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AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
llrfntliral 
RAIS KG PLUMS-A CONVENIENT CURCIT 
LIO TRAP. 
Almost every month for a few years past 
some new “ infallible ” remedy for the de 
struction of the curculio has appeared. Some 
of these have been published, while the for 
tunate discoverers of others have not been 
generous or public-spirited enough to let their 
neighbors into the secret without a prepaid 
bonus from the public, or the public’s ser¬ 
vant—the Government. 
But, after all, we have advanced little be¬ 
yond the old, original remedy of jarring the 
“ critters ” into a sheet and burning them. 
We are indebted to Dr. E. S. Hull, of Alton 
111., for an ingenious and convenient arrang- 
ment for doing this—not before published, 
we believe—which is worthy of description. 
It is unpatented, and any one can lit out his 
own apparatus. 
It consists essentially of a light circular 
frame, covered with canvass, and placed upon 
a wheel-barrow. This lrame, which is 10 to 
15 feet in diameter, according to the general 
size of the trees, is constructed in the shape 
of an inverted umbrella—the center resting 
in the middle of the barrow—thus forming a 
kind of broad, hollowing dish, with a box un¬ 
der the center for catching whatever falls 
upon the canvass and rolls down into the 
middle. An opening or slit, wide enough to 
admit the body of the tree, is made from the 
front part of the frame nearly to the center 
In the back part of this slit, and over a point 
just forward of the wheel, a jarring block or 
“ ram ” is placed, the front of which is cov¬ 
ered with a piece of India rubber or of felt, 
or a few thicknesses of an old hat, to prevent 
barking the tree. 
The apparatus being thus arranged, the 
operator takes the long handles and wheels 
it around the orchard. He runs under each 
tree—the tree passing into the slit, so as to 
bring the apparatus under all the branches— 
and giving two or three blows with the“ bat¬ 
tering ram,” the curculios are brought down 
upon the canvas and tumbled into the receiv¬ 
ing box, together with the decaying plums, 
&c. The sides of the canvas should be quite 
steep, so that the motion of the barrow will 
carry everything falling upon the canvas 
down into the box. 
One man with this apparatus can go over 
an orchard of three or four hundred trees 
during the forenoon. This should be com¬ 
menced on the first appearance of the curcu¬ 
lios in May, and be continued at intervals 
until their disappearance in July. The best 
time for catching the insect is in the early 
part of the day. Dr. Hull informs us that he 
goes over the ground as often as he can 
catch curculios from a hundred trees. 
This apparatus he has used for five years 
with unvarying success. It is certainly a 
simple arrangement, which can be cheaply 
constructed, and is worthy of general adop¬ 
tion by those who expect to succeed in rais¬ 
ing plums. 
The ravages of the curculio are becoming 
so general that it is hardly worth while for 
any one to attempt to do much at cultivating 
plums, unless he keep trees enough to em¬ 
ploy a man to attend to them from the set 
ting to the gathering of the fruit. When i 
good market is near, fifty trees are enough 
to do this with a fair profit. 
Dr. Underhill, of Croton Point, however, 
has succeeded admirably in raisingplums, by 
setting the trees around artificial ponds, and 
leaning them over the water. The insect 
instinctively avoids depositing its eggs where 
the young are exposed to certain destruc¬ 
tion the moment they drop from the trees. 
W T e learned, in our conversation with Dr 
Hull, of an experiment he made sometime 
since, which militates against the various 
remedies founded on the theory of destroy¬ 
ing the curculios that burrow in the earth 
around the base of the tree. Having de¬ 
stroyed the insects upon his own trees and 
packed the earth well under them, he soon 
found a new and plentiful supply of the 
depredators. In order to ascertain whether 
these, contrary to the received opinion, had 
come from a neighbor’s, he caught a large 
number of them, applied whitewash to their 
backs with a feather, and carried them to the 
neighboring trees. In a short time he again 
found upon his own trees a large proportion 
of the “spotted” insects. They had evi¬ 
dently learned the way, and proved that they 
have migratory habits. 
MARKET PEARS. 
