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Library
ornell University Library

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002 857
INJURIOUS INSECTS

OF THE

FARM = GARDEN.

WITH A CHAPTER ON BENEFICIAL INSECTS.
NEW, ENLARGED EDITION,

BY
MARY TREAT.

FULLY ILLUSTRATED.

 

NEW YORK:
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY,
1914
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1887, by the

0. JUDD CO.,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington,

@ 16484

Printep In U. S. A.
PUBLISHERS’ PREFACE.

—

The assertion that cultivation of all plants, whether on the
farm, in the orchard or garden, is largely a struggle with
insects, has been strikingly illustrated within the past few
years. The standard works upon Entomology include the
harmless as well as the injurious insects, and are written with
reference to the identification of the species rather than to show
how they may be destroyed. In view of the need of a work
giving an account of the most destructive insects and the pres-
ent knowledge of the methods of preventing their ravages, the
Publishers invited Mrs. Treat to prepare the present volume.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO NEW EDITION,

 

For this new, enlarged edition, I have prepared a chapter on
the more common beneficial insects, whick I have observed
from time to time, hoping thereby to call attention to their
wonderful agency in destroying the injurious vegetable feeding
ones. Ialso wish to add my testimony in a few words, by way
of preface, in favor of the various birds that visit our gardens
and orchards in the capacity of helpers, as they feed upon some
of the most noxious insects which we have to contend with.

First and foremost among these helpers is the purple martin.
It is the general impression that this bird takes insects only on
the wing, but it does more than this. I saw numbers of them
this past summer, taking the rose bugs from the grapevines.
They swooped down and picked them off without alighting.
They circled around in companies, back again to the same vine,

(3)
4 PREFACE TO NEW EDITION.

each one snatching off a bug as he passed. And not only the
rose bug falls a victim to his appetite, but he even stoops to
take the Colorado potato beetle. This has been seen by others
in our town as well as by myself. Put up boxes for the martins,
and see that the English sparrow does not get possession.

The oriole is another great helper. He knows how to pull the
bag worm from his case, and does it systematically and rapidly.
The tent caterpillar and fall web worm he also has a liking for.
He ruthlessly tears the tents and webs to pieces and destroys
untold numbers. Allow no gunner to shoot one of these beau-
tiful, gaily dressed birds on your premises—not even if the
lady of his choice is pining for a skeleton to perch on her hat.

For several years past, the leaves of our elm trees have been
ruined by the elm beetle. Last year I noticed the cedar bird
devouring the beetles and larve. This year our elms are con
paratively free from the pests. The leaves are scarcely injured
at all, and the cedar birds are obliged to look close to find a
beetle. They hunt over the trees in small flocks. They also
destroy many other injurious creatures. This bird likes cher-
ries. Raise enough for them, as well as for yourselves, and
they will pay you back with interest.’

The catbird and red-eyed vireo both eat the unsavory pear
slug. But it is not necessary to mention the good services
rendered by our more common birds, such as the robin, brown
thrush, catbird, bluebird, and wrens, as all observing horti-
culturists are aware of the good they do. Our winter birds
are also doing good work. The sced-eating ones pick up great
quantities of the seeds of noxious weeds, while our wood-
peckers, jays, and chickadees are constantly on the lookout
for hibernating insects. Spare and encourage the birds, both
winter and summer, about your grounds.

Mary TREAT.
Vineland, N. J., September, 1887.
CONTENTS.

Bean

 

Southern Cabbage-butterfly .27

Cabbage-Plusia.... ........ 29
Zebra Caterpillar. .......... 31
A New Cabbage-worm ....33

The Wavy-striped Flea-bee-

esis sicceis ob sere ncoraaee in 35
The Harlequin Cabbage-bug.37
Cucumber... ....cccrececever es 42

Striped Cucumber-beetle. ..42

 

Cucumber.

The Pickle-worm...........
Melon—The Melon-worm
OMIOTetd aken seascnie-s vend ene

The Black Onion-fly........ 52

Imported Onion-fly.........58
Parsley and Related Plants..... 55
Be aie ison sevceee 8 einisia(sisteniae aseuan 0d 56
Radish as sic sssix vie sia sie sieoeaiw ec 61
Squash and Pumpkin........... 61

The Squash-bug............ 61

The 12-spotted Squash-bee-

GOs alesse shinies plecemauiepad 0 63
TOMALO iis sisiecsiies sinaig Saurein serie sie 65

Insects InJuRIOUS TO RooT Crops AND INDIAN CorRN.

Tia Cry ch new ee ces v cape es 67
The Corn-worm............ 68
Seed-corn Maggot.......... 72
The White Grub............ 13
Cut-worms. ..........04- aie
Wire-Worms.......... 00 eee 81

«s Me ESB ae oacen tee 82

The PotatOvns cece say, desde aires 83
The Stalk-borer............ 83
The Stalk-weevil............ 85
The Potato-worm........... 86

 

The Potato.
The Margined Blister-beetle 92
The Three-lined Leaf-bee-

PSevesnwe nena evede reer ne 92

The Colorado Potato-beetle 94

Sweet Potato...... ieee koatias 102

Tortoise-beetles. .... ..... 102
The Two-striped Sweet-po-

tato Beetle.............. 105

The Golden Tortoise-beetle. 106
The Pale-thighed Tortoise-

The Striped Blister-beetle. ..89 beetle....... cece eee e eee 108
The Ash-gray Blister-beetle.90 The Black-legged Tortoise-
The Black-rat and Black BOC Ci cscs seas fs seu Be 109
Blister-beetles. ........... 91! Turnip and Ruta-Baga...... .. 110
Insects INJURIOUS TO CEREAL GRAINS AND THE GRASS CROPS, IN-
CLUDING CLOVER.

Grains—The Chinch-bug....... 112 | Grains—Northern Army Worm.130
False Chinch-bugs......... 117 Wheat-head Army Worm. .134
The Hessian Fly........... 120°| Clover venreenys ae eaiea s ues ate 135
The Wheat-Midge......... 123 Clover-seed Midge......... 185
The Joint-worm........... 124 Clover Root-borer......... 136
Army Worms............. 129 The Clover-worm.......... 137

5
CONTENTS.

lysects InJuRIouS TO FRUIT TREES.

Apple-tree Borer, Round-head-

Odivn sitar snasueoe wages e 189
Apple-tree Borer, Flat-headed. .144
Apple-twie Borers caus exes eves 145
Harris’ Bark-louse............- 147
Oyster-shell Bark-louse........ 148
Apple-tree Tent-caterpillar..... 151
Tent-caterpillar of the Forest. .155
Fall Web-worm. .............. 160
The Apple - worm — Codling-

MO this ics tensa engines. 6% 161
The Apple-maggot............ 164
The Apple-curculio............ 165

InsEots InsURIOUS

The Currant and Gooseberry. ..199
Gooseberry Span-worm....199
The Imported Currant-

WOlDs sin rdan kanes ae 202
The Native Currant-worm.205
The Currant Stalk-borer...206

The Strawberry..........-....5 206
The Strawberry-worm
The Strawberry Leaf-beetle.208
The Strawberry Leaf-roller.209
The Strawberry Crown-

The Blackberry... .2..cccsoeses 4

Blackberry-borers.........

The Raspberry................
The Snowy Tree-cricket...214
The Grape-vine.. ............. 215

The Hog-caterpillar of the
Vine

 

 

The Achemon Sphinx...... 219

The Canker-worm...........+- 166
he Red-humped Caterpillar. ..170
Pe TWF CIEE oc ne wsce sevice ee 171
The New York Weevil......... 172
Climbing Cut-worms.......... 174

The Bag, Basket, or Drop-worm 177
The Slug of Pear and Cherry-

WG a seceen ay Da aie sesisiovehe toe 182
The Peach-borer....... aren 183
The Plum-curculio............ 185
The Periodical, or 17-year Cica-

Bis ghices seas wastage of Jato whens ails SIN Tas 190

TO SMALL FRUITS.
The Grape-vine.
The Satellite Sphinx... ... 220
The Abbot Sphinx......... 224
The Blue Caterpillars of the
MV UMC as sie Rctaps elven ered 226
The Eight-spotted Forest-
AT iis Deeade ee Shae bene 226

The BeautifulWood Nymph 228
The Pearl Wood Nymph. . .229
The Grape Leaf-folder..... 231
The Common Yellow Bear.233

The Grape-vine Plume..... 235
The Grape-berry Moth..... 238
The Grape-vine Flea-beetle.241
The Spotted Pelidnota..... 244
The Rose-bug, or Rose-
COOL 00 on sani dates aes 245

The Grape Phylloxera..... 248
The Grape Leaf-hopper....259
The Cranberry...............6 260

Tue INSECTS OF THE FLOWER GARDEN AND GREENHOUSE.

The Rose-slug.............. 2. 263 | Ichnumon Flies on Aphides.. .265
Plant-lice—Aphides. .......... 265 | The Mealy-bug................ 267
THE Rocky Movuntarmn Loowst......... 269
BENEFICIAL INSECTS..... Wesee Saeed SoS
INJURIOUS INSECTS OF THE
FARM AND GARDEN.

INTRODUCTION.

It is not the object of this little volume to teach the
science of Entomology, or to give the life-history of in-
sects. It is simply intended to group together the most
injurious insects with illustrations, that the cultivator
may see, at a glance, his enemies, and learn the best
known methods of repelling or destroying them. Still
there are some points regarding their general structure
and changes that may be briefly stated.

The true insects are distinguished from some related
animals, the crustaceans, myriapods, and others, by hav-
ing in their perfect state six legs (the others having
either more or none), and generally, though not always,
wings.

The insect has three distinct parts: the head, in which
are the organs of sense; the thorax, to which are attached
the legs and wings; and the abdomen, which contains the
reproductive organs. They breathe through breathing
holes (spiracles) placed along the sides of the body,
which communicate with the air tubes within.

%
8 INJURIOUS INSECTS

Insects exist in four different stages. First, the egg;
second, the darva; third, the pupa or chrysalis; and
fourth, the imago, or perfect insect.

The parent insect never makes mistakes in providing
for posterity, but deposits her eggs on or in just the kind
of food her young requires. With most insects the par-
ents live upon a very different kind of food from that on
which their numerous offspring feed, and this makes it
seem all the more wonderful that they should know so
well where to place their eggs. The eggs hatch some-
times within a few days, others take weeks, and some
pass the winter months, and hatch with the warmth of the
spring sun. It is noticable that those eggs that are not to
be hatched until the following spring, are not attached
to the leaves or o her perishable part of a tree or shrub,
but are securely glued to the bark of a twig or branch;
they are, moreover, often covered with a kind of varnish
which protects them from the rains. Unlike other eggs,
those of insects are not injured by intense cold.

The young of all insects, of whatever class, are called
larva (plural larve, a Latin word meaning a mask—it
being in this stage so unlike the perfect insect that its
real form may be said to be masked). Distinct names
are popularly given to the larve of different insects.
The larve of Butterflies and Moths are known as cater-
pillars; those of the Beetles are called gruds, and when
they live in the wood of trees, etc., borers; the larve of
the two-winged flies are known as maggots. In a general
way, larvee of most kinds are popularly called ‘‘ worms,”
which, though incorrect, has for some insects, as has
the term ‘‘bug” for others, been adopted by entomolo-
gists as the common name for the larve of certain spe-
cies—for example, “‘ Army-worm,” “ Canker-worm,” ete.

The larva is the growing state of the insect, in which
it feeds voraciously, moulting, or throwing off its skin
from time to time until its full size is attained. The
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 9

larval stage may last but for a week or two, but in some
insects is known to extend over several years. In some
insects, as the Mosquitoesand Dragon Flies, the life of
the larva is passed entirely in the water.

When the larva has made its full growth it passes into
the state of the pupa—(the name for an infant rolled up
in bandages after the manner of the ancient Romans),
this is also called chrysalis, from the Greek word for
gold, as some have gold-like markings. Most insects are
in this state perfectly dormant, while a few, as will be
noticed further on, remain active. Some in their last
moult appear as if swathed in a hard mummy-like case,
others make a cocoon of silken threads, like the Silk-
worm, in which to assume this state; some make a hol-
low chamber in the earth for the same purpose; and a
number draw together leaves to form a covering to hide
them while in the pupa state.

The insect may remain in the pupa state for a few days
or weeks, or it may pass the winter im this dormant con-
dition. The methods by which the escape from this
imprisonment is made at the proper time, are various
and interesting to the observer. In due time it comes
forth, and when, as in the case of some moths, it has
spread and dried its wings, it seems wonderful that it
could have been packed in so small a space.

The perfect insect which is usually provided with
wings, is also called the Imago, the Latin for an appear-
ance or an image.

In the study of insects, it is convenient to bring them
together in what are termed Orders, according to their
general resemblances. There are seven of these Orders,
each of which is subdivided into families, genera, etc.
While entomologists differ as to the minor divisions,
these Orders are generally followed in modern works. The
first, and regarded as the highest Order is
10 INJURIOUS INSECTS

OrpeR I.—HYMENOPTERA.—THE BExzs,
Wasps, ANTS, ICHNEUMON FLIES, ETC.

The name Hymenoptera, is from the Greek words for
“*membrane” and ‘‘ wing.” The Greek word Pteron, “<a
wing,” plural Ptera, “wings,” is used in forming the
names of all the Orders. The insects of this Order, (with

‘ y the exception of the Saw-
flies and Horn-tails, which
are vegetable feeders), are
highly useful toman. They
may be regarded as guards
over the rest of the insect
world, as they serve to keep
injurious insects greatly in
check. This Order ranks the highest in intelligence, and
many of the insects placed here possess wonderful archi-
tectural skill. In some of the families the young are
provided with nurses, who feed and tend them with the
greatest care and apparent affection. Many are provided
with stings which are used as weapons of defence.

OrpvER II.—COLEOPTERA.—BEETLES, OR
SHIELD-WINGED INSECTS.

 

Fig. 1.—sSTRAWBERRY FLY.

The Greek word Koleos, a ‘‘ sheath,” combined with
that for “wing,” makes up the scientific name of this
important Order, which
outranks all others in
the number and diver-
sity of its species. The
insects have two pairs
of wings, the upper of
which, usually horny or
leathery in texture, cov- Fig. 2.—Larva. Fig. 3.—BEETLE,
er and form a “sheath” for a pair of large membranous

 
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 11

wings, which are folded and concealed beneath them.
These wing-cases, called Hlytra, usually meet together
with a straight line, or suture, down the back. The
larvee are popularly known as grubs and borers; some
live entirely below ground, some are aquatic, while
others live upon foliage. This Order includes some of
the most injurious insects, and at the same time many
carnivorous species, which aid in keeping the vegetable-
feeders in check.

OrpER III.—LEPIDOPTERA.—BvUtTreERFLizEs
AND Morus.

The wings of these insects when touched leave a dust
upon the fingers; this, when examined by a magnifier, is

  

Fig. 5.—cHRYSALIS,

  

Fig. 4.—Larva. Fig. 6.—Mora.

found to consist of minute scales, hence from the Greek
word, Lepis, a scale, we get the name Lepidoptera, or
scaly-winged insects. The larve, generally known as
Caterpillars, present a great variety of forms, and are
all strikingly different from the perfect or parent insects.
As these are generally vegetable-feeders, the Order is
12 INJURIOUS INSECTS

regarded as the most injurious of the seven. Notwith-
standing this, in their perfect state, they are among the
most beautiful creatures in the insect world. The Order
is divided into Butterflies and Moths. The former are
day-fliers, and their feelers or antenne are thickened at
the end, and terminate in a kind of knob. The moths
have their feelers pointed at the tip, and sometimes with
small side-branches. They mostly fly at night, but a
subdivision of them fly at twilight.

OrpvER IV.—HEMIPTERA.—TuHE TrvE Bues.

This Order, (the name of which means “ half-winged,”
a portion of the front wings being thick and leathery),
includes some very injurious
insects—as the Chinch-bug,
Squash-bug, Plant-lice, and
the disgusting Bed-bug, while
some are carnivorous. ‘The

    

Fig. 7.—WHEEL-BUG (teduvius), Fig. 8.—HESSIAN FLY.

larvee have much the appearance of the perfect insect,
simply differing from them in the lack of wings. The
Redurus, or Wheel-bug, fig. 7, is an example of the car-
nivorous and useful insects of this Order. The character
of the larve is seen in the engraving of the Chinch-bug.

OrpeR V.—DIPTERA.—Two-wiINGepD INSECTs.

This is the only Order of insects that have but two
wings (a fact expressed in the name). It comprises a
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 13

great number of species. Not even the Coleoptera, can
vie with it in numbers. And it embraces some of the
most annoying insects—as the Mosquito, Horse-fly, Gnat,
and House-fly, also many that are decidedly injurious to
vegetation—as the MHessian-fly, Wheat-midge, Onion-
maggot, etc., etc. But many of the larve act the part of
scavengers, and some few are beneficial to the agricul-
turist—as the Syrphus and Tachina flies. The young of
this Order are known as Maggots.

OrvDER VI.—ORTHOPTERA.—SrraIGHtT-WINGED
INSECTS.

The name of this Order is from the Greek, Orthos,
** straight,” the insects have long bodies, straight wings,

rm A) Pe Ae
f eer

 

Fig. 9.—THE LUBBER GRASSHOPPER OF FLORIDA,

large heads, and strong jaws. It includes Grasshoppers,
Locusts, Cockroaches, Crickets, and Walking-sticks. The
larvee look very much like the parents, except in their
usually smaller wings,
14 INJURIOUS INSECTS.

OrpvER VII.—NEUROPTERA.—NERVE-WINGED
INSECTS.

This Order takes in the Dragon-flies, Lace-wing:.
White-ants, etc. The veins in the wings of these insects
are so numerous, that
they look like net-
work, and give the
name, from Neuron,
nerve, to the Order.
These insects do no

: harm, with the excep-
Fig. 10.—aQuaTIC LARVA OF DRAGON-FLY. tion of White-ants

 

and Book-lice. Some are quite beneficial to man, both
in the larval and winged states. The larve of the
Dragon-flies are aquatic, and exceedingly voracious; they

 

Fig. 11.—DRAGON-FLY.

prey upon the larve of Mosquitoes, and in the perfect
insects destroy vast numbers of winged Mosquitoes.
Insects Injurious to Garden Vegetables,

 

ASPARAGUS.

THE ASPARAGUS BEETLE,

(Crioceris asparagi, Linn.)

About 1860, the Asparagus Beetle was accidentally in-
troduced into Long Island, N. Y., from the other side of
the Atlantic; and in a very few years it had increased
and multiplied, among the extensive asparagus planta-
tions in that locality, to such an extent as to occasion a
dead loss of some fifty thousand dollars in a single

county. In the year 1868, it had
already crossed over from Long
Island on to the adjoining main land;
and thence was spread westward.

That our readers may recognize
at once this pernicious insect as soon
as they see it, we annex figures of it
in its various stages. The perfect
beetle (shown at a, fig. 12, much
enlarged, the lines indicating the
real size), is of a deep blue-black
color, with the thorax brick-red,
and some markings of very variable
shape and size on the side of its
wing-cases. The eggs (0) are gen-
erally attached to the leaves of the

 

Fig. 12.
ASPARAGUS BEETLE.
y (Crioceris axparagi.)
growing asparagus, and are of a u, Beetle; b, Eggs; c, Larva.
blackish color. The larva (magnified at c) is of a dull
ash color, with a black head and six black legs placed at

15
16 INJURIOUS INSECTS

the forward end of the body, the tail end being used as a
pro-leg in walking, as with the larve of most of the
allied beetles. The insect passes the winter under loose
bark and in other such sheltered situations, in the perfect
or beetle state; and in May, or soon after the season for
cutting the asparagus for table use has commenced, it
comes forth from its winter quarters and lays the first
brood of eggs. These hatch out in about eight days, and
by the middle of June the first brood of larve are large
enough to be noticed, eating the bark off the more tender
part of the young stems first, and in default of this con-
suming the tougher and harder bark of the main stalks.
About the end of June they descend to the ground, and
either going under the surface of the earth, or hiding
under any rubbish that may have accumulated there,
form slight cocoons and pass into the pupa state. From
these pupz there bursts forth the same season a second
brood of beetles, which lays its eggs as before, and pro-
duces about the middle of August a second brood of
larve or grubs, whence in the same manner as before
there comes forth in September the brood of beetles
which is destined to pass the winter in the beetle state
and reproduce the species in the following spring.
According to Dr. Fitch, who published an excellent
account of the depredations of this insect on Long
Island up to the year 1862, one asparagus grower there
had three acres out of seven ‘almost ruined;” and four
others had asparagus beds so badly injured that they
plowed them up. Throughout this entire region the gen-
eral idea up to 1862 seems to have been, that if this
beetle was not soon destroyed, the asparagus would be;
for every year the insect appeared to spread further and
further, extending already for a distance of at least forty
miles along the northern side of Long Island, and every
year it got to be more numerous and more destructive.
Lime, salt, potash, and a variety of other such applica-
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 1?

tions, had all been tried and found ineffectual as reme-
dies; domestic fowls, which, as Dr. Fitch ascertained, fed
greedily upon the beetles, could scarcely be used in suffi-
cient numbers to clear fields of ten and twenty acres in
extent; and as to hand-picking twenty-acre fields, espe-
cially where the insect is so small, that would be too dis-
couraging an idea to be entertained for a moment.

But in the year 1863, as we learn from Isaac Hicks, of
Long Island, a deliverer appeared in the form of a small
shining black parasitic fly, probably belonging either to
the Chalcis or to the Proctotrupes Family. Whether this
Fly lays its eggs in the eggs of the Asparagus Beetles, or
in the larva of that insect, does not seem at present to
de clearly ascertained; but if the accounts we have re-
ceived of it be correct, it must do either one or the other.
In the former case, the larva that hatches out from the
parasitic egg will consume the egg of the Asparagus
Beetie and entirely prevent it from hatching; in the lat-
ter case it will destroy the larva before it has time to pass
into the perfect state. The result, in either event, will
be equally destructive to the bug and beneficial to the
gardener. Thus we are told, ‘‘although the Asparagus
Beetle has not entirely ceased to trouble them upon Long
Island since 1863, it yet has never since that year been
of any very material damage there. Upon a few farms it
still strips the plants in the latter part of summer, but
not to much extent or so as to entail any very serious
loss.”

But the diminution in the numbers of the Asparagus
Beetle is probably due in part to artificial, as well as nat-
ural causes. The Asparagus growers upon Long Island
have introduced a method of fighting the insect, which
is founded upon correct principles, and sees to be fol-
lowed by very gratifying results. arly in the spring,
when the Beetle has made its appearance and is ready to
lay its eggs, ‘‘they destroy,” as we are informed, “all
18 INJURIOUS INSECTS

the plants upon the farm except the large plants for
market, hoeing up all the young seedlings that, as is well
known, start from the last year’s seed every spring upon
the beds.” ‘Thus the mother-beetle is forced to lay her
eggs upon the large shoots from the old stools; and as
these are cut and sent to market every few days, there
are no eggs left to hatch out into larve for the second
brood of beetles.

At first sight we might suppose that it would be possi-
ble, by carrying out the above system to its utmost
extent, to extirpate the insect entirely. But unfortu-
nately this can not be done. Asparagus, according to
Dr. Fitch, has run wild to a considerable extent upon
Long Island, ‘‘and slender spindling stalks of it may be
seen growing in all situations there, by the roadsides, in
the fields and in the woods. Thus the Asparagus Beetle
has such an abundance of food everywhere presented to
it, and the insect is already occupying such an extent of
territory, that there seems to be no mode by which it is
now possible for us to effect its extermination.”

To many persons, perhaps, such a crop as Asparagus
may seem of but very trifling importance in a pecuniary
point of view. But we have already seen upon how large
a scale it is cultivated on Long Island, in the State of
New York; and a writer in the ‘‘ American Journal of
Horticulture,” who hails from New Jersey, remarks as
follows: “‘ We plant Asparagus in great fields of ten to
twenty acres. ‘Well planted, it will cost a hundred dol-
lars to set an acre; but it will continue productive for
twenty years; and if properly cared for, each acre will
clear two hundred dollars annually. There are men all
around me who have made small fortunes out of this
single article.”
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 19

BEAN,

THE AMERICAN BEAN-WEEVIL
(Bruchus fabee, Riley.)

This Weevil appears to be a native American insect,
and doubtless fed originally on some kind of wild bean
(Phaseolus or Lathyrus), but it was first noticed in our
cultivated beans about the year 1861, in Rhode Island,
and has since, at different times, suddenly made its
appearance in several other parts of the country.

If, as has been supposed, it possibly occurs over large
tracts of our country, the fact that, until a few years ago,
it had never been collected by any American entomolo-
gist, would strongly intimate that, in what may be
termed its wild state, it was quite rare and had a limited
range. But even if it should occur in this wild state
more generally through the country than the facts would
lead us to believe, there is nevertheless more danger of
its being introduced into a bean field hitherto exempt by
the planting of infested cultivated beans, than by its
spreading from the wild food. And if once a few buggy
beans are planted, they will in a short time infest the other
beans cultivated in the neighborhood, so that the man
who, year after year, grows his own seed, will suffer as
much as the man who originally introduces the weevils
from afar.

Except in being smaller, the larva and pupa of this
weevil have a close resemblance to those of the Pea-
weevil, and its habits are very similar, with the excep-
tion that the female deposits a greater number of e¢gs
on asingle pod, so that sometimes over a dozen larve
enter a single bean. As many as fourteen have been
counted in one bean, and the space required for each indi-
vidual to develop is not much more than sufficient to
20 INJURIOUS INSECTS

snugly contain the beetle. The little spot where the
Pea-weevil entered can always be detected, even in the
dry pea, but in the bean these points of entrance become
almost entirely obliterated. The cell in which the trans-
formations take place is more perfect and smooth, and
the lining is easily distinguished from the meat of the
bean by its being more white and opaque. The excre-
ment is yellow, or darker than the meat, and, even
where a bean is so badly infested that the inside is en-
tirely reduced to this excrementitious powder, each
larva, before transforming,
manages to form for itself a
complete cell, which sepa-
rates it from the rest of its
brethren. The eye-spot, as
in the pea, is perfectly cir-
» cular and quite transparent
Fig. 13.—rae Bean-weevm, in white-skinned varieties, so

 

(Bruchus fabe.) that infested beans of this
a, Weevil, magnified, the real size in ss a és fs o
outline ; b, Infested Bean. kind are easily distinguished

by the bluish-black spots which they exhibit (fig. 13, 0).
Dark beans when infested are not so easily distinguished.
The germ is always found either untouched or only
partially devoured, even in the worst infested beans, so
that when but two or three weevils inhabit a bean, it
would doubtless grow; but where the meat is entirely
destroyed, as it often is, the bean would hardly grow
though the germ remained intact, and it would certainly
not produce a vigorous plant. Figure 13, a, gives the
weevil magnified, its real size being shown by the small
outline at the left.

Some of the beetles are perfected in the fall, but many
of them not until the following spring, so that there is the
same danger of introducing them in seed-beans as in the
case of the Pea-weevil. The remedies and preventives
given for the Pea-weevil will of course apply equally well
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 21

to this, and every bean-grower who reads this should
make an effort to keep the scourge out of his own
neighborhood, by urging upon others, at the Farm-
ers’ Club, or at the meetings of any local societies, the
necessity of planting only sound seed, and of thoroughiy

destroying any that may be received from abroad and
found buggy.

 

CABBAGE.

CABBAGE BUTTERFLIES,

There is a certain group of butterflies, known, scien-
tifically, by the name of Pieris, to farmers as “ Garden
Whites ” or ‘‘ Cabbage Butterflies.” They are easily rec-
ognized by the following characters: The wings are
generally white, with inconspicuous black markings, and
occasionally with green or yellow underneath; they are
very broad, and have no scallops or indentations in the
margin; the hind wings in outline resemble an egg.
“‘The feelers (palpi) are rather slender, but project be-
yond the head; the antenne havea short, flattened knob.
Their flight is lazy and lumbering. The caterpillars are
nearly cylindrical, taper a little towards each end, and
are sparingly clothed with short down—which requires a
microscope to be distinctly seen. They suspend them-
selves by the tail and a transverse loop, and their chrysa-
lids are angular at the side and pointed at both ends.”
(Harris. )

This genus is interesting, though disagreeably so, to
every farmer, for the different species are very destruc-
tive to various vegetables—among others, cabbages, nas-
turtium, mignonette, cauliflowers, turnips, and carrots.
22 INJURIOUS INSECTS

We notice only three of the species, as these will serve to
indicate the habits of the whole genus—which every
farmer should be familiar with, so that he may be able
to recognize and destroy such dangerous foes.

THE RAPE BUTTERFLY.
(Pieris rape, Schrank.)

This insect has been the occasion of some little specula-
tion and great interest to our New England and Canadian
entomologists, inasmuch as it has been introduced to
this country from England, and is probably one of the
most perfect instances on record of any insect being im-
ported from one country to another and becoming com-
pletely naturalized in its new quarters. ‘There does not
seem to be the slightest doubt that this is the English
species. It was probably introduced in 1856 or 1857.
It was first taken in Quebec in 1859, and in 1863 it was
cartured in large numbers by Mr. Bowles in the vicinity
of that city. As the eggs are laid on the under sides of
dJeaves, it was probably introduced in this form, the re-
fuse leaves being thrown out of some ship, after which
the larve hatched, and, finding themselves in the neigh-
borhood of their food, ate and flourished. Being, more-
over, hardy little fellows, they were perfectly able to en-
dure a change of climate. In 1864 it had spread about
forty miles from Quebec as a center; in 1866 it was taken
in the northern parts of New Hampshire and Vermont;
in 1868 it had advanced still further south, and was seen
near Lake Winnipesangee; in 1869 it was taken around
Boston, Mass., and a few stray specimens in New Jersey.
Since that time it has spread over a wide range of coun-
try. The larva and pupa seem to have an unusual power
of accommodating themselves to cireumstances—for in-
stance, Mr. Curtis, in his ‘‘ Farm Insects of England,”
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 23

states that the caterpillars have been found feeding on
willow.

The larva (fig 14) is one and one-half inch long; pale-
green, finely dotted with black; a yellow stripe down the
back, and a row of yellow spots along each side, in a line
with the breathing holes. In England and around Quebec
: has done immense damage to the cabbages and other

Crucifere (Cress Family), by boring into the very heart
of the plant, instead of being content with the less valu-
able outer portion, as some ‘other species are. On this
account the French call it the ‘‘ Ver du Ceur,” or Heart-
worm. When about to transform, it leaves the plants on

 

Fig. 15.—ourysais, Fig. 16.—rare BUTTERFLY (Pieris eae —FEMALE,

which it has been living, and fastens itself on the under
side of some stone, plank, or fence-rail, where it changes
into a chrysalis in the middle or latter part of Septem-
ber, and in this stage it hibernates, producing, in New
England, at least, the perfect insect early in April. The
chrysalis or pupa (fig. 15) is variable in color, being
sometimes yellowish-brown or yellow, and passing thence
into green, speckled with minute black dots. The brood
of butterflies that emerges from the pupa state in the
spring lays eggs shortly afterwards, and these eggs pro-
duce caterpillars, which, in their turn, change to chrysa-
lids in June, and in seven or eight days more the butter-
fly appears, which again lays its eggs for the second
brood, which, as before stated, hibernates in the pupa state.
24 INJURIOUS INSECTS

In the perfect butterfly the body and head are black,
and the wings white, marked with black, as follows: In
the female (fig. 16), a small space at the tip, and three
spots on the outer half of the front wings, and one spot
on the hind wings; beneath, one spot on the front wings,
but none on the hind wings, which are commonly yel-
lowish, sometimes passing into green. The male (fig. 17)
has only one spot above
ge, and two beneath on the

# front wings, and a black
dash on the anterior
edge of the hind wings.
There isa variety of the
latter sex which has the
d same markings, but dif-

Fig. 17, fers from the type in

RAPE BUTTERFLY (Pieris rape).—MALE. the ground color being
canary yellow. Curiously enough, this variety has been
taken both in this country and in England.

These butterflies occasionally assemble in great num-
bers. At one time a flight crossed the English channel
from France to England, and such was the density and
the extent of the living mass, that the sun was completely
obscured for a distance of many hundred yards from the
people on board a ship that was passing underneath this
strange cloud.

 

THE POT-HERB BUTTERFLY.

(Pieris oleracea, Boisd.)

This species has a very wide range, reaching rarely as
far south as Pennsylvania, extending eastward to Nova
Scotia, and at least as far west as Lake Superior, while
in the north it is found as high up as the Great Slave
Lake in the Hudson Bay Company’s territory. This
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 25

butterfly (fig. 18, 5) has a black body; the front wings are
white, marked above with black at the base, along the
front edge, and at the tip; the hind wings are white
above and lemon-yellow beneath, but without markings,
except a few black scales at the base.

About the last of May numerous specimens of this
species may be seen over cabbage, radish, or turnip beds,
or patches of mustard, where, on the under side of the
leaves, it deposits its eggs. These are yellowish, nearly
pear-shaped, longitudinally rikbed, and one-fifteenth of
an inch in diameter, and are seldom laid more than two
or three together. In a week or ten days the young
caterpillars are hatched; in three weeks more they have
attained their full growth, which is an inch and one-half

 

long. Being slender and
green (fig. 18, a), they
are not readily distin-
guished from the leaves
on which they live.
They taper a little to-
ward each end, and are
Fig. 18.—PoT-HERB BUTTERFLY. densely covered with
ee hairs. They begin to

a, Larva: b, Butterfly. . 7 ies
eat indiscriminately on
any part of the leaf. When they have completed the
feeding stage, they quit the plants and retire beneath
palings, etc., where they spin a little tuft of silk, en-
tangle their hindmost feet in it, and then proceed to
form a loop to sustain the front part of the body in a
horizontal or vertical position. Bending its head on one
side, the caterpillar fastens to the surface, beneath the
middle of its body, a silken thread, which it carries

2

 
26 INJURIOUS INSECTS

across its back and secures on the other side, and repeats
this operation until a band, or loop, of sufficient strength
is formed. On the next day it casts off the caterpillar
skin, and becomes a chrysalis (fig. 19). This is of a
pale-green, and sometimes of a white color, regularly
and finely dotted with black; the sides of the body are
angular, the head is surmounted by a conical tuber-
cle, and over the forepart of the body, corresponding to
_ the thorax of the included butterfly, is a thin projection,
having in profile some resemblance to a Roman nose.
The insect remains in this stage for ten or twelve days,
when the butterfly appears.

In the last of July and first of August, these insects
may be seen in large numbers depositing their eggs for a
second brood, which, wintering in the pupa state, pro-
cuces the perfect insect (fig. 18, d) the following May.

This butterfly varies considerably. There are never,
we believe, perfectly white specimens, though often
nearly so. Again, some specimens have very faint indi-
cations of spots arranged as in P. rape; but on the
under side are found the widest limits of variation, for
not only do the tips of the front wings become distinctly
greenish, or lemon-yellow, and the veins of that portion
bordered with grayish scales, but the hind wings may
also have the ground color distinctly greenish, lemon-
yellow, or whitish, and the veins display gray scales on
each side.

By taking advantage of the habits of these insects,
they might be nearly exterminated. If boards are placed
among the infested plants, about two inches above the
ground, the caterpillars when about to change will resort
to them, and there undergo their metamorphoses. They
may then be collected by hand on the under side of the
boards, and destroyed. As the butterflies are slow fliers,
they may be taken in a net and killed. A short handle,
perhaps four feet long, with a wire hoop, and bag-net of
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 27

muslin or mosquito netting, are all that are required to
make this useful implement. The titmouse is said to
eat the larve, and should therefore be protected and
encouraged.

[The descriptions of this and the preceding species are
condensed from an article by Chas. 8. Minot in ‘‘ Ameri-
can Entomologist.”]

THE SOUTHERN CABBAGE BUTTERFLY.
(Pieris Protodice, Boisd.)
This species, though scarce in the more Northern

States, abounds in many of the Southern States, where it
takes the place of the two species just described. It often

    
 

MINN, us

Fig. 20.—sOUTHERN CABBAGE BUTTERFLY (fieris Lrotodice).
a, Larva; b, Chrysalis.

proves exceedingly injurious, and we learn from a Mis-
sissippi journal that ‘‘there were last year thousands of
dollars’ worth of cabbages devastated and ruined by
worms in the neighborhood of Corinth.” We are fur-
thermore told, that cabbages could not, in consequence,
be had there even at ten cents per head. The ‘‘ worm”
referred to, was doubtless the species under considera.
tion. It abounds in many parts of Missouri, and especi-
ally in the truck gardens around large cities, where it
proves quite destructive to the cabbages.

