144 Observations on the Curculio. 



succeeding year ; that nothing but their destruction at the 

 season when they are actually committing their depreda- 

 tions upon the fruit, can avail anything. I read the letter 

 of Dr. Burnett, who seems to be of this opinion ; but not- 

 withstanding it contained much scientific information, it 

 was evident to all others, whose opinion 1 heard expressed, 

 that it was doubtful whether the expense of preserving the 

 fruit in the way recommend by him would not be greater 

 than all the income which could be expected from the sale 

 of it, as it would be necessary to continue the operation 

 twice a day for several weeks ; very near to which conclu- 

 sion your correspondent, Mr. Fahnestock, seems to have 

 arrived ; and the communication from him in your March 

 No. seems to require a notice from some proselyte to salt, 

 as an efficacious preventive of the Curculio, as he looks 

 upon it as so great a " fallacy" to attempt their destruction 

 by either of the above proposed methods. 



Admitting all his statement of facts to be strictly correct, 

 (and I do not doubt it,) the only hope can be to be able to 

 secure a crop the p?-esent seaso?i ; and 1 think a more efifect- 

 ual and cheaper course can be found, which will effect the 

 object, than that recommended by Dr. Burnett. Had your 

 friend Mr. Ernst diverged a few rods from his course, after 

 leaving the trees he gave an account of, which had been 

 dressed with salt lye, I should have been happy to have 

 shown him a striking example of its effects on a small 

 orchard of plums ; they are growing in a yard used for 

 poultry, which was enclosed under an idea that the injury 

 would be prevented by the fowls : but. although I had 

 some fruit, so large a proportion was destroyed that the 

 experiment proved a failure. 



Having heard salt recommended I concluded to make a 

 trial of salt lye, having a quantity at command. The yard 

 contains about one eighth of an acre, in which I have about 

 a hundred trees. In the spring I had about two cords of 

 meadow mud, well saturated with lye, evenly spread and 

 spaded in. (The year previous about the same quantity of 

 dock mud was applied in the same way.) About the first 

 of June I put on a load of about five hogsheads in addition, 

 pouring it from a large watering pot, about two common 

 sized pailsfull to each tree, saturating the whole ground in 

 the yard ; and so powerful was the application that there 

 was not a weed to be found the height of two inches during 



