1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FARIMER. 



303 



vine as soon as it has fruited, one joint above 

 the fruit, leaving the leaf entire. Then allow 

 the main shoot to go on again until it has 

 blossomed and set another bunch of fruit, 

 then pinch out as before. All the laterals 

 which grow on the main branches down to the 

 axils of the leaves, are cut out as often as 

 they are produced, but leaving the leaves en- 

 tire. A person who has practiced this mode 

 says, "it is astonishing what immense clusters 

 of fine, large tomatoes may be produced in 

 this way." When planted in a favorable sit- 

 uation, they will ripen at least as early as 

 those grown in any other way out of doors, and 

 frequently three days or a week earlier. 



Another mode is to nail bits of lath across 

 from stakes in a square form, and drive the 

 ends of the stakes into the ground immediately 

 over the hill of plants. The stakes may be 

 four, five or six feet long, in a rich soil, the 

 vines will reach the top of the longest. We 

 have raised them in this way in great abun- 

 dance, and perfection. If the vines lie upon 

 hay, straw, or brush wood, the fruit will ripen 

 better and be kept cleaner, than if lying upon 

 the ground. 



THE CURCULIO. 

 On another page we publish an interesting com- 

 munication from a gentleman in tte fruit region 

 of Michigan. From an article written by the 

 Secretary of the St. Joseph Horticultural Society 

 and published in the St. Joseph Herald, it appears 

 that the enterprising arJ industrious fruit raisers 

 spoken of by our cowespondent, have discovered a 

 new process of aestroying the curculio, which 

 greatly encourages the hope that at last the means 

 of a successful warfare with this enemy of the 

 fruit grotvers have been developed. The following 

 description of the process, devised by Mr. William 

 B. Kansom, and now practiced by him and his 

 neighbors, is given : — 



Put the orchard in the best order; level down 

 the soil about the root of every tree, and smooth a 

 circle for a diameter of two and a half feet from 

 the tree as a center. Have the ground very clean 

 around the base of the tree. Do not leave a single 

 hole next the tree. Leave no place where the 

 curculio can hide except under the shelter you 

 provide. Now lay close to the tree, and close to 

 the ground, about four pieces to a tree, either chip, 

 or bark, or board, or lath, or rag, or corn-cob, or 

 old leather, or anything for a covert. 



The curculios will conceal themselves under 

 this shelter and may be destroyed by the thou- 

 sands. Go around every day, turn over each chip 

 and kill every curculio. They will generally ad- 

 here to the chip, but may often be found on the 

 ground under the chip. 



Mr. Ransom has closely studied the habits of 

 this destructive insect for fourteen years, and has 



arrived at the following conclusions : — In the Fall 

 the curculio seeks a warm and safe shelter to hi- 

 bernate. This is either the ground, or leaves, 

 stumps, logs, old fences, woods, and other conge- 

 nial places of concealment. The first warm day in 

 spring that starts vegetable life calls the curculio 

 forth and it proceeds to its feeding and breeding 

 ground. Last year when bugging he discovered 

 that all the curculios dropped within two or three 

 feet of the roots of the tree, and on examination 

 found the little Turk sheltered on the trunk and 

 in holes near the base and under side of the prin- 

 cipal limbs. 



Hence the idea of the above described traps was 

 suggested to his mind. 



Many instances of the rapidity with which curcu- 

 lios have been destroyed by this process are given. 

 Mr. Ransom, in four hours, destroyed 2109, by ac- 

 tual count ; Hon. John Whittlesey killed 2715, in 

 one day, and on the following day 1566 in four 

 hours. By means of these traps, it is asserted 

 that more curculios may be destroyed by a single 

 person, in a few hours, than has ever been done 

 by three men with the old fashioned sheets in a 

 week. 



Now is the time to try the "Ranso>m traps," 

 which will certainly be of immense value to all 

 who have fruit trees, if the process proves as effi- 

 cient in other hands as it is represented to in be 

 those of oar Michigan friends. 



■WALIiA WAIiLA FARMEK. 



The first number of a four-page or quarto paper, 

 half the size of the New England Farmer, 

 has been received. It is published at Walla 

 Walla, Washington Territory, by A. H. Simmons, 

 weekly, at ^.50 a year. Washington Territory 

 comprises an area of 68,000 miles, — some 3000 

 more than all New England. This is equal to 43,- 

 520,000 acres ; of which, the Walla Walla Farmer 

 says, about 20,000,000 acres are prairie, and about 

 the same quantity timber, the remainder moun- 

 tains. It is estimated that about 5,000,000 acres of 

 the timbered lands are susceptible of cultivation, 

 the remainder comparatively worthless after the 

 timber is removed. The Cascade range of Moun- 

 tains divides the Territory into two unequal parts 

 — eastern and western — differing widely in topo- 

 graphy, soil, climate, and productions. 



The western portion is densely timbered with fir, 

 cedar, oak, &c., with an occasional small prairie, 

 soil varied, river bottoms sandy mould with clay 

 sub-soil ; high prairies are gravelly or light sand. 

 Its climate is humid, but remarkably healthy. 



Eastern Washington may be desciribed as a vast 

 rolling plain, traversed in all directions by rivers 

 and creeks, the principal of which is the Colum- 

 bia, having for its tributaries In this Territory, the 

 Snake, Spokane, Walla Walla, Winachee, Okina- 

 kane, Yakima and Clickitat. The soil is uniform, 

 a rich sandy loam, producing a thick, heaw mat 

 of bunch grass. On all the streams is found more 