The larva (fig. 20, @), may be summarily described as
28 INJURIOUS INSECTS

a soft worm, of a greenish-blue color, with four longitu-
dinal yellow stripes, and covered with black dots. When
newly hatched it is of a uniform orange color with a
black head, but it becomes dull-brown before the first
moult, though the longitudinal stripes and black spots
are only visible after said moult has taken place.

é The chrysalis (fig.
~ gm, 20, 0.), averages 0.65
= ag M@ inch in length, and
is as variable in
depth of ground-col-
or, as the larva. The
general color is light
bluish-gray, more or
YAN Abe less intensely speck-
Fig. 21. led with black, with
SOUTHERN CABBAGE BUTTERFLY.—FEMALE, the ridges and promi-
nences edged with buff or with flesh-color, and having
larger black dots.

The female butterfly (fig. 21), differs remarkably from
the male represented at figure 22. It will be seen, upon
comparing these fig-
ures that the female
is altogether darker
than the male. This
sexual difference in
appearance is purely
colorational, however,
and there should not
be the difference in
the form of the wings
which the two figures
would indicate, for the hind wings in our male cut are
altogether too short and rounded.

This insect may be found in all its different stages
through the months of July, August, and September. It

  

 

Fig. 22.
SOUTHERN CABBAGE BUTTERFLY.—MALE.
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 29

hibernates in the chrysalis state. We do not know that
it feeds on anything but cabbage, but we once found a
male chrysalis fastened to a stalk of the common ‘‘ Horse
Nettle,” (Solanum Carolinense) which was growing in a
cemetery with no cabbages within at least a quarter of a

THE CABBAGE PLUSIA.

(Plusia brassice, Riley.)

This is the next most common insect which attacks the
Cabbage with us, and curiously enough it has never yet

 

Fig. 23.—THE CaBBaGE PLUSIA (Plusia brassice).
. 4, Larva; b, Chrysalis; c, Moth, male.

been described. It is a moth and not a butterfly, and
flies by night instead of by day. In the months of Au-
gust and September the larva (fig. 23, a), may be found
quite abundant on this plant, gnawing large irregular
holes in the leaves. It is a pale-green translucent worm,
marked longitudinally with still paler more opaque lines,
and like all the known larve of the family to which it
belongs, it has but two pair of abdominal pro-legs, the
30 INJURIOUS INSECTS

two anterior segments, which are usually furnished with
such legs in ordinary caterpillars, not having the slight-
est trace of any. Consequently they have to loop the
body in marching, as represented in the figure, and are
true Spanworms. ‘Their bodies are very soft and tender,
and as they live exposed on the outside of plants, and
often rest motionless, with the body arched, for hours at
a time, they are espied and devoured by many of their
enemies, such as birds, toads, etc. They are also sub-
ject to the attacks of at least two parasites and die very
often from disease, especially in wet weather, so that
they are never likely to increase as rapidly as the butter-
flies already described.

When full grown, this worm weaves a very thin, loose,
white cocoon, sometimes between the leaves on which it
fed, but generally chooses some more sheltered situation;
and changes to a chrysalis (fig. 23, 6,) which varies from
pale yellowish-green to brown, and has a considerable
protuberance at the end of the wing and leg-cases, caused
by the long proboscis of the enclosed moth being bent
back at that point. This chrysalis is soft, the skin being
very thin, and it is furnished at the extremity with an
obtuse roughened projection, which emits two converging
points, and several short curled bristles, by the aid of
which it is enabled to cling to its cocoon.

The moth is of a dark smoky-gray, inclining to
brown, variegated with light grayish-brown, and marked
in the middle of each front wing with a small oval spot,
and a somewhat U-shaped silvery-white mark, as in the
engraving. The male (fig. 23, c,) is easily distinguished
from the female by a large tuft of golden hairs covering
a few black ones, which springs from each side of his
abdomen towards the tip.

The suggestions given for destroying the larve of the
Cabbage Butterflies, apply equally well to those of this
Cabbage Plusia, and drenchings with a cresylic wash will
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN, 31

be found even more effectual, as the worms drop to the
ground with the slightest jar.

THE ZEBRA CATERPILLAR.
(Mamestra picta, Harr.)

There is another insect which often proves injurious
to our cauliflowers and cabbages, though it by no means
confines itself to these two vegetables. Early in June
the young worms, which are at first almost black, though
they soon become pale and green, may be found in dense

 

Fig. 24.—THE ZEBRA CATERPILLAR (Mamestra picta).
d, Larva; b, Moth.

clusters on these plants, for they are at that time gre-
garious. As they grow older, they disperse and are not
so easily found, and in about four weeks from the time of
hatching, they come to their full growth. Each worm,
(fig. 24, a,) then measures about two inches in length,
and is velvety-black, with a red head, red legs, and with
two lateral yellow lines, between which are numerous,
transverse white, irregular, zebra-like finer lines, which
382 INJURIOUS INSECTS

induced Dr. Melsheimer to call this worm the ‘ Zebra.”
Though it does not conceal itself, it invariably curls up
cut-worm fashion, and rolls to the ground when disturbed.

It changes to the chrysalis within a rude cocoon formed
just under the surface of the ground, by interweaving a
few grains of sand, or a few particles of whatever soil it
happens on, with silken threads. The chrysalis is three-
fourths ofan inch in length, deep shiny brown, and thickly
punctured except on the posterior border of the seg-
ments, and especially of those three immediately below
the wing-sheaths, where it is reddish and not polished 5
it terminates in a blunt point ornamented with two thorns,
The moth (fig. 24, 4,) which is called the Painted
Mamestra, appears during the latter part of July, andit is
a prettily marked species, the front wings of a beautiful
and rich purple-brown, blending with a delicate lighter
shade of brown in the middle; ordinary spots in the
middle of the wing, with a third oval spot more or less
distinctly marked behind the round one, are edged and
transversed by white lines so as to appear like delicate
net-work; a transverse zigzag white line, like asprawling
W, is also more or less visible near the terminal border,
on which border there is a series of white specks; a few
white atoms are also sprinkled in other places on the
wing. The hind wings are white, faintly edged with
brown on the upper and outer borders. The head and
thorax are of the same coloras the front wings, and the
body has a more grayish cast.

There are two broods of this insect each year, the second
brood appearing in the latitude of St. Louis from the
middle of August along into October, and in all proba-
bility passing the winter in the chrysalis state. though a
few may issue in the fall, and hibernate as moths, or
may even hibernate as worms; for Mr. J. H. Parsons, of
N. Y., found that some of the worms which were on his
Ruta Baga leaves, stood a frost hard enough to freeze
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN, 33

potatoes in the hill, without being killed. I have noticed
that the spring brood confines itself more especially to
young cruciferous plants, such as cabbages, and also on
beets, spinach, etc., but have found the fall broods collect
in hundreds on the heads and flower-buds of asters, on
the Snow-berry or White-berry (Symphoricarpus race-
mosus); on different kinds of Honey-suckle, Mignonette,
and on Asparagus; they are also said to occur on the
flowers of Clover, and are quite partial to the common
Lamb’s-quarter, or Goosefoot (Chenopodium album).
On account of their gregarious habit when young, they
are very easily destroyed at this stage of their growth.

A NEW CABBAGE WORM.

(Pionea rimosalis, Guen).

Prof. Cyrus Thomas, Carbondale, wrote to the
‘* American Entomologist,” in substance, as follows: “I
have something new. It is a new Cabbage worm, the
larva of Ptonea [Orobena] rimosalis, Guen., which
appeared late the past season, remaining on the cabbages
till toward the end of November. It is very destructive,
doing as much injury to my cabbages after it appeared as
the imported Cabbage worm (Pieris rape) which has
been very destructive here this season. The larva, when
full grown, is six or seven-tenths of an inch Jong (a 16-
legged Pyralid larva); slender, slightly flattened; head
shining greenish-yellow; dorsal portion of the body down
to the breathing pores purplish-brown; this portion
marked with numerous transverse whitish lines, two or
three to a segment; a narrow, pale yellow line along the
region of the stigmata; underside pale green. In the
breeding cages they went down to the soil, but not into
it, to pupate; forming a slight, regularly shaped, oval
cocoon, thickly covered over with sand.
84 INJURIOUS INSECTS

“* Miss Middleton’s record shows as follows; ‘‘ Weut
into the pupa state September 12th, 13th, and 14th;
moths appeared 16th to 22nd, and on to Oct. 1st.

‘After this there was another brood of worms, my
description having been taken from living specimens,
Noy. 21st. The eggs I have not seen, but from the fact
that the young feed somewhat together (though not
really in companies) I presume a number are laid
together. These worms eat, as a general thing, elongate
oval holes in the leaves, gradually extending them until
nothing but the larger veins remain.

“They also bore directly into the heads, to the depth
of, or rather through three or four leaves; a habit, so far
as my experience goes, wrongly ascribed to the larva of
P. rape, which will seldom eat through even one leaf of
a solid head until it is at least slightly loosened.

«Lime, ashes, brine, salt, elder decoction, and lye as
strong as the cabbages can bear, and other substances
tried, have even less effect upon them than on the
imported Cabbage worm. The lye, fresh made, of strong
ashes, did more than anything else tried.

“«T have ascertained that some varieties of the cabbage
suffer much less from P. rape than others, and that
bringing them forward two or three weeks earlier than
usual so as to have the heads pretty well formed before
the full brood appears, is also an excellent plan to coun-
teract them.” :

The editor adds: This is the first instance which has
eome to our knowledge, of Pionea rimosalis injuring
cabbage. It is interesting, as illustrating the unity of
habit in the genus which essentially feeds on Orucifere.
The larva of P. forficalis, L., is very destructive to cab-
bages in Europe, working very much as Prof. Thomas
has described in the case of P- rimosalis.

Remepy For Cappace Worms.—Of all the many top-
ical remedies that have been tried for the Imported
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 35

Cabbage worm since it first began to spread over the
country and to play havoc with our cabbage fields, few,
if any, have given entire satisfaction. It is safe to say
that the most satisfactory remedy so far discovered is in
the use of Pyrethrum. Prof. Riley was the first to
apply this in 1879, but did not care to recommend it
until further experiments had been made. He has ma
these since, and caused others to be made by a number vw.
his agents and correspondents. The general experience
is most favorable, and he unhesitatingly recommends it for
all the different worms affecting the leaves of our
cabbage plants. Some have found hot water very ef-
fective on a large scale. Living plants will bear, without
injury, for a few seconds, water hot enough to kill soft-
bodied insects. The water should be at the temperature
of about 160° when it reaches the plant; it will cool
somewhat during the application, and allowance should
be made for this.

THE WAVY-STRIPED FLEA-BEETLE,

(Haltica [Phyllotreta] striolata, Iliger.

“‘The Striped Turnip-beetle (fig. 25, a,) is less than
one-tenth of an inch in length. Its general appearance
is black, with a broad wavy yellowish or buff-colored
stripe, on each wing- -cover. The
larva (fig. 25, 4,) is white, with a
faint darkened or dusky median
line on the anterior half of the
body, being probably the contents
of the alimentary canal seen Fig. 25.—wavy-sTRrPED
through the semi-translucent skin. Balas arcane)
The head is horny and light 4, Beetle; », Larva. c, Pupa.
brown. On the posterior extremity is a brown spot equal
to the head in size; and there are six true legs aud one

 
36 INJURIOUS INSECTS

proleg. In its form and general appearance it somewhat
resembles the larva of the Cucumber-beetle, but it is
much smaller. Its motion is slow, arching up the ab-
domen slightly, on paper or any smooth surface, in such
a position that its motions are necessarily awkward and
unnatural, because in a state of nature it never crawls
over the surface, but digs and burrows among the roots in
the ground. Its length is 0.35 of an inch, and breadth
0.06 of an inch. It feeds upon roots beneath the ground.

“The pupa (fig. 25, ¢,) isnaked, white, and transforms
in a little earthen cocoon, pressed and prepared by the
larva, in the ground near its feeding place. This period
is short.

‘‘Hvery gardener knows that these insects are very
injurious to young cabbages and turnips as soon as they
appear above the ground, by eating off the seed-leaves; he
also almost universally imagines that when the second, or
tree-plant leaves appear, that the young plant is safe from
their depredations; then the stem is so hard that the
insect will not bite it, and the leaves grow out so rapidly
as not usually to be injured by them. But if we would
gain much true knowledge of what is going on around us,
even among these most simple and common things, we
must learn to observe more closely than most men do.

“The gardener sees his young cabbage plants growing
well for a time, but at length they become pale or
sickly, wither and die in some dry period that usually
occurs about that time, and attributes their death to the
dry weather; but if he will take the pains to examine the
roots of the plants, he will find them eaten away by some
insect, and by searching closely about the roots will find
the larva, grub, worm, or whatever else he may choose to
call it; from this he can breed the Striped Turnip-beetle,
as I have often done.

“«JT have observed the depredations of these larvxe for
ten years, and most of that time had a convincing
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 37

knowledge of their origin, but only proved it in 1865;
since that time I have made yearly verifications of this
fact.

“Every year the cabbage plants and turnips in this
region receive great damage from these larve, and often
when we have dry weather, in the latter part of May and
early in June, the cabbage plants are ruined. A large
proportion of them are killed outright in June, and the
balance rendered scarcely fit for planting; but when the
ground is wet to the surface all the time by frequent
rains, the young plant is able to defend itself much more
effectually, by throwing out roots at the surface of the
ground, when the main or center root is devoured by the
larva; but in dry weather these surface roots find no
nourishment and the plant must perish.

“This year I saw these beetles most numerous in early
spring, but have often seen them in August and Sep-
tember, so abundant on cabbages, that the leaves were
eaten full of holes, and all speckled from their presence,
hundreds often being on a leaf; and at this time the
entire turnip crop is sometimes destroyed by them, and
seldom a year passes without their doing great injury.
* * * As the Cucumber-beetle raises its young on the
roots of the Gourd Family exclusively, I am led to believe
that the Striped Turnip-beetle raises its young always on
the roots of the Mustard Family.”—[Dr. Henry Shimer,
in ‘‘ American Naturalist,” December, 1868. |

THE HARLEQUIN CABBAGE-BUG,

(Strachia histrionica, Hahn.)

Cabbage-growers in the North are apt to think, that
the plant which they cultivate is about as badly infested
by insects as it is possible for any crop to be, without be-

ing utterly exterminated. No sooner are the young cab-
|
38 INJURIOUS INSECTS

bages above ground in the seed-bed, than they are often
attacked by several species of Flea-beetles. By these
jumping little pests the seed-leaves are frequently rid-
dled so full of holes that the life of the plant is destroyed;
and they do not confine themselves to the seed-leaves,
but prey to a considerable extent also upon the young
rough leaves. After the plants are set out, the larva of
the very same insect is found upon the roots, in the form
of a tiny elongate six-legged worm. Through the oper-
ations of this subterranean foe, the young cabbages, es-
pecially in hot dry weather, often wither away and die;
and even if they escape this infliction, there is a whole
host of cutworms ready to destroy them with a few snaps
of their powerful jaws; and the common White Grub, as
we know by experience, will often do the very same thing.
Suppose the unfortunate vegetable escapes all these
dangers of the earlier period of its existence. At a more
advanced stage in its life, the stem is burrowed into by
the maggot of the Cabbage Fly (Anthomyia brassice)—
the sap is pumped out of the leaves in streams by myriads
of minute Plant-lice covered with a whitish dust (Apis
brassice)—and the leaves themselves are riddled full of
holes by the tiny larva of the Cabbage Tinea (Plutella
cruciferarum), or devoured bodily by the large fleshy
larvee of several different Owlet-moths.

Severe as are these inflictions upon the Northern cab-
bage-grower, there is an insect found in the Southern
States that appears to be, if possible, still worse. This
is the Harlequin Cabbage-bug (Strachia histrionica,
Ilahn, fig. 26, d, which is enlarged, the line showing the
real size), so called from the gay theatrical Harle-
quin-like manner in which the black and yellow colors
are arranged upon its body. The first account of the op-
erations of this very pretty but unfortunately yerv mis-
chievous bug appeared in the year 1866 from the able
pen of the late Dr. Gideon Lincecum, of Washington
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 39

county, Texas, and were printed in the “ Practical En-
tomologist” (vol. I, p. 110). His remarks are to the
following effect:

“The year before last they got into my garden, and
utterly destroyed my cabbage, radishes, mustard, seed
turnips, and every other cruciform plant. Last year I
did not set any of that order of plants in my garden.
But the present year, thinking they had probably left the
premises, I planted my garden with radishes, mustard,
and a variety of cabbages. By the first of April the mus-
tard and radishes were large enough for use, and I dis-
covered that the insect had commenced on them. I be-
gan picking them off
by hand and trampling
them under foot. By
that means I have pre-
served my four hundred
and thirty-four cab-
bages, but I have visit-
ed every one of them
daily now for four
months, finding on
them from thirty-five
to sixty full-grown in-
sects every day, some Fig. 26.—HARLEQUIN CABBAGE-BEETLE
coupled and some in (Strachia histrionica).
the act of depositing a, Larva; b, Pupa; c, Eggs; d, Beetle.
their eggs. Although many have been hatched in my
garden the present season, I have suffered none to come
to maturity; and the daily supplies of grown insects that
I have been blessed with, are immigrants from some
other garden.

“‘The perfect insect lives through the winter, and is
ready to deposit its eggs (fig. 26,c,) as early as the fifteenth
of March, and sooner, if it finds any cruciform plant large
enough. They set their eggs on end in two rows, cemented

 
40 INJURIOUS INSECTS

together, mostly on the under side of the leaf, and gener-
ally from eleven to twelve in number. In about six days
in April—four days in July—there hatches out from theze
eggs a brood of larve (fig. 26, a,) resembling the perfect
insect, but has no wings. This brood immediately be-
gins the work of destruction by piercing and sucking the
life-sap from the leaves; and in twelve days they have
matured. They are timid, and will run off and hide be-
hind the first leaf-stem, or any part of the plant that
will answer the purpose. The leaf that they puncture
immediately wilts. Half a dozen grown insects will kill
a cabbage in a day. They continue through the sum-
mer, and sufficient perfect insects survive the winter to
insure a full crop of them for the coming season.

«This tribe of insects do not seem liable to the attacks
of any of the cannibal races, either in the egg state or any
other stage. Our birds pay no attention to them, neither
will the domestic fowls touch them. I have, as yet,
found no way to get clear of them, but to pick them off
by hand.”

It appears from this statement that there are at least
two broods of the species every year, the first hatching
out in April and the second in July; and as it is said
that only sixteen or eighteen days elapse from the deposi-
tion of the egg to the mature development of the perfect
bug, it is not improbable that the species is in reality
many-brooded. The eggs, of which we have specimens
now before us, are about 0.03 inch in diameter, barrel-
shaped, and of a greenish-white color with two broad
black bands encircling the staves of the barrel so as to
look exactly like hoops. To afford a passage to the young
larva, one of the heads of the barrel—the one, of course,
that is not glued to the surface of the leaf—is detached
by the beak of the little stranger as neatly and as
smoothly as if a skillful cooper had been at work on it
with his hammer and driver. And yet, instead of
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 41

employing years in acquiring the necessary skill, the
mechanic that performs this delicate operation with un-
erring precision, is actually not yet born into this sublu-
nary world!

Hitherto it had been generally supposed by entomolo-
gists that the Harlequin Cabbage-bug was confined to the
most southerly of the Southern States, such as Texas and
Louisiana; and it has consequently been called by some
‘“‘the Texan Cabbage-bug,” instead of translating the
scientific name and calling it, as we have done, ‘the
Harlequin Cabbage-bug.” In September, 1867, however,
we received numerous living specimens from Dr. Sum-
merer, of Salisbury, in North Carolina; and from his ac-
count it seems to be as great a pest in the gardens of that
State as Dr. Lincecum describes it to be in Texas.
Hence the species is most probably to be met with, in
particular localities and in particular seasons, throughout
the Southern States, at least as far north as Tennessee
and Arkansas; and we should not be surprised if a few
specimens were eventually to turn up in Southern IIli-
nois, and in Southern Missouri.

It is said that no criminal among the human race is
so vile and depraved, that not one single redeeming
feature can be discovered in his character. It is just so
with this insect. Unlike the great majority of the ex-
tensive group (Seutellera Family, Order of Half-winged
Bugs) to which it belongs, it has no unsavory bed-buggy
smell, but on the contrary exhales a faint odor which is
rather pleasant than otherwise. We have already re-
ferred to the beauty of itscoloring. As offsets, therefore,
to its greediness and its thievery, we have, first, the fact
of its being agreeable to the nose, and secondly the fact
of its being agreeable to the eye. Are there not certain
demons in the garb of angels, oocasionally to be met with
among the human species, in favor of whom no stronger
arguments than the above can possibly be urged?
42 INJURLOUS INSECTS

CUCUMBER.

THE STRIPED CUCUMBER-BEETLE,
(Diabrotica vittata, Fabr.)

The Striped Cucumber-Beetle is an insect which annu-
ally destroys thousand of dollars’ worth of vines in the
United States, and for which remedies innumerable—
some sensible, but the greater portion not worth the
paper on which they are printed—are published every
year in some of the agricultural papers.

As everything pertaining to such a very common and
destructive insect cannot be too often repeated, I will
here relate its habits in the briefest manner.

The parent beetles (fig. 27) make their appearance quite
early in the season, when they immediately commence

their work of destruction. They fre-

quently penetrate through the cracks

that are made by the swelling and

sprouting of the seeds of melons, cucum-
Fig. 27.-srrirep bers, or squashes, and by nipping off the
CUCUMBER BEETLE. young sprouts, destroy the plant before
it is even out of the ground.

Their subsequent work, when the vines have once
pushed forth their leaves, is too well known to need des-
cription. Yet notwithstanding the great numbers and
the persistency of these beetles, we finally succeed, with
the proper perseverance and vigilance in nursing and
protecting our vines, until we think they are large enough
to withstand all attacks. Besides, by this time, the
beetles actually begin to diminish in numbers, and we
congratulate ourselves on our success. But lo! All of
a sudden, many of our vines commence to wilt, and they
finally die outright. No wound or injury is to be found
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 43

on the vine above ground, and we are led to examine the
roots. Here we discover the true cause of death, for the
roots are found to be pierced here and there with small
holes, and excoriated to such an extent that they present
a corroded appearance. Upon a closer examination the
authors of this mischief are easily detected, either im-
bedded in the root, or lurking in some of the corroded
furrows. They are little whitish worms, rather more
than a third of an inch long, and as thick as a good-sized
pin; the bead is blackish-brown and horny, and there is
a plate of the same color and
consistency on the last seg-
ment. These worms are in
fact the young of the same
Striped-Bug which had been
so troublesome on the leaves
earlier in the season; and
that the insect may be as
well known in this its masked
form, as it is in the beetle
state, I present the annexed
highly-magnified figures of
the worm (fig. 28) showing a
back, and fig. 29 a side view.
The beetles, while feasting Fig. 28. rarva. Fig. 29. rarva.
themselves on the tender ™A°X V™¥- = SIDE VIEW.

leaves of the vine, were also pairing, and these worms
were hatched from the eggs deposited near the roots by
the females. When the worms have become full-grown,
which is in about a month after they hatch, they forsake
the roots and retire into the adjoining earth, where each
one, by continually turning around and around, and com-
pacting the earth on all sides, forms for itself a little
cavity, and in a few days throws off its larva skin and
becomes a pupa. This pupa is much shorter than was
the worm, and the insect lasts in this state about

 
44 INJURIOUS INSECTS

two weeks, at the end of which time the skin is again
moulted, and the perfect beetie form assumed. All
the parts of this newly-developed beetle are at first soft,
but after remaining motionless in its cell until these soft
parts have acquired solidity and strength, it breaks
through the walls of its prison and works itself up to the
light of day. There are from two to three generations
each year, the number varying according to the latitude,
or the length of the winter.

Of all the multifarious remedies proposed against the
attacks of this insect, there is none so effectual or so
cheap in the end, as inclosing the young vines in boxes,
which are opened at the bottom, and covered with mulli-
net on the top. Such boxes are made at a trivial cost,
and if properly stored away each season after use, will
last for many years. Whenever other remedies must
from necessity be resorted to, there is nothing better than
sprinkling the vines, early in the morning, with Paris
Green and Flour (one part of the Green to four or five of
flour), or with White Hellebore. It of course follows,
that if the beetles are effectually kept off, there will
afterwards be no worms at the roots.

Much complaint has been made in various parts of the
country, of the sudden death of cucumber and other cu-
curbitaceous vines, from some unknown cause, and Henry
Ward Beecher seems to have suffered in this manner,
like the rest of us, but could find no worms in the roots
of his vines. I know from experience that such vines
are subject to a species of rot in the root, a rot not caused
by insects, and for that reason the more serious, since we
cannot tell how to prevent it. I have seen whole melon
patches destroyed by this rotting of the roots. but in the
great majority of instances where I have examined vines
that had died from ‘‘some unknown cause,” I have had
no difficulty in either finding the worms of the ‘* Striped
Bug” yet at work on the roots, else the unmistakable
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 45

marks of their having been there. Indced, by the time
a vine dies from the effects of their gnawings and bur-
rowings, the worms have generally become fully grown,
and have hidden themselves in their little pupal cavities.

So much for the two borers which have heretofore
been known to attack plants belonging to the Gourd
family. We have seen how they both bore into the roots
of these plants, and how one of them in the perfect state
attacks the leaves. No other borers have been known to
attack these plants, though the 12-Spotted Diabrotica
(D. 12- “punctata, fig. 30), may be found
embedded in the rd of both melons,
cucumbers, and squashes. But we now
come to a third insect which attacks
plants of this same Gourd family. It Fig. 30.—12-sror-
neither bores into the root, nor devours 7"? PMAPROTICA.
the foliage, however, but seems to confine itself to the
fruit; and I have called it the Pickle Worm, from the
fact of its often being found in cucumbers that have
been pickled.

 

THE PICKLE WORM.
(Phacellura nitidalis, Cramer.)

At figure 31 is represented one of these worms, of
the natural size. They vary much in appearance, some
being of a yellowish-white, and very much resembling
the inside of an unripe melon, while others are tinged
more or less with green. They are all quite soft and
translucent, and there is a transverse row of eight shiny,
slightly elevated spots on each of the segments. Along
the back and towards the head these spots are larger than
at the sides, and each spot gives rise to a fine hair. The
specimen from which I obtained my first moth was very
light-colored, and these spots were so nearly the color of
the body as to be scarcely visible. The head was honey-
46 INJURIOUS INSECTS

yellow, bordered with a brown line, and with three black
confluent spots at the palpi.

The worms commence to appear, in the latitude of St.
Louis, about the middle of July, and they continue their
destructive work till the end of September. They bore
cylindrical holes into the fruit, and feed on its fleshy
parts. They are gross feeders, and produce a large
amount of soft excrement. I have found as many as four
in a medium-sized cucumber, and a single worm will
often cause the fruit to rot. They develop very rapidly,
and come to their growth in from three to four weeks.
When about to transform, they forsake the fruit in

 

Fig. 81.—prckte worm (Phacellura nitidalis).—Larva.

which they had burrowed, and drawing together portions
of some leaf that lies on or near the ground, spin a light
cocoon of white silk. Within this cocoon they soon be-
come slender brown chrysalids, with the head parts pro-
longed, and with a very long ventral sheath, which en-
closes the legs. If it is not too late in the season, the
moths issue in from eight to ten days afterwards. The
late individuals, however, pass the winter within their
cocoons, though, from the fact that some moths come
out as late as November, I infer that they may also win-
ter over in the moth state.

The moth produced by this worm (of which figure 32
represents the male) is very strikingly marked. It is
of a yellowish-brown color, with an iris-purple reflection,
the front wings having an irregular, semi-transparent,
dull, golden-yellow spot, not reaching their front edge,
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 4

and constricted at their lower edge, and the hind wings
having their inner two-thirds of this same semi-transpar-
ent yellow. The under surfaces have a more decided
pearly lustre. The thighs, the breast, and the abdomen
below, are all of a beautiful silvery-white, and the other
joints of the long legs are of the same tawny or golden-
yellow as the semi-transparent parts of the wings. The
abdomen of the female terminates in a small, flattened
black brush, squarely trimmed, and the segment directly
preceding this brush is of a
rust-brown color above. The
corresponding segment in the
male is, on the contrary, whit-
ish anteriorly, and of the same
color as the rest of the body
posteriorly; and he is, more-
over, at once distinguishedfrom _ Fig. 32.—moru oF PIOKLE
the female by the immense base

brush at his tail, which is generally much larger than re-
presented in the above figure, and is composed of narrow,
lengthened (ligulate) scales, which remind one of the
petals of the common English Daisy, some of these scales
being whitish, some orange, and others brown. This
moth was described nearly a century ago by Cramer.

The genus to which it belongs is characterized chiefly
by the partly transparent wings, and by the immense
scaly brush of the males. The antennez are long, fine,
and thread-like, those of the male being very finely
cihated; the abdomen extends beyond the wings, and the
legs are very long and slender. The species are for the
most part exotic, and the larve of all of them, so far as
known, feed on cucurbitaceous plants.

But our Pickle-worm is an indigenous species, and has,
doubtless, existed in some part or other of the country,
from time immemorial; and now that its habits are
recorded, and its history made known, I should not be

 
48 INJURIOUS INSECTS

at all surprised to learn that individuals have suffered
from it in years gone by. The French Entomologist,
Guenée, gives as its food-plant, a species of potato, and
it is just possible that it may not always have fed upon
the same plants upon which it was first found in this
country. At all events, let us hope that it will disappear
as suddenly as it appeared; but should it occur again in
great numbers, the foregoing account wil: enable those
who grow melons, cucumbers, or squashes, to understand
their enemy, and to nip the evil in the bud, by carefully
overhauling their vines in the summer, and destroying
the first worms that appear, either by feeding the infested
fruit to hogs or cattle, or by killing the worms on the
spot.

THE MELON-WORM.

(Phacellura hyalinatalis, Linn.)

The Melon-worm is described by Prof. J. H. Comstock,
in the Report of the Department of Agriculture, for 1879,
as eating cavities into melons, cucumbers, and pumpkins
at all stages of growth, and also devouring their leaves.
The perfect insect (Phacellura hyalinatalis, also
written Phakellura), has long been well known to
entomological collectors from its beauty and abun-
dance in certain localities; but has received almost
no attention from economic workers. Guenée in giving
its geographical distribution, says: ‘‘ Very common in all
America. J have received it from Brazil, from Columbia,
from Hayti, from North America, and from French
Guiana.”

As to the food plant of the larva Guenée simply states
that it lives upon the pumpkins. watermelons, and other
cucurbitaceous plants.

In the July, 1875, number of *‘ Field and Forest ” a short
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 49

account is given of the destruction of a large crop of
cucumbers at Indian River, Florida, by these worms. It
was stated that they first attacked the bud, then worked
into the plant, and eventually killed them out, root and
branch. The melon crop in parts of Georgia has been
very seriously injured by its ravages; to what extent is
vividly shown in the following account by Prof. J. E.
Willet, of Macon, Ga, [The following are the esseatial

   

alld: 5
Fig. 383.—mMELON-worm (Phacellura hyalinatalis),
Larva, Chrysalis, and Moth, closed and open.

points of Prof. Willett’s letter. He thus describes the
appearance in three patches, in which melons had been
planted for market.—Eb. ]

** All presented the same scene of total destruction.
Most of the vines had been more or less denuded of leaves,
and the remains of the leaves contained brown chrysalids
or pupe “webbed up” in them. The melons of various
sizes were occupied in great measure by the worms.
The younger worms were generally confined to the surface,
but the older had penetrated to different depths. Some
had excavated shallow cavities half an inch to an inch in
diameter, and one-eighth of an inch in depth; and each

3
50 INJURICUS INSECTS

cavity was occupied by one or more worms. Others had
penetrated perpendicularly into the melons, frequently
beyond sight. None had reached the hollow of the
melon, so faras I saw. The worms averaged probably
half a dozen to each melon. The melon crops of these
three market-gardens were a total loss. Another gardener
told me that he had abandoned the culture of melons
entirely, because of the ravages of the Melon-worm.
Where cultivated in considerable numbers, the August
and September crop of melons is very uncertain. The
destruction is frequently quite complete, also, in private
gardens.

“The Melon-worms are of alight yellowish-green color,
nearly translucent, have a few scattered hairs, and, when
mature, are about an inch and a quarter in length.
They ‘‘web up” in the leaves of the melon, or of any
plant growing near which has flexible leaves, forming a
slender brown chrysalis three-quarters of an inch in
length. Hundreds of these pupe were found rolled up
in the leaves of the tomato and of the sweet-potato.

“In passing through one of the patches referred to,
numbers of small, beautiful moths rose from the grass
and weeds. Their wings when extended measured an
inch across, and were of an iridescent pearly whiteness,
except a narrow black border. Their legs and bodies
presented the same glistening whiteness, and the abdo-
mens terminated in a curious movable tuft of white
appendages like feathers, of a pretty buff color, tipped
with white and black. These moths proved to be the
mature melon-worms, which had emerged from the
chrysalids referred to.

“The melon-worms, their chrysalids, and moths, were
forwarded to Prof. J. H. Comstock, Entomologist of the
United States Agricultural Department, for indentifica-
tion. He pronounced them to be Phacellurahyalinatalis,
another species of the same genus as the Western pickle-
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 51

worm, Phacellura nitidalis. The moth of the latter is
somewhat smaller, and the ground color of the wings is a
bronze yellow and the black border is broader.

“Much later in the season a few worms were found on
cucumbers, and were pronounced by Professor Comstock
to be melon-worms. A year previous, in the summer of
1878, I found a chrysalis webbed in a tomato leaf, and
this chrysalis gave forth the same moth, as was found in
1879 to issue from the melon-worm chrysalis. This worm
had probably fed on the foliage of a pumpkin vine which
ran near the tomato plant.

“The melon-worm, Phacellura hyalinatalis, is known
then to destroy musk-melons, cucumbers, and pumpkins.
Its cousin, the pickle-worm, Phacellura nitidalis, has
been found here, but it remains to be determined whether
it plays any part in the destruction of melons or of
cucumbers in this locality.

“* Noefficient remedy for this has been discovered here.
Some have tried placing each melon on a piece of plank,
under the mistaken notion that the worms emerged from
the earth. Paris green and London purple are objection-
able, by reason of their poisonous properties. Professor
Comstock has suggested to me a trial of the Persian
insect-powder, Pyrethrum. Whatever remedy is employed
it must be applied to the leaves as well as to the melons.
The worms devour both foliage and fruit, and, if the
fruit alone be protected, the foliage will be destroyed,
the plants will cease to grow, and the melons will not
come to maturity.”

The number of broods ina season has not been definitely
ascertained. The insect winters in the chrysalis state,
spun up in the leaves of any neighboring tree or plant.
They usually migrate to a greater or less distance from
their feeding place before webbing up. At Rock Ledge,
Fia., they were found abundantly webbed up on Palmetto
52 INJURIOUS INSECTS

and Orange trees in a grove in which the so-called Indian
pumpkins had grown.

As regards remedies, Mr. J. S. Newman, of Atlanta,
Ga., states that the only one known to him is to plant
early, the object being to pick the melons before the most
destructive brood of the worms has appeared. It would
undoubtedly be found profitable to keep a sharp lookout
for the first brood of the worms, which will probably be
found feeding upon the leaves and stems before the young
melons have begun to form. ‘These should be killed by
hand. This could be readily done in patches compara-
tively small in size, and we think will be found profitable
in large gardens.

Two species of parasitic insects have been reared from
the specimens sent to the Department; one is Pimpla
conquisitor, an Ichneumon fly, which has proved very
efficacious in the case of the cotton-worm; the other is a
Tachina fly. Much is to be expected from the aid of
these parasites.

 

THE ONION.

THE BLACK ONION-FLY.
(Ortalis flexa, Wied.)

This insect was first described by Wiedemann in 1830.
The fly (fig. 34) is about one-third of an inch in length,
black, with three oblique white stripes on each wing. Mr.
Henry Shimer, of Mount Carroll, Tll., says, “In the latter
part of June, I first observed the larva or maggot among
the onions here. The top dead, the bulb rotten, and the
maggots in the decayed substance. From them I bred the
fly. They passed about two weeks in the pupa state. At
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN, 53

that time I first observed the flies in the ,arden, and now
afew are to be found. Their favorite roosting place is a
row of asparagus running along the onion-ground, where
they are easily captured and destroyed from daylight to
sunrise, while it is cool and wet. During the day they are
scattered over the ground and on the leaves and stalks of
the onions, and not easily captured. Their wings point
obliquely backward, outwards and upwards, with an

   

Fig. 34.—BLACK ONION-FLY (Ortalis flexa).
Larva and Fly—real size shown by lines.

irregular jerking, fanlike movement; flight not very
rapid or prolonged. They are not very numerous, prob-
ably not over two or three hundred. All that I observed
originated in one part of the bed, where they were doubt-
less deposited by one parent fly.” Two broods appear in
a season.

