DESTRUCTION OF FRUIT TREES BY THE SEVENTEEN-YEAR LOCUST, ETC. 
279 
DESTRUCTION OF FRUIT TREES BY THE 
SEVENTEEN-YEAR LOCUST. 
By referring to the March number of your jour¬ 
nal for 1847, p. 86, you will find an account of my 
researches at the roots of my pear trees. I there 
stated my belief that the larvae of the seventeen- 
year locust (Cicada septe ndecim), were the principal 
cause of the failure of fruit in this neighbor¬ 
hood. Since then, I have continued my observa- 
vations, and am now convinced that, if not the sole 
cause, it is one of grave importance, as the decline 
of not only fruit but forest trees may be attributed 
to them, particularly the pear, apple, and the oak. 
The trees in the garden and orchard, that I have not 
been able to attend to, are either declining rapidly, 
or are already dead, the roots having been drained 
of their sap by the locusts, while those from which 
these pests have been gathered, are, without excep¬ 
tion, recovering, some having fruit, and all throwing 
out healthy shoots and leaves. 
My first experiment was tried on two pear trees, 
believed to be past recovery, and therefore fit sub¬ 
jects for a merciless exposure of their roots. From 
one tree alone, as before stated, I gathered more 
than four hundred locusts, besides numbers that 
were unavoidably destroyed. All the earth being 
removed within a circumferance of six feet from the 
body of the tree, and two feet in depth, the excava¬ 
tion was immediately filled with fresh soil and ma¬ 
nure • though little hope was entertained for the 
recovery of the trees. This occurred in March, 
1846 : and now (July, 1848), the trees are covered 
with healthy verdure, and the top branches loaded 
with finer fruit than they have borne for six years. 
The old, and moss-covered bark is pealing off, and 
a healthy growth of suckers putting forth from 
every branch. Though much of the returning vigor 
of the tree is to be attributed to the manure and 
fresh soil placed at their roots, their decline was 
unquestionably produced by the locusts. None of 
the trees in the garden, nor orchard, that are too 
young to be infested by the locusts, have suffered 
in the same way, and all the trees, old and young, 
have been carefully manured and cultivated, though 
not to the extent that was necessary while removing 
the insects. 
T send these additional facts, hoping to call the 
attention of those who are interested in the culture 
of our valuable forest, as well as fruit trees, to a 
subject that has heretofore escaped notice, and on 
the next appearance of the locusts, let each one 
judge for himself, as he sees the countless swarms 
emerging from the roots of the valuable timber, on 
which they have been feeding for seventeen years, 
whether they are not an evil to be dreaded, and 
guarded against. 
Since writing the above, I have received the 
Rochester Daily Advertiser, of the 26th of June, 
containing an interesting article on the seventeen- 
year locust, which has confirmed me in my wish to 
make this public, as the fact of the larvie of the 
locust feeding on the roots of trees appears so little 
known. The author ends his very interesting and 
correct account of the perfect insect, by stating that 
u after the eggs are hatched, the insect appears in 
the larva, or grub form, feeds upon the foliage of 
the trees and shrubs in the vicinity, attains its full 
size in a few weeks, descends into the earth be¬ 
low the reach of frost, retaining its skin, or shell, 
remaining in the earth for the period of seventeen 
years, when it returns to the surface, casts off its 
skin, and comes out with wings. What they eat, or 
whether they eat at all, during their subterranean 
life, is not known.” And, in conclusion, he states, 
that “ we are in little danger of being severely 
scourged by any depredations of the locust.” 
A mistake of this kind, made by so intelligent a 
writer, and disseminated through our public jour¬ 
nals, demands attention, as recent observers have 
traced its history, and prove its habits in the larva 
state to be sadly injurious. Great numbers might 
be destroyed when the grubs first make their ap¬ 
pearance, and the evil may be greatly lessened in 
our groves and orchards, by a vigorous pruning of 
the branches on which the eggs are deposited, as the 
larvee drop from the branches a few minutes after 
they are hatched, and shortly after descend into the 
earth, penetrating, in an incredibly short time, to the 
roots, where they remain feeding for the next 
seventeen years, draining the vital principle more 
and more, as they increase in size, until thousands 
of our most valuable fruit and forest trees die of 
exhaustion, without any apparent cause. 
M. II. M. 
Germantown y Pa.y July , 1848. 
A GOOSE STORY. 
At the flour mills of Tubberakeena, near Clonmel, 
Ireland, while in the possession of the late Mrs. 
Newbold, there was a goose, which, by some acci¬ 
dent, was left solitary, without mate or offspring, 
gander or gosling. 
Now, it happened, as is common, that the miller's 
wife had set a number of duck eggs under a hen, 
which in due course were incubated ; and, of course, 
the ducklings, as soon as they came forth, ran with 
natural instinct to the water, and the hen was In a 
sad pucker—her maternity urging her to follow the 
brood, and her selfishness disposing her to keep on 
dry land. In the meanwhile, up sailed the goose, 
and with a noisy gabble, which certainly (being 
interpreted), meant, leave them to my care, she 
swam up and down with the ducklings; and when 
they were tired with their aquatic excursion, she 
consigned them to the care of the hen. The next 
morning, down came again the ducklings to the 
pond, and there was the goose waiting tor them, 
and there stood the hen in her great flustration. 
On this occasion, we are not at all sure that the 
goose invited the hen, observing her maternal 
trouble, but it is a fact, that she being near the 
shore, the hen jumped on her back, and there sat, 
the ducklings swimming, and the goose and hen 
after them, up and down the pond. And this was 
not a solitary event. Day after day, the hen was 
seen on board the goose, attending the ducklings up 
and down, in perfect contented ness and good humor, 
numbers of people coming to witness the circum¬ 
stance, wifi eh continued until the ducklings, coming 
to days of discretion, required no longer the joint 
guardianship of the goose and hen.— Rev. C . 
Ottway. 
The Best American Bee Flowers., —Buck¬ 
wheat and white clover—the former produces the 
best honey, but is less saleable, from its dark color. 
