314 TuAXSACTioxs OF THE Americax Institute. 



Chairman. — Sucli comtnittee will consist of Messrs. Lyman, Todd 

 and J, C. Thompson, They will go to the premises of Mr. Thomp- 

 son on Stateii Island and report upon the action and' value of the 

 machine in operation. 



Bugs in Peas. 



Mr. "William J. Miller, "Woodhull, K. Y.— T find a good many of 

 my peas affected like the ones inclosed, and would like to know 

 if there is anything that could be applied that would destroy the 

 bugs without destroying vegetation in the peas. 



Chairman. — We have with us a gentleman who has made the insects 

 injurious to vegetation, the study of his lifetime. lie, I am sure, can 

 satisfy our friend from Woodhull. Please give these peas to Dr. 

 Isaac P. Trimble, of xS^ewark. 



Dr. Trimble. — This bug or weevil in the pea is well nigh universal ; 

 at least over wide sections of the country. In the northern part of 

 ITew York and Kew England, he does not usually affect the peas so 

 seriously. Hence, seed peas ought to be raised north of Albany and 

 Poston. A vei-y small egg^ that soon becomes a minute worm, is laid 

 on the back of the pea-pod. The little animal eats his way into the 

 middle of the pea, and slowly matures into the weevil that we find 

 in these peas. When the pea is green, he is so small as to be below 

 notice. But when the ripe pea is brought to market, the size of the 

 worm, and afterward of the bug, is such as to make most dried peas 

 unfit for the table. Fowls prefer them, and they will generally do as 

 well for seed as sound peas. They do not affect the earliest of our 

 peas, nor the ver}' late varieties ; but tlie Marrowfats and English 

 mammoth are always infested with them. As nineteen-twentieths 

 of our pea crop is eaten green, the difficulty is one of little practical 

 importance. 



MrLBEKKY TkEKS FOR PoBINS. 



Mrs. Eliza Mann, Wheatland, Monroe county, Is". Y. — Al)out 

 the first of June, when the small fruits begin to ripen, the agricul- 

 tural papers will be filled with complaints of the birds' de])redations 

 and in(|niries as tu the moans of preventing them. Xow, the only 

 way to keep that saucy fellow, the robin, from eating berries and 

 cherries is to give him something lie likes better. I would suggest 

 that cultivators of small fruits should plant the white Italian mul- 

 berry, as freely as possible, around and among their ti'ces and vines. 

 The mulberry has proved, in my experience, a perfect protection 