THE IMPORTED ONION-FLY.

(Anthomyia ceparum, Bouché.)

The engravings (fig. 35,) show, a, larva; d, larva mag-
nified; c, pupa; d, pupa magnified; e, fly magnified. It is
a terrible pest to the onion grower in the East, though
it has not yet made its way out West. On the other
hand, the Native American Onion-fly (Ortalis arcuata,
Walker), which is a closely allied species and has almost
exactly the same habits, has only been heard of in one or
54 INJURIOUS INSECTS

two circumscribed localities in the West, and even there
does comparatively but little damage.
The Imported Onion Fly lays her eggs while the onions
re small (in May and June), depositing them on the
.yes near the surface of the ground. The maggots soon
tch and make their way down to the base of the young
Jb, sometimes as many as two or three in a single
nion: here they feed for about a fortnight, when they
usually leave the bulb and turn into chestnut-colored
pup in the earth near by. In about two weeks the

 

Fig. 35.—IMPORTED ONION-FLY (Anthomyia ceparum).

a, Larva; b,do. magnified; c,Pupa; ad, do. magnified; e, Fly, enlarged, real size
shown by the lines below.

second brood of flies issues from these pups, to lay eggs
and continue the destructive work. The eggs of the
later broods are not usually deposited on the leaves, but
on the bulb itself, close to the ground.

Remepies.—The onions attacked soon turn yellow,
and should be removed from the bed at once; this, if
thoroughly done, will get rid of the maggots that would
develop into the next brood of flies. The sickly onions
should be lifted with the aid of an old knife. to be sure
and bring up the maggot with the onion; if they are
simply pulled, the maggot may escape from the decayed
bulb. Place these infested onions in a pail or other
vessel from which the maggots can nof. escape, and burn
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 55

them. Among special applications, soot has been found
useful, and in England kerosene oil mixed with water in
the proportion of half a pint to six gallons has been ap-
plied to the plants from a watering-pot with a fine rose.
Salt applied when the plants are three or four inches
high, at the rate of three bushels to the acre, has been
used by some of the Connecticut onion growers with
benefit.

PARSLEY AND RELATED PLANTS.

In July, in the New England and Middle States, and
earlier further South, there will be found upon Parsley
especially, and sometimes upon other cultivated umbel-
liferous plants, as the Carrot, Parsnip, and Celery, and also
on Caraway, Fennel,etc., ashowy caterpillar, known as the
“ Parsley-worm.” This, when full grown, is an inch and
a half long, largest near the head and tapering behind;
at this time the caterpillars are of a delicate apple-green
color, paler at the sides, and on each segment, or ring of
the body, isa band consisting of alternate bright-yellow
and black spots. This coloring would be sufficient to
identify the caterpillar, but if disturbed it at once arrests
attention by appealing to the sense of smell, as it gives
off, what has been called a ‘scent,’ but is better de-
scribed as a stench, which pervades the air for some dis-
tance. This odor comes from a pair of soft, orange-col-
ored horns, which are united below like a letter Y. These
are projected from a slit just back of the head, and are
not, as many have supposed, stings, but merely organs
for diffusing this odor. They attain their full size late
in September or early in October, when they seek some
sheltered place on a fence or a building; hang themselves
by a loop of silken threads and form greenish, yellowish,
56 INJURIOUS INSECTS

or ash-gray chryalids. They pass the winter in the chrys-
alis state, and the next summer appear as handsome
“ swallow-tailed” butterflies. The butterfly has a spread
of wing of three-and-one-half to four inches. The wings
are black, with a row of yellow spots across them, and
another row near the margin; the hind wings have each
a tail-like appendage, seven blue spots between the two
rows of yellow ones, and at the inner angle, an orange-
colored spot with a black center. The female lays her
eggs singly.

Remepies.—The caterpillar is most destructive upon
Parsley and the related plants when grown for seed.
They devour not only the foliage, but seem to be espec-
jally fond of the flower-clusters, and of the young fruit
or seeds. As with all other large and scattered cater-
pillars, hand-picking is the most effective remedy. The
butterfly is so handsome that it would not be supposed to
be capable of mischief, but seed growers should encourage
entomologists to make specimens of all they find.

THE PEA.
THE PEA-WEEVIL.
(Bruchus pisi, Linn.)

Our common garden Pea has not many insect enemies,
for with the exception of the Striped Flea-beetle (Haltica
striolata), which gnaws numerous small holes in the
leaves, and the Corn-worm, alias Boll-worm (Heliothis
armigera), which eats into the pod, there are yery few
others besides the Pea-weevil under consideration. This
species alone is so numerous, however, as to be a serious
drawback to pea culture in some parts of the country.

The Pea-weevil, which is here illustrated (fig. 36),
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 57

showing a back view, and (fig, 37), a side view, the
small outlines at the sides showing the natural size, is
easily distinguished from all other species of the genus
with which we are troubled, by its larger size, and by
having on the tip of the abdomen, projecting from the
wing-covers, two dark oval spots, which cause the
remaining white portion to look something like the letter
T. It is about 0.18—0.20 inch long, and its general color
is rusty-black, with more or less white on the wing-
covers, and a distinct white on the hinder part of the
thorax, near the scutel. There is a notch on each lateral
edge of the thorax, and a
spine on the underside of
the hind thighs near the
apex. The four basal
joints of the antenne, and
the front and middle-
shanks, and feet, are more
or less tawny. It is sup- 5
posed to be an indigenous a we ts
North American insect, Fig. 96.—Pea-wesvi (Bruchus pisi),
and was first noticed a, Back View ; b, Pea with spot.
many years ago around Philadelphia, from whence it has
spread over most of the States where the pea is cultivated.
This supposition is probably the correct one, though we
have no means at present of proving it to be so, and cer-
tain it is that, as the cultivated pea was introduced into
this country, our Pea-weevil must have originally fed on
some other indigenous plant of the Pulse family.

THE FremMaLe Deposits Her Hees ON THE OUTSIDE
OF THE Pop.—It is a very general remark that peas are
*“stung by the bug,” and the impression prevails almost
universally, not only among gardeners, but with many
entomologists, that the female weevil punctures and
deposits her eggs in the pea, in which the larva is to be
nourished, It is a little singular that so many writers

  
538 INJURIOUS INSECTS

should have fallen into this error, for it is not only the
accepted view with some writers for the agricultural
press, but has been adopted by many eminent entomolo-
gists. All this comes of course from one man’s palming
off the opinions of another as his own, whether good or
bad, without due credit.

The true natural history of the Pea-weevil may be
thus briefly told. The beetles begin to appear as soon as
our peas are in bloom, and when the young pods form,
the female bectles gather upon them, and deposit their
eggs on any part whatever of the surface, without
attempting to insert the eggs within the pod.

The eggs, which are of a deep yellow, 0.035-inch
long, are three times as long as wide, pointed in front,

 

Fig. 37.—PeA-WEEVIL.
b, Side View ; c, Larva: d, Pupa.

blunt behind, but larger anteriorly than posteriorly.
They are fastened to the pod by some viscid fluid, which
dries white, and glistens like silk. As the operation of
depesiting is only occasionally noticed during cloudy
weather, we may safely assume that it takes place for the
most part by night. Jf pea vines are carefully examined
any time during the month of June, the pods will often
be found to have from one to fifteen or twenty such eggs
upon them, and the black head of the future larva may
frequently be noticed through the delicate shell.

As already stated, the eggs are deposited on all parts of
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 59

the pod, and the mother beetle displays no particular
sagacity in the number which she consigns to each, for I
have often counted twice as many eggs as there were
young peas, and the larve from some of these eggs, would
of course have to perish, as only one can be fully
developed in each pea. The newly hatched larva is of a
deep yellow color, with a black head, and it makes a
direct cut through the pod into the nearest pea, the hole
soon filling up in the pod, and leaving but a mere speck,
not so large as a pin hole, in the pea. The larva feeds
and grows apace, and generally avoids the germ of the
future sprout, perhaps because it is distasteful, so that
most of the buggy peas will germinate as readily as
those that have been untouched. When full grown, this
larva presents the appearance of figure 37, c, and with
wonderful precognition of its future wants, eats a
circular hole on one side of the pea, and leaves only the
thin hull asa covering. It then retires, and lines its
cell with a thin and smooth layer of paste, pushing aside
and entirely excluding all excrement, and in this cell it
assumes the pupa state, (fig. 37, d,) and eventually
becomes a beetle, which, when ready to issue, has only to
eat its way through the thin piece of the hull, which the
larva had left covering the hole. It has been proved that
the beetle would die if it had not during its larval life
prepared this passage way, for Earnest Menault asserts
that the beetle dies when the hole is pasted over with a
piece of paper, even thinner than the hull itself.

REMEDIES AND PREVENTIVES.—Sometimes, and
especially when the summer has been hot and prolonged,
many of the beetles will issue from the peas in the fall of
the same year that they were born, but as a more general
rule they remain in the peas during winter, and do not
issue till new vines are growing. Thus many yet remain
in the seed peas until they are planted, and especially is
60 INJURIOUS INSECTS

this apt to be the case with such as are planted early.
We see, therefore, how easily this insect may be intro-
duced into districts previously free from it, by the care-
less planting of buggy peas, for it has been demonstrated
that the beetle issues as readily from peas planted in the
earth, as it does from those stored away in the bin. All
peas intended for seed should be examined, and it can
very soon be determined whether or not they are infested.
The thin covering over the hole of the peas that contain
weevils, and which may be called the eye-spot, is
generally somewhat discolored, and by this eye-spot,
those peas which ought not to be planted, can soon be
distinguished. Where this covering is off, and the pea
presents the appearance of fig. 36, 6, there is little danger,
for in that case the weevil has either left, or, if still
within the pea, is usually dead. It would of course be
tedious to carefully examine a large lot of peas, one by
one, in order to separate those that are buggy, and the
most expeditious way of separating the sound from the
unsound, is to throw them into water, when the sound
ones will mostly sink, and the unsound swim.

There are, however, other and more certain means of
preventing the injuries of this insect, and whenever
agriculture shall have progressed to that point, where by
proper and thorough organization, all the farmers of a
county or of a district can, by vote, mutually agree to
carry out a measure with determination, and unison, then
this insect can soon be exterminated; for it is easy to
perceive that such a result would be accomplished by
combinedly ceasing to cultivate any peas at all, for one
single year! Until some such united action can be
brought about, we shall never become entirely exempt
from this insect’s depredations, for no matter how sound
the peas may be that I plant, my vines are sure to be
more or less visited by the beetles, as long as I have
slovenly neighbors. Yet, comparatively, my peas will
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 61

always be enough better to pay well for the trouble, even
under these circumstances.

RADISH.

The same insects that attack young cabbage plants and
the turnips infest the Radish. In some localities it is
almost impossible to grow radishes of a size fit for the
table before they are so much injured by a small maggot
as to be useless. These maggots appear to be the larve
of a fly (Anthomyia), closely related to those so destruc-
tive to the onion. (See Onion Flies). The False Chinch
Bug (Nysius devastator), troublesome in some of the
Western States, attacks the leaves of the Radish as well as
those of other plants of the same family.

SQUASH AND PUMPKIN.

The Squash and Pumpkin belong to the same family
of plants (the Gourd Family, Cucurbitacee) with the
Cucumber and Melon, and most of the insects that infest
those may often be found upon them, especially while
the plants are young, at which time they need the pro-
tection from the Striped-beetle, etc., mentioned under
Cucumber and Melon.

THE SQUASH-BUG.

(Anasa [formerly Coreus] tristis, Degeer.)

For this insect the name, Squash Bug, is scientifically
correct, as it belongs to the true bugs, with the Chinch,
Bed, and other unpleasant bugs. (See Hemiptera, in
62 INJURIOUS INSECTS

Introduction.) About the last of June (in the North-
ern States), these insects come out from their hiding
places, pair, and lay their eggs. The parent insect (fig.
38,) is a little over balf an inch (°/,,) in length, rusty-
black above, and ochre-yellowish beneath. The ground
color of the upper parts is ochre-yellow, but concealed
by multitudes of minute black dots. .A marked charac-
ter of this insect is the odor it gives off when handled or
disturbed; this odor has been compared to “‘ that of an
over-ripe pear,” but we have never seen a pear sufficient-
ly ‘‘over-ripe” to approach in its repulsiveness the sick-
ening odor given off by the Squash-bug. It
is one of those odors of which a very little
satisfies. The insects are quiet during the
day, but at night lay their eggs in little
patches; they are of a brownish-yellow color,
and glued to the leaves. They soon hatch,
; and the larve, or young bugs, are of a pale-
sapere ash color, and of a more rounded shape
(Anasa tistis.) than the perfect insects. As they grow
older they moult their skins several times, forming no
dormant pupe, but finally assume the shape of the per-
fect bug. The young at first remain in small swarms or
clusters, near the place they were hatched, but finally
scatter to other leaves; in all stages they penetrate the
leaves with their beaks, live upon their juices, and cause
them to become brown, wither, and finally to die. As
soon as a leaf is exhausted, they pass on to fresher ones,
and where numerous, the insects are very destructive.

 

Remepies.—None of our injurious insects is more
readily kept under control than this by hand-picking. If
one familiar with the appearance of the bug, will exam-
ine the young vines and the ground beneath them, those
that come from their winter quarters may be found and
destroyed before they have laid their eggs. Next the
eggs, which are conspicuous upon the underside of the
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 63

leaves, on account of their color and large size, may be
crushed between the thumb and finger. If any of the
patches of eggs have been allowed to hatch, the habit of
the young bugs to stay around in clusters, allows these to
be readily destroyed. If any have escaped destruction in
these early stages, an examination of the vines, after the
insects have scattered, will allow of their being gathered
and destroyed before they can go into winter quarters.

THE 12-SPOTTED SQUASH-BEETLE.

(Diabrotica 12-punctata, Fabr.)

This beetle is own brother to the Striped-Beetle (D.
vittata), already described under Cucumbers. While the
colors are much the same, this (see fig. 30, p. 45) is much
broader, and instead of having its black marks in lines,
they are in dots, 12 in all, upon the wing covers. It is,
fortunately, not very common, but where it occurs, it is
most destructive. It seems to take special delight in
eating through the strong ribs of the leaves, near where
they are attached to the leaf-stalk, thus allowing the rest
of the leaf to fall down and wither. MHand-picking has
hitherto been relied upon, but if in great numbers, Paris
Green may be used.

THE SQUASH-BORER.
(4igeria [Trochilium] cucurbite.)

At midsummer, or soon after, in the Eastern States,
especially, large and vigorous Squash-vines are seen to
suddenly wilt and die without apparent cause. Upon a
careful examination of the vine near the root, by split-
ting it lengthwise, there will generally be found a cater-
pillar, and if the exterior of the vine be carefully exam-
ined, probably the wound caused by the entrance of the
64 INJURIOUS INSECTS

young borer may be discovered. This Squash-vine Borer
is the larval state of an insect of the same genus as the
borer of the Peach Tree. The perfect insect (fig. 39,)
has an orange-colored body; its fore-wings are black, and
the hind ones transparent, and the hind pair of legs are
fringed with long orange and black hairs. The female
deposits her eggs upon the vine near the root, at any
time from June to August.
The young larva at once pene-
trates to the interior of the
stem, and eats and grows, until
the connection between the up-
per part and the root being
destroyed, the vine dies. The
Fig. 39.—mora or squasu- full-grown larva enters the

VINE: BORER. earth, forms a rude cocoon by
gluing particles of earth together, and remains in the
pupa state until time to begin its work of mischief the
next season.

RemeEpies.—The difficulty with the Squash-vine Borer
consists in the fact that its presence is not made known
by the wilting of the vines until the mischief has been
done. Among other methods that have been suggested,
is the placing sheets of the sticky fly-paper (‘‘ Catch’em
Alive, Oh!”) about the vines, to capture the parent in-
sect. If these are seen flitting around the vines, they
should be caught by means of a net. If the moths have
been seen around the vines, these should be closely ex-
amined for eggs and for the wounds made by the young
larve in entering the stem; if found, while still young,
they may be carefully cut out, without material injury
to the vine. If the vine dies from the presence of bor-
ers, search should be made for the larva, that it may be
destroyed, and prevent an increase. Among preventives
it has been suggested that, as the insect deposits her egg
upon the stem near the root of the vine, the covering

 
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 65

slightly with earth of several lower joints of the plants
will be effective. A similar treatment has been found
useful with the related Peach-tree Borer, and is worth
bearing in mind if the Squash Borer is apprehended.

THE TOMATO.

The Tomato, belonging to the same botanical family
as the Potato, is attacked by several of the insects that
feed upon that plant, and it is not necessary to give a
separate description of them. When the plants are first
set out in the spring, they are sometimes cut off by the
greasy Cut-worm, the larva of Agrotis telifera, Harris.
This cut-worm is a general feeder, and destroys whatever
plants it may come across. The holes of the worms
should be searched for, and the tenants destroyed.
Wrapping a piece of paper around the lower part of the
stem of each plant, allowing the lower edge to be below
the surface of the earth, while the other edge extends an
inch or two above it, will prevent their attacks.

The Stalk Borer of the Potato, and the Colorado
Beetle, occasionally attack the Tomato. These are
described under Potato. The most injurious insect to
the Tomato, is the large green Caterpillar, of Sphinx
quingue maculata, which is called both ‘“‘ Tomato,” and
“Potato Worm,” (See Potato). This voracious feeder
will soon strip a plant of its foliage, and even eat the
young fruit. Where tomatoes are trained to a trellis, as
they always should be in garden culture, the abundant
droppings upon the ground will indicate its presence,
and it should be sought for at once. Being so nearly of
the same color as the stems of the plant, it might escape
66 INJURIOUS INSECTS.

notice, did not its droppings betray it. Hand picking—
and it is perfectly harmless—is the remedy.

The Caterpillar of the Corn, or Boll-worm (Heliothis
armigera), besides doing vast injury to Indian Corn, and
to Cotton, feeds on many other plants. In some of the

 

Fig. 40.—BoOLL-woRM (Heliothis armigera) FEEDING UPON TOMATO.

Western States, it has proved a great pest to the Tomato
grower, eating into the green fruit, and causing it to rot.
Figure 40 shows this Caterpillar attacking the Tomato,
This insect is described under Indian Corn,
Inseets Injurious to Root Crops and Indian Corn.

BEET AND MANGEL WURZEL.

While there are several insects injurious to the Beet,
especially the Sugar Beet in Europe, this crop has been
thus far singularly free from insect enemies in this
country. Even the all-devouring Western Grass-hopper
often leaves the Beets untouched; while the White Grub
(Lachnosterna), makes no such exception, and is some-
times very troublesome. (SEE WHITE GrusB). In Eng-
land, the larva of the Beet Carrion Beetle (Stlpha opaca,
Linn.), has oocasionally destroyed crops by feeding on
the leaves, but little seems to be known about it. A fly
(Anthomyia betew, Curtis), is often destructive to the
Beet and Mangel in Europe, and a few cases have been
reported of its appearance in this country in 1881. This
insect is a near relative of the Onion Fly (See On1on),
its larve burrowing in numbers in the pulpy matter of
the leaf. When a leaf wilts, the larve, about a third of
an inch long, may be seen, if present, by holding the
leaf up to the light. The only remedy thus far suggested
is, to remove all leaves that show signs of flagging, and
destroy them before the maggots can transform to flies.

INDIAN CORN.

While there are a few insects that especially attack this
important crop, it also receives attention from the gener-
ally destructive insects. In those localities where the

67

*
68 INJURIOUS INSECTS

Army Worm is abundant, or in those that are in the range
of the destructive Western Grass-hopper, corn, of course,
suffers in common with other plants. It also is attacked
by the White Grub, and by several of the Cut Worms.

THE CORN-WORM, alias BOLL-WORM.

(Heliothis armigera, Hubner.)

The “ Boll-worm” has become a by-word in all the
Southern cotton-growing States, and the ‘‘Corn-worm”
is a like familiar term in those States, as well as in many

 

Fig. 41.—corN OR BOLL WoRM.
a, Larva; b, Moth, Wings open; c, Moth, Wings closed.

other parts of the Union; but few persons suspect that
these two worms—the one feeding on the corn, the other
on the cotton-boll—are identically the same insect, pro-
ducing exactly the same species of moth. But such is
the fact, as I myself experimentally proved in 1864. It
attacks corn in the ear, at first feeding on the “ silk,”
but afterwards devouring the kernels at the terminal end;
being securely sheltered the while within the husk. I
have seen whole fields of corn nearly ruined in this way,
m the State of Kentucky, but nowhere have I known it
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 69

to be so destructive as in Southern Illinois. Here, as in
our own State, there are two broods of the worms during
the year, and very early and very late corn fare the worst;
moderately late and moderately early varieties usually es-
caping. Iwas formerly of the opinion that this worm
could not live on hard corn, and it certainly does disap-
pear before the corn fully ripens, but last fall Mr. James
Harkness, of St. Louis, brought me, as late as the latter
part of October, from a corn field on the Illinois bottom,
a number of large and well ripened ears, each containing
from one to five worms of different sizes, subsisting and
flourishing on the hard kernels. This is, however, an
exceptional occurrence, brought about, no doubt, by the
long protracted warm weather which we had, and the
worms were in all probability a third brood.

This glutton is not even satisfied with ravaging these
two great staples of the country—cotton and corn—but,
as I discovered, in 1867, it attacks the tomato in South-
ern Illinois, eating into the green fruit, and thereby
causing such fruit to rot. (See Tomato, p. 66). Mr.
Glover also found it feeding in a young pumpkin, and it
has been ascertained by Mrs. Mary Treat, of Vineland,
New Jersey, not only to feed upon the undeveloped tas-
sels of corn and upon green peas, but to bore into the
stems of the garden flower known as Gladiolus, and in
confinement to eat ripe tomatoes, last summer it was also
found by Miss M. E. Murtfeldt on common string beans,
around Kirkwood.

But for the present we will consider this insect only in
tne role of Corn-worm, because as such it interests the
practical man most deeply.

This insect is very variable ix the larva state, the
young worms varying in color from pale-green to dark-
brown. When full grown there is more uniformity in
this respect, though the difference is often sufficiently
great to cause them to look like distinct insects. Yet the
70 INJURIOUS INSECTS

same pattern is observable, no matter what may be the
general color; the body being marked as in figure 41,
with longitudinal light and dark lines, and covered
with black spots which give rise to soft hairs. Those
worms that Mrs. Treat found on green peas and upon
corn tassels, had these lines and dots so obscurely repre-
sented that they seemed to be of a uniform green or
brown color, and the specimens which I saw last summer
on string beans were also of a dark glass-green color, with
the spots inconspicuous, but with the stripe below the
breathing pores quite conspicuous and yellow. The head,
however, remains quite constant and characteristic. Fig-
ure 40 may be taken as a specimen of the light variety,
and figure 41, a, as illustrating the dark variety. When
full grown, the worm descends into the ground, and there
forms an oval cocoon of earth interwoven with silk,
wherein it changes to a bright chestnut-brown chrysalis,
provided with four thorns at the extremity of the body,
the two middle ones being stouter than the others. After
remaining in the chrysalis state from three or four weeks,
the moth makes its escape. In this last and perfect
stage, the insect is also quite variable in depth of shading,
but the more common color of the front wings is pale
clay-yellow, with a faint greenish tint, and they are
marked and variegated with pale-olive and rufous, as in
figure 41 (J showing the wings expanded, and ¢ represent-
ing them closed), a dark spot near the middle of each
wing being very conspicuous. The hind wings are paler
than the front wings, and invariably have along the outer
margin a dark brown band, interrupted about the mid-
dle by a large pale spot.

In 1860—the year of the great drouth in Kansas—the
corn crop in that State was almost entirely ruined by the
Corn-worm. According to the ‘Prairie Farmer,” of
January 31, 1861, one county there which raised 436,000
bushels of corn in 1859, only produced 5,000 bushels
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 21

of poor wormy stuff in 1860, and this, we are told, was
a fair sample of most of the counties in Kansas. The
damage done was not by any means confined to the grain
actually eaten by the worm; but ‘‘ the ends of the ears of
corn, when partially devoured and left by this worm, af-
fords a secure retreat for hundreds of small insects,
which, under cover of the husk, finish the work of des-
truction commenced by the worm, eating holes in the
grain or loosening them from the cob. A species of green-
ish-brown mould or fungus grew likewise in such situa-
tions, it appearing that the dampness from the exuded
sap favored such a growth. Thus decay and destruction
rapidly progressed, hidden by the husk from the eye of
the unsuspecting farmer.” It appears also that many
horses in Kansas subsequently died from disease occa-
sioned by eating this half-rotten wormy corn.

Remepy.—It is the general experience that this worm
does more injury to very early and very late corn than to
that which ripens intermediately, for though the broods
connect by late individuals of the first and early individ-
uals of the second, there is nevertheless a period about
the time the bulk of our corn is ripening, when the
worms are quite scarce. I have never yet observed their
work on the green tassel, as it has been observed in
New Jersey, and do not believe that they do so work with
us. Consequently it would avail nothing as a preventive
measure, to break off and destroy the tassel, and the
only remedy when they infest corn is to kill them by
hand. By going over a field when the ears are in silk,
the presence of the worms can be detected by the silk be-
ing prematurely dry, or by its being partially eaten.

In the cotton fields large numbers of the moths have
been caught by means of lamps or lanterns, so arranged
that the insect, when attracted by the light, will fall into
the water or other liquid. Wherever the moth is abun-
dant among the corn, it may be worth while to try this,
72 INJURIOUS INSECTS

THE SEED-CORN MAGGOT.

(Anthomyia zzas, Riley).

  

 

line directly underneath giving the natural size. It
work on corn is similar to that of

figure 43, and finally causes such seed to rot.

size and formof fig. 42, 4, and in about a week afterwards

quite inconspicuous in its markings and appearance.

fectual in killing the Onion

mugegot, where a few hills of Fig. 48,—MaGGors aT WORK,

be impracticable, and I can only suggest soaking the seed

This maggot is shown, enlarged, at figure 42, a, the
greatly resembles the Onion mag-
g gots, which are known to attack
i, 6 the onion in this country, and its
a this last named maggot on the
Fig. 42,—SrED-CORN MAGGOT. onion; for it excoriates and gnaws
Cees into the seed-corn as shown in
After having become full fed, these maggots usually
leave the kernels for the surrounding earth, where they
contract into smooth, hard, hght-brown pupe, of the
the perfect fly pushes open a little cap at the anterior
end, and issues forth to the light of day. In this state
tis a two-winged fly belonging to the Order Diptera, and
It is difficult to suggest a remedy for this pest, as its
presence is not observed before the mischief is done.
Hot water has been found ef-
maggot, without injuring the
onions, and would doubtless
prove as effectual for this Corn
some choice variety are attack-
ed, which it is very desirable to save. But its application
in a large field, even if one knew where to apply it, would
before planting, in gas-tar or copperas, and hope that the
experiment will be tried by those of our Eastern friends
who have suffered from this maggot.
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. "3

Some species are such general feeders that, in group-
ing insects according to the plants to which they are in-
jurious, it becomes difficult to place them. The corn-
grower, the vegetable gardener, the grower of small
fruits, the owner of lawns and pastures, and even the
nurseryman, may each at times properly look upon the
White Grub as his worst insect enemy. The Cut-worms
and Wire-worms, though less generally destructive, are
injurious to very unlike plants, while the False Wire-
worms are in this country, especially, known for the in-
jury they have done to lilies, carnations, and to the potato
crop. We place these general feeding insects here, for
convenience, and shall refer to them in treating of the
plants to which they are especially injurious.

THE WHITE GRUB.
(Lachnosterna fusca, Frohl),

Perhaps no destructive insect is better known than
this in its larval as well as in its perfect state, by those
who live in the country, yet comparatively few are aware
that the frequent White Grub and the familiar May-bug,
or June-bug, or Dor-bug, are different forms of the same
insect. In the months of May and June, attracted by
the light, these beetles often make their way into the
house, and by the noise they make in buzzing about and
knocking themselves against the walls and ceiling, often
alarm nervous persons. The few that thus enter the
dwelling are merely indications that vast swarms are
upon the trees at no great distance without. Unlike
some beetles, this is a voracious feeder in its perfect state,
and is destructive to trees, sometimes completely denud-
ing them of their foliage, without the cause being dis-
covered, as the beetle is active only at night. Fruit and

4
74 INJURIOUS INSECTS

ornamental trees, as well as forest trees, appear to be at-
tacked indiscriminately. They remain in the beetle state
but a short time, and the damage they do is small as
compared with that which they inflict in
their prolonged grub state. The beetle
is about an inch long, of the shape
shown in figure 44; its legs are long and
slender, with sharp claws, by which it
can hold readily to the foliage, etc.; it
is of a dark-chestnut color, and covered
Fig. 44. with minute dots; each wing-cover has
eas two or three slighly elevated longitudinal
lines, and the breast is covered with a yellowish down.
If the small feelers be examined, the knob at the end
will be found to consist of three leaf-lke plates.

Soon after pairing the female enters the earth to the
depth of a few inches, she there deposits forty or fifty
eggs, and soon dies. The eggs hatch in about a month,
and as the grubs are at first quite small, but little is
known of their history during their first year, but they
no doubt subsist upon any small roots they may come
across. In the second year they are large enough to make
their presence felt; they then work near the surface, and
it seems to make little difference what kind of root they
meet with, it is cut off a short distance below the surface of
the ground, and the plant wilts and
dies. This happens to Indian corn,
to grass, to tender lettuce in the gar-
den, and the woody roots of young gi
fruit trees in the nursery, as well as
to the more tender ones of the Straw-
berry; besides, it often revels in the
tubers of the potato, making the
crop fit only for the pigs: it also does mischief in the
flower garden—indecd, no live root seems to come amiss

to this general feeder. The grub is full-grown in the

 

 

Fig. 45.—wHITE GRUB,
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. %5

spring of the third year (some say the fourth), and is
then sometimes as large as one’s little finger, of the shape
shown in figure 45. It is soft, dirty-white, and has a ma-
hogany-colored head, and is usually found with its body
curved in a semicircle, though it can straighten itself out
and crawl slowly. In the third year they form a some-
what egg-shaped chamber, by sticking the particles of
earth together by means of an adhesive fluid, within
which they assume the pupa state. These earthen co-
coons are shown in figure 46, entire, and in figure 47
cut open, showing the pupa within. In May, or in
many localities not until June, the change into the per-
fect beetle is completed. Such is, in brief, the natural

 

Fig. 46.—cocoon. Fig 47.—pupa.

history of the White Grub, which in most respects resem-
bles that of a related insect, equally destructive to the
vegetation of Europe, Melolontha vulgaris, known in
England as Cockchafer, and in France as Hanneton,
which in the last-named country causes such losses that
various prizes for efficient means for its destruction have
been offered, but not awarded.

It should be stated that a larva of similar size and ap-
pearance to the White Grub is often found in manure
heaps, and farmers, supposing them to be identical, fear
to cause trouble by using the manure. This grub, known
as the Muck-worm, is the larva of a different beetle
(Ligyrus), and as it feeds only upon decayed vegetable
matter, can do no damage to the crops; at most it can
only consume a little manure. It has a lead-colored ap-
"6 INJURIOUS INSECTS

pearance, for its whole length, due to the contents of its
intestines, which show through the skin; the White Grub
shows this dark color only near the tail end.
REMEDIES.—THE BEETLE—As many insects are not in-
jurious in their perfect form, the June-bug has not gen-
erally been regarded as harmful. As it is a destructive
feeder in its beetle state, it should be destroyed not only
for the mischief it may do asa beetle, but for the pre-
vention of its progeny. Those that enter the house
should be caught and killed. In each locality the insect
is usually more numerous than at other times, once in
three years. When the trees in which they harbor are dis-

  

Fig. 48.—LANTERN TRAP FOR THE JUNE-BUG.

covered, large numbers may be destroyed by placing
sheets beneath the trees, and in early morning, when they
are torpid, the beetles may be shaken from the trees,
gathered, and destroyed. As it is only in the perfect state
that any effective war can be waged against the White
Grub, every method should be employed to kill as many
beetles as possible. That which promises to be most ef-
fective is, to take advantage of the fact that they are
attracted by light, and to set traps for them. <A simple
form is to place a lamp in a tub, made by sawing a barrel
in halves, in the bottom of which is a few inches of water,
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. V7

Several lanterns have been especially devised which, by
throwing a strong light, will attract the insects. That
shown in figure 48 is a French device, modified by a
distinguished American horticulturist. It consists of a
square glass lantern, at each side of which isa flaring tin
reflector. At the lower side of each reflector, near the
glass, is a longitudinal opening. The lantern is set upon
a cask or tub in which there is some water. The insects,
attracted by the light, fly towards it, and striking the
glass fall down through the opening into the water.
This has been found very effective. It would no doubt
be well to place upon the water a little kerosene, just a
thin film, enough to cover each insect as it falls in.

THE Grus.—In Europe, with the related grub, the
habits of which are like those of ours, the employment of
children to follow the plow to pick up the larve as they
are exposed, has been found the only efficient method.
It is probable that pigs and ducks might be made usefu.
in a similar manner.

In gardens, when a vegetable, a fruit, especially the
strawberry, or a flower, is observed to suddenly wilt and
droop, it should at once be lifted, with the surrounding
earth, and the grub sought for and destroyed. The
grubs sometimes cut the roots of the grass in lawns to
such an extent that the turf may be rolled up like a rug.
Of course there is no remedy, but to prevent further
trouble the grubs should be picked up, and they are
sometimes gathered by the bushel, before re-seeding the
lawn. Pastures, in which the grub is present in large
numbers, should be given over to the swine, which will
soon dispose of them.

NaturaL Remupies.—Chief among these is the much
abused Crow, which is most efficient in discovering these
grubs and destroying them in grass lands; by some in-
stinct they discover the hidden enemy, and many of
78 INJURIOUS INSECTS

these birds will regularly visit an infested lawn or pas-
ture every morning and prosecute their beneficial work.
It is not unlikely that much of the corn pulling for which
these and other birds are blamed is done in the search
for these grubs. The Skunk is very fond of the beetles
and destroys large numbers of them. In a number of
localities in Ohio, Iowa, and Missouri, White Grubs have
been found with a long horn protruding from each side
of the head, as in figure 49. These “horns” do not
properly belong to the grub, but are really vegetable para-

 

Fig. 49.—wHITE GRUB WITH PARASITIC FUNGUS,

sites, being a kind of fungus. The occurrence of fungi
upon other grubs in some Oriental countries has long
been known, and the occasional abundance of this upon
our native pest, encourages the hope that here may be
found an important aid to the cultivator. At all events,
grubs found with these horn-like appendages should not
he destroyed, but left with the hope that the beneficial
vegetable may be propagated and become common,

THE CUT-WORMS.

Among the greatest enemies to the Corn crop, espec-
ially in its young state, are the Cut-worms, though their
attacks are by no means confined to this plant, but they
feed upon a great number of cultivated plants, cutting
them off near the surface of the ground. It is a compar-
atively recent discovery that some of these worms, for-
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 19

tuerly supposed to feed only on the ground, climb fruit
trees and injure their buds. These are mentioned under
“Insects Injurious to Fruit Trees.” The name Cut-
worm is sometimes incorrectly applied to the White
Grub, the larva of the May or June-bug, and also to the
Wire-worms. The proper Cut-worms are the larve of
several night-flying moths, of the genus Agrotis, and of
some allied genera, but as their habits are much alike, a
description of one will answer in a general way for all.
Related species are destructive in England, where they
are known as ‘‘Surface Caterpillars.”

The moths, which usually appear in late summer, have
an expanse of wing of about an inch and a half; they
are of a sombre gray or brown color; they rest with the
wings closed more or less flatly over the body, the upper
entirely covering the lower ones, and always have two,
more or less distinctly marked spots, the one round and
the other kidney-shaped. The moths, attracted by the
iights, frequently enter houses at night; they sometimes
fly in cloudy days also. They deposit their eggs mostly
in late summer, sometimes in spring, upon plants near
the surface of the ground; these soon hatch and the
young larve enter the earth, where they live upon the
tender roots of grass and other plants, until winter, when,
about two-thirds grown, they descend deeper into the
soil, and remain in a torpid state during cold weather.
In spring they come to the surface, and with appetites
sharpened by their long fast, are ready to attack almost
any succulent plant. They feed by night, and hide in
holes just under the surface during the day. They have
a general greasy appearance, being smooth, naked, and of
some shade of gray, green, brown, or black, and variously
marked; the head is polished, and there isa shield of
the same color upon the top of the first and last seg-
ments; when disturbed they coil themselves into a ball.
When the worms are full grown, they descend deeper
80 INJURIOUS INSECTS

into the ground, form an earthern cocoon, in which they
become chrysalids, and in summer or early autumn ap-
pear as moths, to continue the round of changes. There
are half a dozen or more species of this
ss terrestrial or non-climbing Cut-worms;
Wh) the one chosen for illustration (fig. 50),
the Greasy Cut-worm (Agrotis telifera,
; 2 Harr.), is one of the most common, and
Fig. 50. will give a general idea of all. It ap-

cuT-WoRM. —_—_ pears to attack nearly all green cultivat-
ed plants with equal avidity, and has proved most
destructive to corn, tomatoes, and tobacco.

