360 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



AfG. 



For the New England Farmer. 



HO APPLES THIS YEAR ! 



After fasting a whole year, the lovers of good 

 apples will be very likely to notice the above an- 

 nouncement, which is made for the simple purpose 

 of calling attention to the facts on which the pre- 

 diction is based. Some of the readers of the Far- 

 mer may remember that last year I expressed my 

 belief, or rather, perhaps, my fears, that the curcu- 

 lio had more to do with the general failure of ap- 

 ples than any untoward "atmospheric influence." 

 Several correspondents noticed my remarks, and I 

 have spoken with many of my neighbors upon the 

 subject. With few exceptions, they have no share 

 in my fears. Not one-half of my neighbors even 

 know the curculio by sight. I have met with only 

 one individual who agrees fully with me in the 

 opinion that this insect is likely to prove the most 

 troublesome and destructive foe that fruit-growers 

 have yet encountered. That individual is Charles 

 M'LsTiER, Esq., whose fruit orchard, particularly 

 of pears, is quite extensive, and is one of the "at- 

 tractions" of our village, as w^ll as a pet of its own- 

 er, who watches his trees with a keen eye. He 

 thinks the curculio, and not the Aveather, destroyed 

 his apples last year, and says it then commenced, 

 for the first time, on his pears. 



This season, soon after the blossoms began to 

 fall, I equipped myself and boys with tin kettles, 

 in which we made "smudges," by burning brim- 

 stone, stems of tobacco, old shoes, and such cotton 

 waste, filled with oil, as is found on the railroad 

 track, and smoked certain trees every favorable 

 evening, up to last Friday night, when I noticed, 

 for the first time, several apples that had been 

 punctured. By way of experiment, we smoked 

 with particular thoroughness one small Baldwin 

 tree that had "set" quite full with fruit. The air 

 was favorable. Our "smudges" operated in fine 

 style. The oil hissed and sputtered in our pans, 

 while the brimstone sent up its short, blue flame. 

 The smoke rose in dense masses, and waved grace- 

 fully among fruit and foliage. Though we had but 

 little faith in the efficacy of the prescription, it 

 seemed to work so nicely on this occasion that we 

 began to hope it might prove as successful in our 

 hands, as, according to a correspondent of the Far- 

 mer, it did in the hands of an "ordained minister." 

 .Before sunrise, the next morning, Saturday, June 

 13th, sheets were spread under the tree that had 

 been thus faithfully smoked the previous evening, 

 and the old test of "raps" was applied. The bodies 

 — not spirits — of curculios responded ; until, accor- 

 ding to my idea of mathematics and of the repro- 

 ductive power of the curculio, there lay upon those 

 sheets, in a state of feigned helplessness and inno- 

 cency, insects enough to have laid, during the sea- 

 son, the eggs of a dozen grubs in every apple that 

 hung upon the tree ! In fact, many of the apples 

 have already received half that number of "hacks;" 

 in each of Avhich there is probably the germ of a 

 future curculio. 



Last year, my trees blossomed finely, the fruit 

 set well, but it fell covered with the wounds and 

 filled with the progeny of the curculio. These ap- 

 ples were carefully picked up daily by my boys 

 and burned ; yet the insect appeais this year, I 

 think in increased numbers, and will probably again 

 destroy our crop of apples. 



If 'hose who believe that the scarcity of fruit 



last year was caused by "something in the season," 

 shall be induced to look to their apples a little 

 more closely, this year, for the crescent sign of the 

 Grand Turk, the object of this article will be ac- 

 complished ; and none will be more happy than 

 myself to find my prediction falsified, next fall, by 

 such a liberal harvest as, but for the curculio, seems 

 now in prospect. S. Fletcher. 



Winchesttr, June 15, 1857. 



For the New England Fanner. 



"IT COSTS TOO MUCK" 



Mr. Editor : — I was reading in your JVew 

 England Farmer, of May, when I came across an 

 article, headed "Female Help." 



Now I am a woman, and, as such, would like to 

 speak a word or two for women ! I have noticed 

 that the communications in your Farmer are writ- 

 ten principally by gentlemen, but nevertheless, I 

 can't refrain from speaking what I know to be true. 

 Mr. Editor, do you think it hardly fair, for this 

 gentleman, whoever he is, to write entirely what 

 women ought to do ? to preach woman's duties, any 

 more than man's ? Not long ago I noticed another 

 article written on "JFoinan." The writer of that 

 says, "woman should always greet her husband with 

 smiles, when he comes home from his daily labor. 

 Her influence should be pure and holy, always gen- 

 tle !" 



Yes, easy enough, for these simpering, foolish, 

 "women-men," to sit by the hour together, with a 

 cigar in their mouths, feet upon the clean mantle- 

 shelf their wife has scoured just before, till the 

 sweat poured off her, and preach women's duties ! 

 It's easy enough for them to talk ! I only wish 

 every one was obliged to have the care of a house, 

 and all the cares that come with it, daily. If I am 

 not very much mistaken, not many half-days would 

 go by, before they would be glad to leave woman's 

 duties to women. The writer of the article, "Fe- 

 male Help," says, "young men and women, think 

 an ignorant Irish person can labor better than they." 

 Certainly, they can. An Irish, or any other labor- 

 er, is more used to toil; not all — but as a general 

 thing, their minds are not cultivated, nor do they 

 care for any thing farther than mere animal 

 thoughts. They can bear the fatigues of toil bet 

 ter. Where the 7nind toils, the body ought to rest. 

 A student can't bear the toils of a laborer. There 

 are certain stations in life meant for certain per- 

 sons. An educated, refined woman, is out of her 

 place, when obliged to take the place of an ignorant 

 kitchen drudge. "It saves labor," you say. I3y ma- 

 king your wife a di-udge, you save money, but noth- 

 ing more. Not that I think any lady ought to live 

 in idleness, far from it ! A woman, in whatever sta^ 

 tion she is, can perform her duty ; every one ought 

 to be industrious. There are a great many things 

 that are to be done in a large family, that a woman 

 ought to do, but there are a great many things, one 

 woman ought not to do. Men may preach as much 

 as they wish, about "female help," but two-thirds oi 

 all men's principal thoughts are, when the case in 

 hand comes, is that it "costs too much !" They 

 look upon woman only in one light, they only think 

 how much bodily labor she can perform. Which 

 woman "costs" the least to support? But I will 

 be a little more charitable ; not all men are so, 

 thank Heaven 1 some have a little higher motive in 

 mai'rying. 



