or rather picking off Ihe rough bark [the 

 scales or flakes, I mean] a vast multitude of these 

 insects may be destroyed — not all, however, (or 

 they resort to other places of concealment, such as 

 crevices in boards, posts and rails. Yours, very 

 respectfully, N. Darling. 



JVcw-Haven, Conn., September 19, 1840. 



REPORT OF MAJOR GWYNN ON THE DRAIN- 

 ING OF TIIK SWAMP LANDS. 



To the president and directors of the Uterary fund of 

 Noi til Carolina : 



(j!entlemen:—\ have the honor to report to you 

 the result of the operations since the drainage ol' 

 the swamp lands was committed to my charge. 



The (easibility of the undertaking has been so 

 fully and clearly established, by fbrmer statements 

 lo the board, (particularly by the report of Mr. 

 Shaw,) as to render any comment from me un- 

 necessary on the present occasion. I shall there- 

 fore proceed to the subject immediately belbre me. 



T'he only trad of land, owned by the slate north 

 c>f Pamlico Sound, sufficiently elevated to afford a 

 (all for ilsdrainings, is situated on the high grounds 

 which divide the waters thai flow into the Albe- 

 marle from those that run into PalmicoSound, lying 

 between Ihe angles (brmed by the meeting of the 

 boundary lines of Washington, Hyde and Tyrell 

 counties, near lake Pungo, which it embraces: it 

 extends lo Ihe west shore of Alligator lake and 

 five miles to the south o( lake Pungo ; on the norlli 

 it includes a portion of lake Phelps, and contains, 

 exclusive of the area of the lakes, 64,500 acres. 

 A reference lo the map herewith submitted will 

 give a more perfect idea of its location, and exhi- 

 bit, both in plan and profile, ihe main and lateral 

 canals by which it is proposed to drain it. This 

 tract is a portion of a swamp containing about a 

 hundred thousand acres, an idea of the formation 

 of which may be had by conceiving it to (brm, 

 what in reality it does, a large basin, filled with 

 decomposed, putrescent vegetable matter, saturat- 

 ed with water, confined and prevented (iom run- 

 ning off by an impervious subsoil and an embank- 

 ment, or elevated strata of clay and sand extend- 

 ing nearly all around it, not sulKcienlly dry (or till- 

 age at the extremities and higher parts at any 

 season of the year. When over-saturated, as ia 

 the case in the winter and spring and sometimes 

 in the summer, the surplus water flows into Alliga- 

 ter and Pungo Lakes, and into Lake Phelps from 

 the south — towards Alligator the descent of the 

 surface (iom the south is three feet and a half 

 from Ihe verge of the swamp or basin. The re- 

 dundant water, after filling the lakes to overflow- 

 ing, is discharged into Alligator, Pungo and Scup- 

 pernong rivers over the surli=ice and by percola- 

 tion. In dry weather, the loose, spongy soil of 

 the surrounding swamps draws ihe waters again 

 from the lakes ; and so j;real is this attraction up- 

 wards as well as horizontal, that the very surface 

 of the swamps is kept wet during the greatest 

 drought and hottest summer sun — thus throug.h 

 the medium of this filaceous soil, the lakes and 

 swamps reciprocally supply each other with water 

 as there may be a preponderance in either; or, 

 to render the description still more plain, this 

 swamp (and so nearly all of the swamps in the 

 state) may come under ihe denomination of land- 

 locked bogs or morasses, such as " are neither pio- 

 duced by water rising in themselves, nor by that 

 of springs in the adjoining banks, but become wet 

 by an accumulation of rain water stagnating on 

 an impervious subsoil through which it can have 

 no descent, and beinir surrounded by higher 

 ground through which there is no vent or natural 

 discharge (br the water." 



The plan of drainage is, therefore, obvious, and 



