1871.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
{llyphantria textor ), which spreads its tent as it 
moves along, does not seem to mind the rain, 
and is unusually abundant. What an omnivor¬ 
ous thing it is; there is scarcely an ornamental 
or fruit tree or vine upon which it will not make 
itself at home, and it has been more than usually 
troublesome upon the grape. Its web is almost 
invisible, and it is not usually discovered until 
considerable mischief is done. 
Bugs and Bugologists. —The most destruc¬ 
tive insect upon our cucumbers, melons, and 
all plants of that family is the Northern Lady¬ 
bird (Epilachne borealis). Here the Striped-bug 
and the Squash-bug are innocent in comparison 
with this, which goes through the vines like a 
devouring flame. It is a yellow Lady-bird, with 
seven black spots upon each wing-case, and 
has a yellow larva bearing curiously branched 
black spines. Both perfect insect and larva eat 
the leaves at a fearful rate. It is the only 
known Lady-bird that is a vegetable-feeder, and 
it makes up for the abstemiousness of all the 
rest. C. Y. Riley, the State Entomologist of 
Missouri, was here a short time ago. They do 
not have the Epilachne in Missouri—blessed 
people!—and it was gratifying to see him “go 
for ” the specimens. He was heartily w r elcome. 
How refreshing it is to meet with an enthusiast 
in any department of science ! Missouri presents 
an example that some of the older States might 
well follow. She keeps a throughly competent 
entomologist in the field, and publishes his re¬ 
ports in handsome style, with great promptness. 
In New York, the matter is left to that remark¬ 
ably ponderous and slow-going body, the State 
Agricultural Society. They have an entomolo¬ 
gist who sometimes reports and sometimes does 
not. Then, if he has any thing to communicate, 
in two or three years it may get before the peo¬ 
ple, or such of the people as happen to get the 
antiquated volume of reports. 
The Plum Curculio. 
It would be interesting to have a list of the 
various methods proposed for the extermination 
of the curculio. Almost every year we have 
a secret preparation or other remedy proposed. 
It is never heard of afterwards, and we go on 
in the only known certain -way, catching and 
killing. The latest new method comes from 
Col. Hardee, at Jacksonville, Florida. He pro¬ 
poses to frighten the “little Turk” out of his 
wits by means of concussion. Ho says: “ I 
placed two pounds of powder in the hollow of a 
live-oak stump immediately in the vicinity wdierc 
they (the curculios) promised the entire destruc¬ 
tion of some plums, peaches, etc. The powder 
was fired off one calm night, and it not only 
destroyed every curculio, but every winged in¬ 
sect in my entire orchard ” He claims that 
concussion is “ the greatest fertilizer known.” 
Our Southern cotemporaries are giving con¬ 
siderable space to this matter. A correspondent 
of the Bural South-Land writes as follows: 
“ Subsequent experiments have been made upon 
various crops by other persons carrying out 
Col. Hardee’s idea, and especially in the destruc¬ 
tion of the caterpillar in a cotton field, until 
Col. Hardee now claims that concussion may be 
economically used as a specific against the rav¬ 
ages of insects upon the vegetable kingdom. 
He further claims that it was by the frequent 
concussion of heavy artillery that the ravages 
of the yellow fever were prevented, and did not 
prevail in any of the Southern cities during the 
late war.” This is, of course, one of those matters 
that can only be settled by experiment. Should 
the effects of concussion prove to be as destruc¬ 
tive to insects as Col. Hardee claims, we can not 
only turn our swords into plowshares and our 
spears into pruning-hooks, but our artillery into 
curculio-catchers. Dr. Hull’s curculio-catcher 
will please stand aside and let Hardee’s battery 
come up. A gentleman of our acquaintance has 
a fine lot of plum-trees, which has in previous 
years given him good crops—jarring and killing 
the curculio having been faithfully followed. 
He saw it somewhere stated that the fumes of 
carbolic acid would keep away the insects. So 
corn-cobs, saturated with the acid, w T ere hung 
all over the trees, and the jarring abandoned. 
The result is, not a single plum, but the trees 
have a very unique appearance, on account of 
the numerous corn-cobs that are suspended all 
through them. We shall be very glad to record 
some well tested and successful method of 
warding off the attacks of the curculio, but at 
present we are unable to recommend any thing, 
except jarring the trees, catching, and killing. 
Be Just to the Gardeners. 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
A friend called at my office last week and 
asked me if I could recommend him a gardener 
who could manage his place. Knowing that 
already he had one of the best men in the vicin¬ 
ity of New York, I asked him what was the 
matter. He replied, that Mr.-was perfectly 
incompetent, that his grounds were overgrown 
with weeds, and every thing in disorder. Further 
inquiries elicited the fact that he had reduced his 
assistants, to curtail expenses, which, coupled 
with the fact that this vicinity has been deluged 
with rain during the whole of August, readily 
accounted for the weeds and disorder. All who 
have had any experience in working the ground 
know that during periods of such incessant sum¬ 
mer rains as we have had for the past six weeks, 
the labor of two men is hardly equal to that of 
one, and consequently, if additional assistance 
has not been given to meet such contingencies, 
nothing else can be expected but weeds and 
disorder. It is short-sighted economy to with¬ 
hold labor in the garden or on the farm, 
whether it be worked for pleasure or for profit. 
