I suppose you were present at the meeting of the American Institute Farmer's Club, New York, July 16, when Mr. Solon Robinson severely castigated an inquirer at Dobbs's Ferry, for ignorance regarding the curculio. I think the inquirer excusable; for I read statements made to the club, without contradiction, that seem to display quite as much ignorance. Very many statements put forth by practical men in the club, and elsewhere, are calculated to create the perplexity experienced by the inquirer at Dobbs's Ferry.

Not long since the discussion in the Farmer's Club, as to "where the curculio goes when it is not in the plum," made me wonder if any of the members ever read an entomological book. Many practical men have told us to tie cloths around the trunks of our trees, to prevent the attacks of the curculio: some have said, "tie three cloths, and you will find the curculios in the lowest cloth; you may find some in the second, but you will not find any in the top cloth." Is not this calculated to make people believe that the creature merely crawls, and can not get over the top barrier? I know that this curculio, like many other insects, hides from the light of day, and that a cloth close by saves it the trouble of hiding in the earth or in crevices. I place cloths in the crotches of my trees, look into them every morning, and I catch not only many curculios, but many other enemies also.

As the "pea-bug" is a curculio, (differing a little in size, shape, and color from the plum curculio,) and its history is open to every one's examination, it may best explain, by comparison, what the plum curculio is, and what it is doing when not in our plums. I suppose that all interested know the "pea-bug;" well, the females of these small insects lay their eggs in the pea blossoms, so that the grubs hatched from these eggs are in the peas; there they feed until they have grown their full, which is at about the time when the peas are ripe. Open a pea then, and you will find a grub; open another pea,, of the same crop, a little later, and you will find, not a grub, but a soft, pulpy, light colored insect, of quite a different form, "a bug" in shape, though probably deficient of wings and wing-cases; it has then done feeding. Open another pea, of the same crop, at a still later period, and you will find the perfect "pea-bug," dark-colored, with horny wing-cases, and, underneath these, the wings with which it flies. Just such a change is undergone by the plum curculio.

A large variety of insects, when they have done feeding, which is when they have attained their full grub size, go into the earth, or remain in the earth, (if that he their feeding place;) there they abide in a state of apparent torpor, while the change which converts them to the perfect insect goes on. They will remain in that state for many months.

We find that the "pea-bug," though it has done feeding in June, remains in the pea until March or April. Some precocious bugs escape before we pack up our peas, but this is not the rule.

The plum curculio lays its eggs in the young fruit; they produce grubs, which feed until fully grown, at about which time the plum drops to the ground, or the grub drops; the grub enters the earth, and there goes through its necessitated changes, and, as a general rule, remains in the earth until the next spring, when plums and cherries are ready to receive its fatal mark. The creature is kept in the earth, first, by the time required to perfect its form and strength, and next, by uncongenial weather.

Of some kinds of insects there are several generations in the year; there may be sometimes an exceptional second brood of the pea and plum cur-culios; but I believe that such, even if they deposit eggs, will not have descendants to inherit their ill fame.

I find a conjecture in a "Patent Office Report," that the pea curculio may, when it can not escape from where the peas are confined, in sacks, etc, return to its pea to feed; but the pea is not the food of the perfect insect; it, like a large number of its near relations, and like, perhaps, the greater number of insects of other orders, remains without feeding for the longest portion of its existence. When peas are left on the ground, it is reasonable to believe that the mature curculio, finding too few things congenial to it above ground at that season, retires to the earth, until blossoms and pairing time give it food and occupation.

[We are obliged to "Teragram" for her clear and common sense remarks on the curculio. We were present on the occasion alluded to, and thought the rebuke quite too severe. Why should we deal so hardly with the seeker for truth, and pass over in silence equally culpable ignorance in professedly scientific men? We would at all times rather say a word of encouragement than dampen enthusiasm by too harsh a censure. It seems that the individual alluded to was only just entering upon the pursuit of fruit-growing, and his inquiries should not have caused more surprise than the assertion recently made by a learned entomologist, who has made the curculio a special study, that " but one slit is made upon a fruit;" for it is no uncommon thing to see two or more. One thing is certain - the curculio is a winged insect; hence tying "cloths" and "tin pans" around the body of the tree will do no more good than attaching them to any other part of the tree. In all such cases they are useful to the extent and in the way described by Teragram, and in no other.

There have been many different modes proposed for destroying the curculio, and these have been applied with more or less success; but we can entertain little hope of the extirpation of the curculio evil until remedies shall be persistently applied as preventives and not as cures. In regard to the "pea-bug" the number is increasing every year. We have observed the changes noted by Teragram, and have been the innocent means of destroying the " taste'1 of some of our friends for peas; they will not eat them, except the first pickings of an early crop, on account of the "grub." From what we have seen of the curculio, we are glad to believe, that on dropping it seeks refuge in the ground, where it undergoes its changes, and in a few weeks comes forth a perfect insect; daring the winter it remains torpid, seeking shelter wherever it can find it. Professor Fitch, we understand, claims to have lately discovered an ichneumon which destroys thecurculio. We hope this is true, but can not understand how an ichneumon can accomplish so desirable a consummation in the case of the curculio. We have the curculio at this moment in all the stages of its transformation, from the pupa to the winged insect, all alive.

We shall continue our investigations with the hope of being able, hereafter, to throw some new light on the subject. Since the above was written, we have had a call from Dr. Timble, who has also been very attentive to the "little Turk," with results similar to our own. He has promised us an account of his investigations when completed, which will prove to be very interesting. - Ed].