182 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
May. 
Oil Troughs for the Curculio. 
Eds. Cultivator —Among all the remedies which have 
been proposed for the wholesale destruction of certain 
fruits by the Curculio, I believe there is none which is at 
once so cheap and effectual, as to merit general, or very 
extensive application. I have been led to this conclusion 
principally, by my reading of the “ Cultivator” within 
the last four or five years. 
The object of this communication is to suggest one be¬ 
lieved to be new in its application, and to present some 
of the considerations which have induced the hope that 
it may be found effectual. 
The remedy I have to propose, is a trough of sheet 
lead, (or other suitable material,) placed around the 
trunk of the tree, and partially filled with oil. This was 
tried on a single plum tree, during the past season, by 
Mr. Robert N. Bassett, of this town, with results as fa¬ 
vorable as could have been expected under the circum¬ 
stances. The season was too far advanced, and most of 
the fruit had been stung, when it was applied. On the 
first morning after the application, he found a considera¬ 
ble number of the Curculios drowned in the oil, and in 
the course of the season, the trough became “ half filled 
with them.” A few of the plums which had not been 
previously stung, remained untouched, and in a healthy 
state. 
This application was suggested to Mr. B. by his finding 
several Curculios on the trunk of the tree, which he sup¬ 
posed were making their way up ; and by his observing 
that when he allowed those he had taken to fly off*, they 
never rose, but invariably took a downward direction. 
His inference was that they usually, at least, reached the 
top of the tree by climbing up its trunk, and therefore, 
that any obstruction placed around the trunk, would pre¬ 
vent their reaching the top. 
To conquer the Curculio, would doubtless be one of 
the most important achievements in fruit culture, which 
could be attained. Of the extent and destructiveness of 
its ravages, little need be said ; they are too well, and too 
widely known. In this section, the plum, the apricot and 
the nectarine, in all their varieties, are forbidden fruit. 
The trees grow and bear well, but this destroyer has a 
complete monopoly of the crop. Cherries, if too abun¬ 
dant to be all destroyed, are at least half “wormy” at 
maturity. Apples, pears, quinces and even peaches, are 
also very extensively injured. I presume the same may 
be said of every portion of the country where the soil is 
light or sandy. 
Believing that the oil trough, as used by Mr. Bassett, 
will be found a cheap, convenient, and effectual protection 
against the Curculio, lam desirous that it should be sug¬ 
gested to the public through your widely circulating 
Journal, trusting that it will be thoroughly tested during 
the coming season. 
Most of your readers who have been in New-Haven 
within the last dozen years, will have noticed leaden 
troughs, (which are partially filled with oil.) encircling 
the numerous Elm trees in that city. They have been 
placed there, and are maintained by the city authorities, 
at considerable expense, to protect the trees from caterpil¬ 
lars, which, before their use, were often so numerous as 
to divest the trees entirely of their foliage before mid¬ 
summer. I suppose the worm is hatched upon the tree, 
but is apt to fall to the ground, and instinctively returns 
by climbing up the trunk. This being the case the oil 
trough affords only a partial protection—yet it has served 
to preserve a tolerable degree of verdue on the trees 
throughout every season since its adoption. It is a most 
effectual trap for every worm or insect which attempts to 
reach the top of the tree by climbing up its trunk, and 
may be found to protect fruit trees against other enemies, 
besides the Curculio. H. Birmimgham, ( Derby ,) Ct . 
-- 
Keeping Poultry. 
Eds. Cultivator —Having heard complaints that sun¬ 
dry persons, who had been induced to keep barn-yard 
fowls in large numbers, expecting to find it very profita¬ 
ble, from the accounts published in the agricultural pa¬ 
pers, have been greatly disappointed in the result of their 
trials, as their fowls have cost them far more for their 
keeping than their eggs have sold for—I send for the in¬ 
formation of such persons, to revive their hopes, and for 
the encouragement of others, to make trial of means 
which have been found so successful in cases where the 
trial has been faithfully made, the following account. 
A man in my neighborhood has kept through the win¬ 
ter, twenty-five hens. Between the 1st of December, 
1851, and the 1st of March, 1852, he has sold from what 
they have laid, fifty dozen of eggs, besides using in his 
family several dozen. As the winter has been a cold one, 
and the ground covered with snow, most of his neighbors 
who keep fowls, complain that they have had no eggs. 
He informs me, (and he is a man who may be relied on 
with perfect confidence,) that he has for several years 
managed and kept his fowls, in the following man¬ 
ner. A warm hen-house, where they can come to the 
ground daily—poles of Sassafras for them to roost on, 
which drives away the lice—a mixture of food, as corn, 
oats, and broom-corn seed, or cob-meal scalded, and in 
very cold weather, a little black pepper put into it. A. 
little before they go to roost, give them as much corn as 
they will eat; give them daily some pounded bones, or 
pounded oyster shells; he considers bones the best; and 
if they omit laying for a few days, he boils oats, and puts 
into the mess a couple of red peppers, chopped fine, and 
the mess given warm. He says they will generally com¬ 
mence laying very soon after being fed in this manner. 
A regular supply of water is needful. He gives them 
fresh meat occasionally, when he can procure it without 
much expense. In his operations he is a man of econo¬ 
my, and has found it best to dispose of most of his fowls 
in the spring for the table, when they are always fat, and 
poultry high, and eggs cheap. He has found the half 
blood China fowls to be the most constant layers. Jesse 
Charlton. East-Wmdsor Hill, Ct., March 2, 1852. 
- +++ - 
Floors foR Pig-Sty. —The following good hint is fur¬ 
nished by the Massachusetts Plowman: “Styes ought 
to have floors laid on the naked loam, in order to be ea¬ 
sily cleaned out. Inch boards of oak or chestnut, well 
fastened down, and kept covered with earth will last 20 
years.” This earth, when well mixed with manure, is 
easily thrown off the floor by the shovel. 
