S90 



Apph Worm. — Extraordinary Coivs. 



Vol. VIII. 



dred alone. Have the other hundreds of 

 the county increased in value in the same 

 ratio? I hope they have. But I will leave 

 that to some one that has more leisure and 

 more zeal in the cause of improvement and 

 embellishment of our little State than I 

 have, to ascertain. I must say, that if the 

 money lenders of Newcastle county had 

 loaned to the farmers on mortgage, the 

 seven hundred thousand dollars lost in for- 

 eign investments, to have been invested in 

 the purchase of lime, we should have now a 



farden like county, and the capitalist would 

 ave been secure in his investments. 



John Jones. 



From the Boston Cultivator. 

 Apple Worm~Curculio~Worm Grub. 



Mr. Editor, — The apple-worm, as it is 

 commonly called, and the tvhitish grub, that 

 is found in plums, are two entirely different 

 insects. 



The former is a kind of caterpillar, is pro- 

 vided with sixteen legs, and like other cater- 

 pillars, has the power of spinning silken 

 threads, -wherewith it makes its pod or co- 

 coon, when it leaves the wind-fallen fruit. 

 It changes, within its cocoon, to a chrysalis, 

 and finally to a little brown miller or moth, 

 flecked with numerous greyish spots, and 

 having a large oval copper-coloured spot 

 near the end of its upper wings. The moths 

 lay their eggs in the apples in June and 

 July, and from their eggs are hatched the 

 common apple-worms, which cause the fruit 

 to fall before its time. 



The grub in the plum is much smaller 

 than the apple-worm ; it has not any legs ; 

 and it does not spin a silken thread. Very 

 soon after the fruit falls from the tree, the 

 ^ub within it goes into the ground, where 

 it remains till it is changed into a little 

 brownish hard-shelled beetle or curculio. 

 These curculios may be found on the trees 

 from the first of April to the middle of June, 

 at which time they sting or pierce the 

 plums, and lay their eggs in them. They 

 are easily caught in a cool morning, by 

 spreading cloths under the trees, and sud- 

 denly jarring the limbs, by which they are 

 so much alarmed that they drop down ap- 

 parently lifeless, and might then be mis- 

 taken for so many little dead buds. Soon, 

 however, they begin to stretch out their legs 

 and to crawl, and unless immediately secured 

 in a tight vessel, will make their escape. 



Allow me to refer you to my "Treatise 



on Insects injurious to Vegetation," pages 



66 and 351, for further particulars relative 



to the history of these two kinds of insects. 



T. W. Harris. 



Cambridge, June 7th, 1843. 



Extraordinary Cows. 



Mr. Buckminster, editor of the Massa- 

 chusetts Plougl.nan, gives the following 

 account of several remarkable cows, owned 

 by individuals in West Springfield, in that 

 State :— 



" We learned at West Springfield, that a 

 cow, formerly owned by Mr. Palmer, had 

 made 18 pounds of butter in a week. We 

 called on Mrs. P., to learn the particulars of 

 the cow's origin and her keeping. She told 

 us she had actually made 18 pounds from 

 the cow in one week ; the pasture was very 

 good, close by her house, and she milked 

 the cow three times a day. In addition to 

 the grass in the pasture, the cow had two 

 or three quarts of meal each day. 



" This cow died a year or two ago, whether 

 from the effects of high keeping we could 

 not distinctly learn ; two of her calves are 

 now owned by a near neighbour. Deacon 

 Daniel Merrick, who has a large farm and 

 a large dairy. 



" Another good cow was much talked of in 

 Springfield, owned by Mr. Hitchcock of that 

 town — the report abroad was, that she would 

 yield milk enough for 18 pounds of butter a 

 week. We called on Mr. H. and were in- 

 formed that he had actually made 16 pounds 

 from the cow in a week, and supplied his 

 family of four persons with milk. He gave 

 the cow regularly one quart of Indian and 

 one quart of rye meal daily. He drove her 

 to Northampton the day before we saw her, 

 and, as we learned, he took the first pre- 

 mium awarded to native cows. 



" Mr. H. said she was not of the Durham 

 breed, though he thought she had a little of 

 the blood of the bull that was imported 

 more than 50 years ago, by Governor Gore ; 

 she had no evident marks of the Durham 

 cattle, and she was not a large cow. Mr, 

 A. Chapin, of Springfield, has a yoke of large 

 oxen that are direct descendants from ths 

 Gore breed." 



In the Northampton Courier, it is stated 

 that a Mr. Ira Teuton, of the town of Belch- 

 erton, is the owner of a cow which has 

 given, in one week, 353 lbs. 8 oz. of milk, 

 yielding 12 lbs. 6 oz. butter. The Wheel- 

 ing Gazette thus notices a cow belonging to 

 Dr. Chaplain, of that place. The cow was 

 milked three times a day, and yielded in the 

 months of May and June, for sixteen days, 

 upwards of 34^ quarts of milk, and during 

 two weeks a record was kept of the amount 

 of butter manufactured from the milk of ths 

 same cow, which showed a yield of 29 lbs., 

 an average of 14| lbs. per week. — Maine 

 Cultivator. 



