1848. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
245 
ever enough for a good crop. On the other hand, we 
are assured on good authority, that at Montreal crops 
of peaches have been obtained, after the thermometer 
had sunk as low as twenty-eight degrees below zero— ; 
not the slightest swelling of the buds having previous¬ 
ly taken place, and the trees being merely protected 
from sudden changes by a thin mat. 
Under ordinary circumstances however, in the peach 
districts of New-York and New England, it rarely hap¬ 
pens that the crop escapes a frost of 12° or 15° below 
zero. 
There is no doubt that the cherry and plum, like the 
peach, is rendered more liable to destruction by the 
previous swelling of the buds—-we have known the en¬ 
tire cherry crop destroyed by cold only 12° below zero, 
when the previous winter weather had been quite warm 
Vines on Forest Trees. 
In travelling through the states of Massachusetts 
and Connecticut a few years since, I was drawn to ob¬ 
serve the quantities of grapes growing wild on vines 
that were climbing over the tops of the forest trees;— 
most of those which I tasted were of good quality, and 
they grew in abundance without any care whatever.— 
I have often heard people from the above mentioned 
states, speak of the excellent grapes that they used to 
gather from vines on the forest trees. A few years 
since, a friend of mine took the trouble to collect a 
quantity of cuttings of the best varieties, which he 
planted in his garden. The vines when they grew 
were managed with much care, after the manner that 
Isabella and Catawba vines are, on open trellises.— 
The consequence was, very little fruit was produced, 
and that of a very poor quality,- and as he thought 
he had done his best, he at lenth came to the con¬ 
clusion that it was the change of location that had 
made such a wonderful change in the fruit. It happen¬ 
ed that a few tendrils from one of the vines came in. 
contact with the projecting limb of a plumb tree, and 
in a short time the shoots reached the top of the tree, 
and the next year the owner was gratified to see good 
fruit, and of as good flavor as any that he had ever 
tasted of tbe kind in their native place. In several in¬ 
stances I have known Isabella vines to run rampant 
over the tops of large trees, and they have never failed to 
produce large crops of grapes every year, of better qual¬ 
ity than any that I have ever eaten grown on trellised 
vines, and without any labor being expended. There 
is one vine now growing in this town, that produces 
more grapes than any other six that are managed in 
the ordinary way; and what I wish to suggest is this : 
why cannot Isabella and Catawba grapes be raised to 
any extent throughout our whole country, on the tops 
of the scattering trees in the fields, and along the bor¬ 
ders of wood-lands,and woody ravines, without any labor 
being expended or required, except in planting the vines, 
and training them up a permanent post set for that pur¬ 
pose? There should be three shoots fastened to the sides 
of the post, with loops of leather, until the beginning of 
March in the second year,at which time the number 
should be reduced to one, which is to make the trunk of 
the vine. It should be protected while it is small with 
stakes, to prevent injury by cattle or other animals. The 
vine needs the support of the post until the tendrils obtain 
permanent hold of the limbs of the tree, and the body at¬ 
tains sufficient size to withstand anything that may 
come against it. The vines should not be set near the 
body of the tree, because the ground is already occupi¬ 
ed by the roots of the tree—-but directly under the ex¬ 
tremities of the branches on the south side, where the 
vine will receive the warmth of the sun. If the soil is 
uot first rate, it should be taken away and replaced 
with at least one cart load of rich sods from the roadside, 
which is much better than any highly manured soil for 
the vine or any fruit tree. Much has been written on 
the management of vines, with many precise rules for 
pruining, training, manuring, &c., which all amounts 
to nothing with farmers generally, who have no time 
to devote to such work. All that our native vines want 
is plenty of space to extend over, and plenty of air and 
sun, all of which they receive perfectly if they are al¬ 
lowed to run over the tops of the trees. Another ad¬ 
vantage in planting vines in the situations that I have 
described, is that they are rendered more lasting, and 
will produce fruit for several generations, judging from 
specimens that I have seen growing in different parts 
of our country. Writers compute the age of the vine at 
two hundred years, and they have been known to reach 
a much greater age,- hence in planting a vine we are 
doing work that need not be repeated soon in the same 
place if properly done. I. Hildreth. Seneca, April 
7 , 1848. 
Destruction of the Rose-Bug. 
In the November number of the Cultivator for 1847, 
W. L. Eaton, asks how he shall most effectually destroy 
the rose-bug, one of the greatest pests that we have at 
present among us. In answering this question it may 
be well to glance at the description, and habits, of this 
insect, as described by Dr. Harris, in his “ Report on 
the Insects of Massachusetts.” 
The natural history of the rose-chafer, was for a long 
time involved in mystery, but is at last fully cleared up. 
The unexpected arrival of these insects in swarms, at 
their first coming, and their sudden disappearance, at 
the close of their career, are remarkable facts in their 
history. They come forth from the ground during the 
second week in June, and remain from 30 to 40 days. 
At the end of that period, the males become exhaust¬ 
ed, fall to the ground, and perish ; while the females 
enter the earth, deposit their eggs, return to the sur¬ 
face, and after lingering a few days, die also. The 
eggs laid by each female are about thirty in number, and 
are deposited from one to four inches beneath the sur¬ 
face of the soil ; they are nearly globular, whitish, and 
about one-thirteith of an inch in diameter, and are 
hatched 20 days after they are laid. The grubs attain 
their full size in the autumn, being then nearly three- 
fourths of an inch long, and about one-eighth of an inch 
in diameter. They are of a yellowish-white color, with 
a tinge of blue toward the hinder extremity, which is 
thick and obtuse or rounded ; a few short hairs are 
scattered on the surface of the body; there are six short 
legs, or a pair to each of the first three rings behind 
the head; the latter is covered with a horny shell of 
a pale rust color. In Oetober they descend below the 
reach of frost, and pass the winter in a torpid state.— 
In spring they approach toward the surface, and each 
one forms for itself a little cell of an oval shape, by 
turning round a great many times, so as to compress 
the earth and make the inside of the cavity hard and 
smooth. Within this cell the grub is transformed to a 
pupa, during the month of May, by casting off its skin, 
which is pushed downwards in folds from the head to 
the tail. The pupa has somewhat the form of the per¬ 
fected beetle; but it is of a yellowish white color, and 
its short stump-like wings, its antennae, and its legs are 
folded upon the breast, and its whole body is enclosed 
in a thin film that maps each part seperately. During 
the month of June this filmy skin is rent, the enclosed 
beetle withdraws from its body and its limbs, bursts 
open its earthen cell, and digs its way to the surface of 
the ground. Such being the metamorphose and habits 
of these insects, it is evident that we cannot attack 
them in the egg, the grub, or the pupa state. The 
enemy, in these stages, is beyond our reach, but they 
must be either crushed, scalded, or burned, to deprive 
them of life, for they are not affected by any of the ap- 