 

RemeEpies.—Birds give much aid by destroying the
larvee when exposed by the plow. Chickens will destroy
large numbers if cooped in the garden. There are several
insect enemies; Ichneumon and other flies deposit their
eggs within the worm. Some of the Cannibal beetles,
and some spiders prey upon them. Finding their hiding
places and killing the worm, is the most effective artifi-
cial remedy. The worms usually secrete themselves in
the ground near the place where they have destroyed a
plant, and often drag a leaf to the entrance of the hole,
as if to serve as a guide toit. It has been recommended
to make a number of smooth holes near the hill of corn,
or near other plants that are attacked, by means of a
small stick; many will take refuge in these, and may be
killed the next morning by the use of the same stick.
This method has been carried out more expeditiously by
the use of a circular block of wood, with several smooth
pegs in its under side near the edge. This is furnished
with a handle, and thrusting it down upon the soil, it
will make a series of smooth holes, in which the worms
will take refuge; the next day they may be killed by the
use of the same implement. In localities where loss
from these worms is apprehended, it is a wise precaution
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 81

to use an abundance of seed, so that a good stand may
be left after they have done their mischievous work.

WIRE-WORMS.

The term Wire-worm, like that of Cut-worm, is some-
times applied rather indefinitely; the name properly be-
longs to the long and slender larve of several species of
Elater, popularly known as ‘‘Spring” and as ‘‘ Click-
beetles.” A very large blackish beetle, nearly two inches
long, with two large round black spots on its thorax
which are mistaken for eyes, is often found on fences,
sides of buildings, etc., in summer. This, when laid
upon its back, will by a sudden spring throw itself into
the air to the height of several inches, and usually come
downright sideup. This, the most conspicuous of these
beetles, is not injurious, but there are several others,
much smaller, but with the same power of springing, the

 

Fig. 51.—wirE-worM.

larvee of which are Wire-worms. En-
tomologists have placed some of these
insects in different genera, but for the
present purpose, it is sufficient to regard
them all as Spring-beetles, and their
larvee as Wire-worms. The larve of
some live only in decayed wood, and are not injurious,
while others live in the soil, and do great damage
to several crops. Figure 51 gives the general appear-
ance of the larva, and figure 52 of the beetle, though in
some the beetle is much narrower in proportion. So far
as is known of their history, these larve live for several
years in the ground, some say for three, and others for
five years. They are all long in proportion to their

 

Fig. 52.
SNAP-BEETLE,
82 INJURIOUS INSECTS

diameter, their form suggesting the name Wire-worm.
Their injury to the Potato crop is perhaps more gener-
ally noticed, as it is sometimes completely ruined by
them; they also do much damage to Indian Corn, the
cereal grains and the grasses. Plowing, both in fall and
early spring with frequent harrowing, will expose them
to the birds, who are the chief help. In England, previ-
ous to planting the potato crop, potatoes, with a stick
thrust into them to mark the place, are buried here and
there to serve as traps; they are taken up at intervals,
and any worms that may have collected on them des-
troyed.

FALSE WIRE-WORMS,

Several worm-like creatures found in the soil are pop-
ularly called wire-worms, which are not the larve of the
Snap-beetles; indeed are not any kind of a larva. These
are now regarded as belonging as to a sub-order of insects,
the Myriapods, which includes Centipedes, Millipedes, etc.
The most common representatives of these belong to the
genus Iulus. They have worm-like bodies, made up of
numerous horny divisions, most of which bear two pairs
of legs, and there are two short feelers at the head.
They are of a blackish or dark-brown color, and when

disturbed, cecil
themselves into:
ring. Ther wm
dergo no met:.
morphosis like the
proper insects, from which they are also distinguished
by their numerous legs. Our species are from an
inch to an inch and a half long, but in tropical
countries they reach six and seven inches. Many
of them feed upon decayed vegetable and animal matter,
but some of them feed upon the roots of living plants.

 

Fig. 58.—FALSE WIRE-WorM (Julws).
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 83

The engraving (fig. 53), which illustrates their general
appearance, is of our largest species (ulus multistriatus,
Walsh.), which has been found in some localities destruc-
tive to strawberry plants, carnations, and especially to
lily-bulbs. Potatoes have also been much injured by
smaller species. Traps in the form of potatoes, as men-
tioned under Wire-worms, would be of service, or slices
of apples, carr.ts, potatoes, or parsnips, placed upon the
beds and covered with pieces of board, will catch many
of these millipedes.

THE POTATO.

The late B. D. Walsh, the lamented senior editor of the
«American Entomologist,” contributed a valuable paper
to that journal, of which the following is the substance.
After commenting upon the absurdity of the various
articles in the papers on ‘The Potato Bug,” he shows
that there are a number of insects that are injurious to
the potato, and describes the most important, beginning
with

THE STALK BORER.

(Gortynia nitida, Guenee.)

This larva (fig. 54, 2), commonly burrows in the large
stalks of the potato; but is not peculiar to that plant, as
it occurs also in the stalks of the tomato, and in those of
the dahlia and aster and other garden flowers. We have
likewise found it boring through the cob of growing
Indian corn, and strangely confining itself to that portion
of the ear; and we formerly received a single specimen
embedded in the stem of Indian corn, from which we
subsequently bred the winged insect. By way of com-
84 INJURIOUS INSECTS

pensation, we suppose, it is particularly partial to the
stem of the common Cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium);
and if it would only confine itself to such noxious weeds
as this, it might be considered as a friend instead of an
enemy. Fourteen years ago it was more numerous than
usual, and we noticed it to be particularly abundant
along the Iron Mountain and Pacific roads in Missouri,
The larva of the Stalk Borer moth leaves the stalk in
which it has burrowed the latter part of July, and descends
a little below the surface of the earth, where in about
three days it changes into the pupa or chrysalis state,
The winged insect (fig. 54, 1), which belongs to the same

 

Fig. 54.—PoTato-sTALK BORER.
1, Moth; 2, Larva.

extensive group of moths (Noctua family, or owlet moths)
to which all the cut-worm moths appertain, emerges from
under ground from the end of August to the middle of
September. Hence it is evident that some few, at all
events, of the female moths must live through the winter
in obscure holes and corners, and lay their eggs upon the
plants which they infest in the following spring. For
otherwise, as there are no young potato or tomato plants,
or Indian corn, or dahlias, or asters, or even cocklebur
for them to lay their eggs upon in the autumn, the whole
brecd of them would die out in asingle year. Whena
vine is found to wilt suddenly, it should be examined
for this insect, which should be destroyed, to prevent
further increase,
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 85

THE POTATO-STALK WEEVIL.
(Baridius trinotatus, Say).

This insect is more peculiarly a southern species, occur-
ring abundantly in the Middle States, and in the more
southerly parts of Indiana and Illinois, and also in Mis-
souri; but, according to Dr. Harris, being totally un-
known in New England. The female beetle (fig. 55, c),
deposits a single egg in an oblong slit about one-eighth
inch long, which it has previously formed with its beak
in the stalk of the po-
tato. The larva sub-
sequently hatches out,
and bores into the
heart of the stalk, al-
ways, according to

  

    
 

Libby

   

a
z Miss Morris, of Penn-
: i sylvania, who was the
Fig. 55.—povTaTo-8TALK WEEVIL. ee
a, Larva; b, Pupa; c, Weevil. first to notice it, pro-

ceeding downwards to-
wards the root. When full grown, it is a little over one-
fourth inch long (fig. 55, a), and is a soft whitish, legless
grub, with a scaly head. Hence it can always be readily
distinguished from the larva of the Stalk Borer, which has
invariably sixteen legs, no matter how small it may be.
Unhke this last insect, it becomes a pupa (fig. 55, 5), within
the potato stalk which it inhabits; and it comes out in the
beetle state about the last of August or the beginning of
September. The stalk inhabited by the larva almost
always wilts and dies. So soon as the vines first wilt,
they should be pulled up and burned. The perfect bee-
tle, like many other snout-beetles, must of course live
through the winter to reproduce its species in the follow-
ing spring.
Miss Morris found that ‘in many potato fields in the
neighborhood of Germantown, Penn., every stem was in-
86 INJURIOUS INSECTS

fested by these insects, causing the premature decay of
the vines and giving to them the appearance of having
been scalded.

THE POTATO-WORM OR TOMATO-WORM.
(Sphinx quinque-maculata, Haworth).

This well-known insect, the larva of which is usually
called the Potato-worm, but it is far commoner on the
closely allied tomato, the foliage of which it often clears
off very completely in particular spots in a single night.
Many persons are afraid to handle this worm, from an
absurd idea that it has the power of stinging with the
horn on its tail. This worm is shown in fig. 56, about
two-thirds grown. We have handled hundreds of them
with perfect impunity; in fact, this dreadful looking
horn is not peculiar to the Potato-worm, but is met with
in almost all the larvee of the large and beautiful group
to which it belongs (Sphinx family). It seems to have
no special use, but, like the bunch of hair on the breast
of the turkey cock, to be a mere ornamental appendage.

When full-fed, which is usually about the last of
August, the Potato-worm burrows under ground and
shortly afterward transforms into the pupa state (fig. 57.
The pupa is very often dug up in the spring from ground
where tomatoes or potatoes were grown in the preceding
season; and most persons that meet with it suppose that
the singular, jug-handled appendage at one end of it, is
its tul. In reality, however, it is the tongue-case, and
contains the long pliable tongue which the future moth
willemploy in lapping up the nectar of the flowers, before
which, in the dusky gloom of some warm, balmy
summer's evening, it hangs for a few moments suspended
in the air.

The moth itself (fig. 58), was formerly confounded
with the Tobacco-worm moth (Sphinze Carolina, Lin-
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN.

87

 
  

Fig. 57.—PUpPA.

Fig. 58.—MorH.

Fig. 56.—Larva (partly grown).
88 INJURIOUS INSECTS

nus), which indeed it very closely resembles, having the
same series of orange-colored spots on each side of the
abdomen. The gray and black markings, however, of
the wings differ perceptibly in the two species; and in
the Tobacco-worm moth there is always a more or less
faint white spot or dot near the centre of the front wing,
which is never met with in the other species. In Con-
necticut and other Northern States where Tobacco is
grown, the Potato-worm often feeds upon the leaves of
the Tobacco plant, the true Tobacco-worm being unknown
in those latitudes. In the more southerly States, on the
other hand, and in Mex-
ico and the West In-
dies, the true Potato-
worm is unknown, and it
is the Tobacco-worm that
Fig. 59.—porato-worm, wirn para- the tobacco growers have

oe to fight. While in the
intermediate country both species may frequently be
captured on the wing in the same garden and upon the
same evening. In other words, the Potato-worm is a
northern species, the Tobacco-worm a southern species;
but on the confines of the two districts exclusively
inhabited by each, they intermingle in varying propor-
tions, according to the latitude.

Remepies.—The larva is so voracious that it soon
makes its presence known by the bare stems, and by the
abundant droppings found upon the ground, and should
be sought for and destroyed. It has more than one in-
sect enemy, notably a fly, the larva of which, after
making its growth within the Potato-worm, comes to
the surface and spins a smooth white cocoon. Some-
times a very thin and feeble worm will be found with its
back covered with these cocoons, as in fig. 59. Such,
when found, should not be killed, as it is desirable to
propagate the fly, and the worm will never perfect itself.

 
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 89

Tobacco growers sometimes place some poisonous syrup
in the long tubular flowers of the Jamestown Weed
(Datura Stramoniuin), and thus kill the moths.

THE STRIPED BLISTER-BEETLE.
(Lytta vittata, Fabr).

The three insects just described infest the potato plant
in the larva state only, the first two of them burrowing
internally in the stalk or stem, the third feeding upon
its leaves externally. Of these three the first and third
are moths or scaly-winged insects (Order Lepidoptera).
The second of the three, as well as the next
four foes of the potato, which we shall
notice, are all of them beetles or shelly-
winged insects (Order Coleoptera). As these
four species all agree with one another in
living under ground and feeding upon vari-
ous roots, during the larva state, and in
emerging to attack the foliage of the potato, pis. 6.~srrr.
only when in the course of the summer they ere
have passed into the perfect or beetle state, :
it will be quite unnecessary to repeat this statement
under the head of each of the four. In fact, the four
are so closely allied, that they all belong to the same
family of beetles, the Blister-beetles (Lytta family)—
to which the common imported Spanish-fly or Blister-
beetle of the druggists appertains—and all of them
will raise just as good a blister as that does, and are
equally poisonous when taken internally in large doses.
The Striped Blister-beetle (fig. 60;) is almost exclusively
a southern species, occurring in particular years very
abundantly on the potato vine in Central and Southern
Illinois, and also in Missouri, but in North Hlinois being
usually rare. A few years ago it was reported by Mr.
Graham Lee, of Mercer County, of N. Ill, and also

  
90 INJURIOUS INSECTS

by Capt. Beebe, of Galena, N. IIL, as occurring
in very large numbers upon their potatoes, and, ac-
cording to Dr, Harris, it is occasionally found even in
New England. In some specimens, the broad outer
black stripe on the wing-cases is divided lengthways by a
slender yellow line, so that instead of two there are three
black stripes on each wing-case; and in the same field we
have noticed, on two separate occasions, that all the
intermediate grades between the two varieties may be
met with; thus proving that the four-striped individuals
do not form a distinct species, as was formerly supposed,
but are mere varieties of the same species to which the
six-striped individuals appertain. Some years since we
found the insect very abundant on the potato in Cham-
paign Co., Tll., and Mr. Merton Dunlap, of Champaign,
told us that he had succeeded in driving them with
brush off his potato-patch on to some old hay which
he had prepared to receive them, and then, setting fire
to the hay, consumed them bodily. Many such cases
may be found recorded in different agricultural journals.
Mr. M. 8. Hill, of East Liverpool, Ohio, states in the
“Practical Entomologist” (vol. I, p. 197), that this
species had once swarmed on the potato vines in his
neighborhood, and that ‘‘ the most successful method of
destroying them was by placing between the furrows or
rows, dry hay or straw, and setting it on fire.” <‘‘The
bugs,” he adds, ‘‘ were thus nearly all destroyed, and the
straw burning very quickly did not injure the vines.”

THE ASH-GRAY BLISTER-BEETLE.
(Lytta cinerea, Fabr.)

This species (fig. 61, a, male) is the one commonly
found in the more northerly parts of the Northern States,
where it usually takes the place of the Striped Blister-
beetle. It isof a uniform ash-gray color; but this color is
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 91

given it by the presence upon its body of minute ash-gray
scales or short hairs, and whenever these are rubbed off,
which happens almost as readily as on the wings of a but-
terfly, the original black colorappears. It attacks not only
potato vines, but also Honey-locusts, and especially the
English and Windsor bean. In one particular year, we
have known them, in conjunction with about equal
numbers of the common Rose-bug (Macrodactylus sub-
spinosus, Linn.), to swarm upon every apple tree inasmall
orchard in Northern Illinois, not only eating the foliage,
but gnawing into the young apples. They were formerly
quite common in parts of Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin,

 

Fig. 61.—asH-GRayY (@), AND BLAOK-RAT (6) BLISTER-BEETLES.

and Iowa; and the people there got so habituated to the
presence of the Colorado bug, that in many cases they
thought it was a fresh invader from the region of the
Rocky Mountains: whereas it has existed everywhere in
the more northerly parts of the United States from time
immemorial.

THE BLACK-RAT AND BLACK BLISTER-BEETLES.
(Lytta murina, Leconte, and L. atrata, Fabr.)

The first of these, the Black-rat Blister-beetle (fig. 61,
d,) is entirely black, and is sometimes found in swarms
upon the potato vines in the more Northern States.
There is a very similar species, the Black Blister-beetle
92 . INJURIOUS INSECTS

(Lytta atrata, Fabr.), from which the Black-rat Blister-
bectle is distinguishable only by having four raised lines
placed lengthways upon each wing-case, and by the two
first joints of the antenne being greatly dilated and
lengthened in the males, as above in figure 61, c. The
true Black Blister-beetle we have never met with, except
quite late in the year, namely about the last of August or
the fore partof September; usually upon the flowers of the
Golden-rod, the Thistle, etc. It sometimes does injury
in the potato field, especially when the development of
the tubers has been retarded, but generally appears too
late in the season to prove very destructive.

THE MARGINED BLISTER-BEETLE.

(Lytta marginata, Fabr.)

  

This species (fig. 62,) may be at once recognized by its
general black color, and the narrow ash-gray
edging to its wing-cases. It usually feeds on
certain wild plants; but has been found quite
the Mississippi Valley, and prefers most other
varieties of the potato to the ‘* Peach Blow.”

Fig. 62, It feeds on many other plants, and especially
maratNeD the Kentucky Coffee-tree (G@ymnocladus).

 

abundant on potatoes in Missouri, Illinois,
and elsewhere. It is a common species in
BLISTER-
neptiz, It also attacks the Egg Plant.

THE THREE-LINED LEAF-BEETLE,
(Lema trilineata, Olivier.)

The first three insects, described and figured above as
infesting the potato-plant, attack it only in the larva
state. The four next, namely the four Blister-beetles,
attack it exclusively in the perfect state. The three that
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 93

remain to be considered attack it both in the larva and
in the perfect state, but go underground to pass into the
pupa state; in which state—like all other beetles, with-
out exception—they are quiescent, and eat nothing at all.

The larva of the Three-lined Leaf-beetle may be distin-
guished from all other insects that prey upon the potato
by its habit of covering itself with its own excrement.
In figure 63, a, this larva is shown in profile, both full
and half grown, covered with the soft, greenish excre-
mentitious matter which from time to time it discharges.
Figure 63, c, gives a somewhat magnified view of the
pupa; and figure 63, 8, shows the last few joints of
the abdomen of the
larva, magnified, and
viewed, not in profile,
but from above. The
vent of the larva, as
will be seen from this
last figure, is situated
on the upper surface
of the last joint, so
that its excrement ,,

‘ig. 63.—THREE-LINED LEAF-BEETLE.
naturally falls upon  a,Larva; b, End of Body; c, Pupa; 4, Eggs.
its back, and by suc-
cessive discharges is pushed forward towards its head,
till the whole upper surface of the insect is covered with
it. In other insects, which do no not indulge in this
singular practice, the vent is situated either at the ex-
treme tip of the abdomen or on its lower surface.

There are several other larve, feeding upon other
plants, which commonly wear cloaks of this strange
material, among which may be mentioned the larve of
certain Tortoise-beetles (Cassida), some of which feed on
the Sweet Potato vines. (See Sweet Poraro.)

There are two broods of this species every year. The
first brood of larve may be found on the potato vine

 
94 INJURIOUS INSECTS

towards the latter end of June, and the second in August.
The first brood stays underground about a fortnight
before it emerges in the perfect beetle state; and the
second brood stays there all winter, and only emerges at
the beginning of the following June. The perfect Beetle
(fig. 64,) is of a pale yellow color, with three black
stripes on its back, and bears a general resemblance to
the common Cucumber-bug (Diabrotica vittata, Fabr.,
see fig. 27, p. 42). From this last species, however, it
may be readily distinguished by the remarkable pinching
in of the sides of its thorax, so as to make
quite a lady-like waist there, or what nat-
uralists call a ‘‘ constriction.” It is also
on the average a somewhat larger insect,
and differs in other less obvious respects.
, Asin the case of the Colorado Potato-bug,
Fig. 64. the female, after coupling in the usual man-
eeeents, ner, lays her yellow eggs (fig. 63, d,) on
the under surface of the leaves of the
potato plant. The larva hatching from these require
about the same time to develop, and when full grown,
descend in the same manner into the ground, where thcy
transform to pupe (fig. 63, ¢,) within a small oval
chamber, from which in time the perfect beetle comes
forth. The remedies for the Colorado Beetle should be
used for this.

 

THE COLORADO POTATO-BEETLE,
(Doryphora 10-lineata, Say.)
RETROSPECTIVE.

In 1819 the United States Government fitted out an
exploring expedition to the Northwest Territories under
the command of Major Stephen H. Long. The zodlogist
of this expedition was Mr. Thomas Say, of Philadelphia,
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 95

whose name has since become so familiar to every ento-
mologist. While on this expedition, extending through
1819 and 1820, numerous specimens of a species of beetle
were found on the Upper Missouri, near the base of the
Rocky Mountains, which some four years later(1824) Mr.
Say described in a paper read before the Academy of
Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, under the name of
Doryphora 10-lineata, an insect that has since received
the common name of Colorado Potato-beetle.

At the time of its discovery, neither Mr. Say nor any
of his associates could have had the remotest idea that this
insect would at some future day become one of the greatest
pests that ever afflicted the farms and gardens of this
country. Later explorers, visiting the same regions of
country where Mr. Say originally found the “‘ ten-liners,”
discovered it feeding on a wild species of Solanum (S.
rostratum), a plant allied to and belonging to the same
genus as the cultivated Potato (Solanum tuberosum).
The pioneers on the western plains and prairies little
imagined that they were in such close proximity to an
insect that would soon give an immense amount of
trouble, and make the cultivation of the Potato anything
but a pleasant and profitable occupation. Butin 1861,
Mr. Thomas Murphy, of Atchison, Kansas, reported that
they were so numerous in his garden that he was enabled
in a very short time to gather two bushels of them. His
potatoes were quickly destroyed, and the beetles then
spread in all directions. Later they appeared in parts
of Iowa, and subsequently passed eastward, cross-
ing the Mississippi River, and appearing in several
localities almost simultaneously within the State of
Ihnois. In stating that this insect passes from one
locality to another, it must not be understood that it
migrates, it merely spreads, enough remaining behind to
keep up an abundant stock, and they are probably now
no less abundant at points in the Western States than
96 INJURIOUS INSECTS

when first discovered there by Mr. Say, over sixty years
ago. The sudden and enormous increase in numbers, as
noted in Kansas and Iowa, was wholly due to the increase
in the supply of food, for so long as this insect had to
depend upon the few scattering plants of the wild Sola-
num, as found on the plains, its numbers were limited
to a few thousands, or perhaps hundreds to the square
mile; but asa single acre of potatoes will probably furnish
more food than all the wild plants on a hundred acres of
prairie, the sudden increase of this pest when it reached
the out-lying settlements or farms of Kansas, Nebraska
and Iowa, can readily be accounted for. A few years ago,
their ravages in Nebraska and Kansas were severe.
Since then the bugs have not caused much damage
west of the Missouri.

At first the progress of the beetles eastward was at the
rate of about sixty or seventy-five miles annually, but
as they reached the more thickly settled regions their
progress was more rapid, probably receiving some assist-
ance from the railroads, specimens flying into the cars at
some western station and escaping at another a hundred
or two miles eastward, or in whatever direction the train
may have been going.

NATURAL HISTORY AND TRANSFORMATIONS.

Prof. Riley was the first to make known the natural his-
tory and transformations of the Potato-beetle. They may
be briefly summed up as follows: The female bectle depos-
its her eggs on the underside of the leaves, in clusters of a
dozen, up to fifty or more. The eggs are of an orange
color, and hatch in about a week after being laid, the
grubs immediately commencing to feed and continuing
until mature, which occurs in from fourteen to eighteen

days, varying somewhat as the weather may be favorable
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 9%

or unfavorable. When full grown, the larve descend to
the ground and hide under leaves or rubbish, or burrow
into the soil, where they remain for ten days, then come
forth in the perfect or winged form. Two to four broods
are perfected during the season, according to the locality
and length of the season, the last brood descending into
the ground in the perfect or beetle state, and remaining
in a dormant condition over winter,—reappearing as soon
as the ground has become sufficiently warm to awaken

 

Fig. 65.—coLoRADO POTATO-BEETLE (Doryphora 10-lineata).

a, @, Eggs; b,b, Larva in different stages; c, Pupa; d, d, Perfect Beetles of natural
size; e, Left Wing-cover, enlarged.

them from their slumbers. The beetles at this time may
usually be seen crawling about very rapidly, looking for
the first shoots of the potato as it appears above ground,
which they attack as though their appetite had been
sharpened by a long fast.

This beetle is now too well known to need description,
but it may be well to note that there is a closely allied
species (Doryphora juncta, Germar.), often confounded
with the genuine “ten-liner,” although it never attacks
the Potato, but feeds upon various species of wild Solanum,

5
98 INJURIOUS INSECTS

especially the Horse-nettle (Solanum Carolinense), a very
common weed throughout the Middle and Southern
States. Both the larva and mature insect of this Bogus
Potato-beetle resemble the genuine; but upon a close
examination, a very marked difference may be discovered.
The most prominent distinctive characteristics observed
in the nearly mature larve are as follows: In the true or
D. 10-lineata the sides are ornamented with two rows of
black dots, and the head is black; while in juncta there
is but one row of dots, and the head is of a pale color;
the first joint behind the head is reddish-brown and edged
with black. The mature insects differ still more widely,

 

Fig. 66.—BoGus COLORADO BEETLE (Doryphora juncta).
a, a, Eggs; b, b, Larve ; c, Beetle, natural size; d, Left Wing-cover, enlarged.

for while 10-2ineata, as the name indicates, has ten black
stripes on its elytra, the third and fourth stripe counting
from the outside, are joined behind; in junefa, the
second and third are joined, and ina large proportion
the two stripes are united the entire length, by deep
brown, or black, thus forming one broad and conspicuous
stripe. There are also other distinctive characters, shown
in the accompanying figures, such as the arrangements
of the punctures bordering the stripes on the elytra, but
these are less conspicuous to the casual observer.

A few years since I tried to rear a quantity of the
larve sent me from the South on the leaves of the Potato,
but failed to carry a single specimen through to maturity
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 99

on such food. The grubs will, when deprived of other
and more agreeable food, attack the Potato leaves, but
after eating a few moments, crawl away, and unless
supphed with more of the Horse-nettle, soon die. But
the genuine 10-dineata is not so particular in regard to
its food, since the Horse-nettle and various other species
of Solanum are just as acceptable as the Potato, and the
Egg-plant (S. melongena) is preferred to either. On a
pinch it will even feed on Jamestown-weed (Datura),
Cabbage or Smart-weed, though it is questionable whether
it could thrive for any length of time on plants belonging
to other families than that of the Potato.

METHOD OF DESTROYING.

The first step or most practical method of making war
upon this insect is the destruction of the few or many
that come out of the ground in spring, for each female
killed at this time may safely be said to represent five to
ten hundred in the succeeding generation, for she will,
if not prevented, lay about that number of eggs. Some
persons, however, claim that it is much the best way to
allow the beetles to take their own course, and then
destroy the larve a few days later, when they have fairly
commenced feeding upon the leaves, by applying some
one or more of the various poisons recommended for this
purpose. That either the beetles or the grubs must be
destroyed in order to save the crop, is now generally
admitted, and the only room for a difference of opinion
is as to how it should be done. Scores of different sub-
stances have been tried for this purpose, but none have
proved so effectual and economical as Paris Green and
other arsenical compounds. That these poisons are
dangerous to have about a place, is admitted, and so are
sharp knives, reapers, and mowers, still itis not as easy to
do without them as to be a little careful in using, and
100 INJURIOUS INSECTS

thereby avoid accidents. The Paris Green is destructive
to the Potato-beetle in both its perfect and larval states,
and one pound of the poison, mixed with twenty of pul-
verized plaster, or of any common kind of flour, and
dusted over the leaves while wet with dew in the morning,
or after a shower, will quickly cause the death of all the
grubs or perfect insects feeding thereon.

A duster should be used for applying the poison, and
one made of tin, with a perforated bottom, and attached
toa handle four or five feet long, will be found a very con-
venient implement for this purpose. But the operator
should be careful not to allow the compound to blow into
his face, or inhale it while at work, it being only neces-
sary for him to keep in mind that he is handling a viru-
lent poison, and act accordingly. The Green may also be
applied by mixing it with water, but as it will not dis-
solve, being merely suspended in the liquid, it is neces-
sary to frequently agitate the mixture in order to prevent
the poison settling to the bottom, as well as to insure its
uniform distribution over the leaves. But water is a
heavy material to handle, and unless one has the con-
veniences for applying it, the dusting process will require
the least labor.

London Purple may be applied in the same way as
Paris Green, and will prove equally effective, besides
being much cheaper.* With most destructive beetles
the larva is alone injurious, but the perfect Colorado-

eetle eats as well as its larve.

NATURAL ENEMIES.

There are a number of other insects that aid in keep-
ing the Colorado-beetlein check. Active among these is

 

*A more detailed history of the Colorado Beetle, as well as yarious
forms of apparatus for distributing Paris Green and other arsenical poi-
sons, will be found in ‘‘ Potato Pests,” a special treatise by C. V Riley,
of over one hundred pages.—New York: The Orange Judd Company.
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 101

the larves of several Lady-birds, or Lady-bugs, the per-
fect beetles being red, pink, or other bright color, with
black spots, and generally well known by the above pop-
ular names. ‘Their larve are very active and
do good service in destroying both the eggs
and the larve of the Potato-beetle. Their
pups often resemble the larva of the Colorado-
beetle, and are destroyed by mistake. Figure
: 67 shows one of these larve; the hair lne
Fig. 67. gives the real size. Besides these, there are
taenva? several carnivorous beetles, the Tiger-beetles,

and Ground-beetles, which prey upon both
the larve and the perfect insect. A full account
of the various insects that prey upon the Colorado-

  

   
      
   

    

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Fig. 68.—PARASITE OF COLORADO-BEETLE (Uropoda Americana).

a, Beetle attacked by it, natural size; b, Mite; c, penetrating or attacking organs;
d, Claw at the end of attacking organs; ¢, Filament—all much enlarged.

beetle, is given in Prof. Riley’s work, just referred to.
The perfect insect is attacked by a mite which occurs in
such numbers as to completely cover its victim, and it
102 INJURIOUS INSECTS

soon perishes. Figure 68, shows at a, the Colorado-
beetle of the natural size, covered by this mite ( Uropoda
Americana, Riley), 6, the mite greatly magnified, with a
long filament which helps it to attach itself to the beetle;
c, the penetrating organs; d, the claw at the end of these.

SWEET-POTATO.

The insects which attack the Sweet-potato plant are
few in species, and belong almost entirely to that group
of beetles popularly known as Tortoise-beetles. With the
exception of the Cucumber Flea-beetle (Haltica cu-
cumerts, Harr.), and a few solitary caterpillars, other
insects have not been found on this plant; still these
Tortoise-beetles are of themselves sufficiently numerous
in individuals and species to often entirely destroy whole
fields of this esculent, and they are especially severe on
the plants when newly transferred from the hot-bed.

TORTOISE-BEETLES.
(Casside.)

These Tortoise-beetles have thus far been found in
considerable numbers in the Southern States, but the
cultivation of the Sweet-Potato is annually becoming
more general in northern localities, and as there is con-
siderable traffic in plants, itis probable that the insect
pests will spread as food for them is provided. Every
one who receives Sweet-Potato plants, or ‘ sets,” from
another locality, should carefully examine them before
they are planted, to see that no insect is introduced with
them.

These insects are almost all of a broad sub-depressed
form, either oval or orbicular, with the thorax and wing-
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 103

covers so thoroughly dilated at the sides into a broad and
flat margin, as to forcibly recall the appearance of a tur-
tle, whence the popular name. Many have the singular
power, in a greater or less degree, of changing their color
when alive,-some of them shine at will with the most
brilliant metallic tints.

Insects, like the higher animals, are usually cleanly in
voiding their excrement, but the larva of several species
of beetle have the peculiar habit of covering themselves
with their own excrement. The larve of the Three-lined
Leaf-beetle (Lema trilineata, Oliv.), which sometimes
proves injurious to the potato in the Hast, has this habit,
as do several others.

But the larve of the Tortoise-beetles are par excellence
the true dung-carriers. In the instances related above,
the load is carried immediately on the back, but our Tor-
toise-beetles are altogether more refined in their tastes,
and do not allow the dung to rest on the body, but simply
shade themselves with a sort of stercoraceous parasol.

The larve of all the species that have been observed are
broad and flattened like the beetles, and have the margins
of the body furnished with spines which are often
barbed (fig. 75). Usually there are thirty-two of these
spines, or sixteen on each side of the body. Four of these
are situated on the prothorax, which forms two anterior
projections beyond the common margin; four of them—
the two anterior ones longer than the others—are on each
of the two following thoracic segments, and each of the
abdominal segments is furnished with but two. There
are nine elevated spiracles each side superiorly, namely,
one immediately behind the prothorax and eight on the
abdominal segments. The fore part of the body is pro-
jected shield-like over the head, which is retractile and
small.

The eggs from which these larve hatch, and which we
do not recollect to have seen anywhere described, are de-
104 INJURIOUS INSECTS

posited singly upon the leaves, to which they are fastened
by some adhesive substance. They are of irregular angu-
lar form; flat, and somewhat narrower at one end than
the other; ridged above and at the sides, but smooth and
obovate below. They are usually furnished with spine-
like appendages, which, however, are sometimes entirely
lacking. Those of C. aurichalcea (fig. 69) are 0.04 inch
long, and of a dull dirty-white color.

When full grown the larve fasten the last two or three
joints of the body to the underside of a leaf, by means of
a sticky secretion, and in about two
days change to pupe. The pupa is also
flat, with usually four or five broad but
thin and transparent serrated leaf-like
appendages on each side of the abdo-
men, and the prothorax, which js great-
ly dilated and covers the head, is fur-
nished around the edge with smaller
\ barbed spines. The broad leaf-like
spines at the edges of the body are bent
Fig. 69.—nac oF ToR- under while the transformation is being

toe effected, but are soon afterwards stretch-
‘ed stiffly out with aforward slant. The
pupa loses the pronged tail, but as the old larval skin is
left adhering to the terminal segments the prong of dung
still protects it in most cases. The legs and antenne are
not free in this, as in the pupse of most other beetles, but
are soldered together as in the chrysalis of a butterfly, and
yet it has the power of raising itself up perpendicularly
upon the tail end by which it is fastened. The pupa state
lasts about a week.

Having thus spoken in general terms of this anomalous
group of beetles, we shall now refer more particularly to
a few of the species. Most of those mentioned below in-
fest Sweet-potato both in the larya and perfect beetle
states. They gnaw irregular holes, and when sufficiently

 
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 105

numerous entirely riddle the leaves. They usually dwell
on the underside of the leaves, and are found most
abundant during the months of May and June. There
must be several broods during the year, and the same
species is often found in all stages, and of all sizes at one
and the same time. In all probability they hibernate in
the beetle state.

We have already proved by experiment that Paris
Green—one part of the Green to two of flour—when
sprinkled under the vines, will kill these insects, though
not so readily as it does the Colorado Potato-beeile.
Moreover, as these Tortoise-bettles usually hide on the
underside of the leaves, and as the vines trail on the
ground, it is very difficult to apply the powder without
running some risk from its poisonous qualities. We
therefore strongly recommend vigilance when the plants
are first planted, and by the figures and descriptions given
below our readers will be enabled to recognize and kill
the few beetles which at that time make their appearance,
and thus nip the evil in the bud.

THE TWO-STRIPED SWEET-POTATO BEETLE,

(Cassida bivittata, Say.)

This is the most common species found upon the
Sweet-potato, and seems to be confined to that plant, as
we have never found it on any other kind. The larva
of this beetle, which is given in figure 71, 2, enlarged, and
in figure 70, of natural size, is dirty-white or yellowish-
white, with a more or less intense neutral-colored lon-
gitudinal line along the back, usually relieved by an
extra light band each side. It differs from the larve of
all other known species in not using its fork for merdig-
erous purposes. Indeed, this fork is rendered useless as a
106 INJURIOUS INSECTS

shield to the body, by being ever enveloped, after the
first moult, in the cast-off prickly skins, which are kept
free from excrement. Moreover, this fork is seldom held
close down to the back, as in the other species, but more
usually at an angle of 45° over or from the body, thus
suggesting the idea of a handle.

