NEW EiXGLxVND FARMEil. 



July -iS, 1826. 



of them, yet I have never known more than three 1 

 destroyed by it. 1 will describe the eS"ect:5 of the 

 apparent disease, for disease in the tree itself it is 

 not. 



In the latter end of June or in July, o ne or more 

 limbs of a tree in the fullest vigor, with fruit often 

 upon them, and with shoots of the same year, per- 

 iiaps 18 inches long, full of sap, suddenly appear 

 blasted — in three days the wood becomes dry, 

 and hard ; and the fruit itself is dessicated, and so 

 hard as to be cut with difficulty with a knife, The 

 effect in short is precisely the same as if jou had 

 sawed off the limb and thrown it on the woodpile ; 

 and so it ought to be, for in effect it has been saw- 

 ed off by the teeth or rather instruments of a mi- 

 nute insect. 



This partial effect in a vigorous tree led , me to 

 suspect it to be the work of an insect. The first 

 tree of mine which was attacked in this manner 

 Was a healthy St. Michael's pear — It was filled 

 with fruit, and four large limbs were thus attack- 

 ed at once and perished — this was in I8U3 in the 

 month of June. As I had detected tlie insect 

 which is the enemy of the White Pine, and which 

 BO often entirely destroys the beauty ami value of 

 that tree in the forest, and had succeedeii in extir- 

 pating it, or materially checking its deircdations 

 in my own grounds, I was led to hojie, that the 

 blast of the Pear tree might also be occasioned by 

 a wood eating insect, and I v.'as the more encour- 

 aged to hope this, since the case was so rare^ as I 

 may say entirely anomalous, of a tree being in a 

 perishing state in some parts, and in high health 

 in others. 



I cut off one of the diseased limbs, and spent 

 many hours before I detected the causeof the evil. 

 The insect is so small, its place of operation so 

 concealed (no external hole or swelling to lead 

 you to detect it) that it requires mJch care to find 

 t. Yet when discovered the injury was quite suf- 

 ficient to produce all the effect — he had eaten 

 from the root of a bud, behind which, prohabbi, the 

 egg was deposited, following the course of the 

 eye of the bud into the pith, which he had consum- 

 ed, together with all the heart wood. He had 

 then gone into the chrysalis state, in the scene of 

 his depredations, and was in the perfect state 

 when I found him. I carried the branch and in- 

 sect to Professor Peck, who soon ascertained that 

 it was the perfect insect of a wood eating larva, of 

 which the genus was known, though this species 

 was new. I afterwards found others of them ; and 

 this day, after I saw you, I detected a hole which 

 had been made by one of these insects, p_recisely 

 like that to be seen in the plate accompanying 

 Professor Peck's description, and ftave no doubt 

 that iiny patient and curious investigator will find 

 llictn in every diseased limb. ' 



To make this examination moreqasy,I would 

 remark, that you ought to begin below, not in the 

 centre of the blasted limb. If an insect should 

 saw off a twig eight feet below its , extremity, it 

 would begin to die first at the fop. The hole or 

 -pace eaten will be found at the root of some bud, 

 Jind in the centre of the twig. 



As soon as I knew the cause of the disease, I 

 .■ipplied the same remedy which I had done for the 

 white pine eater. I cut off all the affected limbs 

 '[uite close to the main stem, and far below all dis- 

 .'■ase, and burnt them. I e.'itirpated the disease 

 iVom the tree, aud ten years have since elapsed 

 witliout its reappearance. The very day you call- 

 ed upon me with Gov. Lincoln's letter, I found 



auolher hciilthy tree attacked, and have proceedea 

 in the same manner. You was present at the ex- 

 tirpation of the diseased limbs, one of which had 

 contained the insect, whose destructive operations 

 I now exhibit to you. 



There are those who are incredulous as to this 

 minute insect's being the cause of this evil. I can 

 only say, that on all subjects of this sort I never 

 seek for two solutions, when one is sufiicieiit. 



The degree of injury which Professor PkcIic, and 

 many others, as well as myself, saw inflicted by 

 this insect, is sufficient to destroy an oak, or an 

 elm, or any other the most stately tree. D d this 

 indeed do it? Yes, no human art could hav^ made 

 so regular, and beautiful an incision. Tile size 

 and form of the opening was such, as siicli an in- 

 sect could make. The insect was of a genus, 

 which subsists on w'ood. ' 



The remedy is instant extirpation of t!ie limb 

 affected. I applied this remedy, and the disease 

 ceased. These are my reasons for believilig that 

 the insect, named by Mr Peck, " Scolytjs Pyri" 

 is the cause of the apparent disease, called Fire 

 Blast, on pear trees I think you had better pub- 

 lish part of Professor Peck's letter, and i-efer to 

 the plate in number 3, vol. iv. of the Masi. Ag'l 

 Journal. Its mode of working cannot be wjell un- 

 derstood without a plate. I send you a diseased 

 piece of my pear tree, in which you can eee the 

 hole, which the scolytus made, and by opaning it 

 you will perceive the extent of his operations. — 

 The insect is very small — only one-tentn of an 

 inch long. 1 am, sir. respectfully yoiirs, 



J. LOWELL. 



P. S. The above remarks are longer than I could 

 W'ish and more diffuse ; but I had not time enough 



to make thom shartpr Kct ojihour chnuia bo lost 



at this season of the year, in extirpating the limbs.r 



rection, leaving the alburnum or sap-wood un 

 touched, except at its exit. This is shewn at Fig 

 2, which represents ti.e end of the wood at tht 

 place where the insect was lodged. The externa 

 dark circle represents the bark ; the centre, th' 

 medulla ; the other dark portion is the excavatio' 

 made by the grub. 