Surely it is any thing but pleasing to see grounds 
overgrown with weeds, and as to profit, we all 
kuow that weeds in the ascendency are the 
bane of all profit to the worker of the soil. 
Ten minutes of this kind of reasoning seem¬ 
ingly convinced my friend that he rather than 
his gardener was at fault. 
Large Collections of Fruit. 
When we take the fruit lists of our nursery 
catalogues, and those given by our pomological 
writers, and compare the hundreds of varieties 
of appies and pears, for instance, with those 
that are actually to be found in the market, we 
see that the proportion of varieties really 
grown is very small in comparison with those 
that are known. In the absence of public col¬ 
lections w r e can not be too grateful to such men 
as Ellwanger & Barry, Col. Wilder, Charles 
Downing, and many others, who for many years 
have kept up, at great expense, large experi¬ 
mental orchards. The number of varieties of 
the pear that will bring a good price in the 
market, may be counted on the fingers, while 
those in the catalogue can be told by hundreds. 
Some Western fruit-grower has said that in 
the Chicago market they only know Bartletts 
and pears—all besides the popular Bartlett not 
being considered worthy of a name. Every 
novice in fruit-growing makes the mistake of 
planting too many varieties of any one fruit. 
When he comes to market his fruit, he finds 
that he has a miscellaneous lot of unpopular 
kinds, and not enough of any one sort to make 
a respectable consignment. In fruit-planting 
for market there should be varieties enough to 
extend over the season, and these of such kinds 
as are known in the market. We think that 
our Horticultural and other societies make a 
mistake in offering large premiums for the 
largest collections of apples, pears, etc. 
Pears in Orchard Culture 
Pear culture maybe regarded in two aspects. 
The amateur who has a few trees in his garden 
grows his trees as pets, cultivates them for the 
love of it, and it makes but little difference to 
him how much his pears have cost him a dozen, 
so that they are from his own trees and the re¬ 
sults of his own labor. With one who sets out 
trees by the thousand with a view to profit from 
the sale of the fruit, the cost of his fruit is a 
matter of great consequence, and whatever 
affects the health of his trees or the quality of 
his fruit appeals at once to his pocket. Those 
who have not been over the ground can have 
but little idea of the extent to which pear cul¬ 
ture has been undertaken in Delaware and the 
adjoining counties of Maryland. A recent trip 
through this section of country enabled us to 
see successes and failures, and a few notes on 
these may be of interest to those contemplating 
pear culture. In visiting a large number of 
orchards we found that success in raising pears, 
as with other crops, only attended good cultiva¬ 
tion. While we saw r partial failures in some 
cases where good culture had been given, -we saw 
no instance in which good crops accompanied 
neglect. At Newark, Del., there are two very 
instructive orchards. One of these belonged 
to Randolph Peters, Esq., who has removed his 
nursery to Wilmington, but still retains at New¬ 
ark a pear orchard of 10,000 trees. These trees 
have been set nine years and comprise standards 
and dwarfs in equal proportions. The rows are 
twenty feet apart, and the intervening spaces 
have been cropped with corn every year. An 
annual manuring is given to the corn crop and 
incidentally to the pear-trees. The leading- 
varieties are Bartlett, Duchesse, Buffura, Seckel, 
and Laurence, though there are many other and 
mainly unprofitable varieties. The kinds men¬ 
tioned were in full bearing, in many cases the 
trees being overloaded and breaking down with 
the weight of fruit. Tiie show of Bartletts -was 
worth going far to see. Charles Downing and 
P. T. Quinn, who were of the party, and who 
had visited the orchards of California, both de¬ 
clared that they saw nothing on the Pacific that 
equalled the display of Bartletts in Mr. Peters’ 
orchard. Other varieties also made a fine show. 
About a mile from Mr. Peters’ orchard is that 
of Prof. E. D. Porter, Professor of Agriculture 
in the Delaware College. The soil of this 
orchard was well prepared, and the trees—1,000 
of different varieties—were planted the same 
season as those of Mr. Peters. The trees, up to 
the time they were six years planted, had been 
kept thoroughly cultivated, and were considered 
models of shape, health, and productiveness. 
About this time the Gardeners’ Monthly wa3 
strongly advocating “ Pear-Trees in Grass,” 
and Prof. Porter was induced to try the plan. 
Cultivation was stopped, and the orchard seeded 
down to grass. The plan of the Gardeners’ 
Monthly was thoroughly carried out and the 
