374 
ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW-YORK 
CHERRY. LEAVES. 
eat them, though I suppose it to be more for sport than food that 
grimalkin is frequently seen at twilight, stealthily creeping 
through the grass of the door-yard, and springing upon these 
beetles as they crawl therefrom to take wing. Our domestic 
fowls are also very fbnd of the grubs. But of all the destroyers 
of these insects, no other animal can vie with the crow, which 
frequently follows the track of the plow to feed upon the grubs 
of the May beetle which are turned up thereby. 
With regard to remedies we may observe, that in Europe the 
experience of centuries has failed to discover any efficient measure 
for destroying a similar insect during the larva period of its exis¬ 
tence. And concealed in the ground as these grubs are, it is not 
probable that any substance can be applied to the soil of sufficient 
power to kill them without destroying also whatever vegetation is 
there growing. But where these grubs are so numerous as to sever 
the roots of the grass and pare the turf, I think there is a measure 
which may readily be resorted to whereby they may be extermi¬ 
nated. I would recommend the placing of a temporary fence 
around that part of the meadow or pasture which is so thronged 
with these grubs, and enclosing a number of swine therein, thus 
for a while converting the patch into a hog pasture. The pro¬ 
pensity of these animals for rooting and tearing up the turf, we 
are all aware, is for the very purpose of coming at and feeding 
upon the grubs and worms which are lurking therein; and who 
knows but this rooting propensity, which has all along been com¬ 
plained of as being the most troublesome and vicious habit which 
belongs to swine, may after all turn out to be the most valuable 
and necessary to us of any of the habits with which they are 
endowed 1 At all events, it is one of man’s greatest achievements 
to so observe and study the habits and instincts of the lower ani¬ 
mals, as to devise ways whereby those habits and instincts, instead 
of being exerted to his injury, are brought into his service and 
made to work for his benefit. Therefore do not let us “ lords of 
creation ” allow these vile field grubs to rob us of two or three 
acres of grass without obliging them to give back to us an equiv¬ 
alent for it. Let us have the value of that grass returned to us 
in the increased size and thriftiness of our swine. I cannot but 
think these animals, confined upon a spot so overstocked with 
