1863.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
17 
out as needed. More minute . directions for 
treatment of the vines will be given at the ap- 
propriate season, in our Calendar of Operations. 
«_ mil I ■ 
About Earth or "Angle" Worms. 
■ — 
The common earth worm (Lumbricus terrestris), 
has no eyes, feet, or other external appendages, 
and the head differs from the tail only in being 
more narrow and pointed. Its stomach consists 
of two pouches, and the alimentary canal ex- 
tends from stem to stern. At about one third 
of its length from the mouth, there is a sort of 
belt, encircling the body, consisting of from six 
to nine rings, among which lie the organs of 
reproduction. As the worm is hermaphrodite, 
each individual carries this belt. It has the 
senses only of taste and touch, the latter being 
acute, as everybody knows who has touched 
it on peering from its hole. Its taste is coarse, 
since it feeds upon the soil it lives in, swallow- 
ing it and its half-decayed organic substances, 
and passing them through its body. 
It is not certainly known whether these worms 
breed oftcner than once a year. They produce 
their young sometimes from eggs, and some- 
times already hatched. The eggs are laid at a 
considerable depth in the ground, and in clus- 
ters. They are laid mostly in the Spring, and 
hatched in June or July. The »v 1L 
egg is about the size of a pea, |Ljj uvM 
elliptical, with a tubular hole ^j ^f 
at one end, through which the 
young escapes. In the cut an- 
nexed, a represents an egg, 6 the 
same after the embryo becomes visible, and cthe 
same with the worm beginning to shift for itself. 
The common notion that if this worm be cut 
into any number of pieces, each portion will 
live and soon become a perfect worm, is hardly 
true. But if any part of its body be cut off be- 
hind the belt, the remainder will be reproduced. 
If, however, it is cut in two at the belt, or be- 
tween the belt and the head, it is sure to die. 
The natural uses of the worm seem to be to 
furnish food for moles, frogs, toads, snakes, bird?, 
fishes, and some kinds of insects. It is some- 
times asserted that they are useful to vegetation, 
by boring the earth and loosening it, rendering 
it permeable to air and moisture, and even 
adding to the depth of the soil. But this is 
probably a mistake. The frequent boring of 
the ground makes the adjacent parts firmer. The 
worm-casts thrown up above the worm-holes 
are water-tight, and so prevent the descent of 
water into them. Their subsoiling does not 
amount to much. On the other hand, they do 
positive injury. They disfigure walks and lawns 
by their casts, and eat into roots of plants, es- 
pecially those which are feeble. 
These worms can be destroyed wherever they 
congregate in considerable numbers. As they 
are quite thin-skinned, any hot or caustic liquid 
will kill them. An excellent caustic is made by 
dissolving quick-lime in water, at the rate of 
half a pound of lime to six quarts of water, to 
be applied through a common sprinkling pot. 
Wherever worm-casts appear, sweep these off 
with a stiff broom, and then apply the caustic 
freely. In a short time, the worms will come 
to the surface, and die. 
Varieties op the Horse-chestnut. — The 
number of species and varieties is greater than 
is commonly supposed. Beside the common 
one, with white flowers, tipped with pink, there 
is a scarlet, and a rose-colored, a double white, 
Michaux's, Whiteley's red, a cut-leaved, and the 
common Buckeye. These belong to the genus 
JEsculas. If we include that of Pavia, which is 
smooth-fruited, we have a yellow-flowered, a 
red,. a pendulous dwarf red, a downy-leaved, 
a purple, a flesh-colored, etc., etc. The scarlet 
is particularly fine. We have seen a striking 
effect produced by grafting the alternate limbs 
of the old white with the scarlet ; the result 
was a brilliant, mammoth bouquet. 
Important List of Pear Trees for the 
Vicinity of New-York, Kipening in 
Succession through 5 to 6 Months. 
In the previous volume we have frequently 
referred to the Fruit Growers' meetings held 
weekly at the office of the American Agriculturist, 
on each Thursday at 1 o'clock P. M. Though 
almost entirely informal in their character, the 
discussions of matters pertaining to fruit grow- 
ing have been highly interesting and valuable. 
Several weeks since we suggested to the 
gentlemen present, the desirableness of agreeing 
upon a list of varieties of pears for family use — 
with some regard to marketing, and to ripening in 
succession throughout the entire season — which 
could be recommended at least for the vicinity 
of New- York City. The importance of such a 
selection was urged in view of the greatly in- 
creased general interest in fruit growing, and 
from the fact that the list of trees grown by nur- 
serymen has become so extended as to require 
no little pomological knowledge to select a good 
assortment from their crowded catalogues. We 
also desired such a list as a reply to very nu- 
merous inquiries from our readers for a list of 
good pears for family use, and for market. 
A competent Committee was appointed, and 
a request made that as many as could make it 
convenient should present lists of 20 varieties, 
with the number of each recommended to make 
up an assortment of 100 trees. Such lists were 
furnished at subsequent meetings by Charles 
Downing, Parsons & Co., T. W. Field, W. S. 
