The past has been a season of fruit: all kinds have been in unusual abundance. Cherries, Pears, Apples, and Plums have been within the means of all classes in all parts of the country; and even Apricots and Nectarines, by orchard cultivation, have been seen in our markets. But let no one imagine from this circumstance that.the Curculio, the great destroyer of fruit in America, is extinct, or even diminished in numbers. Let no one suppose for a moment that this apparent cessation of hostilities is due to the use of Whale Oil Soap, or fumigations, or sulphur, or lime, or any other, or all other specific remedies for the Curculio that we see so constantly recommended in the fruit books and agricultural papers.

The season has been a remarkable one: fruit of every kind set profusely. The Turk commenced operations as usual, and probably as much fruit suffered this year as any other; but with so much to begin with there has generally been an abundance left, though I have hardly seen a Plum-tree that did not lose half or three-quarters of its fruit, and in many instances all has been taken. In many Apple orchards I have seen the ground thickly strewn with punctured fruit, but still there was plenty left. The Cherries and Peaches, as is usual when the crops of Plums and Apples are abundant, suffered but little. The Apricot being the first fruit large enough for the attacks of this insect, will always suffer alike, and requires the utmost vigilance to save it any year. The Nectarine, though not so early, is a special favorite from its smooth and tender skin; it also is seldom saved, except when under glass.

I have had a long war with the,Curculio. I have battled with him through fifteen campaigns, and, except the three first, when I relied upon the weapons of quackery, have always conquered. I have used the various washes, and fumigations of horrible odors. I have built fortifications of cotton and tar, and troughs filled with oil, round the bodies of the trees. I have placed whole loads of offensive manures under favorite fruits, and on one occasion bored holes in the bodies of trees and plugged in charges of sulpher. Even at this time I occasionally jarred the trees over sheets, as directed in some of the books, and killed large numbers of the enemy, but subsequent experience proved that this last was not effectually done: the consequence was, I had no Apricots, no Nectarines, no Plums, and but few Apples except little knurly things.

But since those three years I have resorted to the jarring process systematically, and have found it a perfect remedy. My fruit crops since have never failed; even the Apricot and Nectarine trees never losing any portions of their crops from this cause, and frequently overloaded.

The black knot, that disfigures the Plum orchards in so many parts of the country, and finally destroying so many trees, is also caused by the Curculio.

The rot, that carries off in a few days so many kinds of Plums just before they ripen, and when we think the crop secure, is also caused by the same enemy.

If the Curculio passed s part of its life, as most other insects do, exposed to the attacks of the ichneumon, some one of these parasite flies might come to our rescue. But its larvae are so deeply imbedded in the fruit, that the smaller varieties of these flies could not reach them with their ovipositors, and the young Curculio is too small to answer as a nidus for the larger ichneumons. And then, too, they penetrate into the earth to the depth of several inches, as soon as they have come to their growth and leave the fruit. As the ichneumon is not known to use the bodies of the imago, or mature insect of any kind, as a deposit for its eggs, it is not likely to choose the Curculio. Still, as there has been a notice lately published by some gentleman in Canada, that he has found parasite insects in the larvae of the Curculio, I will not venture to say that it is impossible; and if it should prove true, let all the people rejoice. There was a time when an insect pest threatened the entire destruction of the wheat crop in America, and in the midst of the most fearful alarm, a little ichneumon fly took charge of the matter and settled it effectually.

If this Curculio question could be settled in the same way, the whole people of America might partake freely of all the varieties of our glorious fruits, at an expense merely nominal compared with the present. The total destruction of this little insect, of which it takes four to weigh a single grain, or 5,760 to make a pound, would add more to the comfort, the health, and the happiness of the whole people of our country than has been brought about by any one cause since the extinction of the Hessian fly.

In France, parts of Italy, in Persia, and Independent Tartary, they have apricots as we have peaches in our Middle States. In the more mountainous parts of these countries, where they have the extremes of heat and cold, they flourish best: in this country the cultivation of this delicious fruit has not been understood. We have supposed it could only be grown under glass, or as a wall-fruit; it will flourish high up in mountain regions, and the less early spring weather the better.