When full fed, this larva attaches itself to the under-
side of the leaf, and in two days the skin bursts open on
the back, and is worked down towards the tail; when
the pupa, at first pale, soon acquires a dull brownish

  

Fig. 71.—TW0-STRIPED TORTOISE-
TORTOISE-BKETLE, BEETLE.
Larva, natural size. 2, Larva; 3, Pupa; 4, Beetle.

color, the narrow whitish tail, which still adheres pos-
teriorly being significant of the species. (See fig. 71,
3.)
The beetle (fig. 71, 4), is of a pale yellow, striped with
black, and though broader and vastly different scientif-
ically, still bears a general resemblance to the common
Striped Cucumber-beetle (Diabrotica vittata, Fabr.)

THE GOLDEN TORTOISE-BEETLE,
(Cassida aurichalcea, Fabr.)

Next to the preceding species, the Golden Tortoise-
beetle is the most numerous on our Sweet-potatoes; but it
does not confine its injuries to that plant, for it is found
in equal abundance on the leaves of the Bitter-sweet and
ou the different kinds of Convolvulus or Morning Glory.
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 10?

The larva (fig. 72, a, natural size; 4, enlarged with the
dung taken from the fork), is of a dark brown color,
with a pale shade upon the back. It carries its fecifork
immediately over the back, and the excrement is arranged
in a more or less regular trilobed pattern. The loaded
fork still lies close to the back in the pupa, which is
brown like the larva, and chiefly characterized by three
dark shades on the transparent prothorax, one being in
the middle and one at each side, as represented at fig.
73, ¢.

The perfect beetle (fig. 73, d), when seen in all its
splendor, is one of the most beautiful objects that can

 

Fig. 72.—LaRVA OF GOLDEN TORTOISE- Fig. 73.—GOLDEN TORTOISE-
BEETLE. BEETLE.
a, Natural size; 6, Enlarged. c, Pupa; d, Beetle.

well be imagined. It exactly resembles a piece of golden
tinsel, and with its legs withdrawn and body lying flat to
a leaf, the uninitiated would scarcely suppose it to be an
insect did it not suddenly take wing when being observed.
At first these beetles are of a dull deep orange color,
which strongly relieves the transparent edges of the wing-
coverts and helmet, and gives conspicuousness to six
black spots, two (indicated in the figure) above, and two
on each side. But in about a week after they have left
the pupa shell, or as soon as they begin to copulate, they
shine in all their splendor, and these black spots are
scarcely noticed,
108 INJURIOUS INSECTS

THE PALE-THIGHED TORTOISE-BEETLE,
(Cassida pallida, Herbst.)

This species can scarcely be distinguished from the pre-
ceding. It is of a somewhat broader, rounder form, and
differs in lacking the black spots on the wing-coverts, and
in having the thighs entirely pale yellow, while in aurich-
alcea they are black at the base. It likewise feeds upon
the Sweet-potato, and its larva differs only from that of
the former, in its spines being brighter and lighter col-
ored, and in having a dull orange head, and a halo of the
same color on the anterior portion of the body.

THE MOTTLED TORTOISE-BEETLE,
(Cassida guttata, Oliv.)

This species (fig. 74), which is the next most com-
mon of those found on the Sweet-potato in the latitude

 

Fig. 74.—MOTTLED Fig. 75.—MOTTLED TORTOISE-
TORTOISE-BEETLE, BEETLE. a, Larva; b, Pupa.

of St. Louis, is at once distinguished from all the others
here described by being usually black, with the shoulders
black to the extreme edge of the transparent wing-cov-
erts. It isa very variable species, and is frequently more
or less speckled or mottled with gold, while more rarely
it has a uniform goldeu appearance,

The larva, which is represented enlarged and with the
dung removed at figure 75, a, is of a uniform green color,
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 109

with a bluish shade along the back, which shade disap-
pears however when the insect has fasted for afew hours.
It carries its excrement in irregular broad masses, often
branching as in the species next to be described. The
pupa (fig. 75, 4), is also of a uniform green color, with a
conspicuous black ring around the base of the first ab-
dominal pair of spiracles. Before changing to pupa,
and previous to each moult, this larva is in the habit of
removing the excrement from its fork.

THE BLACK-LEGGED TORTOISE-BEETLE.
(Cassida nigripes, Oliv.)

This species, which is likewise found on the Sweet-
potato, is a little the largest of those we have mentioned.

 

S
Fig.77.—BLACK-LEGGED TORTOISE-BEETLE.
u, Larva of natural size; b, Magnified.

Fig. 76.—BLACK-LEGGED
TORTOISE BEETLE.

The beetle (fig. 76) has the power, when alive, of putting
on a golden hue, but is not so brilliant as C. aurichalcea,
from which species it is at once distinguished by its larger
size, and by its black legs and three large conspicuous
black spots on each wing-cover. The larva (fig. 77, 0), is
of a pale straw-color, with the spines, which are long, tip-
ped with black; and besides a dusky shade along each side
of the back, it has two dusky spots immediately beneath
the head, and below these last, two larger crescent marks
of the same color. The excrement is spread in a charac-
110 INJURIOUS INSECTS

teristic manner, extending laterally in long shreds or
ramifications. (See fig. 77.) The pupa is dark brown,
variegated with paler brown, while the spines around the
edges are transparent and white.

TURNIP AND RUTA BAGA,

These root crops are much more generally cultivated in
England than with us, and English works describe about
a dozen species that are regarded as special enemies to
the Turnip and Ruta Baga, or, as the latter are most
commonly called, Swedes. As the cultivation of these
crops becomes more general in this country, the num-
ber of destructive insects will no doubt increase.

Some of those insects that occasionally appear in great
numbers, like the Fall Army Worm, and take nearly
every green plant, attack the Turnip crop, though the
Rocky Mountain Locust, or Grasshopper, as a rule,
avoids it.

The Turnips belong to the same family of plants as
the Cabbage, and several insects attack both indiscrim-
inately. Indeed, nearly all these described under Cab-
bage may be looked for upon Turnips (which includes the
Ruta Baga or Swedes). The Wavy-striped Flea-beetle
(Haltica strvolata), which is so destructive to young Cab-
bage plants, is especially fond of Turnips of all kinds in
the young state, when the seedlings first break ground.
This appears to be, in this country, the counterpart of the
Turnip Flea-beetle of England, which is there generally
called the ‘Turnip Fly,” and is, like ours, a species of
Haltica. If the young seedlings can be protected until
they make a few rough leaves, they will usually resist
these enemies, hence it has been found useful to dust them
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN, 111

as soon as they break ground with some powder offen-
sive to these insects. A common application is wood
ashes and plaster, equal parts, the young plants to be
thoroughly covered with the mixture. Air-slaked shell
lime (calcined oyster-shells) is much used by market gar-
deners in the same manner, it is also useful as a fertil-
izer. Fortunately the most destructive Saw Fly and
other enemies of this crop have not yet made their way
to this country, but as in the exceptional season of 1881-
82, large quantities of turnips were imported, it is not at
all unlikely that some of the British insects may have
come with them.

In the Southern States, the Harlequin Cabbage-bug
(see p. 37) is very destructive to the Turnips.

 
Insects Injurious to the Cereal Grains, and the
Grass Crops, including Clover.

In classifying insects according to the plants they in-
jure, there is often an over-lapping. Thus the White
Grub, while mentioned elsewhere, is often one of the
worst enemies to the grower of grass, whether in the
meadow or pasture; it also attacks the grains, as do
several of the Cut-worms. When there is, as in some
western localities, an invasion of the Rocky Mountain
Grasshopper, scarcely any green thing escapes its attacks.
We give in this division, an account of the most com-
mon enemies to the grain grower, and those which at-
tack grass lands.

THE CHINCH-BUG.
(Blissus leucopterus, Say.)
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHINCH-BUG.

The food of the Chinch-bug consists of the grasses and
cereals, wild and cultivated, and accounts of its injur-
ing other plants are misleading, allied species being con-
founded with it. Belonging to the Half-wing Bugs
(Heteroptera), its food is obtained by suction, so that the
plants attacked are sapped of their life, and not eaten up.
The mature Chinch-bug (fig. 79) is less then a fourth of
an inch long; its appearance at different stages is shown
in fig. 78, the hair lines indicating the natural sizes. The
eggs (fig. 78, a, b,) are amber-colored, the young bugs

112
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 113

vary from pale-yellow with a touch of orange to bright-
red, while the pupa (g,) is mostly brown, the
mature bug (fig. 79,) is black, with white upper wings,
having two characteristic black spots upon them. A
short-winged form (fig. 80,) occurs in Canada, and in the
more Northern States. The species hibernates in the
perfect or mature form in a state of torpor in whatever
sheltered situations can be found.

The Chinch-bug is two-brooded in the Middle States,
and in the more Southern States is probably three-brooded.

 

Fig. 78.—IMMATURE STAGES OF CHINCH-BUG.
a,b, Eggs; c Newly-hatched Larve ; , Same, after first Moult; g, Pupa.

Such as survive the autumn, when the plants or the
sap on which they feed are mostly dried up, so as to afford
them little or no nourishment, pass the winter in the
usual torpid state, and always in the perfect or winged
form, under dead leaves, under sticks of wood, under flat
stones, in moss, in bunches of old dead grass or weeds or
straw, and often in corn-stalks and corn-shucks. One
year I repeatedly received corn-stalks that were crowded
with them, and it was difficult to find a stalk in any field
that did not reveal some of them, upon stripping off the
leaves.

It has long been known that the Chinch-bug deposits
its eggs underground and upon the roots of plants which
it infests, and that the young larve remain under ground
114 INJURIOUS INSECTS

for some considerable time after they hatch out, sucking
the sap from the roots. If, in the spring of the year,
you pull up a wheat plant in a field badly infested by this
insect, you will find hundreds of the eggs attached to the
roots; and at a somewhat later period the young larve
may be found clustering upon the roots and looking like
so many moving little red atoms. The egg is so small
as to be scarcely visible to the naked eye, of an oval shape,
about four times as long as wide, of a pale-amber-white

  

. Fig. 80.—sHoRT- WINGED
Fig. 79.—CHINCH-BU@. CHINCH-BUG.

color when first laid, but subsequently assuming a red-
dish color from the young larva showing through the
transparent shell. As the mother Chinch-bug has to
work her way under ground in the spring of the year, in
order to get at the roots upon which she proposes to lay
her eggs, it becomes evident at once, that the looser the
soil is at this time of the year the greater the facilitics
which are offered for the operation. Hence the great ad-
vantage of plowing land for spring grain in the pre-
ceding autumn, or, if plowed in the spring, roliing it
repeatedly with a heavy roller after seeding. And the re-
mark is frequently made by farmers, that wheat harrowed
in upon old corn-ground, without any plowing at all,
is far less infested by Chinch-bug than wheat put in upon
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 115

land that has been plowed. There is another fact
which has been repeatedly noticed by practical men.
This insect cannot live and thrive and multiply in land
that is sopping with water, and it generally commences
its operations in early spring upon those particular parts
of every field where the soil is the loosest and the driest.

There is nothing which experience has more firmly es-
tablished in connection with this pest, than that heavy
rains and wet seasons are destructive of it. I have wit-
nessed the almost magical effect of a heavy and pro-
longed rain in a cornfield that was suffering badly.
Warm, moist, or open winters are equally prejudicial to it.

The female occupies about three weeks in depositing
her eggs, and, according to Dr. Shimer’s estimate, she de-
posits about five hundred. The egg requires about two
weeks to hatch, and the bug becomes full grown and ac-
quires its wings in from forty to fifty days after hatching.

DESTRUCTIVE POWERS OF THE CHINCH-BUG.

Few persons in the more Northern States can form a
just conception of the prodigious numbers and redoubt-
able armies in which this insect is sometimes seen in the
South and South-western States, marching from one field
to another. The following extracts from cotemporane-
ous writers I have no doubt are substantially correct, and
give a clear and graphic statement of the ravages of the
Chinch-bug: ;

There never was a better show for wheat and bar-
ley than we had here, the tenth of June, and no more
paltry crop has been harvested since we were a town.
Many farmers did not get their seed. In passing by a
field of barley where the Chinch-bugs had been at work
for a week, I found them moving in solid column across
the road to a corn field on the opposite side, in such
116 INJURIOUS INSECTS,

numbers that I felt afraid to ride my horse among them,
The road and fences were alive with them. Some teams
were at work mending the road at this spot, and the bugs
covered men, horses and scrapers till they were forced to
quit work for the day. The bugs took ten acres of that
corn, clean to the ground, before its hardening stalks—
being too much for their tools—checked their progress.
Another lot passed from a wheat field adjoining my
farm into a piece of corn, stopping now and then for a
bite, but not long, They then crossed a meadow, thirty
rods, into a sixteen-acre lot of sorghum, and swept it like
a fire, though the cane was then scarce in tassel. From
wheat to sorghum was at least sixty rods. Their march
was governed by no discoverable law, except that they were
hungry, and went where there was most to eat. Help-
ing a neighbor harvest one of the few fortunate fields,
early sown—and so lucky!—we found them moving across
his premises in such numbers that they bid fair to drive
out the family. House, crib, stable, well-curb, trees,
garden fences—one creeping mass of stinking life. In
the house as well as outside, like the lice of Egypt, they
were everywhere; but in a single day they were gone.

If any Western farmer supposes that Chinch-bugs can-
not be out-flanked, headed off, and conquered, they are
entirely behind the times. The thing has been effectu-
ally done during the past scason, by Mr. Davis, Super-
visor of the town of Scott, Ogle County, Ill. This gen-
tleman had a corn-field of a hundred acres, growing along-
side of an extensive field of small grain. The bugs had
finished up the latter and were preparing to attack the
former, when the owner, being of an ingenious turn, hit
upon a happy plan for circumventing them. He sur-
rounded the corn with a barrier of pine boards set vp
edgewise and partly buried in the ground, to keep them
in position, Outside of this fence deep holes were dug,
about ten feet apart. The upper edge of the board was
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 11”

kept constantly moist with a coat of coal tar, which was
renewed every day.

The bugs according to their regular tactics, advanced
to the assault in solid columns, swarming by millions,
and hiding the ground. They easily ascended the boards,
but were unable to cross the belt of the coal tar. Some-
times they crowded upon one another so as to bridge
over the barrier, but such places were immediately cov-
ered with a new coating. The invaders were in a quan-
dary, and, in that state of mind crept backward and for-
ward until they tumbled into the deep holes aforesaid,
these were soon filled, and the swarming myriads were
shovelled out of them literally by wagon loads, at the rate
of thirty or forty bushels a day,—and buried up in other
holes, dug for the purpose, as required. This may seem
incredible to persons unacquainted with this little pest,
but no one who has seen the countless myriads which
cover the earth as harvest approaches, will feel inclined
to dispute the statement. It is an unimpeachable fact.
The process was repeated till only three or four bushels
could be shovelled out of the holes, when it was aban-
doned. The corn was completely protected and yielded
bountifully.

Fatse CHINCH-BUGS.—Some insects, with a general
resemblance to the true Chinch-bug, are sometimes mis-
taken for that, and as they are general feeders, have
given rise to reports that garden crops and others besides
the grains and grasses, are attacked by the Chinch-bug.
The most frequently mistaken for the true one is the
False Chinch-bug (Wysius destructor, Riley), fig. 81, of
which @ is the pupa, and ¢ the mature insect, the lines
showing the real size. Its general color is grayish-
brown, and that of the pupa dingy yellow. The insect
is common in Missouri and Kansas. It attacks many
garden vegetables, especially those of the Mustard Fam-
118 INJURIOUS INSECTS

ily (Crucifere), also the Grape-vine and Strawberry
plants, to which it is especially injurious. The insect is

  

Fig. 82.—AsH-GRAY
Fig. 81.—FraLse cHINCH-BUG (Ny- LEAF-BUG (Piesma
sius destructor, Riley). cinerea, Say.)

described in full in Riley’s Third Missouri Report. The
Ash-gray Leaf-bug (Piesma cinerea), fig. 82, is often
found feeding on the same plants as the Chinch-bug, and
might be mistaken for that by a careless observer; a com-
parison of the engravings will at once show the difference.

  

Fig. 83. 6
INSIDIOUS FLOWER-BUG (An- Fig. 84.—MANY-BANDED ROBBER
thocoris insidiosus, Say.) (Harpactor cinctus, Fabr.)

NaturaL Enemres.—The Chinch-bug appears to have
fewer insect enemies than other destructive insects, and
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN, 119

this is supposed to be due to its disagreeable odor. The
Insidious Flower-bug (Anthocoris insidiosus, Say), fig.
83, and the Many-banded Robber (Harpactor cinctus,
Fabr.), fig. 84, are the most prominent of these, and may
be recognized from the engravings. The larve of some of
the Lady-birds, and a few others, also prey upon them
more or less, but the most efficient of all are the ants,
which destroy large numbers of the eggs.

RemeEpies—It has long been noticed that the Chinch
Bug commences its ravages from the edges of a piece of
grain, or occasionally from one or more small patches,
scattered at random in the more central portions of it,
and usually drier than the rest of the field. From these
particular parts it subsequently spreads by degrees over
the whole field, multiplying as it goes, and finally taking
the entire crop unless checked up by seasonable rains.
In newly broken land, where the fences are new and con-
sequently no old stuff has had time to acgumulate along
them, the Chinch-bug is never heard of. These facts in-
dicate that the mother insects must very generally pass
the winter in the old dead stuff that usually gathers
along fences. Hence by way of precaution, it is advisa~-
ble, whenever possible, to burn up such dead stuff in the
winter or early in the spring, and particularly to rake to-
gether and burn up the old corn-stalks, instead of plow-
ing them in, or allowing them, as is often done, to lie
littering about on some waste ground. It is true, agri-
culturally speaking, this is bad farming; but it is better
to lose the manure contained in the cornstalks than to
have one’s crops destroyed by insects. Whenever such
small infested patches in a grain field are noticed early
in the season, the rest of the field may often be saved by
carting dry straw on to them and burning the straw on
the spot, Chinch-bugs, green wheat and all; and this
will be still easier to do when the bugs start along the
edge of the field. If, as frequently happens, a piece of
120 INJURIOUS INSECTS

small grain is found about harvest-time to be so badly
shrunken up by the bug as not to be worth cutting, the
owner ought always to set fire to it and burn it up along
with its ill-savored inhabitants. Thus, not only will
the insect be prevented from migrating to the adjacent
corn-fields, but its future multiplication will be consid-
erably checked.

A very simple, cheap, and easy method of prevention
was recommended by Mr. Wilson Phelps, of Crete, Ili-
nois. It may very probably be effectual when the bugs
are not too numerous, and certainly can do no harm:

With twelve bushels of spring wheat, mix one bushel
of winter rye, and sow in the usual manner. Therye not
heading out, but spreading out close to the ground, the
bugs will content themselves with eating it until the
wheat is too far advanced to be injured by them. There
will of course be no danger of the winter rye mixing with
the spring wheat.

THE HESSIAN FLY.
(Cecidomyia destructor, Say.)

A most complete account of this insect is to be found
in Bulletin No. 4, of the U. 8. Entomological Commis-
sion, by Prof. A. 8. Packard, of which the following is
a brief abstract:

1. There are two broods of the fly, the first laying their
egos on the leaves of the young wheat from early April
till the end of May, the time varying with the latitude
and weather; the second brood appearing during August
and September, and laying about thirty eggs on the leaves
of the young winter wheat.

2. The eggs hatch in about four days after they are
laid; several of the maggots or larve make their way
down to the sheathing hase of the leaf and remain be-
tween the base of the leaves and the stem, near the roots,
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 121

causing the stalks to swell and the plant to turn yellow
and die. By the end of November, or from thirty to
forty days after the wheat is sown, they assume the “ flax-
seed” state, and may, on removing the lower leaves, be
found as little brown, oval, cylindrical, smooth bodies, a
little smaller than grains of rice. They remain in the
wheat until during warm weather in April, when the
larva rapidly transforms into the pupa within its flax-
seed-skin, the fly emerging from the “ flaxseed” case about

  

Fig. 85.—THE HESSIAN FLY (Cecidomyia destructor, Say.)
i, Fly of natural size; h, the same, magnified; j, k, Maggots, magnified, 7, the
“flaxseed” state, enlarged.
the end of April. The eggs laid by this first or spring
brood of flies, soon hatch; the second brood of maggots live
but a few weeks; the “flaxseed” state is soon undergone
and the autumn or second brood of flies appear in August.
(In some cases there may be two autumn broods, the
earliest autumn brood giving rise to a third set of flies in
September.) The engraving (fig. 85), shows the differ-
ent states of the insect. The fly of the natural size is
given at 7, its spread of wings being only half an inch.
122 INJURIOUS INSECTS

Ath is the magnified insect. The body is of a dark-
brown color, the wings dull smoky-brown, and the legs
of a paler brown than the body. The maggots are shown,
magnified in j and £; 7 shows the “flaxseed” state.

3. There are several destructive Ichneumon parasites
of the Hessian Fly, whose combined attacks are supposed
to destroy nine-tenths of all the flies hatched; of these the
most important is the Chalcid four-winged fly (Semiotel-
lus destructor), which infests the “flaxseed”; and the
egg-parasite (Platygaster).

4. By sowing a part of the wheat early, and if affected
by the fly, plowing and sowing the rest after September
20th, the wheat crop may in most cases be saved. It
should be remembered that the first brood should be
thus circumvented or destroyed in order that a second
brood may not appear.

5. If the wheat be only partially affected it may be
saved by fertilizers and careful cultivation; or a badly
damaged field of winter wheat may thus be recuperated
in the spring.

6. Pasturing with sheep and consequent close cropping
of the winter wheat in November and early December may
cause many of the eggs, larvee and flaxseeds to be destroyed;
also, rolling the ground may have nearly the same effect.

%. Sowing hardy varieties. The ‘‘ Underhill Mediter-
ranean” wheat, and especially the ‘‘ Clawson” variety,
which tillers vigorously, should be sown in preference
to the slighter, less vigorous kinds, in a region much
infested by the fly. The early August sown wheat
might be ‘‘ Diehl,” the late sown ‘‘ Clawson.”

8. Of special remedies, the use of lime, soot, or salt,
maz be recommended; also raking off the stubble; but
too close cutting of the wheat and burning of the stub-
ble are of doubtful use, as this destroys the useful para-
sites as well as the flies.
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 123
PROBABLE GEOGRAPHICAL LIMITS OF THE HESSIAN FLY.

The question naturally arises whether this pest will
ever infest the wheat regions of Western Dakota, Mon-
tana, Utah, Colorado, and the Pacific States and Terri-
tories. We believe not, though aware that such a state-
ment may be hazardous. It was originally an inhabitant
of Central and Southern Europe; it has become acclima-
ted in the Eastern, Atlantic, and Middle States, in the
Valley of the Upper St. Lawrence and in the Valley of the
Mississippi River; that it can thrive in the elevated, dry
Rocky Mountain plateau regions, withstand the cool
nights and dry, hot atmosphere of the Far West, seems
very doubtful. Atleast so slowly has it spread westward;
so slight an amount of wheat or straw is transported, all
produce of this kind going eastward, that we doubt
whether during this century at least it will extend west
of Kansas and Minnesota, where it has already had a
foothold for several years.

Bulletin No. 4 of the Entomological Commission, by
Dr. A. 8. Packard, Jr., gives a full account of the Hes-
sian Fly, which all interested should be able to procure
from their representatives in Congress, as these Bulletins
are published at the expense of the tax-payers.

THE WHEAT MIDGE.
(Diplosis tritici, Kirby.)

The Wheat Midge was formerly regarded as an insect
of the same genus with the Hessian Fly, and was known
as Cecidomyia tritict, but Entomologists now rank it in
a separate genus, Diplosis. In general appearance the
parent insect much resembles the Hessian Fly, but it de-
posits its eggs in the flowers of the wheat. The heads
of wheat thus attacked are soon seen to shrivel, and upon
examination there will be found numerous legless mag-
124 INJURIOUS INSECTS

gots, about one-twelfth of an inch long, and of an orange
color, among the forming grain, which are popularly
known as midges, a portion of the larve or midges go
into the ground and pupate, while others are harvested
with the grain. Some parasitic insects help reduce the
numbers of the midge, and so far as is known, deep
plowing, to turn those which have entered the ground
so deep that they cannot make their way to the surface,
and the burning of the refuse in the cleaning of the grain,
are the only artificial helps suggested.

THE JOINT-WORM.
(Isosoma hordei, Harris.)

In certain years and in particular States the crops of
wheat, of barley, or of rye are greatly injured by a minute
maggot, popularly known as the “ Joint-worm.” This
maggot is but little more than one-eighth of an inch
long, and of a pale-yellow color with the exception of the
jaws, which are dark-brown. It inhabits a little cell,
which is situated in the internal substance of the stem of
the affected plant, usually a short distance above the first
or second knot from the root, the outer surface of the
stem being elevated in a corresponding elongate blister-
like swelling; and when, as is generally the case, from
three to ten of these cells lie close together in the same
spot, the whole forms a woody enlargement, honey-combed
by cells, and is in reality a many-celled gall. In figure
86, @, will be seen a sketch of one of these galls, the lit-
tle pin-holes being the orifices through which the flies
produced from the joint-worms have escaped. At first
sight, these knotty swellings of the stem are apt to elude
observation, because, being almost always situated just
above the joint or knot on that stem—whence comes the
popular name ‘‘Joint-worms”’—they are enwrapped and
hidden by the sheath of the blade: but on stripping off
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 125

the sheath, as is supposed to have been done in the en-
graving, they become at once very conspicuous objects.
We have observed that the ‘‘internodes,” as botanists
call them, or the spaces between the knots, in infested
straws are always much contracted in length, none out of
a lot of over fifty specimens examined by us exceeding
six inches in length, and many being reduced to only one
and a half inch. There were only three straws in this
lot of over fifty straws, where two Joint-worm galls were

 

Fig. 86.—THE JOINT-worm (Jsosoma hordei, Harris).
a, Galls at joints; b, Female Fly, enlarged, the lines showing the real size.

found in the same straw; and in all those three cases
they were found in two adjoining internodes. In a very
few instances the galls were situated in the middle of the
internode, or even close to the upper knot, instead of be-
ing situated as usual above the lower knot.

AMOUNT OF DAMAGE DONE BY THE JOINT-WORM.

The damage occasioned by the Joint-worm is, in cer-
tain seasons and in certain localities, rnimously great.
In the year 1851, through a large part of Virginia, ac-
cording to the Editor of the ‘‘Southern Planter,”
126 INJURIOUS INSECTS

“ many crops of wheat were hardly worth cutting on ac-
count of its attacks, and all that we have seen or heard
of, except one, were badly hurt by it.” It first began to
be observed in that State in 1848, and in subsequent
years it increased gradually in numbers. According to
Prof. Cabell, of the University of Virginia, the loss occa-
sioned by this insect often amounted to one-third of the
average crop, and sometimes much greater; and in 1851
“‘some farmers did not reap as much as they sowed.”
In 1860 the rye crop was considerably injured by this
little pest in Lycoming Co., Pennsylvania; and according
to Mr. Norton, the species is very common upon rye ‘‘in
Connecticut and probably the other New England States.”
As long ago as 1829, it had been noticed in various parts
of the New England States to attack the barley, causing
it in some places ‘‘to yield only a very small crop, and
on some farms not much more than the seed sown;”
although since that date it does not appear to have been
materially troublesome in that region. But in Central
New York, formerly the great barley-growing district of
America, it has been ruinously destructive to the barley
from 1850 until the present.

It is a curious fact that—so far as can be at present
ascertained—this destructive insect does not appear to
have reached the Valley of the Mississippi. Atall events,
no complaints from the West of any such attacks as those
described above, either upon wheat, rye, or barley, have
hitherto been make public. It is very possible, however.
that the Joint-worm may have been confounded in the
West with the Hessian Fly (Cecidomyia destructor, Say),
the larva of which infests the same part of the wheat
plant, namely, the space immediately above one of the
lowermost knots in the straw. But this last may be dis-
tinguished from the Joint-worm by living in the open
space between the stem and the sheath of the blade.
although it occasionally imbeds itself pretty deeply in the
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 12%

external surface of the stem; whereas, the true Joint-
worm always inhabits a smooth egg-shaped cell in the in-
ternal substance of that stem.

NATURAL HISTORY OF THE JOINT-WORM.

The mode in which the Joint-worm produces its de-
structive effects upon small grain, may be readily ex-
plained. Not only is the sap extracted on its course to
the ear, in order to form the abnormal woody enlargement
or gall, in which the larve are imbedded, each in his
own private and peculiar cell, but a very large supply of
sap must be wasted in feeding the larve themeslves.
Hence the ear that would otherwise be fully developed
becomes more or less shriveled; although we are told
that, in the case of barley more particularly, the plant
tillers out laterally, so as partially to supply the loss of
the main crop of ears. A similar phenomenon occurs
with almost all galls that grow upon a slender stem or
twig, that is, the stem or twig is more or less killed or
blasted thereby; but when a twig is quite large, this re-
sult often fails to be developed.

The Joint-worm Fly (fig. 86, ,) makes its appear-
ance in the North in the forepart and middle of June,
and in southern latitudes in the middle of May. After
coupling in the usual manner, the female Joint-worm Fly
proceeds to lay her eggs in the stems of the growing grain.
The following excellent account of this operation, from
the pen of Mr. Pettit, is from the ‘‘ Canada Farmer”:

“‘About the eighth of June, the perfect insects begin
to make their way out of the gall. * * * * * *
I watched the growing barley, and on the tenth found
them actively at work ovipositing in the then healthy
stalks of the plant. Before commencing operations
they walk leisurely up one side of the plant as far as
the last leaf, and then down the other, apparently te
128 INJURIOUS INSECTS

make sure that it has not already been oviposited in.
Head downward, they then begin by bending the abdo-
men downward, and placing the tip of the ovipositor on
the straw at right angles with the body, when the abdo-
men resumes its natural position, and the ovipositor is
gradually worked into the plant to its full extent.
With the aid of a good lens, and by pulling up the plants
on which they were at work (which did not appear to
disconcert them in the least), I could view the whole op-
eration, which, in some cases, was accomplished in a few
minutes, and in others was the work of an hour or two.
When a puncture was completed, they usually backed up
a little and viewed it for a few seconds, and then appar-
ently satisfied, moved to one side and another began.”

Very shortly after this time, the egg must hatch out.
For, upon July third, we examined a large lot of the
green barley-galls, which had been obligingly forwarded
to us by Mr. Pettit, and found the larva of the Joint-
worm Fly almost half-grown, that is from 0.004 to 0.006-
inch long, and about five times as long as wide.

By the beginning of September, the infested grain
haying ripened long before this period, the galls are
already dry and hard, and the larve contained in them
full grown, measuring now about 0.13-inch in length.
The great majority of these larve are destined to remain
in that state, enclosed in their little cells, until the suc-
ceeding spring; but—as happens with many different in-
sects— a small percentage of them seem to pass into the
pupa, and thence into the perfect state, the same sum-
mer that the eggs are deposited. For, out of a lot of
one hundred and twenty-four barley-galls, received Sep:
tember 10th from Mr. Pettit of Upper Canada, thirty-
nine galls, on very nearly one-third part, were already
bored with the same kind of small round holes as are
made in the succeeding spring by the escaping Joint-
worm Flies, some galls containing six such holes, but
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 129

most of them about three. It is true that we are not
personally cognizant of the fact, that these holes are
bored by the same Joint-worm Fly, that escapes from
similar holes in such profuse abundance in the following
June; but Prof. Cabell, of Virginia, stated to Dr. Harris
with reference to the wheat-inhabiting Joint-worm, that
he had known a few flies to leave the straw the first year,
but in each instance the fly which came forth thus was
the true Joint-worm Fly. As already shown, the flies
that emerged from these Canada galls in the succeeding
summer, came out from June 9th to June 16th and sub-
sequently.—(American Entomologist.)

ARMY WORMS.

The name Army Worm is somewhat loosely applied to
several different insects that have the habit of congregat-
ing in considerable numbers, or in moving from place to
place in large bodies. In some localities in Western
New York, the name is given to the Tent Caterpillar of
the Forest (Clistocampa sylvatica, Harr.), described
under FRUIT TREES.

In some of the Southern States, the Cotton Worm
(Aletia argillacea, Hubn.), is called “‘ Army Worm,” and
more frequently the “‘Cotton Army Worm,” an insect
most exhaustively treated of by Prof. Riley in Bulletin
No. 3, of the U. S. Entomological Commission.

Still another insect, common in the Southern States,
(Laphrygma frugiperda, Sm. and Abb.), which some-
times attacks cotton, has been called ‘‘ Army Worm.”
Its proper name is ‘‘ Southern Grass Worm,” and it pre-
fers grasses and weeds to cotton and other crops. To
distinguish the true Army Worm from all others to which
the name has been given, it may be called:
130 INJURIOUS INSECTS

THE NORTHERN ARMY WORM.
(Leucania unipuncta, Haw.)

This insect has from time to time made its appearance
in destructive numbers. Its earliest recorded appearance
in the Eastern States, was in 1743. The years 1770,
1817, and 1861, are those in which it is reported to have
been especially troublesome in the East; in 1861 it was
destructive from New England to Kansas; in 18%5, it
visited a large part of Missouri, and in 1880 was especially
destructive on Long Island. Prof. C. V. Riley was the
first to give the full history of this insect, in his Reports
on the Insects of Missouri, and in the Walker Prize
Essay of the Boston Natural History Society, for 1877;
from these the following is condensed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INSECT.

The worm when full grown is dingy black in color,
striped as in figure 87, with a broad dusky stripe along
the back, divided along the middle by a more or less dis-
tinct and irregular pale line, and bordered beneath by a
narrow black line; then a narrow white line; then a yel-
lowish stripe; then a narrow, indistinct white line; then
another dusky stripe; again a narrow white line; then a
yellow stripe, and, finally, again a faint white line: the
underside or venter is obscure green.

The chrysalis (fig. 88) is mahogany-brown. in color.
The moth (fig. 89) is of a fawn color, with a white speck
near the center of the front wings and a dusky, oblique
line running inwardly from their tips.

The eggs are laid in the spring of the year so far as we
know, and not in the fall as was formerly supposed.
They are thrust, by means of an ovipositor, which is
admirably adapted for this purpose, in between the folded
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 131

sides of a grass blade and glued along the grooves with a
white, glistening, and adhesive fluid, which not only
fastens them together but draws the two sides of the
grass blade close around them so as to pretty
effectually hide them. The female performs this opera-
tion at night, and is extremely active at the time, laying
her eggs with great rapidity, so that the ovaries are soon
emptied. Each individual egg is glistening white at
first, but becomes dull yellowish toward maturity. The
female prefers a dry blade to a green one, and is espe-

   

Fig. 87.—aRMY WORM. Fig. 89.—MOTH OF ARMY WORM.

cially prone to oviposit in places where there is a
thick matting of coarse, last year’s grass. The young
worm hatches in about ten days, and up to the last
moult has all the habits of an ordinary Cut-Worm,
the colors being much paler than when full grown, and
the worm hiding during the day at the base of the grasses.
When not excessively numerous they retain this their
normal Cut-Worm habit, and only when they become
excessively multiplied do they acquire the marching and
migrating habits.

REMEDIES.—Experience has established the fact that
burning a meadow, or prairie, or field of stubble, in winter
132 INJURIOUS INSECTS

or spring, usually prevents the worms from originating
in such meadow or field. Such burning destroys the
previous year’s stalks and blades, and, as a consequence of
what we have already stated, the nidi which the female
moth prefers. Burning as a preventive, however, loses
much of its practical importance unless it is pursued
annually, because of the irregularity in the appearance of
the Worm in injurious numbers. Judicious ditching,
i. é., a ditch with the side toward the field to be protected
perpendicular or sloping under, will protect a field from
invasion from some other infested region when the worms
are marching. When they are collected in the ditch
they may be destroyed either by covering them with
earth that is pressed upon them, by burning straw over
them or by pouring a little coal oil in the ditch. A
single plow furrow, six or eight inches deep and kept
friable by dragging brush in it, has also been known to
head them off.

From experiments which we have made we are satisfied
that where fence-lumber can be easily obtained it may be
ased to advantage as a substitute for the ditch or trench,
by being secured on edge and then smeared with kerosene
or coal tar, tne latter being more particularly useful
along the upper edge. By means of laths and a few
nails the boards may be so secured that they will slightly
slope away from the field to be protected. Such a
barrier will prove effectual where the worms are not too
persistent or numerous. Where they are excessively
abundant they will need to be watched and occasionally
dosed with kerosene to prevent their piling up even with
the top of the board and thus bridging the barrier. The
lumber is not injured for other purposes subsequently.
In the invasion of Long Island in 1880, but two methods
were found successful in checking the march of the Army
Worm. Trenches were made by plowing, and in these were
distributed freshly cut Red-top grass, a favorite food with
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 133

them, and the grass was sprinkled with a mixture of
Paris Green or London Purple in water, the same that is
used for the Colorado Potato-beetle. So long as the
grass remained fresh, the worms were destroyed by
millions. Trenches by themselves were of little use, but
if pits are made at every rod or so in the trench, about a
foot square, and two feet deep with clean straight sides,
the worms, in seeking a place to escape from the trench,
will fall into these pits in great numbers. When one
pit is nearly full of worms, others may be dug, using
the earth to bury those already in the pits. The trenches
should be dressed with the spade, after the plow, to
make sure of straight smooth sides.

