r.)l.V No. 27. 



NEW EN«I.ANIJ 1 ARMl J4, 



>2II 



;ed, before uiu lent modes, ami liabils dcrivcil 



long experience, arc forsaken. 



he New Bedfoni writer states the circiimstfln- 



of the salt marshas about that place. These 



rly corrcsporul with the character applicable to 



in N'ew England. The disadvantages men- 



ed, 11) the culture of this land, are in a like de- 



e common to M — Such as the dist.mce — The 



e taken in culture— Making — Loading — Trans- 



' 1 ting, &c. itc. — .\U of which it is reasoned 



"1^ kes them "a damage to the owner." Thnt 



se are di.'jadvantagcs, must be allowed. But 



to the extent urged. 



'he hay makers are carried to the marslies,and 

 there supported, by such an economical ar- 

 gcment, that the labor and general expense.are 

 discouraging to the farmers, as to this sort of 

 perty. To prove this it appears, that no land gen- 

 lly lots for a better price, or more readily. Tie 

 ' too is often got for half the product, or on a* 

 orable terms as upland growth. The eril of 

 ught it suffers in common with otlier soils but in 

 '•s degree. ?o with those of the grasshopper, 

 rm, caterpillar,&c. though they are locally and 

 tially aiBictiye, yet it ia beliered that the failure 

 a crop from these or other incidental causes is 

 s freqaent in this than in other soils. 

 The demand for this hay by the farmers in the 

 erior, with othef causes, has led to a very suc- 

 •sful practice of intersecting and draining the 

 irshes by ditches,which hag had the effect to in- 

 Base theqsantity but more especially the quality 

 ithe grass. 



This mode has been so universally beneficial 

 •it it cainnot be too highly recommended. 

 But the price mentioned by the New Bedford 

 iter, viz. •S.'SO — f}7'> and even $]00 — at whicii 

 e land is estimated, there is a powerful persua- 

 e of its utility,and a test of value which in gen- 

 al may be relied upon. The estimation of salt 

 «r=h it is believed is increasing in this neighbor- 

 lod and in many instacces its value exceeds the 

 ices above quoted. 



Holding the opinion, that an acre of the best 

 It rnar=h is worth as much, as an acre of any 

 -ass land whatever, and that a change to gra:,ing 

 md, as proposed by some, or to purposes of cul- 

 re, as urged by others, in your paper, would dis- 

 ipoiut expectation, and lead to a worse than use- 

 ss expenditure, it is incumbent on me to sjiow 

 Dw far this mode of thinking is well founded. 

 Amongst the advantages that belong to this soil, 

 •er every other, it is to lie observed — That it re- 

 jires little or no foncing--lt takes no manure from 

 lie farmer's yard,but is recruited for the product it 

 ields wholly from the sea: and it requires few or 

 »ne of those natural or incidental labors and ex- 



Rces which are common to all upland, 

 he product of the marsh is of great advantage 

 cattle, especially in the interior, as a change of 

 ood, and as a gradual and natural supply, in the 

 est state, of saline matter. This is apparent in 

 heir thrift. It has long been known to our f»nn- 

 rs, that the value of the manur* has been much 

 ncreased where this fodder has been used. This 



ivas perceived, before the application of salt to the 

 icil, was so strongly urtred, as it has of late been, 

 n Europe; and it affords a strong practical test of 

 ts benefit. In this country the price of snll is too 

 /•igh to justify any very extensive use of it. But 

 o fresh meadow grass, and to hay w hich it bc- 

 ;ome8 necessary to stack, before it is sufiiciontly 

 nade, salt is a mcst beneficial preservative, and ! 



the writer has long been in the use of several hogs- 

 heads of it annually. But whon applied as a sub- 

 stitute for the process of drying,or making,experi- 

 once is against it. 



The value of sea weeds, &.C. whicli are spread 

 over the surface of the marshes by the tides, and 

 collected, and transported, for so many useful 

 purposi's, with other advantages, need not bo urg- 

 ed. We are sensible that to most farmers little 

 or nothing'- new on this subject can be offered. But 

 long established truths, are sometimes usefully re- 

 peated, and reinforced, when ingenious and daz- 

 zling theory holds out golden hopes to innovation. 



I shall in a future communication with your 

 leave sliow how far experience is agaimt the 

 change, and offer some observations on the proper 

 uses of diking, &c. And am, iSir, yours. 



Boston, Jan. ^4, 18-27. JOHN WELLES. 



DOCT'R Hul^T'S INSECT. 



Mr. FEssE.iDEn — In your paper of the .5th inst. 

 you request assistance in investigiiting tlie Pear 

 tree insect sent from Northampton. The following 

 is the result of an examinition made of the per- 

 fect issect, and of the worm or larva which ac- 

 I ompanied it. 



The former belongs to the order Kymenoptera, 

 containing insects with membranous wings, and 

 the tail armed with a sting or ovipositor. It is the 

 SiREx Calumhn of Linno, or Tremex Columha 

 of Latreille. The head and thorax are rust-col- 

 oured, varied with black, ; the abdomen, or pos- 

 terior part of the body, black, and banded with 

 yellow, the bands (excepting the first one) inter- 

 rupted on the back ; the tail armed with a short, 

 robust spin* ; and r'rom beneath projects back- 

 words the ovipositor, which is articulated to the 

 centre of the abdomen, and this instrument is the 

 awl, needle, or borer, which has formerly been 

 mentioned. It consi.sts of three pieces ; the cen- 

 tral one is straight, somewhat spear-pointed at the 

 end, and protected by two lateral, grooved pieces, 

 which when closed, form a hollow tube. 



