270 



THE AMERICAN 



will ever be grateful, and for our part we shall 

 hereafter always speak of this remedy as the 

 "Ransom Process." 



Let it not for a moment be supposed that, as 

 the Herald intimates, we envy any one who 

 makes a discovery in economic entomolgy. No 

 one but the veriest charlatan would ever enter- 

 tain any such feeling. It is our province to 

 disseminate the knowledge gained by others, 

 and we take as much pleasure in doing so as 

 in imparting what little we may have of our 

 own. Our columns are free to all! To the 

 practical culturist especially we say: learn to 

 think and observe for yourself, and do not think 

 these small "bugs" beneath your study and 

 attention. The professional entomologist is 

 constantly bu^y in studying the habits of the 

 thousands of different insects that affect the 

 general farmer and gardener, and he cannot 

 devote all his time to experimenting with the 

 few that more particularly affect one set of men 

 without doing injustice to some other set. The 

 unprofessional man, on the contrary, very often 

 has to deal with but two or three species, and 

 as he is battling with these constantly he is, 

 of all others, best situated for studying and 

 experimenting with them; especiallj' if lie has 

 acquired some knowledge of entomology. A 

 thousand pair of observing eyes, scattered over 

 a wide extent of country, will accomplish far 

 more than a single pair possibly can in any one 

 locality ; and to imbue the producer with a due 

 sense of the great practical importance of such 

 observations — to show how these studies will 

 render his business more pleasant, as well as 

 more pi'ofitable — in short, to incite the cultiva- 

 tor to observe and study these tiny and gener- 

 ally despised creatures, and to show him how 

 best to do so, is, in great part, the mission of 

 this journal. 



More Upon the Same Subject. 

 Since the above article was written we have 

 spent a few days among the well-cultivated, 

 neat and thrifty orchards of St. Joseph and 

 Benton Harbor, Mich., and among the plum 

 orchards around London, Ontario. AVe were 

 highly delighted with the thorough and intelli- 

 gent manner in which fruit-culture is there 

 carried on, and were glad to observe that due 

 reward is attending their efforts. Last year they 

 shipped by boat from St. Joseph, over 708,000 

 baskets of peaches, besides nearly 40,000 bushels 

 of the smaller fruits; and the present year the 

 latter have been abundant, and there is a very 

 fair crop of the former, with the exception of 

 the late Crawford, which has overborne for the 

 three preceding years. 



Our visit was made partly to examine more 

 closely into Mr. Ransom's Curculio remedy, so 

 as to give our readers the benefit of full and 

 impartial instruction. We found that so few 

 Cuiculios had been caught under tlie chips after 

 the first week in June, that nearly everybody, 

 except Mr. Ransom, had for some time aban-, 

 doned the method, and were jarring their trees. 

 In fact, it has turned out very much as we pre- 

 dicted it would. Consequently most of the 

 extensive growers are using a Curculio-catcher, 

 and Mr. L. M. Ward has made some improve- 

 ments on Dr. Hull's machine, which, in our 

 estimation, render it so much more useful and 

 valuable, tliat we shall give a desci-iplion of it as 

 soon as the proper figures can be engraved. 



Mr. Ransom himself, by dint of unusual per- 

 severance and great care in setting his traps, 

 has had much better success than we had ex- 

 pected he would. On the 15th June he caught 

 78; on the ICth, 97, and on the 17th, 71. For 

 about a week after this, he scarcely caught 

 any, but from the 24:th to the 27th inclusive, he 

 caught about 300. On the 6th of July we ac- 

 companied him around the outside rows of his 

 orchard and caught five under the traps. We 

 had no opportunity to use the sheet, but are 

 satisfied that mo-.-e could be jarred down. Mr. 

 R. has a very fair crop of peaches, and — for- 

 getting that crops have often been grown before 

 with very little care, and that others around 

 him who have not bugged so persistently have 

 fruit also this year — is very sanguine of his 

 new method, and too much inclined, perhaps, 

 to attribute his crop solelj^ to this remedy. 

 Nevertheless, contrary to the impression made 

 by his published views, he was candid enough 

 to admit that it might be found necessary to 

 resort to the jarring process, after a certain sea- 

 son of the year; and indeed the number of stung 

 peaches on the ground showed too plainly that 

 there is no hopes of extermination by the chip 

 plan alone. The soil around St. Joseph is, for 

 the most part, a light sandy loam, never pack- 

 ing, and very easily kept in good cultivation. 

 To this character of the soil must be attributed 

 much of the success with the Ransom method; 

 for we are satisfied, after full experiment, that 

 in the warmer climate and heavier soil of St. 

 Louis, it is of no practical use after the middle 

 of May, or at the farthest, after the first of 

 June. The few specimens that we have cap- 

 tured by this method at St. Louis, have been 

 found under small pieces of new shingle ; and 

 Mr. W. T. Durry, who has 2300 trees in his 

 orchard at St. Joe., also found this the best 

 kind of trap. Mr. Ransom, however, prefers 



