164 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



on the second \veek, led off on the subject of 

 Fruits, in his usual happy manner, followed by 

 Dr. Grant, upon the Grape, Mr. Pardee, upon 

 Berries, Mr. Barry, upon Frttit Trees, Mr. Al- 

 len, upon Fruits, and Mr. G. B. Emerson, upon 

 Trees. 



It is doubtful whether the world can produce 

 another set of men so well qualified to instruct a 

 New England audience upon these subjects as 

 those M'ho lectured during the last week. This, 

 the third week, has been devoted to Agriculture 

 propeTr. LuTHER H. Tucker, of the Country Oen- 

 tlenian, is lecturing upon English Agriculture. 

 Your humble servant is presenting the subject of 

 Drainage. Prof. Brewer talks of Tobacco and 

 Hops, John Stanton Gould, of Grasses, T. S. 

 Gold, of Conn., of Root Crops, Levi Bartlett, 

 of New Hampshire, of Sandy Soils, Joseph Har- 

 Kis, of Cereals, Dr. PuGH, of German Agricul- 

 ture, and Prof. Porter, of Agricultural Statistics 

 and Education. An eloquent lecture by Hon. Jo- 

 siah Quincy, Jr., on Wednesday evening, was re- 

 ceived with bursts of applause. 



The fourth week will be opened by Cassius M. 

 Clay, of Kentucky, on Cattle, and Messrs. Al- 

 len, of New York, Flint and HOWARD, of Bos- 

 ton, upon the Dairy and Horses, Dr. Gulliver, 

 upon Horses, Mr. Gold, upon Sheep, Mr. CoM- 

 STOCK, upon the Breeding of Fish, and Mr. Weld, 

 on Agricultural Associations. 



Donald G. Mitchell, known as Be Marvel, 

 the author of some of the most charming books 

 in our literature, "The Reveries of a Bachelor" 

 among others, is to deliver the closing lecture on 

 Rural Economy. His bachelor reveries have 

 been disturbed by the acquisition of a small fam- 

 ily, and he is now much interested in agricultural 

 pursuits. 



The lectures are designed to be of a practical 

 aature, and to be given in a familiar way. After 

 each lecture, any person in the audience puts such 

 questions as he pleases, and hours are assigned 

 for familiar discussions of such subjects as the 

 class may select. 



This movement of Prof. Porter is worthy of all 

 praise. It is a progressive measure, I think en- 

 tirely novel in this country, designed to be fol- 

 lowed up in succeeding years, wiA such modifica- 

 tions as may be thought best. A large and con- 

 venient bailding for the use of the Scientific 

 School is now in progress, and the lecturers of 

 next year will have the advantage of a Museum 

 of Natural History to aid their illustrations. 



Besides the lectures. New Haven has great at- 

 tractions. Its society, in culture and true refine- 

 ment, cannot, perhaps, be excelled in this coun- 

 try. Tlie old college buildings and the public 

 ground-j^ planted with magnificent elms, in some- 

 what matheroatical order, tell of the severe taste 



of the olden times, while the elegant and classic 

 modern dwellings, with their tasteful surround- 

 ings of evergreens dotting the broad lawns which 

 are gracefully traversed by winding walks and 

 drives, give evidence of affluence and the dignity 

 of leisure from pressing worldly care. During the 

 lectures, the duties of hospitality are not forgot- 

 ten, and they who have gone to New Haven to 

 study agriculture, have received those social at- 

 tentions so grateful always to strangers in a 

 strange land. 



I regret that arrangements were not made for 

 daily reports of the lectures in the Boston papers. 

 A full proportion of the teachers if not of the 

 taught, are from among those who read the Bos- 

 ton dailies, and the good effects of the movement 

 might have been more widely diffused, had prop- 

 er attention been given to this matter. 



A similar course of instruction might easily be 

 organized in Cambridge or Boston, or many more 

 persons in future be induced to attend the lec- 

 tures at Yale. The wide diffusion of knowledge 

 among farmers, a class not reached by the ordi- 

 nary means, through such an agency as this, can 

 hardly be estimated. Every pupil becomes as it 

 were a missionary to convey the new ideas thus 

 acquired to his friends and neighbors, and a new 

 impetus is given to the great cause of Agriculture. 



New Haven, Conn., Feb. 16, 1860. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 WORMS IN" APPLES. 



Mr. Editor : — There is much complaint in this 

 vicinity respecting a new (?) species of insects 

 which have, by their secret depredations, rendered 

 nearly worthless certain kinds of apples. 



The insect, while in the apple, is a very minute 

 worm or grub, scarcely larger than a pin, white in 

 color, and rather more than an eighth of an inch 

 in length. This is its full size ; but when its op- 

 erations within the apple first commence, it is so 

 small that it is not easily seen with the naked eye. 

 Its journeys in the apple are short at first, but 

 they gradually increase in length until the whole 

 interior is perforated through and through with 

 hundreds of its little pin-holes, while upon its sur- 

 face the apple looks as round as ever. Sometimes 

 I have taken up what I supposed to be a sound 

 apple, and it would crumble to pieces in my fin- 

 gers ; and I would find that several of these little 

 pests had got the start of me and devoured or de- 

 molished nearly the whole of the apple except the 

 skin ! 



So far as I have observed, personally, it seems 

 to prefer sweetings, russets, and some common 

 kinds for which I have no name ; but its ravages 

 are also extended to several other varieties. 



They commence the work of destruction early 

 in the fall, and carry it on to midwinter, certainly, 

 and whether it reaches beyond this period or not, 

 I am, at present, unable to decide. 



While looking over some russets the other day, 

 which had been very thickly inhabited with these 



