1851. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
269 
other parts, and hence the immediate lopping of all such 
limbs must be resorted to. Discovering some weeks 
since that a considerable number of pear trees were just 
becoming affected, the knife and saw were promptly and 
freely applied, even at. some distance below all appear¬ 
ance of blackened bark, although it became necessary 
to destroy some very fine newly set fruit of rare varie¬ 
ties. This checked at once all progress, and no indica¬ 
tions have since appeared. A neighbor, who hesitated 
a few days in thus “ mutilating” some of his favorites, 
was-ultimately compelled to lose nearly the whole of 
them. The portions cut off were buried in another place 
to prevent the spread of the infection. In malignant 
cases, this remedy may prove insufficient, or it may 
have to be repeated for many successive days. But 
how much better it is that a tree should fall before the 
knife, than to perish wholly by blight and spread the 
poison through the orchard. 
The Curculio— Causes of Failure. 
It is more than 20 years since I caught this trouble¬ 
some insect on sheets, and secured my crops of plums, 
nectarines, and apricots; and whenever the business has 
been thoroughly done, I have never been disappointed. 
An average of about 1,500 curculios, caught in the first 
ten days of summer, though sometimes rather earlier, 
have proved a sufficient reduction of the tribe. 
This method of protecting stone fruit, I first publish¬ 
ed in the New-York Farmer; and afterwards I several 
times introduced the subject into the old Genesee Far¬ 
mer. Of late, however, I have seen reports of its inef¬ 
ficacy ,• and as the word “shaking” has been generally 
used, perhaps the following extract from the latter jour¬ 
nal, which I wrote in 1832, (vol. 2, p. 185-6,) may throw 
some light on the difficulty. 
The first statement was dated 6th mo. 7, 1832, 
and describes the imperfect mode as commonly practi¬ 
ced:— 
“ On the first day of this month, I observed some cur¬ 
culios on the plum trees in my fruit garden ; and not 
knowing how numerous they might prove, or how much 
danger was to be apprehended from them, we spread 
the sheets which we keep exclusively for this purpose, 
and by shaking, we taught from about fifty trees, more 
than 30 of those insects. Since that time, on different 
days, we have made similar trials; but we soon became 
satisfied that only a few were left; and unless others mi¬ 
grate hither, which the movements of the hogs will be 
likely to prevent, I think their depredations will be very 
limited this season.” 
Three days afterwards I furnished the following state¬ 
ment, containing a very important improvement on the 
mode before described:— 
“Not three days ago, I saw that many of the plums 
were punctured, and began to suspect that shaking the 
trees was not sufficient. Under a tree in a remote part 
of the fruit garden, having spread the sheets, I made the 
following experiment; On shaking it well, I caught five 
curculios; on jarring with my hand, I caught twelve 
more; and on siriking the tree with a stone, eight more 
dropped on the sheets. I was now convinced that I had 
been in an error; and calling in the necessary assistance, 
and using a hammer to jar the tree violently , we caught 
in less than one hour more than 260 of these insects.” 
Now I should think that these statements would ex¬ 
plain all the failures that have occurred in this business. 
At that time my trees were not large, but they have long 
since become so; and to attempt to shake them now, or 
to jar them with the hand, would be out of the question. 
We only strike them with an axe, and the blows may be 
heard to a considerable distance. To muffle the pounder 
to prevent its bruising the bark, would be preposterous 
in the extreme; for the stroke to be effectual, must be a 
sharp and sudden jar.* 
Some of the success, of these operations however de¬ 
pends on the temperature of the weather. Thus, many 
of these insects fly off in the warmer part of the day, 
and in the coolest mornings we catch them in the great¬ 
est numbers. David Thomas. Greatfield, 6th mo., 1851. 
The Curl in Peach Trees. 
It is a matter of doubt with me, whether the curl may 
with propriety be considered a disease. The appearance 
has become so general that I am almost induced to be¬ 
lieve it is so, but some circumstances which have fallen 
under my observation, lead me to a different conclu¬ 
sion. Last season most of our trees suffered very much, 
but slow growing varieties more than others; Tillotson, 
Noblesse, and a few others of similar growth, presented 
a stripped appearance, and ripened little or no fruit. A 
very fine tree of Noblesse, standing close by the kitchen 
door, looked as though it might never leaf out again. 
Late in the autumn I told the good lady having charge 
of that department, to permit that tree to be the reci¬ 
pient of all her out of door favors, in the form of mop 
water, &c., which is usually the boiling suds from white 
clothes, in which the new washing preparation, compos¬ 
ed of sal soda and lime, had been used. It now is co¬ 
vered with deep green foliage, and loaded with fine fruit. 
I also observed, that last season a tree of Bergen’s Yel¬ 
low was not at all affected, around which the sweepings 
of a new cellar, lime, mortar, rubbish and shavings, and 
all, were heaped up, a foot to eighteen inches high. This 
year it is entirely exempt from the curl. Several other 
instances of the same kind might be given, showing that 
good cultivation certainly proves effective. The short- 
cning-in system, when thoroughly performed, has fre¬ 
quently been quite successful—and always beneficial. 
With us, the early Barnard has been signally obnoxious 
to the curl; this has also been the case in several nurse¬ 
ries of young trees, containing many of this variety. 
E. S. Hillside , Macedon, Wayne Co., N. Y., 7th mo. 
1st. 1851. 
The Large Flowered Bignonia. 
The profusion and variety which distinguish the ^dis¬ 
play of flowering plants during the early part of the 
season, disappear usually by the middle of summer, and 
a destitution is often felt for the rest of the year. For 
this reason those which make their appearance late in 
summer and early in autumn become doubly desirable. 
Among these are the large flowering Bignonia, (Bigno¬ 
nia grandiflora, Techoma of Juss.,) which for richness 
* The short stump of a sawed limb, to receive the blows, as point 
ed out on former occasions, has been found best. Ed. 
