1850. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
269 
tuted for knowledge, and innumerable mistakes 
were made and multiplied. 
Where trees have been set out in rows, it is very 
easy to register the names one by one in each suc¬ 
cessive row, in a book kept for that purpose, which 
1 2 3 4. S 6 7 8 9 o 
may be referred to at any moment for fifty years to 
come. This, therefore, is the first thing to be done, 
and should not be neglected another day by any one 
who abhors confusion. 
To indicate the number of each tree, and save the 
trouble of counting the row, wood labels may be sus¬ 
pended to a side branch by means of a strong cop¬ 
per wire, made in 
large loop so as not 
soon to cut the bark. 
The numbers may be 
cut into the labels with 
a knife, by following 
the above marks, last¬ 
ing a great number of years,or as 
long as the wood remains. (Fi< 
a.) When these numbers are cut 
into the label (Fig. b.) they are 
read from the suspended 
end, by which no mistake is made. 
The name may be written with a 
pencil on white paint, on the re¬ 
verse side of this label, and when 
in the course of years it becomes 
obliterated, it may be at once re¬ 
stored by referring to the perma¬ 
nently cut numbers. 
A very simple and original label 
for numbering trees, which will 
last a life time, is made of large 
copper wire, with the numbers marked with a 
three-cornered file, as shown by fig. c. The wire 
is twisted round a 
side limb as in Fig. 
d. These labels 
are made and mar¬ 
ked with great ra¬ 
pidity. 
Durable labels, 
containing the full 
name, are conveni¬ 
ently made by 
cutting strips 
of sheet lead 
aboutSinches 
long,3-4ths of 
an inch wide 
at one end, 
and tapering 
to a point at the other. A hole is 
punched through at the middle, and 
the smaller end is brought round the 
branch, and secured by drawing it 
through the hole and giving it a 
twist. Fig. e. f. The letters are 
to be previously stamped into the 
lead by printer’s type. Sheet tin 
may be used instead of lead, using 
a sharp awl to write the name by 
cutting through the tin coating, ox¬ 
idation soon rendering the letters 
distinct. 
Early Notices ol the Curculio. 
The Curculio is a native of the United States, 
and I believe not known on the Eastern Continent. 
I have turned to the great “Natural History of 
New-York,” but find nothing on Entomology, and 
presume that this important field has not been ex¬ 
plored under the patronage of the State. How far 
this destructive insect has been found to the east, 
west, north, and south,-—would be an interesting 
inquiry; and I would feel thankful to any of your 
correspondents for contributing such information in 
regard to its limits, as they may happen to possess. 
In Darlington’s 11 Memorial of John Bartram ,” 
lately published, I find the following notice from 
Peter Collinson of London, dated “ March 14, 
1736-7,” in which he refers to J. B.’s “very parti¬ 
cular account how your plums are destroyed by an 
insect. Pray change the stock, and graft plums 
and nectarines on peach stocks, which being a vi¬ 
gorous, free stock, and not liable to these insects, 
may succeed better. Pray try; I have a great opi¬ 
nion of its succeeding.” 
A project evidently so ineffective, led me at first 
to doubt whether the Curculio was the insect refer¬ 
red to; but letters of a later date, clearly settle this 
question. 
J. Bartram (“April 16, 1746,”) speaks of the 
sloe, “which we have had in the country these fifty 
years. I plant them about my hedges, where it 
grows to a large size. The blossoms are prodi¬ 
gious full, but never one ripe fruit. They were bit 
with the insect, as all our stone fruit is, but the 
peaches; and some kinds of cherries overgrow them.” 
It would appear from what follows that the pro¬ 
posed remedy was not very cordially received by the 
American Botanist,—for in reply to some remarks 
wdiich are now probably lost, P. Collinson says, 
(April 24, 1746,”) 
“Though thou canst not see, yet I have told thee 
what inoculating on a peach stock may do. If I 
am not out in my conjecture—as it is a free stock, 
and sends up its sap plentifully, it may assist the nec¬ 
tarine and apricot at a seasonwhen supplies are wan¬ 
ting. As thou has tried the north side of buildings, 
and sides of water courses, &c., to no purpose with 
plums, pray give the other fruits as fair a chance. 
“To prevent the depredations of the Beetle, I 
confess, is not so easy as some other bad effects ; yet 
as we know the duration of this insect is but short, 
if while he is so noxious, some contrivance could be 
found out to disturb or destroy him, you then 
might hope to taste a nectarine,—one of the most 
delicious fruits in the universe, and much exceeds a 
peach, in a rich vinous-flavored juice. And an 
apricot is also one of the fine fruits. Last year, our 
standards were overloaded, which were allowed to 
excel the wall fruit. 
“ Suppose as soon as this beetle is discovered, if 
the trees -were to be smoked, with burning straw 
under them, or at some distance, so as to fumigate 
their branches at a time the beetles are most liable 
to attack the fruit; or if the trees were to be squirt¬ 
ed on by a hand engine, with water in which tobac¬ 
co leaves were soaked; either of these two me¬ 
thods, I should think, if they did not totally pre¬ 
vent, yet at least would secure so much of these 
fine fruits as would be worth the labor of people of 
circumstances, who are curious to taste these deli- 
delicious fruits in perfection. 
“ I take it, the reason the plum succeeds so well, 
is the frequent shaking the trees, by being planted 
in a frequented place. The beetles are tumbled off, 
