443 



MEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



value. Many of the tables in agricultural works 

 are any thing but reliable. They have been copied 

 from now and then, and anon have been stereo 

 typed, to the manifest injury of science. No intel- 

 ligent agriculturist who intends to keep up with 

 the progress of knowledge will fail to place this 

 book upon his table. Jos. Reynolds. 



Concord, Sept., 1853. 



in Connecticut, informed me that they injured the 

 plant by eating holes in the leaves." 



THE CLIMBING CRICKET. 



It is pos8iI)le that we have done injustice to the 

 bees, for whose general character and industrious 

 habits we have great respect, in accusing them of 

 being the pi-inial cause ot the decay of the peaches 

 this season, an evil that is loudly complained of in 

 this vicinity. I'hat the bees are seen under very 

 suspicious circumstances is a notorious fact — actu- 

 ally engaged luxuriating on the saccharine juice 

 exuding from the criroson cheek of a peach, which, 

 on examination, will show s-igns of rapid decay. 



But some circumstances induce us to believe 

 that the l^ee is not the first oiFender, but that it 

 treads in the steps of a less worthy pioneer, which 

 clears away all obaiaclea, perforates the external 

 covering of the peach, and lays open to view its 

 honeyed treasures. 



This piratical insect we believe to bo a species 

 of cricket, long-bodied, and resembling a grass- 

 hopper, which may be seen about and among peach 

 trees, and which can boast of a proboscis^ armed 

 with a piercer that is well calculated to do the mis- 

 chief complained of. Crickets of all kinds, it is 

 well known, ai'e exceedingly fond of ripe peaches 

 and pears, and this particular species, known as 

 the climbing cricket, haa powei'S of locomotion and 

 aspiring tastes, that carries it among the branches 

 of peach trees, and it has actually been seen and 

 captured while revelling in the sweets extracted 

 from the sunny cheek of a peach. Dr. Harris, in 

 his "Insects of Massachusetts," gives the following 

 description of this insect ; and although he does 

 not accuse him of eating the fruit, yet the fact of 

 his boring into peach trees looks somewhat suspi- 

 cious : — Boston Journal. 



"Of three species which inhabits the United 

 States, one only is found in Massachusetts. It is 

 the OE:anlhus niveus, or white climbing cricket. 

 The male is ivory white, with the upper side of 

 the first joint of tiie antennce, and the head between 

 the eyes, of an ochre-yellow C(jlor ; there is a mi- 

 nute black dot on the under sides of the first and 

 second joints of the antennae; and, in some individ- 

 uals, tlie extremities of the feet, and the under 

 sides of the hindmost thigh.s, are ochre-yellow 

 The body is about half an inch long, exclusive of 

 the wing-covers. The female is usually rather 

 longer, but the wing covers are much narrower 

 than those of the male, and there is a great diver- 

 sity of oloring in this sex; the body being some- 

 times aim tst wiiite, or pale greenish yellow, or 

 dusky and Mackish beneatli. There are three 

 dusky stripes on the head and tliorax, and the 

 legs, anten.'ia) and piercer, are more or less dusky 

 or blackisli. The wing-cjvers and wings are yel- 

 lowish v.'hite, so!)ietii!ies with a tinge of green, and 

 the wings are rather longer than the covers. Some 

 of these insects have l)cen sent to me by a gentle- 

 man who fijund them piercing and laying eggs in 

 the branches of a peach-tree. Another corres- 

 pondent, who is interested in the tobacco culture 



For the Neiv Enf^land Farmer. 

 SMITH'S ORLEANS PLUM. 



Mr. Editor : — I was much gratified to see the 

 cut, and read the remarks in your last number 

 upon Smith's Orleans Plum ; but I think that the 

 extract from Downing does not do entire justice to 

 this excellent plum. With me, for fruitfulness, 

 profit and general interest, it is before all other 

 plums. It is a wonderful bearer ; bears good crops 

 every year, and every other year immense crops. 

 The tree is a very hardy and strong grower ; 

 troubled much less with " black wart" than other 

 kinds, while the fruit with me entirely escapes the 

 ravages of the curculio. 



The fruit is quite large ; skin of an elegant pink 

 purple color, sometimes beautifully mottled; flesh 

 of an orange color and agreeable taste ; ripens 

 gradually (with me) from the 10th to the last of 

 August ; and besides its good eating qualities, is, 

 when picked a little before lipe, one of the best 

 of preserving plums. 



I have a tree in my garden which I purchased 

 four years ago for 50 cents. I brought it home 

 while in blossom, and set it out with care. The 

 same season it produced fruit enough to pay for 

 itself. The second year I sold twelve dollars worth , 

 besides consumingmany at home. The third year 

 it bore well, but the present season it is a sight to 

 behold, literally studded from stock to stem, so 

 that it is almost impossible to touch the bark of a 

 single limb with the end of your finger without 

 coming in contact with the fruit. I venture to say, 

 that upon most of the branches, no larger than the 

 one represented in your last paper, the fruit aver- 

 ages twelve plums. One branch (although propped 

 up,) broke oJGT three feet from the end no larger 

 than your thumb, from which I picked six quarts. 

 This plum finds a ready sale in the market, selling 

 from twelve and a half to seventeen cents per 

 quart ; and for easy cultivation and certain crops, 

 1 would recommend it above most other varieties. 

 N. A. Richardson. 



Winchester, Sept. \1th, 1853. 



P. S. I cultivate upwards of twenty kinds of 

 plums, and in some future number I will give you 

 my brief experience upon their merits, together 

 with my manner of treatment, by which I get a 

 good crop from most kinds ^very year. 



Rem.\rks. — We shall be glad to receive the ar- 

 ticles you propose to send. 



Curious Device in Grafting. — The gardeners 

 in Italy sell plants of jasmines, roses, honey- 

 suckles, &c., all growing together from a slock of 

 orange, myrtle, or promegranate, on which they 

 say they are grafted. But this is a mere decep- 

 tion ; the fact being, that the stock has its centre 

 bored out, so as to be made hollow, througli which 

 the stems of jasmines and other flexible plants are 

 easily made to pass, their roots intermingling with 

 those of the stock. After growing for a time, the 

 increase in the diameter of the stems, thus enclosed, 

 forces them together, and they as.sume all the ap- 

 pearance of being united to one common stem. 



