AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 281 



hook sucli as I have descril^ed, as I feel a lively interest in any- 

 thing tliat will aflbrd relief to my favorites among the feathered 

 tribe. He speaks of his Leghorns as being the best for laying, 

 and by " good feeding they begin to lay in February." I do not 

 know what he calls good laying if his hens cease laying to go to 

 hatching. I have the Shanghai breed, and not one of my hens 

 quit laying duiing the winter, and as early as January some of 

 them wanted to hatch, but as the weather was too cold to raise 

 the chickens I did not allow them to have their way. I prevented 

 it by tying a red rag to their tails and let them run. That soon 

 put the notion of setting out of their heads. 



Mr. Gore, of Bloomfield, Jersey, observed that he had found it 

 best to keep his chickens in floored coops, feeding them occasion- 

 ally with crumbs of bread. His chickens w^ere never troubled 

 with the gapes (pip)- 



Eev. Samuel White, of Staten Island, saved the chickens on his 

 farm by having a red cayenne pepper chopped line, and thoroughly 

 mixed with Indian meal. One red pepper to tw^o quarts of the 

 meal. 



Mr. Judd brought forw^ard a plan of treating plum trees which 

 had the effect of curing the fruit after it had been punctured by 

 the curculio. A friend of his prepared a mixtm-e, consisting of 

 one peck of unslacked lime, one barrel of water, and six quarts of 

 salt, and with a syringe sprinkled over the fruit that had been 

 punctured, wdien the w^ounds healed up and they came to ma- 

 turity. 



Professor Mapes w^as of opinion that after the fruit W' as punc- 

 tured, and the egg of the insect deposited, nothing could destroy 

 the egg that would not also destroy the fruit itself. Some appli- 

 eations might be used that would scare away the insects for a 

 time, and one simple plan was to tie two pieces of tin to the top 

 of a tl-ee, and allow them to be blown about by the wind. The 

 tinkling produced, and the shining in the sun, would have the 

 etfect of scaring off the curculio until it became accustomed to them. 

 He also alluded to other modes of treatment fomid beneficial in 

 some cases. 



Mr. Judd said that he had received the communication from a 

 friend in whose word he had perfect confidence, but he thought it 

 right to state that his friend recommended the application of this 

 remedy l^efore the fruit liad been punctured, although it was per- 

 fectly successful last year, even after they had been stung by the 

 curculio. 



