182 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
June 
on a par with the stale English notions that very old 
cucumber and melon seeds will run less to vines and 
produce more abundant crops than new seed, and with 
the silly idea that by placing melon seeds in a panta¬ 
loons’ pocket for some time previous to planting, that 
the warmth will improve their quality or accelerate the 
maturity of the crop. All these and the visionary tales 
about planting seeds, and rearing crops at certain 
stages of the moon, which some of our least favored an¬ 
cestors brought over with them from Europe, have long 
since been exploded by intelligent American minds. 
They nevertheless exist in full force among the benight¬ 
ed and uneducated population of many countries of 
Europe. The “ Seventeen years Locust” will doubt¬ 
less in time prove to be one of the same category. It 
is discreditable to the mind of man to yield a blind cre¬ 
dence to any statement as to a result or effect, unless a 
cause is assigned that will afford conclusive grounds 
for our mental conviction. Flushing, March 6, 1848. 
Wm. R. Prince. 
Albany & Rensselaer Horticultural Society. 
The.annual meeting of tnis society was held in Al¬ 
bany on the 6th of May. The following gentlemen 
were elected officers for tne ensuing year. 
President. —JOEL RATHBONE, of Bethlehem. 
Vice Presidents. —D. Thomas Vail, Troy; Dr. Her¬ 
man Wendell, Albany,* Ezra P. Prentice, Bethle¬ 
hem; V. P. Dtrow, Greenbush. 
Secretary. —B. P. Johnson, Albany. 
Treasurer. —A. E. Brown, Albany. 
Managers .— Amos Briggs, Schaghtieoke ; Stephen 
E. Warren, Troy; J. M Lovett, Albany; Wm. Bus- 
well, Troy ; J. McD McIntyre, Albany ;Jas. Henry, 
Watervliet; Wm. Newcomb, Pittstown; James Wil¬ 
son, Albany; A. Osborn, Watervliet. 
Exhibitions of fruits and flowers, will be held by this 
society as follows: At Albany, June 14th; at Troy, 
July 22th; at Albany, September ■—, annual show; at 
Albany, second Wednesday of February, 1847. 
The Curculio, 
As it has been fully decided by fruit growers that 
there is no royal road” to the destruction of the cur¬ 
culio, it becomes very desirable that the common road 
should be made as smooth as possible. Under ordina¬ 
ry circumstances, fine crops of plums, apricots and nec¬ 
tarines, cannot be obtained without protection from this 
insect, and it often happens that other fruit suffers from 
its attacks. 
After trying nearly all the numerous remedies which 
have been recommended, we have come to the conclu¬ 
sion that for general application, the best mode is a 
combination of two—first, destroy all that is possible 
by jarring them down on white muslin, and secondly, 
suffer pigs and geese to pick up and devour all the in¬ 
jured fruit which falls. Where pigs and geese cannot 
be admitted, a more diligent application of the jarring 
will be effectual, but otherwise, these animals Will 
greatly lessen the labor. 
It has been urged, as a serious objection to the mode 
of jarring down on muslin, that the labor often amounts 
to more than the value of the fruit. Where this reme¬ 
dy is but imperfectly applied the time required for the 
extermination of the insect is prolonged, and the crop, 
besides, may be nearly destroyed. Hence a vigorous 
attack will be found altogether the most economical. 
1 o facilitate the work, we have adopted two different 
contrivances, both of which will be found essential ad¬ 
vantages, and great improvements on the old mode of 
merely spreading white sheets under the treps. The 
* In general seeds saved from double varieties will produce 
double flowers whether it be new or old. 
Inverted umbrella for catching Curculios — Fig. 45 
first, is a large umbrella, (Fig. 45), with a white cov¬ 
ering, with an opening or slit between, to stiff arms, b. 
b, to receive the trunk of the tree. The arms, or ex¬ 
panding radii, should be nearly straight when the um¬ 
brella is spread, and not curved as is usually the case. 
If they are made of bamboo, an umbrella six feet in 
diameter, will not cost more than two dollars and may 
be procured to order at any factory. In using this im¬ 
plement, it is spread, placed in an inverted position 
and passed under the tree. The blow of a mallet is 
given on the short stub of a limb, a, which will jar all 
or nearly all the curculios from the branches; the um¬ 
brella is then partly folded and shaken at the same mo¬ 
ment, by which all the insects are thrown through an 
opening a few inches in diameter at the centre, made 
for this purpose, into a pail of hot water already pro¬ 
vided, or into a shallow vessel of oil of turpentine, and 
thus their destruction is as speedy as complete. A 
hundred trees may thus be cleared in a few minutes, 
and if attended to twice a day, will certainly save the 
erop. 
Muslin on. light frames, for catching Curculios—Fig 46. 
Where the trees are very large, or where an umbrella 
cannot be conveniently procured, square frames, made as 
light as possible and covered with white muslin, as repre. 
sentedbyFig. 46, will answer a good purpose, but will not 
be quite so convenient nor expeditious as the former 
mode. Each piece of muslin is attached to two square 
frames, so that it may be folded together, like a book. 
This folding will throw the insects together, and then 
lifting the frame and inclining it over a vessel of hot 
water or turpentine, they are easily jarred into it. 
The advantage of a white surface is the operator 
sees at once where the insects are, and whether he is 
accomplishing his work. 
Disease of Fruit Trees; 
I see by your periodical, that the pear tree blight is 
attributed to frost. I had a pear tree in 1846, attack¬ 
ed by a species of blight, (whether the same you have 
at the north, I cannot say) but thisVas a species of fun¬ 
gus; the bark became covered with small brown spot% 
