1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



387 



For the New England Farjner. 



A CITY OF THE WEST. 



Mr. Editok : — Perhaps a ^&vi notes from the 

 capital of the Hoosier State may not be uninterest- 

 ing to your readers. Fortune having caused me 

 to remain a few days longer in the place than I in- 

 tended remaining when I came to it, I have seized 

 the occasion to look about the city, and hunt up a 

 few facts of a statistical nature. The city is located i 

 two miles north-west of the geographical centre of 

 the State, and one mile south of the centre of Mar- 

 ion county, of which it is the county seat. It stands 

 on a beautiful tract of level country, running along 

 the east bank of the west fork of White river. The 

 even character of the land is very noticeable. It is 

 wonderful with what rapidity these western towns 

 have grown up. In 1821, the State commissioners 

 selected this place as the site for their capitol. For 

 some years it dragged out a feeble existence, and 

 even in 1847, twenty-six years after it was laid out, 

 it numbered only 4000 inhabitants. From that time 

 to this, its growth has been very rapid. Every 

 year since 1847, it has increased in population more 

 than it did any ten years previous to that time. 

 Its population at the present time is 25,000. Like 

 all the western cities that I have visited, it is beau- 

 tifully laid off. The streets cross each other at 

 right angles, and a~e unusually broad. Many of 

 them are lined with locust trees. This tree is al- 

 most universally used in the West as an ornamen- 

 tal tree, on account of its coming to m.aturity so 

 quickly. To one accustomed to the magnificent 

 elms of New England, this tree has a peculiarly in- 

 significant appearance. 'Twas not a locust tree 

 that Campbell made speak thus : 



"Faithful lovers in my shade. 

 Their vows of truth and rapture made ; 

 And on my old surviving frame 

 Carved many a long forgotten name." 



If the people of Indiana and Illinois could visit the 

 town in which you, sir, have your beautiful home, 

 their taste in the selection of shade trees might be 

 materially improved. 



Like the New England metropolis, this city 

 boasts its Washington Street. The two streets are 

 very unlike, I assure you. The AVashington Street 

 of I3oston, if I recollect right, is rather narrow and 

 crooked. The Washington Street of Indianapolis 

 is very broad and straight. The former, however, 

 does probably a hundred times as much business as 

 the latter. There are several good looking public 

 buildings here ; the State House, the Insane Asy- 

 lum, the Blind Asylum, Odd Fellow's Hall, the 

 Masonic Hall, &c. There are eight churches and 

 eight hotels. The Bates House is a fine look- 

 ing ediKce, and under the conduct of its gentle- 

 manly manager*, Messrs. Inglesbee and Tuttle, is 

 doing an immense business in the way of dispensing 

 comfort to the travelling public. It is the crack 

 hotel of the city. 



There are three daily papers printed here, and 

 several weeklies. The streets are named after the 

 different States ; Illinois Street, Delaware Street, 

 Maryland Street, and so on. The Indianapolitans 

 seem to be a very civil and orderly people, a pat- 

 tern of sobriety and good behavior, if we can infer 

 anything on these points from the smallness of their 

 police force, for this body, considered indispensable 

 in most cities for the preservation of order, in this 

 city numbers only sight, including a chief. 



The railroads make us decidedly a locomotive 

 people. It seems as if two-thirds of the nation 

 lived on board the cars. Go to Chicago or St. 

 Louis, or come to this city, and see the masses of 

 human beings that pile out and in on the arrival 

 and departure of every trian. Eight railroads cen- 

 tre at this place. Visitors are arriving night and 

 day. An immense amount of freight, too, is trans- 

 ported over these different roads, and in fact, the 

 place is fast becoming a very important point for 

 the reception and transmission of the various agri- 

 cultural products and articles of merchandise. 



The soil in and about this city is of a more grav- 

 elly nature than that around the capital of the 

 neighboring State of Illinois. Illinois soil is more 

 finely pulverized, more loamy. In wet weather, 

 give me the gravelly soil ; but for raising tremen- 

 dy-ous big crops — as the suckers say — give me that 

 fine black earth, that, when moistened in the least, 

 possesses such rare adhesive properties. 



This city has a rural air pervading it, that one 

 seldom sees in so populous a place. It seems like 

 a combination of country and citj*. Old Horace 

 might have lived here and enjoyed his rustic de- 

 lights, without leaving the city confines. 



Yours truly, j. B. K. 



Indianapolis, May, 1857. 



APPLE-TEEE BOREE. 



This troublesome insect is one of the most fatal 

 enemies of the apple tree, with which the fruit- 

 growers of the United States are called to contend. 

 It is the saporda bivilata of naturalists, and is thus 

 described by Professor Say, of Philadelphia : — 



"Hoary ; above light brown, with two white fil- 

 lets. Inhabits the United States. Body, white ; 

 eyes, fuscous; (that is, a brown, or dark color,) a 

 small spot on the vortex, and another behind each 

 eye, light brown ; antennte, moderate, slightly 

 tinged with blueish ; thorax, light brown, with two 

 broad white lines, approaching before ; elytra, light 

 brown, irregularly punctured; a broad, white lon- 

 gitudinal line on each, nearer to the suture than to 

 the outer edge. Length, from one-half to seven- 

 tenths of an inch. A very pretty insect. In the 

 larva state, it is very injurious to the apple tree, 

 boring into the wood." 



The most effectual method of arresting its rava- 

 ges when it has once secured a lodgm.ent in the 

 trees, is to look for the holes which are indicated 

 by a quantity of very fine dust, like the borings 

 from a gimlet hole, and which is usually accumu- 

 lated in considerable quantities about the orifice of 

 the perforation in which the insect is concealed. 

 A small wire, with a hooked point, may be passed 

 in, and the insect removed with ease. The wire 

 should be flexible and elastic, and of sufficient ten- 

 uity to conform to the windings of the hole. The in- 

 sect leaves the pupa state, and becomes a perfect 

 fly about the third week in April. (?) Its eggs 

 are usually, perhaps invariably, deposited either in 

 the soil, immediately beneath the surface, or in the 

 interstices of the rough bark of the trees, near the 



