The May Bug o?- Brown Beetle. 293 



more healthy. There have been for a few years past many 

 young pear trees planted, — and thousands are now planted 

 yearly. They are generally healthy, but sometimes affected 

 with " the blight.''^ The native or Canada plum grows wild 

 the whole length of the valley of the lake. Cranberries are 

 common in the swamps. Plum trees of all kinds flourish 

 and are free from any disease. In some places the Curculio 

 is common, in others unknown. 



Peaches are but little cultivated, though some years they 

 are not uncommon. Grapes are common in villages. The 

 Isabella ripens but needs protection in winter : The varie- 

 ties mostly cultivated are the native sorts of New England. 

 Fastolf, Franconia and Antwerp raspberries do not " winter 

 kill." 



The western part of Vermont having so easy a communi- 

 cation with New York and Canada, and being divided by a 

 range of mountains from the Eastern, has had but little inter- 

 course with the other parts of New England. Hereafter 

 the course of travel and trade will be much changed. 



Burlington, Vt., June, 1850. 



Art. II. The May Bug or Brown Beetle, {Melolontha.) 

 By J. W. TuTTLE, Plattshurgh, N. Y. 



This insect has proved more destructive to the plum in 

 this region than the Curculio, or indeed any thing else ; and 

 yet, strange as it may seem, it has not been mentioned in any 

 work on Fruit culture, to my knowledge, with the exception 

 of the second edition of Goodrich's Northern Fruit Culturist, 

 just published at Burlington, Vt. 



We often hear the Curculio mentioned as the only insect 

 destructive to the plum, and I notice that in a recent com- 

 munication of Dr. Wendell, of Albany, to your magazine, he 

 states such to be the case at that place. 



The May Bug commences its depredations about the time 

 the buds begin to open, and continues until the fruit is about 



