58 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



not destroy borers or eggs. The borer only enters 

 the bark the first season, <md may be found and 

 destroyed in the MI, or in April or May, by removing 

 the earth an inch or two deep, and nibbing the bark 

 closely, so as to discover and remove them. He puts 

 sheets under trees, and jars down rose bugs and 

 destroys thcra. 



Mr. Buckminster remarked that the gentleman had 

 not used lye, as recommended in the Ploughman, 

 The trees should be washed about the 1st of July, 

 The fly lays her eggs near the ground, and they may 

 be destroyed with lye. He alluded to the practice of 

 Major Whcclcrr, who remarked that he had washed 

 his trees with lye for forty years, and had not been 

 troubled with the borer, 



Kev. !Mr, Kimball, of Noedham, being called on, 

 remarked that he had destroyed borers by the use of 

 lye. He found that peach-trees that had not been 

 transplanted lived the longest. 



Dr. Gardner observed that he had not succeeded 

 well by heading in peaches ; those trees that were 

 headed in produced less fnut than others ; yet some 

 cultivators in his neighborhood succeeded well by 

 heading in their trees, 



Mr. Starkweather, of Pawtucket, said that the 

 peach borer was found an inch or two below the sur- 

 face of the soU, and by examining and destroying 

 them in the spring, in midsummer, and in the fall, 

 they would do but verj' httle damage. They require 

 constant attention. He had failed to raise plums, on 

 account of the curculio, while his neighbor had been 

 very successful, by dusting his trees with air-slaked 

 lime. After a shower, or when the dew was on, or 

 after syringing the tree, he tied a small basket, filled 

 with lime, to the end of a pole, which he ran up into 

 the tree, and shook the basket, so as to dust the tree 

 with lime. This was done soon after the blossoms 

 had fallen, again when the plums w'ere about the 

 size of peas, and again in about a fortnight. He 

 thought it was best for the branches of peach-trees 

 to eome oiit low — the lowest about two feet from 

 the ground. 



Major "Wheeler observed that, as it was a great 

 deal of labor to head in peach-trees, he used hedging 

 shears for this purjDose. 



Mr. Earle said that much depended on the manner 

 of heading in peach-trees. He said that there were 

 main branches that would grow two or three feet in 

 a season ; near the centre of these branches were a 

 few fruit buds, but the most of the blossom buds 

 were on lateral branches. By cutting off about one 

 half or two thirds of the leading branches, it would 

 prevent their extending to a great distance from the 

 trunk, and being liable to break down by having all 

 their fruit at the extremity of the branch, as the 

 fruit is on the last year's growth. By heading in, a 

 compact top is formed, and the fruit is reduced in 

 number, and improved in size and quality. 



Mr. Calhoun said that ho had used air-slaked 

 lime on plum-trees, for the purpose of exterminating 

 the rose bugs. 



Mr. Starkweather had failed to raise grapes on 

 account of the rose bugs. 



Mr. Allen inquired whether other crops could be 

 raised to advantage among apple-trees. 



Major Wheeler said that by manuring well, cropa 

 might be raised until the trees became largo. 



Same subject continued. 



PROFESSOR JOHNSTON'S LECTURES, 



Professor James F. W. Johnston, of England, who 

 came to this country last season, and delivered the 

 address before the New York State Agricultural 

 Society, last September, is now lecturing before the 

 Lowell Institute, in this city. He commenced on 

 Tuesday evening. The evening course is on Tuesday 

 and Friday evenings, and the same is repeated on 

 Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. The course 

 consists of twelve lectures. This gentleman, by his 

 lectures and publications, has done much for the 

 improvement of agriculture by showing the practical 

 application of the sciences to this end. The follow- 

 ing is a syllabus of this course of lectures : — 



1st. The relations of Physical Geography to Agri- 

 culture. 



2d. The relations of Geology to Agriculture. 



.3d. The relations of Botany and Zoology to Agri- 

 cultiire. 



4th. The relations of Meteorology to Agriculture. 



5th. The relations of Chemistry to the Soil. 



6th. The improvement of the Soil by Mechanical 

 means. 



7th. The relations of Chemistry to the composition 

 and functions of the plant. 



8th. The composition of the several products of 

 vegetation, and their relative v^alues as food for ani- 

 mals. 



9th. The relations of Chemistry to the feeding of 

 animals. 



10th. The relations of Chemistry to the dairy hus- 

 bandry. 



11th. The relations of Chemistry to the doctrine 

 of Manures, vegetable and animal. 



12th. The Chemistry of Animal Manures. 



AGRICULTURAL MEETINGS. 



These meetings at the State House have been 

 changed from Tuesday to Thursday evenings, on 

 account of the lectures of Professor Johnston. At 

 the meeting last week, it was voted, that the first 

 speaker be limited to fifteen minutes, as well as those 

 that follow, and that the president enforce this rule. 

 This motion was opposed by some gentlemen, on the 

 ground that fifteen minutes were not sufficient to do 

 justice to a subject; but in reply it was stated, that 

 the first speaker was not expected to go over the 

 whole ground and say all that could be said on the 

 subject, while many gentlemen were present ready- 

 to take a part in the discussion, if there was an oppor- 

 tunity. That meeting, a report of which appears on 

 our first page, was far more interesting than the pre- 

 vioxis meetings, at which the whole time was taken 

 up by a few gentlemen, generally with long, elaborate 

 speeches. 



When Prosperity was well mounted, she let go the 

 bridle, and soon came tumbling out of the saddle. 



