STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
375 
CHERRY. LEAVES. 
grubs, would in a short time ferret out and devour every one of 
them, leaving the soil cleansed, mellowed, manured, and well 
prepared for being immediately laid down to grass again, or for 
receiving any rotation of crops for which the proprietor may deem 
the spot best adapted. It should be observed that when cold 
weather approaches, these worms sink themselves deep into the 
ground so as to be beyond the reach of frost during the winter, 
and return back to near the surface again when spring returns; 
so that when they are severing the roots of grass there will proba ■ 
bly be none deeper than hogs are accustomed to root. It will be 
interesting to know how long a given number of swine will be 
occupied in cleansing an acre of ground containing from twelve 
to twenty of these grubs in every square foot. And I earnestly 
hope those who have lands which are devastated in the manner 
spoken of, will try the experiment which I have now proposed, 
and will make the result known to the public, whether it be suc¬ 
cessful or otherwise. 
When these grubs have completed their growth, and come abroad 
in their perfect state, another opportunity is presented for destroy¬ 
ing them and preventing their future increase. Every year when 
the middle of May is approaching, cherry and plum trees should 
be inspected each evening, particularly our choicest varieties of 
these trees, to ascertain if the May-beetles are collecting in num¬ 
bers upon them; and if they are, they should immediately be 
shaken off upon sheets spread beneath the trees, and emptied into 
bags or covered pails, and should be killed by immersing them in 
boiling water, or pouring this upon them; after which they may 
be fed to the swine and poultry. Many years ago a writer in the 
New-York Evening Post stated that trees could in this manner be 
entirely freed from these beetles in a very few evenings. Trees 
from which two pailsful were collected the first evening furnished 
a much less number upon each succeeding night, imtil the fifth, 
when only two beetles could be found upon them. 
The Rose-bug, No. 50, a buff yellow beetle smaller than the 
preceding, eats the leaves, the last of June. 