" The genus to which this insect belongs, i 

 ' called Scolytus. Of this genus it is an undescrib 

 ed species. It is precisely y'^ or J-"^ of an inch i 

 length, yij in diameter ; of^ a deep brown colon 

 the legs and antennae paler and of a rust colour 

 the thorax in front is rough with small tubercle 

 which point upward, and is studded with ere( 

 bristles, as are also the elytra or wing-cases an 

 other parts of the body. The elytra are striate 

 with slightly impressed points, »ud between tl 

 series of points are rows of bristles. The plar 

 of the anterior opening of the thorax, which re 

 ceives the head, is nearly at right angles with th; 

 which joins the abdomen,so that the head is entire 

 I underneath. The eyes are oljlong, and the antei 

 , n:B inserted at their lower and anterior edge.- 

 I This species may be called Scolytus Pyri. 

 I "The mischievous effects of this minute inse 

 i are observed in June and July ; the dead part 

 I the branches of the pear-tree should be immet 

 I ately cut off and burnt without delay, as the i; 

 ' sects liave not then left them." 



1. 



Fig.Q. 



Professor Peck's notice of the insect, mention- 

 ed above by Mr Lowell, may be found in in ar- 

 ticle, published in the Massachusetts Agrictltural 

 Journal, for Jan. 1817, vol. iv No. 3. from vhich 

 we have extracted the foUowin 



SPECIES OF GRASS. 

 Mr Fessende.n — I enclose you a head of gn 

 and a low stalk of the same kind without seed, 

 and subjoiied a ' your inspection. It is a kind of grass which I ha 

 figure of the Scolytus Pyri, in its perfect form, and ' often seen,and ibrwhich I have heard several vulg 

 a representation of the wood in which the insect j names, but the true name of which I am altogeth 

 lodges, during its larva or grub state. I unacquainted with. It is extremely troublesoi 



"^For several years past, the ends of the branch- j i* gardens and cultivated fields, as it is difficult 

 OS of the Pear-Trce have been observed to perish Wl with the hoe, and will grow from the bott< 

 suddenly, insomuch that it has been attributed to '^' a furrow or sod, after being turned green si 

 lightning. Mr Lowell believing that it was cans- dawnwards, as well r.s anyway, and indeed 

 ed by insects, on examining the dead part of the Img as a piece of root remains in the ground 



branch, proved the correctness of his judgment v'ill sprout and grow. 



He presented mo one of the insects with a part of ) I find a few square yards of it in a mowing lie 

 the branch, which contained it in its perfect state; 

 which is the occasion of this communication. 



"The branches attacked by this insect are knowi 

 by their leaves withering and turning brown. — 

 This happens in June or July ; the insect has the> 

 passed through its pupa or chrysalis state, and ac 

 quired its jjerfect form. As it is only atler it ha 



arrived at this period, that it can continue the spe 

 cies, it is probable that it deposits its eggs befor' 

 the month of August is passed. The egg is prol- 

 ably deposited behind a bud, i. e. between the bid 

 and the stem, and is hatched soon after ; the lar\a 

 or grub eats its way inward through the sap, into 

 the hardest part of the wood. 



" The piece of a branch which I had, was thro> 

 years old ; it had, therefore, one layer of sap anJ 'obligingly given usits scientific appellation, wlij. 



two of wood. The grub had eaten the inner lay 

 gr of wood, a part of the medulla or pith, and abou, 

 j,alf of the second layer of wood, in a circular di- 



'hich does not appear to be affected by un 



ind gives a large cutting of hay, say twice as uju 

 s herd's grass and clover in tl»e same meadow. 

 It is generally found on dry warm land, so far 

 have noticed its location. I never knew any o 

 attempt to cultivate it as a profitable grass, I 

 every one gives it some hard name, and endrnvt 

 to extirpate it. Will you give me its true nan 

 fee and oblige A SUBSCRIBER, 



I HaUowell, (Me.) July 20, 182G. 



; Remarks by the Editor. — The kind of grass abo I 

 mentioned is not uncommon in the neighbourho 

 of Boston ; and Mr Lowell lately pointed it o{ 

 to us on his place in Roxbury. Dr Bigelow hj, 



he states is Phalaris Americana. We knownotfl 

 ing of its value as food for cattle. This can orl 

 be determined by exp-criment ; and as its prbdul 