This insect deposits its eggs in the trunks of 

 trees, and the grubs or larvje feed on the wood, 

 like other timber-eating larvae. When the female 

 has selected a place in the tree, where she intends 

 placing her eggs, she extricates the central nee- 

 dle, or rather dart, from its grooves, bends it be- 

 neath till it stands at a right angle with the body, 

 and then plunges it into the wood : in the hole 

 thus perforated she places an egg, which is con- 

 ducted ' by means of the grooved pieces. The 

 length of the ovipositor is from three quarters of 

 an inch to one inch, and it often penetrates the 

 bark and wood to the depth of half an inch or 

 more. Sometimes the insect is unable to withdraw 

 it from the tree, and perishes in the attempt, as 

 was probably the case with the one sent you by 

 Doctor Hunt. 



For a figure and scientific description of the fe- 

 male, those who are interested are referred to Mr 

 Say's American Entomology, vol. ii. The male 

 does not appear to have been described by any 

 author, a'though it agrees in many respects with 

 the two other species described by Mr Say, yet I j 

 think it must be distinct from both. It is extreme- i 

 ly unlike the female both in colour and size, and j 

 is not furnished with the remarkable ovipositor of 

 the other sex. The specimen from which the fol- 

 lowing description is taken is in a collectiom made 

 by Mr .Totham Penton in 1798, and is still in good 

 preservation. In the same collection are the sex- 



es of another species of the genus, of smaller size, 

 and of a ferruginous or rust-colour. 



Tremex Columla. Male. Ferruginous, abdo- 

 I men paler at the sides, posterior legs dilated, 

 blackish. 



j Antenna; black, ferruginous at base and tip : 

 wings piceous, iiervures blackish ; head and tho- 

 rax as in the t'emale ; abdomen lUitleucd, gradually 

 broader at the end, and terminated by a short, ser 

 rated, blunt spine, .which is black at tip ; thighs 

 blackish ; 4 anterior tibiae and -i first joints of the 

 tarsi black at tips ; posterior tibia; and two first 

 joints of the tarsi dilated, flattened, black, except 

 , the superior third of the tibite ; last joint of the tar- 

 sus ferruginous. Leni^th of the body rather more 

 than one incli and one fiftli. The female varies in 

 size ; the largest being about one and a half inch 

 in length, exclusive of the ovipositor, and the wings 

 expanding over two inches and one fourth. 

 'The eggs are elongated, oval, pointed at the 

 extremity, and less than one twentieth of an inch 

 long ; they are deposited during the month of Sep- 

 tember. 



The worm which accompanied Doctor Hunt's 

 Sirex is not the larva of a Sirex or Tremex, but 

 of a Coleopterous insect, belonging to the Cekam- 

 Byx family. 



The larva of the Tremex is whitish^ cylindrical, 

 not attenuated behind, with a globular, prominent 

 head, six short legs near the head, and a short 

 spine over the posterior extremity. Before going 

 into the pupa or chrysalis state it envelopes itself 

 in a web or slight, cocoon, in which it remains un- 

 til it assumes theperfect state. Those who have a 

 curiosity to see the larva of our Tremex, may 

 have an opportunity of examining one which (witli 

 a specimen of the perfect insect) will be commit- 

 ted to youY care. On comparison it will be found 

 to have a general resemblance to the fignre of 

 that of an European species in the 3d part of the 

 Gth vol. of Shaw's General Zoology. 



An elm tree in this vicinity, which has lost most 

 of its limbs, is a favourite place of resort for the 

 Tremex Coluiiiba, and several other curious in- 

 sects ; — around it, during the latter part of Au- 

 gust and beginning of September, great numbers 

 collect ; and often six or more females may be 

 seen at once, employed in depositing their eggs. 

 The males also occur in its vicinity ; but no one 

 has been found as large as that described above. 



It has been said that the species of the Sirex 

 family in the larva state live in decayed or putres- 

 cent wood. Many instances can be adduced of 

 their appetite for sound wood. It is very probable 

 that the presence of these insects, like that of ma- 

 ny others, is the cause and not the consequence of 

 the decay of the trees in which they arc found. — 

 It is stated in the London Zoological Journal that, 

 iu the woods of Henham Hall, the seat of the Earl 

 of Stanhope, two hundred Scotch firs have been 

 destroyed by the Sirex Juvenevs, L.; their trunks 

 being perforated through and through by the lar- 

 vsE of this insect. Mr Marsliam, en the authority 

 of Sir Joseph Banks, relates that several speci- 

 mens of StuEx gigas, L. were seen to come out of 

 the floor of a nursery in a gentleman's house, to 

 tho no small alarm and discomfiture of both nurse 

 and children. The larva must have existed in the 

 boards or timbers before they were employed in 

 building, and these materials would not probably 

 have been ised if in a putrescent state. 

 Yours, respectfully. 



Milton, Jan. 18th, 1827. 



