3fi6 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



r/i 



ine 



10. 



out hay or straw, by ueat cattle, are very diffi- 

 cult of digestion and highly injurious. 



Mr Hoopes sent to the society's room an im- 

 proved Blockley Cultivator. 



Mr Barnard sent a neat expanding Harrow, 

 enabling the farmer to reg'iilate the distance of 

 'he tines, Extract from the minutes, 



JOHN P. MILNOR, 



Recording Secretary. 



FISH MANURE. 



Extract of a letter. — "I have recently paid a 

 visit to my particular friend Charles S. Sewall, 

 Esq. of Hartford county, where I saw the ad- 

 vantages of manuring land with fish, and it is 

 somewhat astonisiiing to me thai more attention 

 is not paid to making land rich where lish are 

 to be caught plentifully. — Mr dewall lias a large 

 body of land, and that which 1 saw on Bush Riv- 

 er was of a cold Liarren soil. I do not think the 

 arable land Ihere, wi!h the best rnanageraeni, 

 would produce more than three bushels of wheat 

 to the acre. Last yrar Mr. S commfiiced ma- 

 nuring with fish, and succeeded very v.^-ll; he 

 prepared about GO acres, and it will (Kiy him 

 well for his trouble. Indeed 1 do not Ibink the 

 fields of wheal I saw two years since, at Col. 

 Lloyd's, upon the Eastern Shore, could have 

 been superior to that of MrSewall's. — t'roia the 

 Baltimore Patriot. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



FRIUAY, JUiNt; ]6, 1!J25. 



At the aanual meeting of the Massachasetts Society 

 for Promoting Agriculture, held at the hall of the Mas- 

 sachusetts Bank in this city, on Wednesday the 81h 

 mst. the following gentlemen were chosen officers of 

 the Society the year ensuing: 



.Hon. JOHN LOWELL, President. 



Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, tsl Vice PresiderJ_. 



Hon. Israel Thorndike, ^id P'tce President. 



JoVm Prince, Lsij. Treasurer. 



Won. Hicharil iiullivan. Cor. Sec^rj. 



Gorham Pnrsons, Ksq. Rec. Sechi. 



Benj. Guild, Esq. Assist. Rec. Sec'v. 

 TKUSTEKS. 

 Aaron De.xter, Ksq. . .'^atniiel G. Perkins, Esq. 



Hon. Peter C. Brooks, Hon. .lohn Welles, 



Hon. Josiah Quincy, E. Hersey Derby, Esq. 



TO Tllf, EDITOR OF TIIK NEiV ENGLAND FARMER. 



I-Forcester, June 1G25. 



.Sir, — !f you, or some of your correspondents, could 

 give some account of the originof the caterpillar, which 

 so grievously infests our orchards, it would probably 

 gr.'ilify the curiosity of many of your readers. For my- 

 self, I have never been able, either from observation or 

 inquiry, to determine their extraction or descent. The 

 eggs are laid some time in the summer, probably during 

 the month of Augu?t, as t have frequently discovered 

 them in the course of this month, h.iving the appcar.Tnce 

 of being just laid. 



A friend of mine, who is a critical observer of the 

 viiLiiks of nature, once remarked to me that it was some- 

 what probable that these eggs were deposited in the 

 evening or during the night, and that it is owing to 

 this circumstance that the author otthe mischief is nev- 

 er detecled. A FAIIMFH. 



BY THE KniTOR. 



Dr. Thacher, in his very useful work rnli- 

 tled " Til'' American Orchanlisl,'^ k'^. a work 



which ought to be in the hands of every person 

 who cultivates fruit trees of any kind, h»s the 

 following remarks. 



"The eggs from which caterpillars are pro- 

 duced are attached in clusters to the small twigs 

 by a brownish coloured miller in the month of 

 .August and are securely covered with a gummy 

 substance, unsusceptible of injury by the weath- 

 er during winter. The young brood is hatchpd 

 by the warmth of the sim, just in time to prey 

 upon the first leaves as they appear in the spring. 

 The nunierou5 family from each cluster of eggs, 

 immediately unite in the labour of conslrucling 

 a nest of strong web, which afl'ords tliem a shel- 

 ter from the inclemency of the weather, and a 

 secure retreat from the dews at night. They 

 continue to feed on the leaves until about Ihe 

 last of June, when they abandon their habitation 

 and stroll to some dry secure place, where they 

 envelope themselves in a close covering of an 

 egg sha[)ed, roundish ball, very similar to the 

 cocoon of the silk U'orm. In this chrysalis state 

 they continue a few weeks, and in the month of 



but by no means after they are open ; sts it'will, 



by its glutinous nature, render the bloom liable 

 to be scorched bj' the sun. 



•• I would recommend the above washin"?, &c. 

 for all trees, standards as well as those on walls ; 

 particularly apple, che/ry, and plum trees." 



It appears (hat Mr Forsyih was not fully in- 

 formed with regard to fbe natural history of this 

 and other similir insects which ravage our fruit 

 trees. He says, " II would be of great service 

 to get acquainted a* much as possible with the 

 economy and nalural histcry of all these insects, 

 as we might thereby be enabled to find out the 

 most certain method of destroying them. 

 Wen a few of each sort of caterpilbirs put in 

 a box or ca^e, and fed with leaves of such trees 

 as they generally live upon, they might be ob- 

 served from time to time, until they came to 

 (he chrysali", and from that lo the moth or 

 butterfly state, and thus a more perfect knowl- 

 edge of Ihcm might be obtained. 



