162 farmers' and mechanics' journal. 



As it regards the method laid down for preventing the curculio m 

 plums, &c. we do not think it a very good one ; for this reason— 

 unless the plums which are buried, decompose or putrefy very 

 quickly, the curculio will hatch, or rather undergo a metamorpho- 

 sis, and come out ready for another attack. We have raised thenij 

 by putting the plums into some dry sand in a box. It is true, that 

 many of the plums, buried in the way recommended, would soon 

 decay ; but if two or three in a hundred did not^ those insects that 

 escaped, would soon re-people the trees with a new race. — A bet- 

 ter mode of preventing the curculio in plums and apples,i s, to 

 gather those that fall, boil them, and give them to the hogs. 



PRESERVATION OF PEACH TREES. 



Dayton, Ohio, June 24, 1828. 



Mr. SKiNNER,-^ln yours of Jane 6th, I observe one or two short 

 paragraphs upon the subject of the preservation of peach trees. If 

 yoit esteem this luscious, and during its season incomparable fruit, 

 as 1 do, you will not hesitate in rendering every aid towards its 

 successful cultivation. 



In addition to my orchard, 1 have about one hundred peach trees 

 of different kinds, (and some one or two which are natives of our 

 village, and of but few years, are equal to any,) not one which is at 

 all injured by the worm, while many of my neighbors' are entirely 

 destroyed. I can assure every one, that from my experience, no 

 difficulty exists, and the produce amply remunerates for every 

 trouble. One of your correspondents recommends lamp or fish 

 oil, and then boiling water. Both are right, although I should say 

 that boiling water was a very doubtful remedy, and would require 

 to be often rcjpeated. Not long since I saw a very fine peach tree 

 in a perfect state of preservation. Although it had been several 

 years bearing, (it was in a small garden, the reason of there being 

 no more,) yet the worm had not injured it. Always anxious to 

 learn every thing connected with agriculture, I inquired particu- 

 larly with regard to its treatment, and was informed that the lady 

 of the family had directed the suds of soap after washing, without 

 regard to their being cold or boiling, to be thrown about the tree — 

 and it had the desired effect. 



The season is approaching when the insect commences its de- 

 predations. The season of its depredations may be fixed as com- 

 mencing early in July, and ending in September. Its greatest ra- 

 vages are during the month of August. It penetrates the surface, 

 and commences its depredation by boring the tree and depositing 

 its egg about one to three inches below the surface. I have read 

 in works upon the subject, that the bark is there more tender, 

 which I presume is an error, and that all bark of the root is equal- 

 ly soft, and that it is only the natural instinct which causes the in- 

 sect to commence at that place. The egg, thus lodged in the wood 

 of the tree, is there hatched and becomes a worm, which feeds upon 

 the tender wood and bark, and effectually destroys the tree. 