In parts of Germany, plum-trees line every road, and the fruit is so abundant that they can send dried plums or prunes to us so cheap, that the beautiful boxes they are packed in are worth nearly the cost. In those countries they have no Curculio. We have the same kinds of fruit-trees, as favorable climate, and soil as good, but a large portion of our population, in a majority of seasons, have but little fruit of any kind, and but few ever see an apricot. Now the question arises, What can be done? We may hope for the discovery of some cheap and effectual remedy. We may hope also for some cure for consumption or cancer, and we have no right to suppose that we shall always hope in vain; but we are obliged to say that such cures are not now known. I do not wish to discourage others from experimenting with the various remedies so boldly recommended, but merely to say, that my experience has been so unfavorable, that I have no confidence in any of them. Suppose you discover a fumigation so disagreeable that it would drive the Curculio from your trees; it would not kill them, and back they would come as soon as the smoke had cleared away. And the idea of keeping up that kind of a war for six weeks is absurd.

About the same may be said of the various washes that are to be thrown into the trees by hand-engines or syringes. Tar upon the bodies of your trees would prevent them creeping up for a day or two until it became glazed, but they are already in the trees, and seldom creep either down or up. And they can fly, and pass from one orchard to another. No. The Curculio attacks our fruits with but one object - to perpetuate its race. The young fruit is its proper nidus, and if you drive it from one tree it will find, another. Each female Curculio has several hundred eggs to dispose of, and if she can, will take as many hundred young plums for their portions; and 1 think I see her laughing in her sleeve at the idea of disagreeable odors stopping her in the performance of that duty.

We may guard ourselves to some extent against the. ravages of this pest by gathering carefully every day the punctured fruit, and destroying it before the larvae have escaped. A neighborhood combination for this purpose would be the proper plan, and would probably be effectual. In gardens it must be done, or the jarring process over the sheet will be your only resource if you expect fruit at all. In larger fruit establishments - in orchards of Apples, Plums, and Cherries - have all your trees so inclosed that your hogs shall be there throughout the summer - the larger the broods of young pigs the better - and feed the* mothers sparingly, so that they will be constantly watching for the falling fruit. Have your poultry in the same inclosure, and although they will not eat the young fruit, the full-grown larva or grub of the Curculio is a dainty morsel for them, and all they find after leaving the fruit and before they enter the ground, will not be very likely to do you any mischief the next year.

But if this has not been done, or your neighbors decline to join you in the undertaking, and you find, when the eighteenth day of May comes, that the Curculio is upon you, take a careful survey of your orchards, and calculate the probable value of your crop of fruit, if what is then on the trees can be got to market in full perfection. If you decide that the fruit will be worth more than the cost of preserving it, arrange the plan of the campaign at once - prepare your sheets, for they are all the weapons you will require; have extra labor ready, (stout boys, if reliable, will do;) let the corn, potatoes, and even the hay and grain harvests be subordinate, unless your force is so strong that all can go on together.

During wet days, and some cold windy days, the Curculios are inactive, but when the pleasant weather comes, and especially the very hot days in May and June, how soon they make up for lost time! All insect life is active in proportion to the heat of the weather, and I have sometimes thought, when the safety of a hundred bushels of Apricots depended upon the labor of a few hours, when the thermometer stood at 120 in the sunshine, that nothing else on earth could be so invigorated by heat as the Curculio.

This business of securing fruit from the Curculio, where the pest has become fully established, is a most laborious one. The patience of nine out of every ten that attempt it will be exhausted; hence the necessity of making it a matter of calculation. You must begin even before the fruit is large enough to be injured, for the insect is lying in wait for it, and can frequently be taken before any mischief has been done. In observations carried through a series of years, near the Hudson River, in the latitude of 42°, the first signs of the Curculio were upon the Apricot on the 18th of May, and from seven to ten days later the Plums would be attacked; and I have frequently seen the entire crop of these fruits destroyed within three days. The length of time necessary to carry on this war will vary, but will require more or less attention almost till the time of ripening. If you attack them vigorously from the first, you may have them so much diminished in number in two or three weeks, that the labor afterwards will not be so irksome; and if your trees shall be so plentifully set with fruit as to be benefited by thinning out, you may, if you choose, permit the few that remain to have a chance to perform the duty" they were created for - prevent the trees from overbearing.

There will be some risk in this, however, as the Curculio and you are not governed by the same motives. She does not estimate its value by what money it will bring in the market, as you do, and therefore you must bo cautious about trusting it wholly to her management.

(To be continued.) .