'• I( would be necessary to have separate di- 

 visions in the case lor each different species, 



August they burst forth in the form of a brown- ' and to put some earth in (be bollom of eacli 



division, which should be moistened occasion- 

 ally, as some of them bury thems-^lves in their 



ish coloured miller, Ihe female of which soon 

 wings her way to the apple trees, and deposits 

 her eggs on the twigs, in the same manner as 

 her progenitors, in the preceding year. Thus 

 is an annual progeny generated, and in this man- 

 ner is the S|)ecies perpelualed. It will there- 

 fore appear evident that if [)ropcr care be taken 

 to deslroy these vermin annually, and if all pro- 

 prietors of orchards v.illacl in concert with this 

 view Ihe species may be entirely destroyeil." 



The miller or molh, which is the parent of 

 the caterpillar, deposils ils eggs not only on the 

 small twigs, as slated by Dr. Thacher but on the 

 trunk ami boughs and ive have no doubt but the 

 easiest and most efiectual way of getting ri<l ot 

 caterpillars is to destroy (heir eggs. Mr. For- 

 syth's directions are as follows : 



" The best method of prevenling frees from 

 being infected [with caterpillars] is to scrape 

 the stems with a piece of bone or wood made 

 in the form of a knife, taking care not to bruise 

 the bark ; and aftcrivards io wash the tree with 

 an e-qual quantity of snap suds an<i urine mixed. 



'•As soon as the leaves are ofl of the trees 

 in autumn, they should be raked and swept up ; 

 then carried to the melon ground and missed up 

 with other leaves and dung, for hot-beds ; by this 

 means yon will get rid of a great number of eggs 

 of insects that are deposited on the under side 

 of the leaves. Then wash all the steins of the 

 trees, and all the ends of Ihe buds, faking care 

 not to hurt the buds. This washing should be 

 repeated about the beginning of F'ebruary, which 

 will destroy any eggs of different insects ffial 

 may still remain about the tree, A painter's 

 brush may be used for laying Ihe mixture on 

 the trees, and a soft broom >•! a brujb made of 

 tbo ends of o-arden malting, for washing the wall. 



chrysalis slate, while oihe rs adhere to walls, 

 gates or palings. 



" Fresh leaves should frequently be put in, 

 and the box or case covered, with a I'iece of' 

 tine canvass, or gauze, to admit the fresh air. 



The fir.'t stale, in which the caterpillar 

 uhich preys on the leaves of apple frees ap- 

 pears, is that of an egg or nit, called by natural- 

 ists ovum. This egg, according to Dr. Thach- 

 er is deposited by a brownish coloured miller 

 on Ihe twigs of the trees. It seems, likewise, 

 f'l om other aiithorilies, that these eggs are,some- 

 liaies at least, concealed in such trees as are 

 overgrown with moss, between the moss ;ind Ihe 

 bark or rind, or where the rind is decayed, in 

 the cavities, occasioned by such decav. Theti 

 ihey may be destroyed by scraping the trunks, 

 stems or twigs us above directed by Mr Forsi In. 

 From the egg ibey are transformed into Ihe 

 birva or caterpillar slate, when Ihey may be as- 

 sailed by Ihe thumb and linger. Col. Pickering's 

 brush, squibs of gun powder, spirits of turpen- 

 tine, Mr For.syth"s mixture, or what is peibaps 

 as efiectual, strong soap suds. Their nest mel- 

 amorjihosis is into what is called a chrjsalis, 

 pupa, aurclia or cocoon, as described above by 

 Dr. Thacher. In this state Ihey should be pick- 

 ed from their strong holds and crushed or burn!. 

 Lastly ihey assume the mother miller shape, 

 which is the shape of Ihe perfect insect. Whelb- 

 er they can be assailed sugcessfully in this sfage 

 of their existe.ncc, is a question which we can- 

 not answer. If Ihey fly in Ihe night, as is sup- 

 posed by some, the plan suggested by Rev. Dr. 

 Harris of kindling tires, or exjiosing lighlod 

 flambeaux in ihc evening in orchards &c. [See 



The matting seems prefiiraiile, as being sol"l and N. E. Farmer, vol. I, page 379,] many allure 

 flexible it will enter Ihe boles and crevices. 



" The mixture that falls on Ihe border and off 

 set of tbo wall in Ibis second washing, will des- 

 lroy those slugs and insects that make their ap- 

 pearance early. The stems and branrhes of ihe 

 trees may be washed tuo or three limes oftener 

 in Ihe spring, before (he buds begin to swell ; 

 but the liranches must not'bc rubbed alU;r (he 

 trees come into (lower; you rifay, however, 

 sprinkle them over with the mixture from a wa- 

 tering pot just before Ihe budf begin (o opcn^'al! that is said and done, which dcsenes a placcin the 



Iheui (0 self destruction. 



— •e®*-"- 

 Oovcrnor^s Speech. — As our paper is agricultural al- 

 most exoliisivt ly, it is absolutely impost^ible lor us, 

 without in a great measure, changing ils eliaracter to 

 make it a repository o( poliliral durunients and events 

 which are worthy (o be had in remi-nibrance. This 

 circumstance is Ihe less (o be regrilli-d, as we have 

 neivsp.ipers devoted to ihat purpose in number quite 

 suHicient to nuet the demands (.fall wlio are solicitous 

 lo learn the pa-sing polilical urcnrn rces, and lo know 



