190 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
sheep require what we call wintering. They will do 
upon plenty of any kind of food the farm will produce 
cheapest. My flock have done as well at all times, for 
the past 25 years, as any reasonable man could have 
expected. I invite all that expect to engage in this busi¬ 
ness to call and judge for themselves. I believe the 
loss of domestic animals is generally in proportion to 
the attention paid to them, and none need expect pros¬ 
perity in any agricultural pursuit, without it is reasona¬ 
bly managed with a due share of never tiring industry 
and economy.” 
Importance of a National Agricultural Society. 
Editors Cultivator —More than twelve months have 
passed away since your very intelligent and patriotic cor¬ 
respondent, Mr. Solon Robinson, proposed the establishment 
of a great National Agricultural Society. The project 
received such high commendation from various parts of 
our country, that any one who was ignorant of our true 
character as agriculturists, would have supposed that our 
whole class would hasten with the utmost zeal to adopt 
measures for its speedy execution. But,—to our shame be 
it spoken, the whole scheme, fraught as it was with the 
promise of great good to the nation, as well as to individu¬ 
als, seems to have evaporated in idle talk. Why has this 
happened ? Can it be, that the owners and cultivators of 
the soil, in these United States, are so dead to their own 
best interests—so insensible to their own honor—so regard¬ 
less of the various means by which they might elevate their 
own class td that high rank in our community, which they 
are justly entitled to hold—that they will not even move 
a finger towards it ? Heaven forbid, nor will I believe it 
so long as a shadow of hope exists, that we may be roused 
from the torpor which appears to have paralyzed every ef¬ 
fort heretofore made to disenthral us from its influence. 
To enumerate all the advantages, both to the public and 
to our own class, which would certainly follow from the 
establishment of a National Agricultural Society, would 
require a much longer communication than I intend to 
make, but I hope you will permit me to state a few of them. 
One of the first and most important is, that by annually 
bringing together the distant members of our great agri¬ 
cultural family, who, at present know little more of each 
other, than if they inhabited different planets, the bonds of 
that cordial brotherhood, which should forever unite us, 
would be so strengthened as to defy all those efforts to sever 
them which of later years have been threatening destruction 
to our heretofore happy Union. This could never be dissolved 
could the members thereof be more fully apprized of its 
vital importance to their own and the national interests ; 
and to do this, there surely can be no way more effectual, 
than that which would draw them together solely for the 
purpose of consultation in regard to matters in which they 
have a deep and mutual concern, wherein no conflicting in¬ 
terests exist to mar the harmony of their deliberations. This 
view -alone of the subject,—if it struck the rest of my 
brethren as it does myself, would suffice to get up a Na¬ 
tional Society of Agriculture before six months more shall 
pass over our heads. But there are other considerations of 
hardly less weight that may be urged in its favor, which I 
beg leave to suggest. It would enable our whole class, in 
the shortest time practicable, to possess themselves of all the 
latest and most valuable improvements which have been 
made in the various branches of husbandry throughout our 
whole country ;—improvements, that without such a soci¬ 
ety, will most probably remain unknown beyond a very 
limited circle, for many—many years to come. Lastly, it 
might put an end to the vast waste of money expended in 
the purchase of the numerous worthless machines and im¬ 
plements which, under the sanction of a patent, have found 
their way into almost every part of the United States, 
and against which the present patent law affords no ade¬ 
quate protection. Very few of our class possess sufficient 
mechanical knowledge to be good judges of such matters. 
Consequently, when we find that any machine or imple¬ 
ment offered for sale, has been patented, we are very apt 
to take it for granted, that it must be very useful, and are 
thus often led to buy what frequently turns out to be good 
for nothing. But if we had a National Society of Agri¬ 
culture, they would, in all probability, deem it a part of 
their duty to make comparative trials between all things 
of the kind; and would pass sentence of approval or con¬ 
demnation on the whole. This, when published, would be 
such a proof of merit or demerit, in regard to every agri¬ 
cultural machine or implement, that our whole class would 
place full confidence in it, and would no longer be exposed 
to the numerous impositions under which very many of us 
now suffer. 
I could add much more on this deeply interesting sub¬ 
ject, but am unwilling to occupy that space in your highly 
useful paper, which many of your other correspondents can 
fill so much better than I can. Permit me, however, to 
say, that if there are any of our brethren who can possibly 
doubt as to the great utility of such a society as I have 
been recommending, they may instantly have those doubts 
removed by referring to the highly interesting accounts of 
the Scotch and English Societies of Agriculture which 
have already rendered, although but recently established, 
such eminent services to their respective countries, that 
their periodicals are filled with eulogiums on these institu¬ 
tions. It is not, therefore, a matter of conjecture how far 
similaT establishments may benefit even the oldest nations. 