The two most highly renowned pears for 
market, are the Bartlett and Virgalieu (or 
Doyenne.) Fine Bartletts were bought at 
about eight or nine dollars per barrel the 
past season, in the eastern cities ; and single 
specimens are often sold for twelve and a 
half cents each—sometimes more than trip- 
pie this amount. This sort possesses, emi¬ 
nently, a very desirable quality for market¬ 
ing, namely, that of ripening well and as¬ 
suming all its delicious flavor, if picked a 
fortnight before full maturity, and even if 
not quite fully grown. They may thus be 
sent long distances by railroad without in¬ 
convenience or detriment; and if kept ex¬ 
cluded from the light, will mature with a 
handsome and brilliant blush, of which the 
same specimens would be destitute if ripened 
in the light. The productiveness of the 
Bartlett and its early bearing, also strongly 
recommend it. We have raised about a 
peck from a tree, set out the year before, 
when an inch in diameter. When the tree 
becomes large its bearing qualities are not 
lessened. We never saw heavier crops of 
any pear, than those thefpresent season on 
the old trees standing on the clay grounds of 
Lewis F. Allen, of Black Rock—(corres¬ 
ponding Editor of the American Agricultur¬ 
ist,) the large specimens nearly touching 
each other, on the branches, bending, almost 
like weeping willows, under their loads. 
But the Bartlett has some draw t 
is unusually liable to the fire-blight; and the 
fruit matures during the continuance of the 
peach season, and few would pay a dollar 
per peck for the pears, when they can pro¬ 
cure the most delicious peaches for a dollar 
per bushel. 
In this respect the Virgalieu has decidedly 
the advantage of the Bartlett. It is much 
less liable to blight, and its period of maturi¬ 
ty is long after the quickly-perishable fruits 
have gone. Its quality is unsurpassed for 
most palates; and its wide-spread reputation 
renders it exceedingly saleable.* These qual¬ 
ities have placed it far above any other au¬ 
tumn variety throughout western New-York 
and in many other places, although in most 
localities along the sea-board it is worthless 
from cracking. We should object on this 
account to recommending its exclusive or 
even very extensive cultivation, for if once 
fine at Boston and now deteriorated, there 
is a possibility that the same result may take 
place elsewhere. Even as far west as Cay¬ 
uga County, the scab and cracking are be¬ 
coming quite common, and it is not unknown 
in Ohio. 
It becomes desirable, therefore, for those 
who would have more than one leg to their 
stools, to look to other varieties. There are 
very few sorts that ripen before peaches— 
but these few may be worthy of attention, as 
pears will keep longer after picking and bear 
longer carriage than some other perishable 
fruits. Unfortunately there are very few 
sorts that are early enough to come in de¬ 
cidedly in advance of peaches, and among 
these few, the summer Doyenne (Doyenne 
d’ ete) and Madeleine are undoubtedly the 
best very early sorts. The Giffard, Osband, 
and Bloodgood, verge very closely on early 
peaches. 
The late autumn pears are so far superior 
in quality to those which may be termed 
strictly the harvest varieties, that they must 
be mainly looked to for profitable market 
culture. Besides the Virgalieu, the follow¬ 
ing give great promise—and although well 
known to pomologists have not as yet been 
extensively produced from orchards. 
Louise Bonne of Jersey .]—Well known as 
a large, very handsome, early bearing, and 
exceedingly productive variety, especially 
when grown on the quince, on which it 
flourishes with great vigor. 
Buffum —also well known for its vigorous 
growth and great productiveness, succeeding 
on both pear and quince, but always to be 
preferred on the former for orcharding. It 
is of only medium size, but possesses an ex¬ 
cellent flavor—and will be always valued for 
the facility with which a given quantity ol 
the fruit may be raised. 
Flemish Beauty .—This admirable pear has 
several excellent qualities. It is large, hand¬ 
some in form* fine, buttery and melting in 
texture, and delicious in flavor. The tree is 
a strong, vigorous and handsome grower, and 
uniformly productive of fair fruit. Its only 
objection is a tendency to drop too easily 
* A fruit dealer sent several barrels of this pear to New- 
York City—apart labelled as Virgalieu. and the rest as 
White Doyenne. The “ Virgalieus ” sold for about double 
the amount obtained for the “ Doyennes ”!! 
tThis long name ought to be shortened to “Jersey 
Louise.” (There is another “Louise Bonne.”) Some 
pomologists persist in spelling it full in French, “ Louise 
Bonne de Jersey,” in order to avoid a mixture of English 
and French, but fail in the attempt, for they never give it 
a pure French pronunciation. 