SUMMARY.

The following summary of the natural history of the
Worm is from the 9th Missouri Report:

“The insect is with us every year. In ordinary sea-
sons, when it is not excessively numerous, it is seldom
noticed. 1st, because the moths are low, swift flyers, and
nocturnal in habit; 2nd, because the worms, when young,
have protective coloring, and, when mature, hide during
the day at the base of grasses. In years of great abun-
dance the worms are generally unnoticed during early
life, and attract attention only when, from crowding too
much on each other, or from having exhausted the food
supply in the fields in which they hatched, they are
forced from necessity to migrate to fresh pastures in
great bodies. The earliest attain full growth and com-
mence to travel in armies, to devastate our fields, and
to attract attention, about the time that winter wheat is
in the milk—this period being two months later in Maine
than in Southern Missouri; and they soon afterwards
descend into the ground, and thus suddenly disappear,
to issue again in two or three weeks as moths. In the
134 INJURIOUS INSECTS

latitude of St. Louis, the bulk of these moths lay eggs,
from which are produced a second generation of worms,
which become moths again late in July or early in August.
Exceptionally a third generation of worms may be pro-
duced from these. Further north there is but one gener-
ation annually. The moths hibernate, and oviposit soon
after vegetation startsin spring. The chrysalides may
also hibernate, and probably do so toa large extent in
the more Northern States. The eggs are inserted between
the sheath and stalk, or secreted in the folds of a blade;
and mature and perennial grasses are preferred for this
purpose. The worms abound in wet springs preceded by
one or more very dry years. They are preyed upon by
numerous enemies, which so effectually check their
increase, whenever they unusually abound, that the
second brood, when it occurs, is seldom noticed; and two
great Army Worm years have never followed each other,
and are not likely to do so.”

THE WHEAT-HEAD ARMY WORM.
(Leucania albilinia, Guen).

There has of late years appeared, first in Pennsylvania
and Maryland, and later in Kansas and Missouri, an
insect in many respects like the true Army Worm, but
which has shown a peculiar tendency to feed upon the
heads of wheat and other small grains. When newly
hatched, this differs from the true Army Worm by its
black head and later by having five instead of seven pale
lines, and six instead of eight dark ones. The habit of
feeding upon the grain becomes fixed only when the
worms are half grown, as before that they attack the
leaves, grass, etc. Several parasitic insects diminish its
numbers, and it has been suggested that the worms could
be greatly diminished by setting traps to attract the
moths by means of lights to poisoned sweet liquids,
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 135

CLOVER.

In an invasion of the Rocky Mountain Locust or Grass-
hopper, the Clover suffers with most other green things,
but the generally voracious Army Worm, while it occa-
sionally nibbles at it, usually passes to more acceptable
plants. There are a few caterpillars of moths now and
then found upon Clover, but are regarded mainly as acci-
dental. Within a few years, it has been discovered that

  

Fig. 90.—Larva,
MAGNIFIED, Fig. 91.—cLOVER-SEED MIDGE, FEMALE FLY.
c, Ovipositor ; d, Joints of Feeler, enlarged.
this important plant has two enemies, both of such a
destructive character as to demand attention, one, a
midge that destroys the seed, the other a borer that
injures the root.

THE CLOVER-SEED MIDGE.
(Cecidomyia trifolii, Riley.)

This insect was described and figured in the ‘“ Ameri-
ean Agriculturist” for July 1879. The larva (fig. 90,
much magnified), is of a bright orange-red color, lives
within the Clover-heads, and by exhausting them of
135 INJURIOUS INSECTS

their juices, causes the seed to shrivel and become worth-
less. When they have made their growth, these Midges
either enter the ground, or hide under rubbish
on the surface, and form a tough silken cocoon,
with particles of earth adhering. Some of the flies
‘ypear in September, and others not until the following
-oring. Figure 91 gives a highly magnified view of the
female fly and its details. Thus far this insect’s ravages
have been confined to the Central and Western parts of
the State of New York, and the only remedy that has
been suggested is, for farmers in localities where the
Midge prevails, to stop growing clover-seed for several
years, or until the insect is starved out.

THE CLOVER-ROOT BORER,
(Hylesinus trifolii, Miller.)

This isan imported insect which has made itself at
home in Central New York, and in a number of localities
nas caused a general failure of the Clover crop. It
was first described and figured in the ‘‘ American
Agriculturist” for November 1879. The engraving
(fig. 92,) shows the appearance of the Clover, a, after the
attack of this insect, and the insect itself in its various
stages of larva, 6, pupa c, and the perfect beetle d. It
passes the winter in either of these three states, and in
eurly spring the insects issue and pair. The female then
instinctively bores into the crown of the root, eating a
pretty large cavity, wherein she deposits from four to six
pule, whitish, elliptical eggs. These hatch in about a
week, and the young larve at first feed in the cavity
made by the parent. After a few days, however, they
begin to burrow downward, extending to the different
branches of the root. The galleries made in burrowing
run pretty regularly along the axis of the roots, as shown
in the engraving, and are filled with brown excrement.
The pupa is formed in a smooth cavity, generally at the
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 137

end of one of these burrows, and may be found in small
numbers as early as September.

It is the custom in Western New York to sow the
Clover in spring on ground already sown to fall wheat.
This is generally done while
snow is yet on the ground, or
while the frost is disappear-
ing. The Clover is allowed
to go to seed in the fall, and
usually produces but little.
During the second year one
crop of hay and a crop of
seed are obtained. It is dur-
ing the second year the injury
of the Root-borer is most ob-
served.

One observer reports that
this insect has attacked all
the clover in portions of Gen-
esee County. I examined
clover in some half a dozen
fields during a ride of ten
miles, and found every plant ==
I pulled up was more or “Cizjissinus tfotiy Miler.)
less injured. While most of 4, Injured stem and root; », Larva;

3 c, Pupa; a, Beetle, enlarged.
the plants are yet alive, they
are of little value for hay, seed, or pasture. The only
remedy thus far suggested is, to plow under all the clover
found to be infested in the spring of the second year.
Some parasites are known to prey on this insect, which
may diminish it.

   

 

==
= SSS

THE CLOVER-WORM.
(Asopia costalis, Fabr.)

This insect, like the preceding introduced from Europe,
has been occasionally noticed for the last twenty years,
138 INJURIOUS INSECTS

and now, in some localities, from New England to Mich-
igan and Illinois, it often occurs in troublesome numbers.
It attacks the clover in the mow or stack, webbing the
stems together with multitudes of silken threads, among
which is such an abundance of black excrement as to un-
fit the clover for feeding to animals. The white cocoons
are present in such numbers, that one, without clo<

examination, would pronounce the hay to be moulu.

 

Fi F

Fig. 93.—cLOVER-worM (Asopia costalis, Fabr.)
land 2, Larva; 8, Cocoon, 4, Pupa; 5 and 6, the Moth, 7, the Web.

The insects are usually found at the bottom of the stack.
Figure 93 shows the insect in its various stages, 1 and 2
represent the larva, 3 the cocoon, 4 the pupa, 5 and 6 the
moth, and 7 the white web in which the worm for the
most part lives. The moth is one of our prettiest
species, being of a reddish-brown color with golden-yellow
markings and fringe to its wings. It is suggested as a
preventive, that hay containing clover should not be
stacked twice in the same place, and that the stack should
be placed upon log or other foundations, that will allow
of thorough ventilation from below.
Insects Injurious to Fruit Trees.

APPLE-TREE BORERS.

THE ROUND-HEADED APPLE-TREE BORER.

(Saperda bivittata, Say.)

It isan admitted fact that apple trees on the ridges
are shorter lived than those grown on our lower lands.
Hitherto no particular reason has been given for this oc-
currence, but it appears to be mainly attributed to the
workings of the borer now under consideration. It has
been invariably found more plentiful in trees growing on
high land than in those on low land, and worse in
plowed orchards than on those which are seeded down
to grass. Fifty years ago, large, thrifty, long-lived
trees were exceedingly common, and were obtained
with comparatively little effort on the part of our an-
cestors. They had not the vast army of insect enemies
to contend with, which at the present day makes suc-
cessful fruit growing difficult. This Apple-Tree Borer
was entirely unknown until Thomas Say described it in
the year 1834; and, according to Dr. Fitch, it was not
until the year following that its destructive character be-
came known in the vicinity of Albany, N. Y., for the
first time. Yet itis a native American insect, and has
for ages inhabited our indigenous Crab-apple trees from
which trees Mr. A. Bolter took numerous specimens, in
the vicinity of Chicago, ten years ago. It also attacks the
Quince, Mountain-ash, Hawthorn, Pear, and the June-
berry. Few persons are aware to what an alarming ex-

139
140 INJURIOUS INSECTS

tent this insect is infesting the orchards in various local-
ities. A tree becomes unhealthy and eventually dwindles
and dies, often without the owner having the least sus-
picion of the true cause—the gnawing worm within.

At figure 94 this borer is represented in its three stages
of larva (a), pupa (b), and perfect beetle (c). The bee-
tle may be known by the popular name of the Two-
striped Saperda, while its larva is best known by the
name of the Round-headed Apple-Tree Borer, in contra-

 

Fig. 94.—ROUND-HEADED APPLE-TREE BORER (Saperda bivittata, Say.)
a, Larva; b,Pupa; c, Beetle.

The average length of the larva, when full grown, is
about one inch, and the width of the first segment is not
quite one-fourth of an inch. Its color is light-yellow,
with a tawny-yellow spot of a more horny consistency on
t.e first segment, which, under a lens, is found to be
formed of a mass of dark-brown spots. The head is
chestnut-brown, polished and horny, and the jaws are
deep-black. The pupa is of rather lighter color than the
larva, and has transverse rows of minute tecth on the
back, and a few at the extremity of the body; the perfect
beetle has two longitudinal white stripes between three
of alight cinnamon-brown color. The Two-striped Sa-
perda makes its appearance in the beetle state during the
months of May and June, and is scldom seen by any but
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 141

the entomologist who makes a point of hunting for it, as
it remains quietly hidden by day and flies and moves only
by night. The female deposits her eggs during the
month of June, mostly at the foot of the tree, and the
young worms hatch and commence boring into the bark
within a fortnight afterwards. These young worms dif-
fer in no essential from the full grown specimens, except
in the very minute size; and they invariably live for the
first year of their lives on the sap-wood and inner bark,
excavating shallow, flat cavities which are found stuffed
full of their saw-dust like castings. The hole by which
the newly hatched worm penetrates is so very minute that
it frequently fills up, though not before a few grains of
castings have fallen from it, but the presence of the wo1ms
may be generally detected, especially in young trees, from
the bark, under which they lie, becoming darkened, and
sufficiently dry and dead to contract and form cracks.
Through these cracks, some of the castings of the worm
generally protrude, and fall to the ground in a little heap,
and this occurs more especially in the spring of the year,
when, with the rising sap and frequent rains, such cast-
ings become swollen and augment in bulk. -Some have
supposed that the worm makes these holes to push out its
own excrement, and that it is forced to do this to make
room for itself; but, though it may sometimes gnaw a hole
for this purpose, such an instance has never come to our
knowledge, and that it is necessary to the life of the worm
is simply a delusion, for there are hundreds of boring in-
sects who never have recourse to such a procedure, and
this one is frequently found below the ground, where it
cannot possibly thus get rid of its castings. It is cur-
rently supposed that this borer penetrates into the heart
wood of the tree after the first year of its existence,
whereas the Flat-headed borer is supposed to remain for
the most part immediately under the bark; but on these
points no rule can be given, for the Flat-headed species
142 INJURIOUS INSECTS

also frequently penetrates into the solid heart wood, while
the one under consideration is often found in a full
grown state just under the inner bark, or in the sap
wood. The usual course of its life however runs as fol-
lows:

As winter approaches, the young borer descends as near
the ground as its burrow will allow, and doubtless remains
inactive until the following spring. On approach of tne
second winter it is about one-half grown, and still living
on the sap-wood; and it is at this time that these borers
do the most damage, for where there are four or six in a
single tree, they almost completely girdle it. During
the next summer, when the worm has become about
three-fourths grown, it generally commences to cut a
cylindrical passage upward into the solid wood, and be-
fore it has finished its larval growth, it invariably extends
this passage right to the bark, sometimes cutting entirely
through a tree to the opposite side from which it com-
menced; sometimes turning back at different angles. It
then stuffs the upper end of the passage with sawdust-
like powder, and the lower part with curly fibres of wood,
after which it rests from its labors. It thus finishes its
gnawing work during the commencement of the third
winter, but remains motionless in the larval state until
the following spring, when it casts off its skin once more
and becomes a pupa. After resting three weeks in the
pupa state, it appears as a beetle, with all its members
and parts at firstsoftand weak. These gradually harden,
and in a fortnight more it cuts its way through its saw-
dust-like castings, and issues from the tree through a per-
fectly round hole. Thus it isin the tree a few days less
than three years, and not merely two years as Dr. Fitch
suggests.

REMEDIES.—From this brief sketch of the Round-
headed borer, it becomes apparent that plugging the
holes to keep him in, is on a par with locking the stable
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 143

door to keep the horse in, after he is stolen; even suppos-
ing there were any philosophy in the plugging system,
which there is not; the round smooth heles are infallible
indication that the borer has left, while the plugging up
of any other holes or cracks where the castings are seen,
will not affect the intruder. This insect probably has
some natural enemies, belonging to its own great class,
and some wood-peckers doubtless seek it out from its
retreat and devour it; but its enemies are certainly not
sufficiently under our control, and to grow healthy apple
trees, we have to fight it artificially. Here again preven-
tion will prove better than cure, and a stitch in time will
not only save nine, but fully ninety-nine.

Experiments have amply proved that alkaline washes are
repulsive to this insect, and the female beetle will not lay
her eggs upon trees protected by such washes. Keep the
base of every tree in the orchard free from weeds and
trash, and apply soap to them during the month of May,
and they will not probably be troubled with borers. For
this purpose soft-soap or common bar soap can be used.
The last is perhaps the most convenient, and the newer
and softer it is the better. Home-made soft-soap, such
as is prepared on many farms from ley of wood-ashes,
usually contains an access of alkali, and when thinned
with water, so that it will work with a brush is excellent.
This borer confines himself almost entirely to the base of
the tree, though very rarely it is found in thecrotch. It
is therefore only necessary in soaping, to rub over the
lower part of the trunk and the crotch, but is a very
good plan to lay a piece of hard soap in the principal
crotch, so that it may be washed down by the rains. In
case these precautions have not been taken, and the
borer is already at work, many of them may be killed by
cutting through the bark at the upper end of their bur-
rows, and gradually pouring hot water into the cuts, so
that it will soak through the castings, and penetrate to
144 INJURIOUS INSECTS

the insect. But even where the soap preventive is used
in the month of May, it is always advisable to examine
the trees in the fall, at which time the young worms that
hatched through the summer may be generally detected,
and easily cut out without injury to the tree. Particular at-
tention should also be paid to any tree that has been injured
or sun-scalded, as such trees are most liable to be attacked.

THE FLAT-HEADED APPLE-TREE BORER.
(Chrysobothris femorata, Fabr.)

This borer which is presented in the larva state at
figure 95, a, may at once be recognized by it anterior ends
being enormously enlarged and

=, flattened. It is paler than the
= preceding, and makes an entirely
different burrow. In consequence
of its immensely broad and flat-
tened head, it bores a hole of an
oval shape, and twice as wide as
high. It never acquires much
more than half the size of the
other species, and is almost al-
RZ ways found with its tail curled
Fig. 95.—riat-oeapeD completely round towards the
sre ima ¥ary head. It lives but one year in
Larva 0, 2 upapesopper iolnts the tree, and produces the bectle
d, Beetle. represented at figure 95, d, which

is of a greenish-black color, with brassy lines and spots
above, the underside appearing like burnished copper.
This beetle flies by day instead of by night, and may often
be found on different trees basking in the sunshine. It at-
tacks not only the Apple, but the Peach, also the Soft Ma-
ple, Oak, and is said to attack a variety of other forest
trees; though, since the larvx of the family (Buprestide),
to which it belongs, all bear a striking resemblance to each

   
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 145

other, itis possible that this particular species has been
accused of more than it deserves. It is, however, but
far too common in the Valley of the Mississippi, and
along the Iron Mountain and Pacific railroads; it is even
more common than the preceding species.

Mr. G. Paul, of Eureka, states that it has killed fifty
apple trees for him, and Mr. Votaw, and many others in
that neighborhood have suffered from it in like manner.
Ii is also seriously affecting the soft maples by riddling
them through and through, though it confines itself for
the most part to the inner bark, causing peculiar black
scars and holes inthe trunk. Unless its destructive work
is soon checked, it bids fair to impair the value of this
tree for shade and ornamental purposes, as effectually as
the Locust-borers have done with the Locust trees.

Remepies.—Dr. Fitch found that this borer was at-
tacked by the larvee of some parasitic fly belonging prob-
ably to the Chalcis family, but it is greatly to be feared
that this parasite is as yet unknown in the West. At all
events this Flat-headed borer is far more common with
our Eastern brethren. As this beetle makes its appear-
ance during the months of May and June, and as the eggs
are deposited on the trunk of the tree, as with the pre-
ceding species, the same method of cutting them out, or
scalding them can be applied in the one case as in the
other; while the soap preventive is proved to be equally
effectual with this species as with the other. It must,
however, be applied more generally over the tree, as they
attack all parts of the trunk, and even the larger limbs.

THE APPLE-TWIG BORER.
(Amphicerus bicaudatus, Say.)

The Apple-twig borer is a modest looking dark-brown
insect, the thorax rounded and rough-punctured, espec-
jally in front where it is produced into two little horns,

%
146 INJURIOUS INSECTS

and covered with small rasp-like prominences. The
wing-covers are also rough-punctured, and while in the
female (fig. 96, a), they have but a slight keel-like eleva-
tion at the hind end, they are furnished in the male (fig.
96, 6), with two little horns, from which characteristic
the specific name (two-tailed) is derived.

The holes made in the twigs, generally have their en-
trance just above a bud or fork as at figure 97, c. This
insect is not known to bore more than an inch and a-half
into the twig (fig. 97, d), and the holes are generally
made downwards, and in the wood of the previous year’s
growth, though they are sometimes exceptionally bored
upward and in three-year old wood. The beetles seem
to prefer some particular varieties, such as Benoni and

 

 
     

a 6b =
Fig. 96.—APPLE-TWI@ re a a
BORER. Fig. 97.—APPLE-TWIG BORER.
a Female; b, Male. c, Puncture; d, Interior of Stem.

Red June, to other varieties of the Apple, and though
they likewise occur in Pear and Peach stems, and in the
Grape, they have not been found in those of the Crab-apple.

Both the male and female beetles bore these holes, and
may always be found in them, head downwards, during
the winter and spring months. The holes are made for
food and protection, and not for breeding purposes. In-
deed, common as this insect is, its preparatory stages are
entirely unknown, and whoever will ascertain its larval
history, will confer a favor on the community.

The bored twigs almost always break off by the wind,
or else the hole catches the water in spring and causes an
unsound place in the tree. If the twig does not break
off, it withers and the leaves turn brown. The only way
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. / 147%

to counteract the injuries committed by this beetle, is to
prune the infested twigs, whenever found, and take great
care to burn them with their contents. It is in the nur-
sery that most damage is done by this insect, as it is sel-
dom numerous enough in an orchard of large trees to
more than cause what the philosophic orchardist ha:
termed ‘‘ a good summer pruning.”

BARK-LICE.

The Bark-lice belong to the Order Hemiptera, in
which they form the group or family, Coccidew, so named
from the genus Coccus, one species
of which is the remarkable Cochineal
Insect. Several of these insects are
very injurious to the Orange trees and
others of that Family; one infests the
Osage Orange, while at least two at-
tack our orchard trees, especially the
Apple, though the Pear, Quince, etc.,
are often infested by them.

HARRIS’S BARK-LOUSE.
(Aspidiotus Harrisii, Walsh.)

   

This appears upon the trunks of
small trees, and the branches of older pig. 98 —annts’s
ones, in the form of dirty-white scales, BARK-LOUSE.
which are usually irregularly egg-shaped; but, however
variable in outline, it is always quite flat and causes the
infested tree to wear the appearance of figure 98; while
the minute eggs which are found under it in winter time
are invariably blood-red or lake-red. This species has
scarcely ever been known to increase sufficiently to do
148 INJURIOUS INSECTS

material damage, for the reason, doubtless, that there
have, hitherto, always been natural enemies and parasites
enough to keep it in due bounds.

THE OYSTER-SHELL BARK-LOUSE.
(Mytilaspis pomicorticis, Riley.)

The Oyster-shell Bark-louse, was formerly known as
Aspidiotus conchiformis, but changed by Prof. Riley for
good reasons to the name given above. It is one of the
most pernicious and destructive insects with which the
apple-grower in the North-
ern States has to contend.
This species presents the
appearance of figure 99,
and may always be dis-

Fig. 99.—OYSTER-SHELL BARK- tinguished from the pre-

Loust. ceding, by having a very
uniform mussel-shaped scale of an ash-gray color (the
identical color of the bark), and by these scales, contain-
ing, in the winter time, not red, but pure white eggs.

There is scarcely an apple-orchard in Northern Mlinois,
in Iowa, or in Wisconsin, that has not suffered more or
less from its attacks, and many an one has been slowly
but surely bled to death by this tiny sap-sucker. It was
introduced into the Eastern States about the beginning
of the present century, from Europe, and had already
reached as far west as Wisconsin in 1840, from whence it
spread at a most alarming rate throughout the districts
bordering on Lake Michigan. It occurs at the present
time in Minnesota and Jowa, but whether or not it
extends westward beyond the Missouri River, there are
no datato show. Its extension southward is undoubtedly
limited, for though so abundant in the northern half of

 
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 149

Illinois, observation has shown that it does not exist in
the southern half of the same State.

As the female Bark-louse is only capable of motion for
two to three days at the most, after which time she
becomes as permanently fixed for the rest of her life, asis
the tree on which she is fastened, it may puzzle some to
divine how this insect spreads from tree to tree, and place
to place. That it is transported to distant places, mainly
on young trees, there can be no doubt, and there are
various ways in which it can spread from tree to tree in
the same orchard, though it can only thus spread during
the few days of its active larval state.

Though essentially belonging to the Apple Tree, this
Oyster-shell Bark-louse, is found upon the Currant, the
Plum, and the Pear. I have seen the scales fully
developed, and bearing healthy eggs on the fruit of the
White Doyenne Pear, of the Transcendent Crab, and of
Wild Plum (Prunus Americana); and, though on the
hard bark of a tree, we cannot judge of the amount of
sap they absorb, it is quite apparent on these soft fruits,
for each scale causes a considerable depression from the
general surface.

RemeEpIEs.—If an orchard is once attacked before the
owner is aware of it, much could be done on the young
trees by scraping the scales off in winter, but on large
trees, where it is difficult to reach all the terminal twigs,
this method becomes altogether impracticable, and it
will avail but little to cleanse the trunk alone, as most of
the scales containing living eggs will be found on the
terminal branches. Alkaline washes, and all other
washes, except those of an oily nature, such as petroleum
and kerosene, are of no avail when applied to the scales,
for the simple reason that they do not penetrate and
reach the eggs which are so well protected by these
scales; and it is very doubtful whether any solution can
be used, that is sufficiently oily to penetrate the scales
150 INJURIOUS INSECTS

and kill the cggs without injury to the tree, especially
while the sap of the tree is inactive. Hence the Bark-
louse can only be successfully fought at the time the eggs
are hatching, and the young lice are crawling over the
limbs. The time of year in which this occurs, are the
last days of May and the first days of June, but without
close scrutiny they will not be observed, as they appear
like very minute, white, moving specks. While the
young larve are thus crawling over the tree, they are so
tender that they can be readily destroyed by simply
scrubbing the limbs with a stiff brush,

With regard to washes to be used with a syringe, the
late Dr. Jno. Kennicott used one pound of Sal. Soda, to
one gallon of water with good effect; Mr. E. G. Mygatt,
of Richmond, McHenry County, Illinois, has experi-
mented with this insect for over twenty years, with the
following result: Brine (2 quarts salt to 8 of water), kills
the lice, but also the foliage and fruit. Tobacco-water
(strong decoction), neither injures the foliage nor affects
the lice. Weak Lye, while it kills the lice, will also some-
what affect the leaves. Lime-water kills about half the
lice, and affects the leaves a little. Finally, a decoction
of Quassia, though well known to be effectual for the
common Plant-lice, has no effect on these Coccids. In
short, we have abundant proof that neither Tobacco-
water, nor strong Alkaline washes, have any effect on the
young lice, though a strong solution of soap will kill
them, and my experience the past season, with Cresylic
Acid soap in other directions, leads me to strongly
recommend it for this purpose. It will sometimes be nec-
essary to repeat the wash, as the lice do not all hatch out
the same day, though the period of hatching seldom
extends over three days.

From the foregoing it is obvious that Bark-lice can
only be successfully fought during three or four days of
the year; how absurd and ridiculous then, are all the
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 151

patent nostrums and compounds, which are continuously
offered to the publicas perfect ‘‘ Bark-lice extinguishers,”
and which never mention this important fact.

One case was reported to the ‘‘American Agricul-
turist” a few years ago, by the owner of a Pear Tree
badly covered with this Bark-louse. Painters were at
work painting the house, and in a fit of desperation he
took a brush and painted the tree from the ground to the
end of the smallest branch, expecting of course to kill it.
Much to his surprise, the tree pushed its shoots as readily
as ever, and was perfectly free from the insect. Another
case was reported in the same journal of the efficacy of
Crude Petroleum, used in the same manner on young
Apple trees. These however may be regarded as desperate
cases, and are only given as hints.

THE APPLE-TREE TENT-CATERPILLAR,.

(Clisiocampa Americana, Harr.)

What orchardist in the older States of the Union is
not familiar with the white web-nests of this caterpillar?
As they glisten in the rays of ‘the spring sun before the
trees have put on their full summer dress, these nests,
which are then small, speak volumes of the negligence
and slovenliness of the owner of the orchard, and tell more
truly than almost any thing else why it is that he fails
and has bad luck with his apple crop. Wherever these
nests abound one feels morally certain that the borers,
the Codling-moth, and the many other enemies of the
apple tree, have full play to do as they please, unmolested
and unnoticed by him whom they are ruining.

The small, bright and glistening web, if unmolested, is
soon enlarged until it spreads over whole branches, and
the caterpillars which were the architects, in time become
152 INJURIOUS INSECTS

moths, and they lay their eggs for an increased supply
of nests another year.

This insect is so well known throughout the country
that it is only necessary to give here the most prominent
nd important points in its history, the more especially

 

Fig. 100.—APPLE-TREL TENT-CATERPILLAR (Clisiocampa Americana, Harr.)
a, Side View; 0, Back View of Caterpillar ; c, Eggs; d, Cocoon.

as the figures herewith given will alone enable the novice
to recognize it the moment it appears in a young orchard.

The eggs (fig. 100, c), from which these caterpillars
hatch are deposited mostly during the month of June, in
oval rings, upon the smaller twigs, and this peculiar
mode of deposition renders them conspicuous objects
during the winter time, when by a little practice they can
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 153

easily be distinguished from the buds, knots, or swellings
of the naked twigs. Hach cluster consists of from two
to three hundred eggs, and is covered and protected from
the weather by a coating of glutinous matter, and the
same temperature which causes the apple-buds to swell
and burst, quickens the vital energies of these larve and
causes them to eat their way out of their eggs. Very
often they hatch during a prematurely warm spell, and
before there is any green leaf for them to feed upon, but
they are so tough and hardy that they can fast for many
days with impunity, and the glutinous substance on the
outside of their eggs furnishes good sustenance and
gives them strength at
first. It is even as-
serted by Mr. H. C.
Raymond, of Council
Bluffs, Iowa, that the
eggs often hatch in the ’
fall, and that in these Fig. 101.—arpie-TREE TENT-
OATERPILLAR, MOTH.
cases the larve with-
stand the severity of the winter with impunity.
The young caterpillars commence spinning the moment
they are born, and indeed they never move without ex-
tending their thread wherever they go. All the individ-
uals hatched from the same batch of eggs work together
in harmony, and each performs its share of building the
common tent, under which they shelter when not feed-
ing and during inclement weather. They usually feed
twice each day, namely, once in the forenoon and once in
the afternoon. After feeding for five or six weeks,
during which time they change their skins four times,
these caterpillars acquire their full growth, when they ap-
pear as at fig. 100 (a side view, 6 back view), the colors
being black, white, blue and rufous or reddish. They
then scatter in all directions in search of some cozy and
sheltered nook, such as the crevice or angle of the fence,

 
154 INJURIOUS INSECTS

and haying finally decided on the spot, each one spins an
oblong-oval yellow cocoon (fig. 100, d), the silk composing
which is intermixed with a yellow fluid or paste, which
drics into a powder looking something hike sulphur. A
few individuals almost always remain and “Spin up in the
tent, and these cocoons will be found intermixed with the
black excrement long after the old tent,is deserted.

Within this cocoon the caterpillar soon assumes the
chrysalis state, and from it, at the fnd of about three
weeks, the perfect insect issues as a ull yellowish-brown
or a reddish-brown moth (fig. 101), chat®eterized chiefly
hy the front wings being divided into three nearly equal
parts by two transverse whitish or pale-yellowish lines,
and by the middle space between these lines being paler
than in the rest of the wing in the males, though it is
more often of the same color, or even darker in the fe-
males. The species is, however, very variable.

The moths do not feed, and the sole aim of their lives
seems to be the perpetuation of their kind; for as soon
as they have paired and each female has carefully con-
signed her eggs to some twig, they die, and when the
proper time comes around again the eggs will hatch, and
the same cycle of changes take place each year.

This insect in all probability extends wherever the
wild Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) is found, as it pre-
fers this tree to all others; and this is probably the reason
why the young so often hatch out before the apple buds
hurst, because, as is well known, the Cherry leaves out
much earlier. Besides the Cherry and Apple, both wild
and cultivated, the Apple-Tree Tent-caterpillar will feed
upon Plum, Thorn, Rose, and perhaps on most plants be-
longing to the Rose family, though the Peach is not con-
genial to it, and it never attacks the Pear, upon which
it is said that it will starve. It does well on Willow and
Poplar, and even on White Oak, according to Fitch, who
also found it on Witch Hazel (Hamamelis) and Beech.
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 155

ReEMEDIES.—No insect is more readily kept in sub-
jection than this. Cut off and burn the egg-clusters
during winter, and examine the trees carefully in the
spring for the nests from such clusters as may have
eluded the winter search. The eggs are best seen ina dull
day in winter when they show distinctly against the sky.
Though to kill the caterpillars numerous methods have
been resorted to, such as burning, and swabbing with oil,
soap suds, lye, ete., they are all unnecessary, for the nests
should not be allowed to get large, and if taken when
small are most easily and effectually destroyed by going
over the orchard with the fruit-ladder, and by the use of
gloved bands. As the caterpillars feed twice a day, once
in the forenoon and once in the afternoon, and as they
are almost always in their nests till after nine A. M., and
late in the evening, the early and late hours of the day
are the best in which to perform the operation. As a
means of facilitating their destruction, it would be a good
plan, as Dr. Fitch has suggested, to place a few Wild
Cherry trees in the vicinity of the orchard, and as the
moths will mostly be attracted to such trees to deposit
their eggs, and as a hundred clusters on a single tree are
destroyed more easily than if they were scattered over a
hundred trees, these trees will repay the trouble wherever
the Tent-caterpillar is known to be a grievous pest.

THE TENT-CATERPILLAR OF THE FOREST.
(Clisiocampa sylvatica, Harr.)

The egg-mass from which the Tent-caterpillar of the
Forest hatches (fig.102, a, showing it after the young larvae
have escaped) may at once be distinguished from that of
the common Tent-caterpillar by its being of a uniform
diameter, and docked off squarely at each end. It is usu-
ally composed of about four hundred eggs, (the number
156 INJURIOUS INSECTS

in five masses ranging from three hundred and eighty to
four hundred and sixteen). Each of the eggs composing
this mass is of a cream-white color, 0.04 inch long and
0.025 inch wide, narrow and rounded at the attached end
or base, gradually evlarging towards the top, where it
becomes slightly smaller (fig. 102, d), and abruptly ter-
minates with a prominent circular rim on the outside,
and a sunken spot in the center (¢). These eggs are de-
posited in circles, the female moth stationing herself, for
this purpose, in a transverse position across the twig.
With abdomen curved she gradually moves as the depo-

 

Fig. 102.—TENT-OATERPILLAR OF THE FOREST (Clisiocampa sylvatica),
a, Egg-mass; 6, Moth; c,top of Egg; d, Eggs.

sition goes on, and when one circle is completed, she
commences another—and not before. With each egg is
secreted a brown varnish which firmly fastens it to the
twig and to its neighbor, and which, upon becoming dry,
forms a net-work of brown over the pale egg-shell.
These eggs are so regularly laid and so closely glued to
each other, and the sides are often so appressed, that the
moth economizes space almost as effectually as does the
Honey-bee in the formation of its hexagonal cells.

The eggs are deposited, in the latitude of St. Louis,
during the latter part of June. The embryo develops
during the hot summer weather and the yet unborn larva
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 157

is fully formed by the time winter comeson. They hatch
with the first warm weather, in spring—generally from
the middle to the last of March—and though the buds of
their food-plant may not have opened at the time, and
though it may freeze severely afterwards, yet these little
creatures are wonderfully hardy, and can fast for three
whole weeks, if need be, and withstand any amount of
inclement weather. The very moment these little larve
are born, they commence spinning a web wherever they
go. At this time they are black with pale hairs, and are
always found either huddled together or travelling in file
along the silken paths which they form when in search
of food. In about two weeks from the time they com-
mence feeding they go through their first moult, having
first grown paler or of a light yellowish-brown, with the
extremities rather darker than the middle of the body,
with the little warts which give rise to the hairs quite
distinct, and a conspicuous dark interrupted line each
side of the back. After the first moult, they are charac-
terized principally by two pale-yellowish subdorsal lines,
which border what was before the dark line above de-
scribed. After the second moult, which takes place in
about a week from the first, the characteristic pale spots
on the back appear, the upper pale line becomes yellow,
the lower one white, and the space between them bluish:
indeed, the characters of the mature larva are from this
period apparent. Very soon they undergo a third moult,
after which the colors all become more distinct and fresh,
the head and anal plate have a soft bluish velvety appear-
ance, and the hairs seem more dense. After undergoing
a fourth moult without material change in appearance,
they acquire their full growth in about six weeks from
the time of first feeding. At this time they appear as at
figure 103.

At this stage of its growth the Tent-caterpillar of the
Forest may be seen wandering singly over different trees,
158 INJURIOUS INSECTS

along roads, on the tops of fences, etc., in search of a
suitable place to form its cocoon. It usually contents
itself with folding a leaf or drawing several together for
this purpose, though it frequently spins up under fence
boards and in other sheltered situations. ‘The cocoon is
much like that of the common Tent-caterpillar, being
formed of a loose exterior covering of white silk with the
hairs of the larva interwoven, and by a more compact
oval inner pod that is made stiff by the meshes being
filled with a thin yellowish paste from the mouth of the
larva, which paste, when dried, gives the cocoon the ap-
pearance of being dusted with powdered sulphur. Three
days after the cocoon is completed the caterpillar casts
its skin for the last time and becomes a chrysalis of a red-

 

Fig. 103.—TENT-CATERPILLAR OF THE FOREST.

dish-brown color, slightly dusted with a pale powder, az 1
densely clothed with short pale yellow hairs, which at
the blunt and rounded extremity are somewhat larger and
darker. Ina couple of weeks more, or during the fore-
part of June, the moths commence to issue, and fly about
at night. This moth (fig. 102, 4, female), bears a consid-
erable resemblance to that of the Common Tent-caterpil-
lar (fig. 101), being of a brownish yellow or rusty brown,
and having two oblique transverse lines across the front
wings. It differs, however, in the color being paler or
more yellowish, especially on the thorax; in the space be-
tween the oblique lines being usually darker instead of
lighter than that on either side; but principally in the
oblique lines themselves being dark instead of light, and
in a transverse shade, often quite distinct, across the
hind wings. As in C. .dmericana, the male is smaller
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 159

than the female, with the wings shorter and cut off more
squarely. Considerable variation may be found in a given
number of moths, but principally in the space between
the oblique lines on the front wings being either of the
same shade as the rest of the wing, or in its being much
darker; but as we have found these variations in different
individuals of the same brood, bred either from Ap-
ple, Oak, Hickory, or Rose, they evidently have nothing
to do with the food-plant. The scales on the wings are
very loosely attached, and rub off so readily that good
specimens of the moth are seldom captured at large

THE LARVA SPINS A WEB.

