STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
661 
ASPARAGUS BEETLE ASPARAGUS EXTENSIVELY CULTIVATED ON LONG ISLAND. 
of in Europe. An article was thereupon furnished to the Country Gentle¬ 
man, which appeared in that periodical the following month (vol. xx, p. 32) 
announcing the presence of this insect in our country, and giving a descrip¬ 
tion of it in the different stages of its life. From the imperfect information 
which I then possessed, I supposed that, having newly arrived upon our 
shores, it was probably limited to a small district as yet, and if so, that it 
might be possible to crush and exterminate it, whereby our country would be 
released from it, perhaps for a century to come, as it has been for two centu 
ries past. 
It was only by inspecting the insect in the field of its operations that such 
a full acquaintance with it and the conditions favoring its existence could well 
be obtained as would enable me to judge of the practicability of subduing it, 
now, before it becomes more widely spread and more securely established. 
As one of the most important points remaining to be discovered respecting it 
was the state and situation in which it secretes itself during the winter season, 
it was in the month of October, when it had mostly retired into its winter 
quarters, that I visited Long Island on this business. 
In reporting the information which I there obtained I may first allude to 
the value of this crop upon Long Island, and the amount of loss which this 
insect is threatening to occasion. 
Some of the largest asparagus plantations are at the western extremity of 
the island. The name of Mr. Backus was mentioned to me as having one 
vhundred acres occupied by this plant. But attention in that vicinity is more 
directed to other market vegetables, whereby this receives less care and is not 
grown to so great perfection as at some other localities. The best asparagus 
is brought to the New York market from different places along the Sound in 
Queens county. Oyster Bay and Glen Cove in particular are noted for the 
quality and amount of this vegetable which they export. There are steam¬ 
boat landings, one near the north-east the other near the north-west corners 
of the town of Oyster Bay, some thirty miles distant from New York. Be¬ 
tween and five miles equi-distant from these two places is the hamlet and 
post office of Matinnecock, where this plant appears to be cultivated in 
the greatest perfection—where the premium's on asparagus of late years 
awarded by the Queens County Agricultural Society have all been taken_ 
and where this insect has the past summer been most destructive. The local¬ 
ity appears to be peculiarly well adapted by nature for the growth of this 
plant, it being a nearly level tract at the head of one of the arms of Oyster 
Bay and but moderately elevated above the ocean level, its soil for the most 
part a deep sand, the cultivated portions of which are kept in a high state of 
fertility by stable manure brought by water from the city, of which one hun¬ 
dred carman’s loads (of fourteen bushels) per acre are customarily applied_this 
being the dressing given each year to the asparagus beds. The largest and 
bast crops in this place have been grown by Peter Cock, who is now deceased. 
Full particulars of the crops he has produced may be found in the Transac¬ 
tions of our Society for 1860 and 1861. He has seven acres planted to 
asparagus, his sales from which amount to two thousand dollars annually, one- 
a f of which is clear profit. And it is in his plantation that the Asparagus 
