PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 421 



that paper by a clergyman of Massachusetts, who had used it 

 with considerable success in his own orchard. It was called the 

 curculio remedy, and if all that was attributed to it be true, it 

 was certainly the most wonderful remedy ever known. 



Mr. Solon Robinson would like to know what the wash was. 



Dr. Trimble read from the paper .to show that it was composed 

 of whale oil soap, sulphur, and some other ingredients. He also 

 enquired whether any gentleman present had used the wash with 

 success, as he should like to hear something more about it from 

 those who had had experience of its use. 



Mr. Pardee said he had not used it himself, but he knew many 

 persons who had done so. 



Dr. Trimble said he had made a number of experiments for the 

 cure of this ravaging disease of fruit trees, and he had so far 

 succeeded in his efforts that for one season he was nearly altoge- 

 ther free from curculio. He was determined to see what was the" 

 cause of this exemption, and he remembered that for a long time 

 in the previous year there had been no rain, and the ground had 

 been entirely dry. This was the true cause of the exemption 

 that season, for the curculio would not pass through ground that 

 was completely dry. He had found it to be a necessity to conquer 

 the curculio or it would have conquered him. At present he did 

 not believe in any single remedy. As far as his investigations 

 went, coupled with the numerous experiments he had made, the 

 only means of preventing the ravages of the curculio was by 

 keeping the ground perfectly dry. 



One of the members enquired what would be the effect if the 

 trees were planted so that their branches might overhang the 

 water. 



Dr. Trimble said he had never tried that ; but if such a mode 

 was successful, the cause could only be found in the instinct of 

 the insect which teaches her not to deposit her precious larva 

 where there would be so much danger of its destruction. 



Mr. A. P. Cumings said it was an old saying that one swallow 

 does not make summer. Although a few applications of the 

 remedies might not have been successful they might still be 

 efficacious. From the information that had reached him from all 

 quarters, it seemed that the wash was very effectual. He had 

 received about twenty communications from gentlemen, all of 