From the very moment it is born until after the fourth
or last moult, this caterpillar spins a web and lives more
or less in company; but from the fact that this web is
always attached close to the hranches and trunks of the
trees infested, it is often overlooked, and several writers
have falsely declared that it does not spin. At each suc-
cessive moult all the individuals of a batch collect and
huddle together upon a common web for two or three
days, and during these periods—though more active than
most caterpillars in this so-called sickness—they are quite
sluggish. During the last or fourth moult they very
frequently come low down on the trunk of the tree, and,
unwittingly court destruction by collecting in masses
within man’s reach.

RemEpDies.—From their birth until after the third
moult these worms will drop and suspend themselves in
mid-air, if the branch upon which they are feeding be
suddenly jarred. Therefore when they have been allowed
to multiply in an orchard this habit will suggest various
modes of destroying them. Again, as already stated, they
can often be slaughtered en masse when collected on the
trunks during the last moulting period. They will more
160 INJURIOUS INSECTS

generally be found on the leeward side of the tree if the
wind has been blowing in the same direction for a few
days. The cocoons may also be searched for, and many
of the moths caught by attracting them towards the light.
But the most effective artificial mode of preventing this
insect’s injuries is to search for and destroy the ege
masses in the winter time when the trees are leafless.

SUMMARY.

The Tent-caterpillar of the Forest differs from the
common Orchard Tent-caterpillar principally in its egg-
mass being docked off syuarely instead of being rounded
at each end; in its larva having a row of spots along the
back instead of a continuous narrow line, and in its moth
having the color between the oblique lines on the front
wings as dark or else darker, instead of lighter than the
rest of the wing. It feeds on a variety of both orchard
and forest trees; makes a web which, from its being usu-
ally fastened close to the tree, is often overlooked; is very
destructive, and is most easily fought in the egg state.

THE FALL WEB-WORM.
(Hyphantria textor, Harris.)

The appearance of webs, or ‘‘ tents,” upon fruit and
other trees in late summer and early autumn, has caused
many to suppose that there was a second brood of the
Tent-caterpillar. These late webs belong to a yery dif-
ferent insect, which lays her eggs in a cluster upon a
leaf near the end of a twig, and the young caterpillars,
like those of the true tent-makers, begin to spin as soon
as hatched; and as they feed and spin in company, the
web formed by their united efforts soon becomes con-
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 161

spicuous. The worms descend the brenches, devouring
the pulpy portions of the leaves upon them, and form a
web as they go. When they have made their growth, the
caterpillars descend to the ground, where, just beneath
the surface, they enter the pupa state; the next summer
they issue as pure white moths, to lay eggs for another
brood. The worm, or caterpillar, is of a general pale-
yellow color, with a broad dusky stripe along the back,
and a yellow stripe along each side, and they have nu-
merous whitish hairs. While the Fall Web-worm often
attacks the Apple and other fruit trees, it does not con-
fine itself to the orchard, but its webs may be seen in
autumn upon various kinds of trees, as well as on shrubs.
The only remedy is to destroy the web wherever it may
be seen; and as the worms never leave the nest, this is
quite sure to be effective.

THE APPLE-WORM—CODLING MOTH.

(Carpocapsa pomoneila, Linn.)

This is one of the most important of the insects of the
orchard, in view of the great loss it annually canses.
While all those who eat apples have seen its work, a bur-
rowing at the core of the fruit and an abundant deposit
of excrement, very few, even among fruit growers, have
seen the perfect insect, which is a small moth. Like
most of our worm insect foes, it was originally a denizen
of the Old World, having been introduced into this
country only about the beginning of the present cen-
tury. Twenty years ago it was unknown in Tlinois;
and it is only within the last eight or ten years that it
has penetrated into Iowa.

The Apple-worm moth makes its appearance in North
Illinois from the last of May to the forepart of June, and
a little earlier or later according to the season and the
162 INJURIOUS INSECTS

latitude. Usually, at the time it appears, the young ap-
ples are already set, and beginning to be about as large as
a hazel-nut. After coupling in the usual manner, the
female moth then proceeds to deposit a single egg in the
blossom end of the fruit, flying from fruit to fruit until
her stock of eggs (amounting to probably two or three
hundred) is exhausted. Not long after accomplishing
this process she dies of old age and exhaustion. In a
short time afterwards the egg, no matter where it is
located, hatches out, and the young larva forthwith pro-

 

Fig. 104.—aPPLE-wORM—CODLING MOTH (Carpocapsa pomonella, Linn.)
Perfect Insect; Larva and its work; Pupa at the lower right-hand side.

ceeds to burrow into the flesh of the apple, feeding as
it goes, but making its head-quarters in the eore. In
three or four weeks time it is full grown, and shortly
before this, the infested apple generally falls to the
ground. The larva then crawls out of the fruit throngh
a large hole in the cheek, which it has bored several
days beforehand for that express purpose, and usually
makes for the trunk of the tree, up which it climbs, and
spins around itself a silken cocoon of a dirty-white color,
in any convenient crevice it can find, the crotch of the
tree being a favorite spot. Here it transforms into the
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 163

pupa state; and, towards the latter end of July or the
forepart of August, bursts forth in the moth state. The
different stages in the life of this msect are given in
figure 104. The channel made by the young larva in
reaching the core, and the cavity it makes in feeding
there, are shown. At the upper right hand the ful!
grown larva is given, and at the lower right-hand thi
pupa. At the left-hand side the perfect insect-is shown,
with its wings open and closed. The moth is distin-
guished from all other moths by a patch of coppery scales
at the tip of its front wings.

The infested fruit does not always drop when the
borer leaves it; seeks a place in which to undergo its
changes, and in from ten to fifteen days a second brood
of moths issues, and the fruit is re-stocked with larve.
The second brood do not issue as moths until the next
spring, many of the larvee of the late brood do not leave
the apples until they are harvested, and undergo their
changes in the cellar.

Remepies.—The utility of pasturing swine in the or-
chard is generally admitted and did all the infested ap-
ples fall would be more than the partial remedy that i+
it now is. Acting upon the fact that many of the worms
after leaving the fallen fruit seek a place of concealment
upon the trunk in which to pupate, Codling-moth traps
have been invented, and some have been patented. One
of the most effective traps is a strip of carpet or other
coarse woollen fabric, about five inches wide and lone
enough to go around the tree; this is fastened by a few
tacks, which should not be driven home, as they need t:
be removed. ‘These strips are examined every ten days
and the insects killed. In large orchards the killing is
expeditiously done by running the cloths. between the
rollers of a clothes wringer. Fruit cellars, and any
empty boxes or barrels they may contain, should be ex-
amined before May for concealed pups.
164 INJURIOUS INSECTS

x

THE APPLE-MAGGOT.
(Trypeta pomonella, Walsh.)

Besides the well-known Apple-worm, or Codling-moth,
there is in some localities, especially in the older States,
the Apple-maggot. It differs from the Codling-moth in
many respects ; the parent insect is not a moth, but one
of the two-winged flies. It is not, like the other, an

 

Fig. 105. —APPLE-MAGGOT biypokea pomonella, Walsh.)
Perfect Insect ; Larva and its burrows; Pupa.

imported insect, but a native which has long inhabited
our wild apples and the haws, or fruit of our thorns, and
is found in cultivated fruit, here and there, all over the
country. Figure 105 shows an infested apple, and the
insect in its different stages, the perfect fly, with its
transparent wings, being shown above, while the maggot
and pupa are given below. The excavations in the apple
show that the larve enter at no particular place, and do
not, as in the case of the Codling-moth, seck the core.
The destruction of the infested fruit by fecding it to
pigs, or making it into cider, are among the Gayinia
means of prevention.
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 165

THE APPLE CURCULIO.
(Anthonomus quadrigibbus, Say.)

Some have stated that the common Plum Curculio

will also attack young Apples; however this may be,
there is, in several of the Western States, and in Canada,
a Curculio which has long infested the native Crab
Apples, and has, in many cases, learned to prefer the
cultivated to the wild fruit. A comparison of the en-
graving of this insect (fig.
106), with that of the
Plum Curculio, given on a
subsequent page, will at
once show striking differ-
ence. In the first place,
there is the greater length
of snout, which is carried
extended in front; then
the marked widening of Fig. 106.—apruz CURCULIO (Antho-
the body behind, serves a, ee: ie view,
also to distinguish it. Doth-enlarges.
It has four conspicuous lumps on the wing-cases at
the rear, from which it takes its specificname. It varies
from one-twentieth, to one-twelfth of an inch in length.
It is of arusty-brown color, and the thorax, and often
the forward third of the wing-covers ash-gray.

The insect deposits its egg in an opening made in the
skin of the fruit; the larva when hatched goes to the
core, and there feeds, producing much excrement, for
nearly a month, and then assumes the pupa state within
the fruit, which does not fall; in two or three weeks it
appears as a perfect beetle. In Missouri and Southern
Tllinois, this insect often does much damage to the Apple
crop, and probably it is abundant in other States, where
its work has been attributed to other insects. In several

  
166 INJURIOUS INSECTS

cases it has been known to attack Pears as well as
Apples.

Remeprins.—It is not probable that much can be done
with jarring down this insect, as advised for the Plum
Curculio, as it is not like that easily alarmed. So far
as known, it can only be attacked while within the fruit.
Shaking or jarring the tree may be useful in bringing
down the infested apples, which should be at once fed to
swine, or otherwise destroyed.

THE CANKER-WORM.

(Anisopteryx vernata, Peck.)

The greatest injury done by Canker-worms is to Apple-
trees, but it also attacks other fruit trees, and often
injures shade trees, especially the
Elm, which in some localities it
completely defoliates. The male
moth (fig. 107) has an expanse
of wings of about an inch anda

quarter; the wings are very thin

Fig. 107.-matm canxer- and silky, the fore-wings ash-
OR ta, Peck YY colored, with a small but distinct
whitish spot on the front edge,

near the tip; the hind wings are pale ash-colored.
The female (fig. 108) is entirely wingless and of
a general ash-gray color. Being without wings, she
can only reach the branches of the tree to deposit her
eges, by crawling up the trunk, which she does very early
in the spring; in mild weather even in February. The
eggs are deposited in clusters of one hundred or more on
the bark of the branches and twigs, and may often be
found on the inside of the loose seales of the bark. When
the leaves first begin to make their appearance, these eggs
hatch into tiny Span-worms, scarcely visible to the
naked eye, but they grow rapidly, and in three or four

 
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 167

weeks have attained their full size—about an inch in
length, when they cease eating, and let themselves down
by a silken thread and enter the ground, where they soon
become chrysalids, in which state they remain all through
the summer and fall, and usually until the following spring,
when they emerge as moths. The fact that the female
moth is wingless makes it a comparatively easy matter
to keep these Canker-worms in check, for the parent
moth is obliged to crawl up the trunk of the tree to
deposit her eggs, and if she can be prevented from doing
this, of course she must lay her eggs below the obstruc-
tion, where they can be easily destroyed.

Dr. William Le Baron gives the following remedies
-n his Second Illinois Report:

“Ist. Prevent the passage of the moths up the trees,
The most approved plan heretofore used is
to put a canvas or other cloth band, six
inches or more in width, around the trunk
and besmear it with tar, or a mixture of
tar and molasses, applied every other day. _

The method suggested in this Report is ,ui%; 10.
to put a band of rope or closely twisted hay a
around the trunk, and over this a tin band ;
about four inches wide, so placed that the rope shall be
at the middle of the tin, making a closed cavity below,
and a free edge of tin above. The time to use these
appliances is mostly in the month of March, but also at
other times when the weather is sufficiently open to
permit the insects to run.

“2nd. If the mothsare prevented from ascending the
tree, they will deposit their eggs below the obstruction,
and for the most part near to it. These eggs can be
destroyed by a single application of kerosene oil.

«3rd. If the moths are not prevented from ascending
the tree, they will deposit their eggs mostly upon the
underside of the scales of bark, on the upper part of
168 INJURIOUS INSECTS

the trunk and larger branches. Many of these can be
destroyed by scraping off and burning the scales.

‘4th. If all precautions have been neglected and the
eggs have been permitted to hatch, then, as soon as the
worms are large enough to be easily seen, jar them from
the trees and sweep them away with a pole, as they hang
by their threads, and burn or otherwise destroy them.

“5th. Ifthe worms have matured and gone into the
ground for winter quarters, plow the ground late in the
fall, so as to expose the pupe to frost, and to the action
of natural enemies.”

The rope and tin bands mentioned in the first para-
graph are deserving of particular attention, as they have
been found to be an almost perfect barrier to the ascent of
themoths. ‘The method of putting on these bands is very
simple. Take a piece of inch rope—old worn out rope is
as good as new—tack one end to the trunk, two
feet or less from the ground, with a shingle nail, driven
in so that the head shall not project beyond the level of
the rope. Bring the rope around the tree, and let it lap
by the beginning an inch or two, cut it off and fasten it
in the same manner. Get the tinman to cut up some
sheets of tin into strips four inches wide and fasten them
together endwise, so that they shall be long enough to go
around the trees over the rope band, having the rope at
the middle. Let the ends of the tin lap a little, punch
a hole through them and fasten them with a nail driven
through the tin and rope into the tree. The result of
this contrivance is, that the moths congregate below the
obstruction, and sometimes pile up so as to go over on
the tin. But when they reach the upper edge of the tin
they go round and round until they become discouraged.
A great deal of ingenuity has been displayed in the con-
trivance of barriers of various kinds for preventing the
female Canker-worm moth from ascending the trees. A
pin-maker in Connecticut made a barrier of several rows
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN, 169

of pins thrust through a rubber band; this was to be put
around the trunk with the points of the pins outward.
Other devices consist of troughs of sheet lead to surround
the trunk, with a channel in which some kind of oil may
be placed. In all such cases the simplest methods are
the best. In New Haven and other New England places,
which pride themselves upon their fine elms, trees
which the Canker-worm particularly infests, the chief
reliance is upon bands of thick paper placed around the
trunks; this has placed upon ita barrier of pine tar or of
old printer’s-ink. Whatever barrier is used, it requires
frequent attention. All liquids like oil, or viscid materi-
als like tar, etc., may be covered by blowing dust, leaves,
etc., to form a bridge across them; indeed the insects
themselves, being arrested, often form a bridge with their
dead bodies for the passage of their successors, and
during the season such barriers should be daily looked to
and renewed if necessary.

It may be added that some orchardists, instead of using
preventive measures, allow the insects to deposit their
eggs on the trees, and then, when the caterpillars begin
their work upon the foliage, destroy them by the use of
Paris Green mixed with water, and thrown into the trees
by means of a force-pump.

Notzt.—While the foregoing insects attack the Apple
in preference to other fruit trees, they are occasionally,
as mentioned under each, injurious to other trees.
When we recollect that all our fruit trees belong to the
same botanical family (the Rosacee), it will not be sur-
prising to find an insect attacking several different trees
indiscriminately. This large family is divided by botan-
ists into several sub-families, one of which, the Almond
Sub-family (Amygdalew), includes, what are popularly

8
170 INJURIOUS INSECTS

known as ‘ Stone-fruits,”—Peach, Plum, Cherry, etc;
another, the Pear Sub-family (Pomee), includes the Ap-
ple, Pear, Quince, etc., and it is not often that the in-
sects which prey upon one sub-family attack the other.
Still there are a few general feeders, which are injurious
to nearly all fruit trees, and make it difficult to classify
insects according to the trees upon which they feed.
The insects which follow, while they also injure the
Apple, do not confine themselves to it; some attack all
fruit trees alike, while the Peach-borer and Plum Curcu-
lo restrict themselves to the stone-fruits.

THE RED-HUMPED CATERPILLAR,
(Notodonta concinna, Smith.)

Young Apple and Pear trees, and sometimes other
fruit trees, are frequently defoliated, or have large
branches completely stripped of their leaves in late sum-
mer or early autumn, by the Red-humped Caterpillar.

 

Fig. 109.—ReD-HUMPED CATERPILLAR. Fig. 110.—pupa OF RED-
(Notodonta concinna, Smith.) HUMPED CATERPILLAR.

The eggs are usually deposited in July, in clusters on
the underside of a leaf near the end of a branch, and the
young caterpillars eat downward, making clean work of
the foliage as they descend. The full-grown caterpillars
(fig. 109), are an inch and a quarter long; the general
color yellowish-brown, paler on the sides, and striped
length-wise with slender black lines; the head is coral-
red, and on the top of the fourth ring is a bunch or hump
OF THE FARM AND QARDEN. 171

of the same brilliant color; there are several short black
prickles along the top of the back. The caterpillar
tapers towards the tail, and this end is always elevated
when it isat rest. When full grown, all the caterpillars
of thesame brood descend to the ground at the same time,
seek a hiding place under leaves, or just below the sur-
face of the soil, where they form cocoons, and assume
the chrysalis state (fig. 110), in which they remain un-
til the following June, when the perfect insect issues
as a small, neat-looking moth of a general light-brown
color, the fore-wings are dark-brown along the inner
margin, with a dark-brown spot near the middle.
The wings expand from an inch, to an inch and three-
e.ghths. If these caterpillars are noticed when first
hatched, they will be found all near together, and may be
readily destroyed.

THE TWIG GIRDLER.
(Oncideres cingulatus, Say.)

‘This beetle is known to girdlea great number of dif-
ferent trees, among which may be men-
tioned Apple, Pear, Peach, and Plum,
Hickory, Elm, Persimmon, and Ameri-
can Linden. Both sexes of the beetle
feed upon the bark of the Hickory, but
only the females, so far as we are aware,
girdle the twigs. After partly girdling
a particular twig she lays a number of
eggs in the upper portion that has been
killed, each egg being usually inserted
just beneath a bud. Figure 111 shows
the insect and her work. The twig usu- Fie. tie
ally, though not always, breaks off by emprer (Oncideres
the force of the wind during winter, and "ats Say.)
the larve flourish upon the dead wood as it lies upon the

 
172 INJURIOUS INSECTS

ground, burrowing just beneath the bark, and when very
numerous leaving little else than the outer bark. The
beetles do this work in the fall of the year. The young
larva hatches and works a short distance into the twig
before winter sets in, and continues working through
spring and summer, transforming to pupa only towards
autumn. Some writers have stated that two years are
required for its development. While this may be true
farther north it is not true of the latitude of St. Louis.
The Insect has been found destructive in Pennsylvania,
Indiana, and other Western States. Wherever its prun-
ings are found, they should be gathered and burned.

NEW YORK WEEVIL.
(Ithycerus Noveboracensis, Forster.)

This large snout-beetle kills the twigs by gnawing off
the tender bark, in the early part of the season before the
buds have put out, and later in the year it destroys the
tender shoots which start out from old wood, by entirely
devouring them. It attacks, by preference, the tender
growth of the Apple, though it will also make free with
that of the Peach, Plum, and Pear, and probably of other
fruit as well as of forest trees.

This beetle belongs to the same family as does the
Plum Curculio; it is distinguished from most of the
other snout-beetles by the antenne or horns being
straight instead of elbowed or flail-shaped as they are in
the common Plum Curculio, for instance. The specific
name Noveboracensis which means ‘‘of New York” was
given to this beetle ninety-eight years ago, by Forster,
doubtless because he received his specimens from New
York. But like many other insects which have been
honored with the name of some Eastern State, it is far
more common in the Mississippi Valley than it is in the

 
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 173

State of New York, it being scarcely known as an injuri-
ous insect in the East. The general color of the beetle
is ash-gray, marked with black as in the cut (fig. 112, ¢),
and with the scutel or small semi-circular space immedi-
ately behind the thorax, between the wings, of a yellow-
ish color. Its larval habits were for a long time un-
known, but it was recently ascertained that it breeds in
the twigs and tender branches of the Bur Oak; we have
good reason to believe that it also breeds in those of the
Pignut Hickory. The female, in
depositing, first makes a longitudi-
nal excavation with her jaws (fig.
112, a), eating upwards under the
bark towards the end of the branch,
and afterwards turns round to
thrust her egg into the excavation.
The larva (fig. 112, 0), hatching
from the egg is of the usual pale-
yellow color with a tawny head.
We have watched the whole opera-
tion of depositing, and, returning
to the punctured twig a few days
after the operation was performed,
have cut out the young larva; but elie ker Gone wn
we do not yet know how long a vin (Jthycerus Novebora-
time the larva needs to come to its 4 elie iia ie
growth, nor whether it undergoes Sa ecetnes
its transformations within the branch, or leaves it for
this purpose, to enter the ground; though the former
hypothesis is the most likely.

The same methods of catching this beetle may be em-
ployed as with the Plum Curculio,

 
174 INJURIOUS INSECTS

CLIMBING CUT-WORMS.

Orchardists in spring frequently find the hearts of their
fruit buds—on young trees especially—entirely eaten out
and destroyed, and this circumstance is attributed to va-
rious causes, winged insects, beetles, slugs for instance;
to birds or even to late frosts, when probably the entire
mischief is caused by Cut-worms.

When climbing, Cut-worms will crawl up a tree eight
or ten feet high, and seem to like equally well the leaves
of the Pear, Apple, and Grape.

They work during the night, always descending to the
earth again at early dawn, and hiding just under its sur-
face, which accounts for their never having been noticed
in this their work of destruction in former years. They
seldom descend the tree as they ascend it, by crawling,
but drop from the bud or leaf on which they have been
feeding; and it is quite interesting to watch one at early
morn when it has become full fed and the tender skin
seems ready to burst from repletion, and see it prepare
by a certain twist of the body for the fall.

“On light soil they often destroy low-branched fruit
trees of all kinds, except the Peach, feeding on the fruit
buds first, the wood buds as a second choice, tender grape
buds and shoots (to which they are also partial), not ex-
cepted; the miller always prefers to lay her eggs near
the hill or mound over the roots of the trees in the or-
chard; and if, as is many times the case, the trees have a
spring dressing of lime or ashes with the view of prevent-
ing the May-beetle’s operations, this will be selected with
unerring instinct by the miller, thus giving her larve a
fine warm bed to cover themselves up in during the day
from the observations of their enemies. They will leave
potatoes, peas, and all other green things for the Apple
and Pear. The long, naked young trees of the orchard
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 1%5

are almost exempt from their voracious attacks, but I have
found them about midnight, of a damp and dark night
well up in the limbs of these. The habit of the Dwarf
Apple and Pear tree, however, just suits their natures,
and much of the complaint of those people who cannot
make these trees thrive on a sandy soil, has its founda-
tion here, though apparently utterly unknown to the
orchardist. ‘There is no known remedy; salt has no
properties repulsive to them, they burrow in it equally as
quick as in lime or ashes. ‘Tobacco, soap and other di-
luted washes do not even provoke them; but a tin tube
six inches in length, opened on the side and closed around
the base of the tree, fitting close and entering at the
lower end an inch into the ground, is what the lawyers
would term an effectual estoppel to further proceedings.

“Tf the dwarf tree branches so low from the ground
as not to leave six inches clear of trunk between the
limbs and ground, the limbs must be sacrificed to save
the tree—as in two nights four or five of these pests will
fully and effectually strip a four or five-year-old dwarf
tree of every fruit and wood bud, and often when the tree
is green, utterly denude it of its foliage. I look upon
this Cut-worm as an enemy to the orchard more fatal
than the Canker-worm, when left to themselves, but for-
tunately for mankind more surely headed off.” J. W.
Cochran, Calumet, Illinois.

The Climbing Cut-worm seems to prefer the Apple,
Pear, and Grape-vine, though it also attacks the Black-
berry, Raspberry, Currant, and even Rose-bushes and
ornamental trees.

The subject is all important to the orchardist, and to
those especially who have young and newly-planted trees
on a light soil; for there are many who have had their
trees injured by the buds being devoured in this manner,
who never dreamed of preventing such an occurrence,
for the reason that the mischief was attributed to birds.
176 INJURIOUS INSECTS

Thus our quail, purple-finch, and many other birds, have
too often unjustly received the execrations of the fruit
culturist, which that evil genius, the Cut-worm, alone
deserved. To understand an enemy’s foible is to have
conquered, and when we learn the source of an evil
it need exist no longer. The range of these Climbing
Cut-worms seems to be wide, for we have undoubted
evidence of their attacking the Grape-vine in California,
and I have found two species in Missouri, which have
the same habit. Climbing Cut-worms frequently have
the same habit of severing plants, as those which have
never been known to climb, and I very much incline to
believe that this habit is only acquired in the spring time,
and most Cut-worms will mount trees if they are forced
to do so, by the absence of herbaceous plants.

The Climbing Cut-worm (Agrotis scandens, Riley), has
a similar general appearance to those which do not climb
(see fig. 50, page 80). Its general color isa very light
yellowish-gray, variegated with dirty bluish-green, and
when filled with food it wears a much greener appearance
than otherwise. In depth of shading it is variable, how-
ever, and the young worm is of a more uniform dirty
whitish-yellow, with the lines along the body less distinct,
but the shiny spots more so than in the full grown ones.
Mr. Cochran informs us that on the Apple tree, when
this worm has fed out its bud, the work is effectually
done, that no adventitious or accessory bud ever starts
again from the same place; the worm, as it were, boring
into the very heart of the wood and effectually destroy-
ing the ability of the tree to re-act, at such a point, in the
formation of a new bud, and that consequently a tree that
is once stripped generally dies, and that this occurs more
frequently on small or dwarf trees, where the buds are
few, and three or four worms ina single night can eat
out every one,
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN, 177

THE BAG-WORM, BASKET-WORM, or DROP-WORM.
(Thyridopteryx ephemerceformis, Haw).

The Bag-worm may be regarded as a Southern rather
than a Northern insect, though it is found as far North
as the northern part of New Jersey.

It is known to occur on Long Island, N. Y., in New
Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Maryland, District of Columbia, the Carolinas, Georgia,
Alabama, Kentucky, South Illinois, and South Missouri.
Like the Canker-worm, the Tussock-moth, and all other
insects in which the perfect female is wingless, the Bag-
worm is extremely local in character, often abounding in
a particular neighborhood, and being totally unknown a
few miles away.

The clothing made by different insects, for protection
either against the inclemency of the weather or against
their enemies, is even more varied in cut and make-up,
than are the divers costumes of the different peoples,
civilized and barbarous, which inhabit our globe. Some
insects live in the interior of leaves, using the upper and
under cuticles as protection; some make their coats out
of leaves themselves; some make cases of a sort of gummy
cement, while others use cases of spun silk; but by far the
greater number of those which protect themselves at all,
employ silken cases which they cover and disguise with
some other material. Thus lichens, grass, rushes, stones,
shells, sand, wool, cotton, hair, wax, and the bark, twigs
and leaves of trees, are all used for this purpose, while a
few worms actually use their own excrement arranged on
the outside of their cases with mathematical precision;
unlike us mortals, however, these insects do not change
the fashion of their dress with every change of season,
but follow strictly the pattern used by their ancestors,
who cut, spun, and wove, ages before our primordial
178 INJURIOUS INSECTS.

mother sewed fig-leaves together. The follicle of our
Bag-worm is covered by the leaves and stems of those trees
or shrubs on which it subsists; and when evergreen leaves
are used they are often very regularly and prettily
arranged after the fashion of thatching.

Throughout the winter, the weather-beaten bags of
this insect may be seen hanging from almost every kind
of tree; upon plucking them at that season many of them
will be found empty, but the greater proportion of them
will, on being cut open, be found partly full of soft yellow
eggs. Those which do not contain eggs, are the male
bags, and his empty chrysalis skin is generally found pro-
truding from the lowerend. From the middle to the end
of May, in the latitude of St. Louis, these eggs hatch
into little active brown worms, which, from the first mo-
ment of their lives, commence to form for themselves cov-
erings. They crawl on toa tender leaf, and attached by
the anterior legs, with their tails hoisted in the air, they
each spin around themselves a ring of silk, to which they
soon fasten bits of leaf. They continue adding to the
lower edge of the ring, pushing it up as it increases in
depth, until it reaches the tail, and forms a sort of cone,
as represented in fig. 113, g. As the worms grow, they
continue to increase their bags from the bottom, until the
latter become so large and heavy that the worms allow
them to hang, instead of holding them upright, as they
did when they were young. By the end of July, the
worms acquire their full growth, when they present the
appearance of figure 113, f. At this stage. on being
pulled out of its bag, or follicle, the worm appears as at
fig. 113, a, that portion of the body which is always
covered by the bag, being soft, and of a dull, smoky-
brown, inclining to reddish at the sides; while the three
anterior, or thoracic segments, which are exposed when
the insect is feeding or marching. are horny, and mottled
with black and white. The prolegs on the hidden part
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 179

of the body are but poorly developed, and consist of but
slight wart-like projections; they are furnished, however,
with numerous small hooks, which answer an admirable
purpose, in enabling the bearer to cling to his home-spun
coat, which shelters him from the weather, and defends
him from his enemies, and which is even more essential
to his existence than are the clothes we wear to ours.
The worms do not arrive at their full-grown condition
without passing through critical periods. At four dif-
ferent times during their growth they close up the moutb

 

Fig. 113.—BaG, BASKET, OR DROP-WORM.
(Thyridopteryx ephemerceformis, Haw.)

a, Larva; b, Chrysalis; c,Female; d, Male; e, Female bag opened; f, The Worm
and its Bag; g, The Young,

of their bags, and retire for two days to cast their skins
or moult, as is the nature of their kind, and they push
their old skins through a passage which is always left
open at the extremity of the bag, and which also allows
them to throw out their excrement.

During their growth they are very slow travellers, and
scldom leave the tree on which they were born; but
when full grown, they become quite restless; and it is at
180 INJURIOUS INSECTS

this time that they wander in the day time, dropping on
persons by their silken threads, and crossing the side-
walks of our cities in all directions. It is from this habit
of dropping upon persons, that they have been called
“‘Drop-worms.” A wise instinct urges them to thus
wander from place to place, for, did they remain on the
tree, they would soon multiply beyond the power of that
tree to sustain them, and would in consequence become
extinct. When they have lost their migratory desires,
they fasten their bag very securely by a strong band of
silk to the twigs of the tree on which they happen to be.
Here again a strange instinct leads them to thus fasten
their cocoons to the twigs only of the tree they inhabit, so
that these cocoons will remain through the winter; and not
to the leaf stalk, where they would be blown down with the
leaf. After thus fastening their bags, they line them with
a good thickness of soft white silk, and after turning
around in the bag so as to have the head towards the
lower orifice, they rest awhile from their labors, and at
last cast their skins, and. become chrysalids. Hitherto
the worms had all been alike in appearance, but now
the sexes are distinguishable, the male chrysalis (fig. 113,
6), being but half the size of that of the female, and ey-
hibiting the encased wings, legs, and antenne, as in all
ordinary chrysalids, while hers show no signs of any such
members (see inside of bag ate). Three weeks after-
wards, a still greater change takes place, the sexes differ-
entiating still more. The male chrysalis works himsclf
down to the end of his bag, and, hanging half-way out.
the skin bursts, and the moth (fig. 113, d), with a black
body and glassy wings, escapes, and, when his wings are
dry, soars through the air to seek his mate, who is not
blessed with wings, but is an abortive affair, with the
head and general appearance of the larva, but. still
more degraded, since she has not even the legs which
it possessed; she is, in fact, a naked, yellowish bag
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 181

of eggs, with a ring of soft, light-brown, silky hair
near the tail. (See fig. 113, c).

The female never withdraws herself entirely from the
pupa shell, but holds on to it by her terminal segments,
being evidently assisted by the ring of woolly hair already
referred to. Thus, with the pupa shell extended to its
utmost capacity, and the additional length of her whole
body, she is enabled to reach to the lower orifice of the
follicle, where she pertinently awaits the male, and after
meeting him, works herself back into the pupa shell.
Here she deposits her eggs in the upper part, interming-
ling them, and crowding the lower part of the puparium
with the peculiar fawn-colored down already referred to.
After having thus cosily secured her eggs against the
winter’s blasts, she works herself out and drops ex-
hausted to the ground.

This insect is a general feeder, for it occurs alike on
evergreen and deciduous trees. We have found it on
the Apple, Plum, Cherry, Quince, Pear, Red and White
Elms, the common Black and Honey Locusts, Lombardy
Poplar, Catalpa, Norway Spruce, Arbor-vite, Osage
Orange, Soft and Silver Maples, Sycamore, Linden,
and above all, on the Red Cedar, while Mr. Glover has
also found it on the Cotton plant in Georgia. We have
even seen the bags attached to Raspberry canes.

This insect is also exceedingly hardy and vigorous, and
the young worms will at first make their bags of almost
any substance upon which they happen to rest, when
newly hatched. They will construct them of leather,
paper, straw, cork, wood, or of any other material which
is sufficiently soft to allow of their gnawing it, and it is
quite amusing to watch their operations.

RemeEpies.—How often does the simple knowledge of
an insect’s habits and transformations, give the clue to its
easy destruction! From the foregoing account of the
Bag-worm, it becomes obvious, that by plucking and
182 INJURIOUS INSECTS

burning the cases in winter, the trees can be easily rid of
them. If this is done whenever the first few bags are
observed, the task of plucking is light; but where it is
not so done, the worms will continue to increase, and
partly defoliating the tree each year, slowly, but surely,
sap its life.

THE SLUG OF THE PEAR AND CHERRY TREE.

(Selandria cerasi, Peck.)

In New England, in June and July, there appears upon
the leaves of the Pear and Cherry dark-green slimy
creatures, so unlike caterpillars in general that they have
received the popular name of slug. When grown, they
are nearly half an inch (°/,,) long; being largest before
and tapering behind, they have something of a tadpole
appearance; the head is concealed under the fore-part of
the body, and they usually have the tail somewhat turned
up when at rest. Their color is a dark-blackish or bot-
tle-green, and they exude from their skins a slimy matter
which forms a shining trail wherever they move. They
eat away the pulpy substance of the leaf, completely
skeletonizing it; and as there are sometimes as many as
twenty or more on a single leaf, they may do much injury
by defoliating the tree, and causing leaves to push out
from the buds prepared for next season. When present
in large numbers, they give off an unpleasant odor,
which may be noticed at some distance from the trees.
It takes these slugs about twenty-six days to complete
their growth, and after their final moult, they no longer
have their slug-like appearance, but, as clean yellow
caterpillars, leave the trees, and entering the ground for
a few inches, form an oval earthen cocoon, in which they
become chrysalids, and at the end of sixteen days come
out in their perfect state, that of a fly of the order Hy-
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 183

menoptera. The female fly is slightly over one-fifth of
an inch long, the male somewhat smaller, of a glossy-
black, the first two pairs of legs being yellowish, with
blackish thighs. The transparent wings are iridescent,
the front pair having a smoky tinge across the middle.
They lay their eggs in little incisions made in the skin
of the leaf. This insect is often very injurious in the
older States, and is extending westward, and is frequent
in Canada.

REMEDIES.—Dry air-slaked lime, if sprinkled from a
perforated tin vessel, or from a bag of some open fabric,
attached to a pole, has been found very effective. It has
been stated that the action of the lime is merely me-
chanical, and that fine dust, such as road-dust, will
answer as well. The action of the dust may make the
slug uncomfortable for awhile, but on shedding its skin
it soon gets rid of it, while the lime soon kills the slug.
Tobacco-water, Lime-water, and White Hellebore, used
as directed under ‘‘ Currant-worm,” have been found of
service.

THE PEACH-BORER.
(4igeria ewitiosa, Say.)

This borer is quite common, and the greatest insect
enemy with which the Peach grower has to contend.

From the Round-headed Apple-Tree Borer, to which
it bears some resemblance, both in its mode of work, and
general appearance, itis at once distinguished by having
six scaly, and ten fleshy legs. It works also more gen-
erally under the surface of the ground, and goes through
its transformations within a year, though worms of two
or three sizes may be found at almost any season. When
full grown, the worm spins for itself a follicle of silk,
mixed with gum and excrement, from which in due time
184 INJURIOUS INSECTS

issues a moth. The figures show, 114, the male, and
115, the female. As will be seen from these engravings,
the two sexes differ very materially from each other, the
general color in both being glossy steel-blue.

This Borer also attacks the Plum Tree, though sin-

 

Fig. 114.—Peacu-BORER—MALE, Fig. 115.—PEACH-BORER—FEMALE.

gularly enough, it causes no exudation of gum in this, as
it does in the Peach Tree.