And if these can derive from them such inestimable 
advantages, it is perfectly demonstrable that a country 
comparatively so young as ours, must thereby be benefitted 
in a far higher degree. To organize one for the United 
States, might very easily be done, without trouble or ex¬ 
pense. All that need be done, in the first place, would be 
for the members of congress to devote a single one of the 
numerous holidays which they are in the habit of taking, 
to making out a scheme for the purpose, and we ought not 
to doubt that they would do so, if their constituents gene¬ 
rally were to request it. In the earnest hope that they will 
do so, I shall now conclude with an anxious petition to all 
your correspondents who may favor the project, to take the 
matter in hand, without delay; but I especially entreat 
that most active and zealous friend of our cause—Mr. So¬ 
lon Robinson, once more to sound his trumpet in sum¬ 
moning all the true lovers of American Husbandry, to a 
cordial co-operation in the promotion of a project, which 
I verily believe if once achieved, would become more and 
more popular with the American people, in all time to 
come. I remain, gentlemen, 
Your friend and constant reader, 
JAMES M. GARNETT. 
Elm Wood, Essex Co., Va. Nov. 9, 1840. 
THE CURCULIO AND FRUIT WORMS. 
Messrs. Editors —In the September number of the 
“ Cultivator,” (page 136,) you say in answer to a cor¬ 
respondent, that “ the worm in the apple as well as in 
the plum and cherry, is a species of curculio .” Also, 
that “ the worm with the fruit, falls upon the ground, 
in which the worm takes up its abode in the chrysalis 
state, until revivified and changed by the spring, it issues 
a perfect insect .” 
I am well convinced there is a mistake here, in two 
particulars : 1st, as to the worm in apples being a cur¬ 
culio ; 2nd, as to the curculio continuing in the ground 
till spring. 
In 1831, seeing it stated in all the books that the cur¬ 
culio, in its chrysalis state, remained in the ground du¬ 
ring winter, I undertook to verify the fact by actual ex¬ 
periment. The result was communicated to the “ New- 
York Farmer,” (vol. iv. p. 178-9.) But as many of 
your readers have probably not seen that book, you 
may do a service by publishing an extract from it. 
“ I put some moist earth into a tumbler, about the 
first of June, and placed about twenty small peaches, 
containing worms, upon the earth, and covered the tum¬ 
bler with a piece of glass. June 30th, the worms had 
all left the peaches and had all crawled into the earth 
below. July the 7th, the worms had divested them¬ 
selves of their skin, without having formed a shell or 
cocoon, and were nearly changed to bugs. At this time 
they were white, and showed upon the breast the soft 
rudiments of the proboscis, legs, and wings. These 
parts had not attained their full size, and appeared im¬ 
movable. One insect, however, had completed his me¬ 
tamorphosis and was a perfect bug, of a mahogany co¬ 
lor. All have since left the earth of their own accord, 
having finished their change, and are now [July 19th] 
creeping about the tumbler and feeding on a plum leaf. 
On the 10th of July I opened the ground under a peach 
tree and found the insects in great numbers, from two 
to four inches beneath the surface, in all stages of their 
metamorphosis. July 19th, I found one in the earth un¬ 
der an apple tree, but could find none under peach trees. 
It appears then that this insect retreats into the earth 
about the first of June, where it divests itself of its skin, 
and changes into a bug before the 19 th of July, by which 
time it leaves the earth. What becomes of the bug from 
July to May following, remains to be discovered.” 
“ The curculio is not the only insect that produces the 
worm in our fruits. I stated above that about twenty 
peaches were placed in the tumbler. In the earth un¬ 
der them were six small, oval cocoons, thick, strong, 
and smoothly spun, which contain worms that manifest 
no approach toward a change. The same cocoons are 
also found under peach trees. The worms in these en¬ 
velopes are different from those of the curculio ; they 
are smaller, they are white throughout, while the larvae 
of the curculio have orange colored heads. There is 
reason for the belief that the larvae of the curculio, all 
or most of them, leave the various fruits in which they 
are deposited as early as the beginning of July, and 
that the worms found in fruits after that time, have a 
different parent. Some years ago, I preserved a worm 
from a Yergalieu pear, Avhich produced a gray miller. 
Last November a worm from a Newtown pippin placed 
itself in a cavity on a board, covered itself with a web, 
and remained till April, when it produced a gray miller 
like that produced from the pear.” 
I continued my observations during that summer, and 
sent another communication to the “ New-York Farmer” 
(vol. iv. p. 248,) from which the following is an extract: 
“ I have said there is reason for the belief that the lar¬ 
vae of the curculio, all or most of them, leave the vari¬ 
ous fruits in which they are deposited as early as the 
beginning of July, and that the worms found in fruits 
after that time have a different parent. One reason for 
this belief is, that after that time very little fruit is left 
in which their eggs can be deposited, and what little is 
left is, for the most part, untouched by the curculio. 