Carpenter, A. S. Fuller, Dr. Ward, J. G. Bergen, 
and others, all practical fruit growers of large 
experience. These lists were compared and 
their merits fully discussed at six successive 
meetings. The following list was finally agreed 
upon and recommended almost unanimously. 
Reference was had specially to varieties known 
to be successful in the region of country around 
New-York City, but the list, with slight modi- 
fications, is valuable for the whole country: 
LIST ADOPTED BY THE FRUIT GROWERS MEETING. 
3 Doyenne tl'Ete July 15 to Aug. 10 
3 Beurre Giffard Aug. 1 " " 15 
4 Tyson " 10 " " 30 
10 Bartlett " 15 " Sept. 15 
4 Belle Lucrative " 15 " " 15 
6 Flemish Beauty Sept. 1" " 35 
4 Louise Bonne de Jersey " 10" Oct. 10 
4 Seckel " 15 " " 15 
4 St. Michael Archauge " 15 " " 15 
G Beurre Bose Oct. 1" Nov. 1 
10 Dueliesse d'Angoulcnie " 1 " " 20 
4 Bergen " 1" " 20 
6 Beurre d'Anjou " 10 " " 25 
4 Beurre Clairgeau " 15 " Dec. 15 
4 Beurre Diel " 15" " 1 
4 Urbauiste Oct. " Nov. 
4 De Tongres " " Dec. 15. 
4 Winter "Nelis Nov. " Dec. 
8 Lawrence " " " 
6 Vicar of YTmklield " " Jau. 
The Urbaniste was adopted with the under- 
standing that it comes late into bearing, and the 
De Tongres was added as promising exceedingly 
well, though not sufficiently proved to warrant 
an unqualified recommendation. 
The Louise Bonne, Duehesse, Beurre Diel, and 
Vicar, were considered lest on quince, while 
Bartlett, Flemish Beauty, Seckel, Beurre Bosc, 
Beurre Clairgeau, De Tongres, Winter Nelis 
and Lawrence, were recommended on pear, or 
double worked on quince. The remainder of 
the list may be on either pear or quince. 
At first, strong objections were raised against 
the Vicar of Winkfield, on account of quality, 
but these were over-ruled by those who explain- 
ed that they were not generally well ripened. 
Some specimens exhibited, though prematurely 
ripe, were pronounced really fine, with a spright- 
liness not found in many other sorts. Pears of 
this variety should be picked late, put in a cool 
cellar or other place, and be kept until the first 
or middle of December ; then after exposing for 
one week in a moderately warm room, they col- 
or up finely, and are of fine flavor at a season 
when but few others are to be had. They can 
be kept back until the middle of January. The 
Vicar is one of the most vigorous growers and 
constant producers of large crops that we have. 
There was much discussion over the Beurre 
Bosc— the nurserymen, while admitting all its 
good qualities, say it costs twice as much to 
raise as many other sorts, and they fear if a 
person plants out two-year old trees, he will lose 
half of them, so difficult are they to carry 
through the first few years of growth. After be- 
coming established, and especially on branches 
of large trees, this sort does pretty well, and the 
quality of the fruit is of such excellence, that it 
finally received a strong vote. 
Persons wishing to plant 00 trees can take 
half the various kinds named in the above list, 
or if they do not wish so great a variety, let 
them select from those having the highest num- 
bers, keeping in mind the succession in maturing. 
For Peach Trees. 
A correspondent of the American AgrimUtirist 
writes thus : B. F. Seaver of Orange Co., N. 
J., whose peach trees had not borne fruit for 
several years, had a good crop the past year, 
some trees yielding 3 to 4 bushels each, and the 
trees were very thrifty. He attributes his suc- 
cess to the application of a method recommend- 
ed to him by Mr. Plummer of Newark. In 
early Spring, as soon as the frost began to come 
out of the ground, a teakettleful of scalding-hot 
water was poured over the crotch of each tree, 
(the crotch being generally not far up from the 
ground.) The water circulating round the 
trunk enters the ground, and kills the grubs 
which produce the "yellows" later in the sea- 
son. A small puddle hole iu the ground around 
the base of the trunk should first be made, to 
hold the water as it falls, and if you will exam- 
ine afterwards, you will find the dead worms. 
You can't have the water too hot, and need 
have no fear of injuring the bark of the trees. 
Of course the excellent fruit season had much 
to do with the large crop realized last year, but 
as several duplicate trees*of previous years, in 
the same locality, had died of yellows, it is rea- 
sonable to suppose the above operation had a 
good effect. [We can not affirm that the hot 
water was useless, but we can hardly see howJ.t 
could be beneficial. It could not of course run 
up into the holes of borers, and if it did, it 
would not be hot enough to disturb them after 
running down the trunk. Oilier insects would 
hardly lie found on the surface at a time when 
the frost is just coming out of the ground. A 
continuous stream of hot water would be likely 
to soon destroy the vitality of the bark. Per- 
haps we are wrong, but without the success of 
the method in other years than the past one, we 
should not recommend it for general adoption.] 
