33 



Steeping Seeds. 



Vol. XI. 



an army of worms or insects which travelled 

 on the ground from tree to tree had done it. 



Dr. Field — My orchards are affected in 

 the same way as Dr. Underhill's. No allu- 

 sion has been made to the mode of destroy- 

 ing insects on trees by syringes. Great 

 service can be done that way, even by pure 

 water; but I advise the use of a decoction 

 of tobacco or of soot mixed with sufficient 

 molasses to make it adhere to the leaves. 

 Dr. Underbill's mode of scraping off rough 

 bark is good. I have examined the rough 

 bark and found immense numbers of larvse 

 of insects in it. If we had as proper an an- 

 tipathy to them as we have to snakes, we 

 should soon destroy them. 



Judge Van Wyck — The insects and their 

 larvfE are many of them so minute and their 

 form so changing, that it is hardly possible 

 to exterminate them. We can only lessen 

 their numbers. I examined some apple trees 

 in Jersey lately, and found the leaves curled 

 lip, and on opening them, out flew small flies 

 of slender forms like wasps. I do not know 

 whether this is a new enemy of the apple. 

 After heavy devi^ or rain sprinkle lime, fresh 

 slaked, in moderate quantity, not enough to 

 burn grain, and the insects in it will be de 

 stroyed or driven away. It has been effectu 

 ally tried on strips of grain, some limed, 

 others next to them not. The limed parts 

 all free of insects, the others nearly de- 

 stroyed by them. This is one of the many 

 valuable properties of lime which seems to 

 have been placed everywhere by the Deity 

 for good purposes. It is the alkali of the 

 lime which does this service. Where lime 

 is not at hand, ashes will do nearly as well, 

 owing to its alkali. Potashes also good 

 Scouring trees well is an excellent practice 



Dr. Field — We need accurate informa- 

 tion, and I move the adoption of the follow- 

 ing resolution : 



Resolved — That the members of this Club, 

 and farmers and gardeners generally, be re 

 quested to collect, preserve, and send to the 

 American Institute, specimens of such in 

 sects as are destructive to vegetables, and 

 such remarks in relation to them as they 

 think proper. And also that the Institute 

 be requested to offer a liberal premium for 

 the best preparation of Entomology, for the 

 benefit of the Club. 



Carried unanimously. 



Mr. Abraham Wakeman — Twine drawn 

 around and across a corn-field is almost a 

 sure preventive of attacks from crows and 

 crow blackbirds, the latter partaking of the 

 sagacity of the crow. But thus the insect 

 tribes have a feast. Farmers have long 

 tried to kill the insects in corn by dropping 

 alkalies at the roots, and this also increases 



the crop of corn. On examination you will 

 find some stalks of corn, when about three 

 feet high, having in them at a little distance 

 from the root, a wire worm, which destroys 

 the inside of the stalk. The law of Con- 

 necticut, giving a black bounty of ten cents 

 per head for killing crows, has caused men 

 to visit the rookeries of tliese useful birds, 

 with their muskets, and kill hundreds of 

 them. Man kills the birds, and the noxious 

 nsects then multiply their destructive forces. 

 In the northern and some other countries, 

 you will find numerous large dead pines 

 which are said to be victims of insects at 

 the root; no young pines growing in their 

 places. 



Chairman — You will hardly ever find 

 young pines taking the places of the old 

 ones. H. Meigs, Secretary. 



Steepina: Seeds. 



It appears almost incredible, that the 

 mere steeping of seeds should have any 

 prolonged effect on the plant itself, yet the 

 evidence is so strong, if evidence can be 

 iriven to the proceedings of public institu- 

 tions, that it were idle to dispute the fact; 

 nevertheless, evidence of experiments should 

 be received with caution. Tliat a good deal 

 more has been attributed to steeping than 

 ought to have been, is certain, and that many 

 whimsical nostrums have been put in requi- 

 sition, is also obvious. The best authenti- 

 cated is, perhaps, the effect caused by steep- 

 ing in muriate of ammonia ; and we think 

 that as the fertilizing effects of so small a 

 quantity as half an ounce in a gallon of 

 water — and that used only once in six wa- 

 terings — are proved, it is not too much to 

 suppose that the steeping of a seed which 

 would imbibe a considerable portion, may 

 a.ssist the future vegetation. — Horticultural 

 Magazine. 



The English, though sometimes said to be 

 less practical in" their philosophy than the 

 French, are yet generally most remarkable 

 for the stupendousness of their schemes. 

 When Brunnel undertook to make a road 

 way under the Thames, it was thought the 

 ultimatum of bold and visionary projects. A 

 far more gigantic one still, has however been 

 broached in Paris — being no less than a cast 

 iron tunnel beneath the sea, to pass from Ca- 

 lais to Dover, a distance of more than twenty 

 miles. Such an undertaking appears at first 

 view, foolishly bold and visionary; and per- 

 haps it is really so: but when we look at the 

 vast achievements of the last quarter of a 

 century, where money, skill and determined 

 enterprise have operated together, we would 

 feel cautious in declaring it was impossible. 



