NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



191 



till the lower part be buried below the surface of 

 the earth or water. Copper wire, about one-fourth 

 of an inch thicic, is generally used in these conduc- 

 tors. Tiic safest place, during tluinder, according 

 to the doctor's advice, is the middle of a room, if 

 in a house, on a chair placed on two or three beds 

 or mattresses placed over each other; or in a ham- 

 mock suspended from the middle of the ceiling by 

 silken cords. 



Dr. Priestly says the middle of a cellar is a se- 

 cure place. We never should have about us any 

 metallic substance, nor stand near metallic bodies — 

 workmen ought to lay down their scythes, sickles, 

 and spades, &c., and go a distance from them dur- 

 ing thunder and lightning; ploughs, iron ones es- 

 pecially, should be unyoked. Men ought not to 

 run up close to trees, hedges, walls, &c.,but rath- 

 er to stand a few yards from them, for these objects 

 attract lightning, and it is better to be wet than 

 struck by the fluid. When lightning levels spires, 

 trees, &c., or scatters them greatly, it is called a 

 thunderbolt, which the common people suppose to 

 be a hard mass, like iron or stone; but this is a very 

 wrong conception ; gunpowder, fulminating-pow- 

 ders, electricity, &c., perform often as awful con- 

 sequences as thunderbolts, so there is no need of 

 hard, solid bodies to perform the effects we often 

 see after thunder. We know that stones or bricks 

 when struck with lightning often present a vitrified 

 appearance, and the common people finding such 

 here or there in the earth, after a thunder-storm, 

 supposed that they were thunderbolts which fell 

 during the phenomenon. This is, I believe, a re- 

 mark of Beccaria on this oubject. Thunder and 

 lightning sometimes occurs in a cleat and serene 

 firmament; Horace says he was convinced of the 

 existence of a deity from witnessing such a phe- 

 nomenon, and pretends that he therefore renounced 

 Epicurism: — 



For niisry -Tove, witli niigrhty force, 

 Whilst all the skies were bright anil clear, 

 Shot through the heaven with pointed tlame, 

 And shook the universal frame: 

 He lately drove his thiind'ring hnrse 

 And lliining chariot through tlie air. 



Creeches Hor., Book /., Ode xxxiv. 



Thunder storms are great purifiers of the atmos- 

 phere, and often banish plagues and epidemics, as 

 they destroy what we call "dry fogs." In Dr. 

 Prouty's Bridgewater Treatise we find an account 

 of one of these "dry fogs," which, in 1782-3, ex- 

 tended over all Europe. It was of a blue color; 

 and the sun, at noon, appeared through it of a red- 

 dish dye. This haze had a peculiar odor, and de- 

 posited in several places a viscid liquid of an acid 

 taste and unpleasant smell. At the time there were 

 earthquakes in Calabria and Iceland, and volcanic 

 eruptions. An epideinic catarrh, or influenza, pre- 

 vailed through Europe during ihe continuance of 

 the haze, till thunder annihilated the foggy vapor, 

 and cleansed the air in the summer of 1783. — /. T. 

 Dunne. 



HAIL. 



Hail usually precedes rain, often accompanies it, 

 but seldom follows it. The hail-shower continues 

 generally only for a few minutes, seldom longer 

 than a quarter of an hour. The quantity of ice that 

 falls in so short a time is prodigious, the ground 

 being often covered several inches in depth. The 



lower surfaces present enormous protuberances, 

 while the edges exhibit deep and enormous inden- 

 tations. How the cold is produced which causes 

 the congelation of the watery particles, and how a 

 hailstone, after acquiring a sufficient size to fall 

 through the atmosphere by its own weight, re- 

 mains suspended a sufficient time to acquire a vol- 

 ume of twelve or fifteen inches in circumference, 

 are questions which have not as yet been satisfac- 

 torily explained; in fact, the theory of hail is still 

 involved in great obscurity." Some countries are 

 more subject to hail than others — France, for in- 

 stance. In England, also, from Dunmow, in Es- 

 sex, to the hills of Hertfordshire, hail-storms are 

 very prevalent in the spring and summer seasons. 

 "The devastation and ruin caused to the farmers 

 by these storms have caused the establishment, by 

 the Farmer's Insurance Society, of a branch for 

 the insurance against hail-storms."— See Brando's 

 Diet, of Science, and PouilleVs Elements de Physi- 

 que, t. a, 4"c. 



THE CURCULIO. 



In answer to repeated inquiries, now that the 

 curculio is about to visit us, we shall briefly give the 

 mode of destroying this insect, by jarring down on 

 white sheets, according to the best improvements 

 which have been made. 



First, with regard to the mode of beating the 

 tree,— if the bark of the trunk or branches is struck, 

 it soon separates from the wood and makes a bad 

 wound; and if the mallet is wrapped in cloth, or 

 cushioned, the blows become much less effective, 

 and only a part of the insects are felled. Besides, 

 even a cushioned mallet will after a while injure 

 the bark. This difficulty may be avoided in two 

 ways, — either by sawingoff a small branch, leaving 

 a short stump to thump against; or by forming a 

 conclave block so as to fit the trunk, and striking 

 against this block,— the force of the blow on the 

 bark becomingso softened as not to bruise the bark, 

 in the same way that a hammer does not injure the 

 knees when a lap-stone is interposed. 



Secondly, with regard to the easiest way to catch 

 and kill the falling insects. If white sheets sim- 

 ply are spread under the tree, either several per- 

 sons are needed to carry and spread them, or much 

 time is consumed by a single individual. The 

 work is made expeditious by stretching each sheet 

 on light wooden frames, two separate frames being 

 attached to each sheet, so that it may be folded or 

 doubled together like the leaves of a newspaper, 

 or the covers of a book. The great advantages of 

 this arrangement are, — one operator may walk 

 singly through the orchard, with two such folding 

 shelits in his hand, and extend these in a moment 

 without assistance, under each tree; and after jar- 

 ring down the curculios, instead of being compelled 

 to search over the white surflicc for them, and to 

 crush them singly between thumb and finger, the 

 sheets are folded so to throw insects, punctured 

 fruit and all, into a pail of hot water. A few 

 minutes are thus sufficient to go over a large fruit 

 garden. 



As to the efficacy of this mode, it is scarcely ne- 

 cessary to repeat here that it depends almost wholly 

 on being unremittingly applied at least once a day, 

 from tlfe moment the young fruit begins to set, 

 when not so large as a pea, till no more curculios 

 can be found, or for several weeks. In one experi- 



clnudsthat produce iiail are of a peculiar gray, orjcm. uc ..-u..u, ui .vjl o^.-.c. ^. -. -^ „ 



reddish color, often of a deep, black blue; their' ment, 18 of these msects were caught trom a small 