Let me present a hasty estimate of cherries, apricots, 
plums, and peaches, in my orchard; on the first of May 
last, there were probably 200,000. On the first of July, 
the number remaining on the trees did not, I am confi¬ 
dent, exceed 500. Of that 500 perhaps 20, before the 
middle of August contained a curculio; the rest continu¬ 
ed fair. I think it would puzzle Dr. Tilton to say 
where that vast multitude of curculios that deposited 
199,500 eggs before the first of July, have deposited 
them since that time, if they ‘ continue their ravages,’ 
and equally puzzling it must be to devise a reason why 
any fruit has escaped—why only 20 eggs should be de¬ 
posited, and 480 peaches left undisturbed, if this vast 
swarm of insects has continued its operations ever since 
the first of July. It may be said that they resort to ap¬ 
ples and pears. But before the first of July the greater 
part of the apples had also disappeared from the trees; 
most of those remaining have continued since untouch¬ 
ed by the curculio. The worms found in them are not 
the larvae of that insect. I have not succeeded in find¬ 
ing a curculio in a pear, at any time. The only worms 
that I have found in pears, [and I have taken pains to 
collect a considerable number this summer,] are the 
larvae [I believe] of the gray miller mentioned in my 
former communication. They resemble the larvae of the 
curculio in having orange colored heads, but differ from 
them by being larger, and having a slight tinge of scar¬ 
let or brick color upon portions of the body. Instead 
of popping into the ground, they crawl under the rough 
bark of the trees, inclose themselves in a web, and are 
transformed into a chestnut colored chrysalis. Placed 
in a tumbler with moist earth, they form a web upon 
the cover of the tumbler, and there undergo their 
change. As none have yet left the chrysalis state, I 
suppose [as was the case with those which I have be¬ 
fore preserved] that they do not complete their meta¬ 
morphosis till spring. All the worms found by me in 
apples, since the first of July, have been similar to those 
in the pear." 
An excellent observer, David Thomas of Cayuga, 
maintained the prevailing opinion in regard to the 
worms in our fruits, and with a view to show that I was 
incorrect, he took “a worm with an orange colored 
head, from a bell pear and put it in a tumbler, with 
moist earth,” on the fifth of August. On the eighth of 
August he took from apples “ three more worms with 
orange colored heads, and which appear to be the full 
grown larva: of the curculio—another similar, but only 
half as long—and two others resembling the former 
with brown heads, but 100 [10 ?] times less in bulk than 
the first kind. Viewing these last under the microscope, 
I am satisfied that they also are larvse of the common 
curculio, thus far confirming Dr. Tilton’s remark that 
this insect ‘ continues its ravages from May until au¬ 
tumn.’ ”— New-York Farmer, vol. iv. p. 205. 
In a subsequent communication, in October, with his 
accustomed candor, he says, “ N. Darling may be inter¬ 
ested to learn that the worms which I confined, ‘ with 
orange colored heads,’ left the moist earth, and encased 
themselves in a web under the cover of the tumbler. 
Soon after one of them came forth a dark gray miller ; 
and 1 conclude there was no curculio amongst them. We 
are therefore indebted to him for the interesting disco¬ 
very that the larvse of several insects feed on our fruits j 
and it is now rendered at least probable that Dr. Tilton 
ascribed too much of this mischief to the curculio.”— 
New-York Farmer, vol. iv.p. 281. 
With these facts before us I think we may safely 
conclude that the worm in apples is a larvae of a gray 
miller, and not of the curculio, which is a bug. Also, 
that the curculio leaves the ground in a short time after 
entering it. Its winter retreat has not, within my know 
ledge, yet been discovered. 
If your correspondent will look under the rough bark 
of his apple trees in October, he will find a great many 
of the worms from his fruit, which have shut themselves 
in with a web, and are transformed into a chestnut color¬ 
ed chrysalis. If he will carefully preserve them, he will 
find them coming out a gray miller. By simply scratch¬ 
ing off, or rather picking off this rough bark [the scales 
or flakes, I mean] a vast multitude of these insects may 
be destroyed—not all, however, for they resort to other 
places of concealment, such as crevices in boards, posts 
and rails. Yours very respectfully, 
N. DARLING. 
New-Haven, Conn., September 19, 1840. 
A FAIR CROP. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —I planted a piece of 
sward ground, without any manure, to corn, potatoes, 
pumpkins and beans, measuring 104 rods and 207 square 
feet, on the 20th of May. 
To corn, pumpkins and beans, 78 rods and 107 feet, 
which produced 85 bushels of ears corn, at 2s. per bush¬ 
el.$21- 25 
207 bundles stalks, being topped, . . . 2 07 
| bushel beans, 10s. per bushel, .... 63 
Husks and bottoms left in the field, . . . 2 00 
190 pumpkins 8s. per hundred, . . . . 1 90 
Product of less than half an acre, . . . $27 85 
26 rods and 100 feet to potatoes, 481 bushels at 
20c. per bushel,.9 70 
$37 55 
Tending and seed, . ... 10 68 
Leaving a profit of .... $26 87 
It will at once be seen that the above is a very large 
crop, although at first sight it would seem that $10.68 
worth of labor and seed, laid out on so small a piece, was too 
much, yet it leaves $26.87 profit including interest on 
land, which certainly pays well for the extra labor. It was 
plowed in the best manner and deep. In planting, every 
sod that lay up loose, was put down with the foot, which 
accounts for two days occupied in planting less than three- 
fourths of an acre ; it was hoed but twice, but well done, 
and no plaster on seed, or after it came up; once dressed 
with unleached ashes. C. M. L. A. 
Macedon, N. Y. Oct. 3, 1840. 