Remepies.—As the borer often attacks the young trees
in the nursery, all trees before planting should be care-
fully examined near the root, and if any are present,
they may be readily cut out. In large peach orchards,
“‘ worming” is a part of the labor of cultivation. After
the harvest, hands are employed to examine every tree
for borers, and the more careful cultivators examine the
trees in the spring also. The eggs are deposited from
the middle of June, occasionally until October, at the
surface of the ground. The grubs so soon as hatched,
bore their way through the bark, and enter the sap-
wood, An exudation of gum at the base of the tree, is a
sure sign of the presence of the borer. The earth is
scraped away from the base of the tree, and a strong
knife is used to cut away the dead and diseased bark and
wood, and expose the hole; then a flexible probe, one of
whale-bone is preferred, is thrust in to crush the borer.
Sometimes as many as five or six are found in one tree,
but all must be killed. After the operation the surface
soil is drawn up to the tree to cover the wound. Boiling
water applied to the base of the tree has been found use-
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 185

ful. The borer may be prevented from laying her eggs,
by surrounding the base of the tree with paper, which
should extend for two inches below, and at least six
inches above the surface of the ground, securing the
upper portion by means of string or wire. Cloth and
other preventives may be used in the same manner.

THE PLUM CURCULIO.

(Conotrachelus nenuphar, Herbst.)

The Plum Curculio, commonly known all over the
country as THE Curculio, is a small, roughened, warty,
brownish beetle, belonging to a very extensive family
known as Snout-beetles (Curculionide). It measures
about one-fifth of an inch
in length, exclusive of
the snout, and may be
distinguished from all
other North American
Snout-beetles by having
an elongate, knife-edged
hump, resembling a piece
of black sealing-wax, on
the middle of each wing-
case, behind which humps Fie. 116—PLum curccrso.
there is a broad clay-yel- (Conotrachelus nenuphar, Herbst.)

. a, Larva; b, Pupa; c, Beetle; d, Beetle at
low band, with more or work.
less white in its middle. The engraving, figure 116, c,
shows the magnified beetle, and at figure 117 it is
represented at work, still more enlarged.
_ This is the perfect or imago form of the Curculio; and
it is in this hard, shelly, beetle state, that the female
passes the winter, sheltering under the shingles of houses,
under the old bark of both forest and fruit trees, under
logs and in rubbish of all kinds. As spring approaches,

 
186 INJURIOUS INSECTS

it awakens from its lethargy, and, if it has slept in the
forest, instinctively searches for the nearest orchard.
In Central Illinois and in Central Missouri the beetles
may be found in the trees during the last half of April,
but in the extreme southern part of Illinois they appear
about two weeks earlier, while in the extreme northern
part of the same State they are fully two weeks later.
Thus, in the single State of Illinois, there is a difference
of about one month in the time of the Curculio’s first
appearance on fruit trees; and the time will vary with
the forwardness or lateness of the season.

Aswe shall see from the sequel, it is very important
that we know just when first to expect ‘‘ Mrs, Turk,” and
I therefore lay it down asa rule, applicable to any lati-
tude, that she first commences to puncture peaches when
they are of the size of small marbles or of hazel-nuts,
though she may be found on the trees as soon as they are
in blossom. ‘To prevent confusion I will use the word
“peach,” not that her work is confined to this fruit, for,
as we shall presently see, she is not so particular in her
tastes, but because the peach is more extensively grown
than are any of the other large kinds of stone-fruit.

Alighting, then, on a small peach, she takes a strong
hold of it (fig. 116 d), and with the minute jaws at the
end of her snout, makes a small cut just through the
skin of the fruit. She then runs the snout slantingly
under the skin, to the depth of one-sixteenth of an inch,
and moves it back and forth until the cavity is large
enough to receive the egg it is toretain. Then she turns
around and drops an egg into the mouth of the cavity,
and after this is accomplished, she resumes her first posi-
tion, and by means of her snout pushes the egg to the
end of the passage, and afterwards deliberately cuts the
crescent in front of the hole, so as to undermine the egg
and leave it in a sort of flap. The whole operation
requires about five minutes, and her object in cutting the
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 187

crescent is evidently to deaden the flap, so as to prevent
the growing fruit from crushing the egg.

Now that she has completed this task, and has gone
off to perform a similar operation on some other fruit,
let us from day to day watch the egg which we have just
seen deposited, and learn in what manner it develops
into a Curculio like the parent which produced it—
remembering that the life and habits of this.one indi-
vidual are illustrative of those of every other Plum
Cucurlio.

We shall find that the egg is oval and of a pearly-white
color. Should the weather be warm and genial, this egg
will hatch in from four
to five days, but if cold
and unpleasant the
hatching will not take
place for a week or even
longer. Eventually,
however, there hatches
from the egg a soft,
tiny, footless grub with
a horny head, and this |
grub immediately com- \
mences to feed upon the ‘
green flesh of the fruit,
boring a tortuous path
as it proceeds. It riots =
in the fruit—working Fig. 117.—TaE PLUM CURCULIO.
by preference around The insect and its work, greatly enlarged.
the stone—for from three to five weeks, the period
varying, according to various controlling influences.

The fruit containing this grub does not, in the major-
ity of instances, mature, but falls prematurely to the
ground, generally before the grub is quite full grown.
Ihave known fruit to he on the ground for upwards of
two weeks before the grub left, and have found as many

 
188 INJURIOUS INSECTS

as five grubs in a single peach which had been on the
ground for several days. When the grub has once
become full grown, however, it forsakes the fruit which
it has ruined, and burrows from four to six inches in the
ground. At this time it is of a glassy yellowish-white
color, though it usually partakes of the color of the fruit-
flesh on which it was feeding. It is about two-fifths of
an inch long, with the head light brown; there is a
lighter line running along each side of its body, with a
row of minute black bristles below, and a less distinct
one above it, while the stomach is rust-red, or blackish.
The full grown larva presents the appearance of fig-
ure 116, a.

In the ground, by turning round and round, it com-
presses the earth on all sides until it has formed a
smooth oval cavity. Within this cavity, in the course of
a few days, it assumes the pupa form, figure 116, 0.

After remaining in the ground in this state for just
about three weeks, it becomes a beetle, which, though
soft and uniformly reddish at first, soon assumes its
natural colors; and, when its several parts are sufficiently
hardened, works through the soil to the light of day.

The Curculio when alarmed, like very many other
insects, and especially such as belong to the same great
Order of Beetles (Coleoptera), folds up its legs close to the
body, turns under its snout into a groove which receives
it, and drops to the ground. In doing this it feigns
death, so as to escape from threatened danger, and does
in reality very greatly resemble a dried fruit bud. It
attacks, either for purposes of propagation or for food,
the Nectarine, Plum, Apricot, Peach, Cherry, Apple,
Pear and Quince, preferring them in the order of their
naming.

It is always most numerous in the early part of the
season on the outside of the orchards that are surrounded
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 189

with timber. It is also more numerous in timbered
regions than on the prairie.

It can fly and does fly, especially during the heat of
the day; so cotton bandages around the trunk, and all
like contrivances, are worse than useless.

It prefers smooth-skinned to rough-skinned stone-
fruit.

The Miner Plum, otherwise known as the Hinckley
Plum, and other varieties of that wild species known as
the Chickasaw Plum (Prunus Chicasa), are less liable to
its attacks than other kinds.

Both the male and female puncture the fruit for food,
by gouging hemispherical holes; but the female alone
makes the crescent-mark above described.

Scarcely any eggs are deposited after the stone of the
fruit has become hard.

The cherry when infested remains on the tree, and the
preventive measures that may be applied to other fruits
will consequently not hold good with this.

The larva cannot well undergo its transformations in
earth which is dry or baked, and severe drouths are con-
sequently prejudicial to its increase.

It often matures in apples and pears, especially in
early varieties, but in the great majority of instances the
egg either fails to hatch or the young larva perishes in a
few days after hatching.

ARTIFICIAL REMEDIES.—The remedies are few. They
consist of prevention, by destroying the fallen fruit
which contains the grub, and by jarring down and catch-
ing and killing the beetles. There are a variety of means
which can be employed for destroying the grubs which fall
with the fruit before they enter the ground. It can be
done either by hand or by stock. Hogs and poultry are
of undoubted use for this purpose. Of course, the first
year they are used they do not in the least decrease the
190 INJURIOUS INSECTS

number of beetles, but wherever they can be used, a
most beneficial effect will be noticed the second year,
and every year afterwards. All attempts to repel the
Curculio by hanging corn-cobs soaked in kerosene in
the tree, or by throwing offensive mixtures upon the
foliage have proved useless. The most effective method
thus far discovered, is to jar down the insects and catch
them on sheets. The tree should have a sudden jarring,
not a mere shaking. For this purpose it is a good plan
to saw off a small limb, leaving a stump a foot or less
long, upon which to strike with a heavy mallet, this
avoids bruising the bark of the tree. To catch the
insects, two pieces of sheeting, each two yards long and
a yard wide, may be stiffened by means of small rods or
sticks, one at each long side and one in the middle; .
make the end of these sticks sharp, and cut a notch ata
short distance from the end; the points of the sticks may
be pushed into the cloth, and the notches will prevent
that from slipping. A person can readily carry these
from tree to tree, and placing them on the ground, one
each side of the trunk, the tree is then to be jarred by a
stroke of the mallet. The fallen insects may be crushed
between the fingers, or be placed in a vessel of water,
upon which there floats a small quantity of kerosene.

THE PERIODICAL OR SEVENTEEN-YEAR CICADA.
(Cicada septendecim, Linn.)

This insect is popularly known as the ‘“ Seventeen-year
Locust,” and by many confounded with the true Locust,
and said to devour every green thing, whereas it is en-
tirely unlike the ‘“‘ Rocky Mountain Locust,” or “ Color-
ado Grasshopper; ” it belongs to another family, and has
no jaws with which to devour anything. It simply has
a beak to suck the juices of plants. It probably does its
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 191

greatest injury in its under-ground life, sucking the juices
of the roots of trees and plants, where it lives seventeen
years. It however does much injury to fruit and other
trees; the excavations made by the female form bad,
ragged wounds, and sometimes so weaken the smail
branches that they are broken off. The following is
mainly condensed from the description by Harris in his
work on “ Insects Injurious to Vegetation.”

The Seventeen-year Cicada in the winged state (fig.
118, ¢), is of a black color, with transparent wings and

 

Fig. 118—PERIODICAL CICADA (Cicada septendecim, Linn.)

a, Pupa; b, Pupa Shell; c, Perfect Insect; d, Twig with Punctures, natural alee:
e, Eggs, enlarged.

wing-covers, the thick anterior edge and larger veins of
which are orange-red, and near the tips of the latter
there is a dusky zigzag line in the form of the letter W,
supposed by the superstitions to indicate war; the
eyes when living are also red; the rings of the body
are edged with dull-orange; and the legs are of the same
192 INJURIOUS INSECTS

color. The wings expand from two and one-half to three
and one-quarter inches.

In its many years of underground life this insect does
more or less damage by feeding upon the roots of plants,
but its manifest injury is only when, in the perfect state,
the female deposits her eggs in the twigs of fruit trees,
and at the times of periodical abundance the injury it
causes is often serious, and it is properly classed among
those injurious to fruit trees.

In those parts of the country which are subject to the
visitation of this Cicada, it may be seen in forests of Oak
through the month of June. And such immense num-
bers are sometimes congregated as to bend and even
break down the limbs of the trees by their weight, and
the woods resound with the din of their discordant drums
from morning to evening. After pairing, the females
proceed to prepare a nest for the reception of their eggs.
They select, for this purpose, branches of a moderate
size, which they clasp on both sides with their legs, and
then, bending down the piercer at an angle of about
forty-five degrees, they repeatedly thrust it obliquely into
the bark and wood in the direction of the fibres, at the
same time putting in motion the lateral saws, and in
this way detach little splinters of the wood at one end,
so as to form a kind of fibrous lid or cover to the perfo-
ration. The hole is bored obliquely to the pith, and 1s
gradually enlarged by a repetition of the same operation,
until a longitudinal fissure is formed of sufficient extent
to receive from ten to twenty eggs. The side-picces of the
piercer serve as a groove to convey the eggs into the nest,
where they are deposited in pairs, side hv side, but sepa-
rated from each other by a portion of woody fibre, and
they are implanted in the limb somewhat obliquely. so
that one end points upwards. When two eges have been
thus placed, the insect withdraws the piercer for a mo-
ment, and then inserts it again and drops two more eges
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN, 193

in a line with the first, and repeats the operation until she
has filled the fissure from one end to the other, upon
which she removes to a little distance, and begins to make
another nest to contain two more rows of eggs. She is
about fifteen minutes in preparing a single nest and fill-
ing it with eggs; but it is not unusual for her to make
tifteen or twenty fissures in the same limb; and one ob-
server counted fifty nests extending along in a line, each
containing fifteen or twenty eggs in two rows, and all of

 

them apparently the work of one insect. After one limb
is thus stocked, the Cicada goes to another, and passes
from limb to limb and from tree to tree, until her store,
which consists of four hundred or five hundred eggs, is ex-
hausted. At length she becomes so weak by her inces-
sant labors to provide for a succession of her kind, as to
falter and fall in attempting to fly, and soon dies. Fig-
ure 118, d, shows a twig in which the eggs have been laid,
and another is given in figure 119.

Although the Cicadas abound most upon the Oak, they
resort occasionally to other forest trees, and even to
shrubs, when impelled by the necessity for depositing

 

Fig. 120.—Twia WITH HEALED PUNCTURES.

their eggs, and they very often commit them to fruit-
trees, when the latter are in their vicinity. The punce-
tured limbs languish and die soon after the eggs which
are placed in them are hatched; they are broken by the
winds or by their own weight, and either remain hanging
by the bark alone, or fall with their withered foliage to
194 INJURIOUS INSECTS

the ground. In this way orchards have suffered severely
in consequence of the injurious punctures of these insects.
Sometimes, however, the twigs of the Apple and other
fruit trees recover from these attacks and new wood
forms over the wounds as shown in figure 120.

The eggs (fig. 118, e) are one-twelfth of aninch long, and
one-tenth of an inch through the middle, but taper at
each end to an obtuse point, and are of a pearl-white
color. The shell is so thin and delicate that the form of
the included insect can be seen before the egg is hatched.
The young insect when it bursts the shell is one-sixteenth
of an inch long, and is of a yellowish-white color, except
the eyes and the claws of the fore legs, which are reddish;
and it is covered with little hairs. In form it is some-
what grub-like, being
longer in proportion
than the parent insect,
and is furnished with
six legs, the first pair
of which are very large,
shaped almost like lob-
ster claws, and armed with strong spines beneath, On
the shoulders are little prominences in the place of wings;
and under the breast is along beak for suction. Fig. 121
shows the larva enlarged. These little creatures when
liberated from the shell are very lively, and their move-
ments are nearly as quick as those of ants. After a few
movements their instincts prompt them to get to the
ground, but in order to reach it they do not descend
the body of the tree, neither do they cast off them-
selves precipitately; but, running to the side of the limbs
they deliberately loosen their hold, and fall to the earth.

On reaching the ground the insects immediately bury
themselves in the soil, burrowing by means of their
broad and strong fore feet, which, like those of the mole,
are admirably adapted for digging. In their descent into

 

Fig. 121.—Larva, MUCH ENLARGED.
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 195

the earth they seem to follow the roots of plants, and are
subsequently found attached to those which are most
tender and succulent, perforating them with their beaks,
and thus imbibing the vegetable juices which constitute
their sole nourishmént.

The grubs do not appear ordinarily to descend very
deeply into the ground, but remain where roots are most
abundant. The only alteration to which the insects are
subject, during the long period of their subterranean con-
finement, is an increase in size, and the more complete
development of the four small scale-like prominences on
their backs, which represent and actually contain their
future wings. Fig. 118, a, represents the full-grown
larva.

When at length the time arrives for them to issue from
the ground they come out in great numbers in the night,
crawl up the trunks of trees, or upon any other object
in their vicinity to which they can fasten themselves se-
curely by their claws. After having rested awhile, they
prepare to cast off their skins, which, in the mean time,
have become dry and of an amber color. By repeated
exertions, a longitudinal rent is made in the skin of the
back, and through this the included Cicada pushes its
head and body, and withdraws its wings and limbs from
their separate cases, and, crawling to a little distance, it
leaves its empty pupa-skin, apparently entire, still fas-
tened to the tree as in fig. 118, 6. At first the wing-covers
are very small and opaque, but, being perfectly soft and
flexible, they soon stretch out to their full dimensions,
and in the course of a few hours the superfluous mois-
ture of the body evaporates, and the insect becomes
strong enough to fly.

During several successive nights the pups continue to
issue from the earth; above fifteen hundred have been
found to rise beneath a single apple tree, and in some
places the whole surface of the soil, by their successive
196 INJURIOUS INSECTS

operations, has appeared as full of holes as a honey-comb.
Within about a fortnight after their final transformation
they begin to lay their eggs, and in the space of six
weeks the whole generation becomes extinct.

They are subject to many accidents, and have many
enemies, which contribute to diminish their numbers.
Their eggs are eaten by birds; the young, when they first
issue from the shell, are preyed upon by ants, which.
mount the trees to feed upon thom, or destroy them
when they are about to enter the ground. Blackbirds
eat them when turned vp by the plow in fields, and hogs
are excessively fond of them, and, when suffered to go
at large in the woods, root them up, and devour immense
numbers just before the arrival of the period of their
final transformation, when they are lodged immediately
under the surface of the soil. It is stated that many
perish in the egg state, by the rapid growth of the bark
and wood, which closes the perforations and buries the
eggs before they are hatched; and many, without doubt,
are killed by their perilous descent from the trees.

Such are the general habits of this remarkable insect
which now, and probably has for ages, passed seventeen
years of its life hidden in the soil, and at stated periods
has appeared for a short season of life above ground. A
most elaborate account of the habits of this Cicada will
be found in the First Missouri Report (1868), in which
the important discovery is announced that there are races
which complete their career in thirteen years; while no
differences have been found between the Thirteen-year
and Seventeen-year Cicadas, other than in the time of
their appearing, yet some entomologists give them as
distinct, and the Thirteen-year Cicadas are, for conven-
ience called C. tredecim, Riley. This form is confined to
more southerly localities than the other. While the Sev-
enteen-year Cicada completes its round in that num-
ber of years, it is not due all over the country on the
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 19%

same year, but “the Locust years” differ in different
States. In the Report above referred to, there are given
the dates of the appearance of twenty-two different
broods. For example. Brood XX which appeared in
1866, may be looked for in 1883 in Western New York,
Western Pennsylvania and in Eastern Ohio. The brood
XXI, is due in 1884 and at intervals of seventeen years
thereafter, in parts of North Carolina and in Central
Virginia. In 1885 a brood will appear in parts of New
York and New England, in parts of Pennsylvania, Mary-
land, the District of Columbia, in Delaware, Virginia,

 

Fig. 122—THE DIGGER WASP (Stizus grandis).

in parts of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky. This
brood has a record extending from 1715, since which
date it has appeared at regular intervals of seventeen
years, up to its last occurrence in 1868. In some cases
two broods may lap over upon one another in the same
locality.

Dozs THE CicADA STING? There have been various
accounts in the papers of injury from the sting of the
Periodical Cicada. It has a beak by means of which it
draws its nourishment from the branches of trees, and
it may be that in careless handling of the insect, it has
198 INJURIOUS INSECTS.

thrust its beak into the flesh. The most probable origin
of these reports of stinging is due to the fact that a very
large digger wasp (Stizus grandis) provides its nest with
the Cicada, among other insects, as food for its young.
The mother wasp stings her victims sufficiently to para-
lyze, but not to kill them, and takes them to her under-
ground nest. This wasp is given of the real size in
figure 122. It is possible that one may, in catching a
Cicada, get a sting from this wasp, which had already
captured it.

 
Insects Injurious to Small Fruits.

CURRANT AND GOOSEBERRY.
THE GOOSEBERRY SPAN-WORM.
(Eufitchia ribearia, Pack.)

This, which has been called the American Currant-
moth, and sometimes merely ‘‘ Currant-worm,” was first
described by Dr. Fitch, as Abraxas ribearta, referring it
to the same genus with the European Gooseberry Moths.
Later, Dr. Packard finding it to belong to a different
genus, dedicated it to its distinguished discoverer, call-
ing it Hufitchia. While itis found upon the Gooseberry,
and Currant, it shows a decided preference for the
former, and when the two are growing near one another,
it will first attack the Gooseberry.

It may at once be distinguished from any other worm
found either on Gooseberry or Currant, by its being
what is popularly called a Measuring-worm. Figure 123,
shows this larva, which, when full-grown, measures about
an inch, and is of a light-yellow color, with lateral white
lines, and numerous black spots and round dots. The
head is white, with two black eye-like spots on the outer
sides above, and two smaller ones beneath. The six
true legs are black, and the four pro-legs yellow. It at-
tains its growth about the middle of June, when it de-
scends to the ground, and either burrows a little below
the surface, or hides under any rubbish that may be lying
there; but in neither case does it form any cocoon.
Shortly after this it changes to a chrysalis, shown at the

199
200 INJURIOUS INSECTS

left-hand side in figure 123, of a shining mahogany color.
In about fourteen days it bursts the pupa shell, and,
early in July, appears as a moth, represented in figure 125,
the upper one being the male, with feathered feelers, and
the lower the female, in which these are simple. The

 

Fig. 123.—GoosEBERRY SPAN-WORM (Lufite ia ribearia).

aoth is of a pale nankin-yellow color, the wings shaded
with faint dusky leaden-colored spots arranged so as not
to present any definite pattern. 'The female lays her
eges on the branches and twigs of the bushes, hence the
species is frequently carried in the egg state upon trans-
planted bushes from one neighborhood to another; which
accounts for its sudden appearance in parts where it was
before unknown. For there is but one brood of this
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 201

insect in one year, and the eggs must consequently, like
those of the Tent-worm of the Apple tree, be exposed,
on the twigs and limbs to which they are attached, to all
the heats of July and August without hatching out, and
to all the frosts of December and January without freez-
ing out. At length, when the proper time arrives, and
the Gooseberry and Currant bushes are out in full leaf
so as to afford plenty of food, the tiny tough little egg
hatches out about the latter end of May, and ina little
more than three weeks the worms attain their full larval
development.

This Gooseberry Span-worm was first noticed near
Chicago in 1862 or 63; and for two or three years after-
wards it increased rapidly, so as in most gardens not to
leave a single leaf on the Gooseberry, and in many in-
stances to entirely strip the Currant bushes. It is quite
common also in St. Louis and Jefferson Counties in
Missouri, and has entirely stripped the Gooseberry
bushes on many farms in these counties. Elsewhere in
the Western States it is not by any means common; but
in many localities in the East it has been a severe pest
for a great number of years, especially in the States of
New York and Pennsylvania. This is a native insect
which no doubt formerly lived upon our several native
species of Gooseberry. When cultivated Gooseberries
were planted within their reach, they manifested a
decided preference for these, and multiplied so rapidly
as to become, in some localities, a serious pest to the
fruit grower.

REMEDIES.—These worms, when disturbed, let them-
selves down from the bushes, and hang suspended by a
web. This habit may be made useful in destroying
them. If the bushes are shaken by means of a forked
stick, while the worms are still young, these will at once
let themselves down by their threads; the stick may be
then passed along against the threads to draw the worms
202 INJURIOUS INSECTS

to the ground, where they may be crushed. Poultry
may be used to capture the worms when they descend
to the ground to transform. One of the most effective
remedies for this, and all similar worms, is White Helle-
bore, used as described under Imported Currant-worm.

THE IMPORTED CURRANT-WORM.

(Nematus ventricosus, Ring.)

When the Currant-worm is mentioned in the Eastern
States, this is most likely to be the insect referred to.
It is the larva of a Saw-fly of the Order Hymenoptera;
these are called False-caterpillars, as they never have less

 

Fig. 124.—THE IMPORTED CURRANT-WoRM (Nematus ventricosus, Ring.)

than six, sometimes as many as eight pairs of
pro-legs, while the True-caterpillars never have more
than five pairs. The insect is a native of Europe, and is
supposed to have been introduced into some of the nurs-
eries at Rochester, N. Y., cbout the year 1857, though
it appears to have been known in Canada at an earlier
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN, 203

date. Itis very abundant in the New England States,
and in New York and Pennsylvania, and has extended to
some of the Western States. The insect appears soon
after the Currant and Gooseberry bushes put forth their
leaves, and the eggs are laid upon the under surface of the
lower leaves, along the principal veins. The eggs hatch
in a week or ten days into a pale, twenty-legged Cater-
piler, with a large dull whitish head. They soon become
green, and acquire shining black spots on the body, and
the head becomes black.
The full-grown worms
are about three-fourths
of an inch long and are
shown in various posi-
tions in figure 124, a; 6
gives the position of the
black spots upon a mag-
nified joint of the body.
When they have com-
pleted their growth, they
leave the bushes, and —
either hide just below 4
the surface of the 9
ground, or under any | 6
leaves that may be on Fig. 125.—THE PERFECT INSECT.
the surface, spin a thin @, Male ; b, Female.
cocoon of brownish silk, within which they assume the
pupa state. Late in June, or early in July, sometimes
not until August, the perfect insects appear; a second
crop of eggs is laid, and the same round is repeated; but
this second brood doeg ot issue from the pupa until the
following spring. ‘The perfect insect is shown in figure
125, a being the male, and d the female, the lines show-
ing the actual size.

Those who receive Currant bushes from a distance, in
order to avoid the introduction of this insect in the pupa

  
204 INJURIOUS INSECTS

state, should carefully wash the roots of the plants, and
burn whatever may be washed from them.
Remepies.—When the worms are not checked, they
soon strip both the Currant and Gooseberry bushes of
their leaves, and the partly grown fruit shrivels and dies,
The insect threatened to put an end to Currant culture
in localities where it is an important crop, until an effec-
tive remedy was made known. By the prompt use of
White Hellebore the insect may be subdued with but lit<
tle trouble and the crop saved. Some papers speak of
the use of ‘‘ Hellebore,” and it is necessary to specify
White Hellebore (Veratrum album) which is an entirely
different drug from the Black Hellebore (Helleborus
niger). The powdered root, as sold at the drug stores, is
of a light greenish-yellow color and excites violent sneez-
ing when taken into the nostrils, hence care should be
observed in handling it. The powder may be sprinkled
upon the bushes by means of a tin sifter, but this is often
attended by unpleasant sneezing, and is not so economi-
cal or effective as to apply it mixed with water. Place a
heaping tablespoonful of the powder in a bowl or other
dish holding a quart or more, gradually add boiling
water, stirrig to make sure that the powder is thoroughly
wetted; then add more water, stirring until a quart, more
or less, has been added. Turn this mixture into a pail-
ful of cold water, stir well, and apply by the use of any
garden syringe or hand engine, or a watering pot may be
used. The object should be to wet every leaf, hence
much force is not needed. In a few days, if any worms
are found to have escaped, the application should be re-
peated; rarely are more than two doses needed. While
White Hellebore is poisonous, no danger need be appre-
hended from the use of the fruit from bushes thus
treated. The chances are that the rains will wash off
any of the powder that may adhere to the clusters; but
if any appreciable quantity should remain, the fruit
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN, 205

would appear soiled, and be rejected on that account.
The use of White Hellebore is so easy and so effective
that none of the other applications that have been recom-
mended need be noticed.

Natura Enemres.—There will be found in the IXth
Missouri Report, a very full account of this Saw-fly, which
states that it is attacked by several insect enemies,
among which are the Placid Soldier Bug, and that there
are at least two Ichneumon Flies that infest it.

THE NATIVE CURRANT WORM.
(Pristiphora grossularie, Walsh.)

This, like the Imported Currant-worm, is the larva of
a Saw-fly, but of a different genus, distinguished by en-

 

Fig. 126.—THE NATIVE CURRANT-woRM (Pristiphora grossularice, Walsh.)
a, Larva; b, Perfect Insect.

tomologists on account of the different veining of the
wings. The larva is smaller than in the preceding, only
half an inch long, and is of an uniform pale-green color,
without any black dots. It does not go under-ground to
make its cocoon, but always spins it among the twigs
and leaves of the bushes. Figure 126 gives the larva of
the natural size and the enlarged fly; the male and female
being so nearly alike that separate figures are not needed.
Unlike the preceding, the second brood issues the same
autumn, and the eggs are laid upon the stems, where
206 INJURIOUS INSECTS

they pass the winter. Wherever this native insect occurs
upon the cultivated Gooseberry and Currant, it may be
subdued by the use of White Hellebore as recommended
for the Imported Currant-worm.

THE CURRANT STALK-BORER,
(4igeria tipuliformis, Linn.)

This is an imported insect and of the same genus as
the Peach-borer. The moth lays her eggs singly near the
buds, and the larve, when hatched, make their way di-
rectly to the pith, which they devour, forming a channel
several inches in length. The stem, thus weakened,
shows by the inferior size of its fruit that this insect is
present, and it often breaks off at the affected part. The
impoverished growth of the stems indicates the presence
of this borer, and at the fall pruning, all such should be
cut away and burned.

THE STRAWBERRY.

Among the insect enemies of the Strawberry, the com-
mon White Grub is probably one of the most destructive.
This insect, which is injurious to so many different
plants, is described in full, and suggestions for its sup-
pression are given on page 33. Their injury to Straw-
berry plantations results mainly from bad management
and the failure of the grower to use preventive meas-
ures. Good old pasture and meadow lands are frequently
selected for Strawberry plantations, and sod is turned
over, and as soon as sufficiently rotted, the plants are set
out. In the meantime the grubs that were already in
the ground, and perhaps of various ages from a few
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 207

weeks to a year or two, have been fasting, or making an
occasional meal of the half decayed grass-roots. Finding
fresh Strawberry roots thrust before them, they com-
mence a most vigorous attack upon such tender food.
The planter is astonished to see his Strawberries disap-
pear, and wonders where all the grubs could have come
from in so short a time.

Now in regions where the White Grub abounds it is
not safe to set out Strawberries on freshly inverted sod;
but the land should be cultivated at least two seasons in
some crop requiring frequent hoeing and plowing, before
using it for this purpose. Neither should the Strawberry
plantation remain or be continued on the same piece of
land for more that two or three years, if what is called
the matted or bed system of cultivation is pursued; be-
cause the parent beetle soon learns that these weedy, lit-
tle-disturbed plantations, are a safe place for her to de-
posit her eggs.

To avoid injury to Strawberry plantations by this
insect, use land that has been occupied at least two years
in some hoed crop, like corn, potatoes, or beans, and
then set out a new one on fresh land as soon as the old
plants begin to fail.

THE STRAWBERRY WORM.
(Emphytus maculatus, Norton.)

Among the various other kinds of insects injurious to
the Strawberry there is perhaps none more destructive
than that known as the ‘‘ Strawberry Worm.” This pest
is a small, slender, pale-green worm, that attacks the
leaves, eating large holes in them. When at all abun-
dant it soon destroys the entire foliage, and of course pre-
vents further growth of the plants. A. 8. Fuller, in the
«* American Entomologist” says: A few years ago this
208 INJURIOUS INSECTS

pest almost ruined the plants in my garden, but of late
it has not been very abundant, although it has not
entirely disappeared. This Strawberry Worm is the
larva of a small black fly, which has of late years
become abundant throughout the Northern States and
appears to be more destructive at the West than at the
East. The worms are of a yellowish-green color, a little
over half an inch long, and when feeding are usually curl-
ed up as in fig. 127. The parent fly (fig. 128), is black,
with two rows of whitish spots on the abdomen, and ap-
pears in the Northern States in May. The full-grown

  

Fig. 127.—8TRAWBERRY-WORM Fig. 128.—F1iy or 8 A =
(Hilti waculatis, Norton). * WORM. one a

larve descend and enter the ground, remaining in the
pupa state until the following spring. Dusting the leaves
with lime, when they are wet with dew, or just after a
rain, is the best method of destroying the pest yet found.

STRAWBERRY LEAF-BEETLE.
(Paria aterrima, Oliv.)

Within a few years, in widely separated localities,
from Massachusetts to Missouri, a small brownish beetle
has been found attacking the leaves of the Strawberry
plants, doing much damage. The larva of this beetle is
white, with a yellowish head, and is about a fourth of an
inch long; it lives in the soil, feeding upon the roots of
the Strawberry. The bectle is only an eighth of an inch
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 205

long; the wing-covers are yellowish, and each usually
has two black spots, the posterior one larger than the
other. When numerous, it completely defoliates the
plants. Paris Green or London Purple may be used
when the fruit is off to destroy this insect in the man-
ner described under Colorado Potato-beetle.

THE STRAWBERRY LEAF-ROLLER.
(Anchyloperu fragarice, Walsh and Riley.)

This insect, like the preceding, has been more trouble-
some at the West than at the East. It is the larva of a
moth shown in figure 129, a, of
the real size, while the moth, 8, is
enlarged, as shown by the lines be-
low it. In feeding, it folds up the ,
leaves by drawing their edges to-
gether with silken threads, and eats
out the pulpy portions. There are
two broods each year; the first one
completing their transformations on Fig. 129.—strawBerry
the leaves about the first of July. ee ee ee
The second brood of worms enter a, Larva of real size; by Moth
the ground, where they change into
the pupe, and remain in that state until the next
spring. The habit the worms have of rolling themselves
in the leaves, renders the application of any insecticide
very difficult. It has been suggested to burn off the old
leaves, after the fruit has been gathered, or to pass a
heavy roller over the plants.

 

THE STRAWBERRY CROWN-BORER.
(Tyloderma fragaric, Riley.)

This enemy to the Strawberry grower has been more
abundant in Canada and the Western States than else-
210 INJURIOUS INSECTS

where. The perfect insect is a small Snout-beetle, or
Curculio, shown in figure 130, enlarged, the line giving
the real size. The eggs are laid in the
crowns of the plants, where the grubs
destroy the embryo fruit stalks and leaves.
The only remedy thus far suggested is,
to plow up the infested plantations as soon
as the fruit is gathered, while the young
grubs are still in the crowns of the plants.

 

Fig, 130,-straw- OTHER ENEMIES TO THE STRAWBERRY.

BERRY CROWN- : %
BORER. Sometimes a green fly or aphis, espe-

cially in light, loose soil, will attack the
roots in large numbers. Dry ashes, or the use of the
refuse dust of tobacco factories, applied close to these
plants will destroy these imsects; so would the use of
tobacco-water.

The Red Spider is often injurious to the Strawberry,
when forced under glass, and sometimes, in dry seasons,
in the open ground. In either case, copious waterings,
a thorough drenching of the leaves, is the best remedy.

THE BLACKBERRY.

Some ten years ago, the cultivators of the Blackberry
in various parts of New Jersey noticed that the ends of
the young growing canes in summer would occasionally
curl, twist about, and often assume a singular, fasci-
ated form, resulting in an entire check to their growth.
The leaves on these infested shoots did not die and fall
off, but merely curled up, sometimes assuming a deeper
green than the healthy leaves on the same stalk. At the
approach of winter the infested leaves remained firmly
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 211

attached to the diseased stems, and all through the cold
weather and far into the spring, these leaf-laden and dis-
eased stems were a conspicuous object in many of the
Blackberry plantations of the State.

If the infested shoots are examined in summer, thou-
sands of minute insects of a pale-yellow color and covered
with a powdery exudation will be found sucking the
juices of the succulent stems and leaves, causing the
crimping, curling, and twisting of these parts as de-
scribed.

This parasite resembles somewhat an ordinary green-fly
(Aphis) or plant-louse, but according to recent observations
it is now known to belong to the closely allied Flea-lice
family (Psyllide), distinguished from the plant-lice by
a different veining of the wings, and by the antennz be-
ing knobbed at the tip, like those of the butterfly, the knob
usually terminating in two bristles. These insects jump
as briskly as a flea, from which characteristic they derive
their scientific name. The particular species in question
was called by Prof. Riley the ‘‘ Bramble Flea-louse (Psyi-
la rubt)” in the ‘‘American Entomologist. ” It has increas-
ed very rapidly during the past half dozen years or more,
and unless fruit-growers make a more vigorous fight
than they yet have done, it will soon get the mastery of
most Blackberry plantations. The only practical method
as yet discovered for checking the ravages of this insect,
is, to cut off the ends of the infested canes and burn
them. This operation should always be performed
either in the morning, or during cool wet weather,
else many of the insects will escape, and at all times the
severed shoots should be immediately dropped into bags
and in them carried to the place where they are to be
burned, and there emptied into the fire. If all having
Blackberry bushes in their gardens would practice this
method of destruction, this pest would soon cease to do
much harm,
212 INJURIOUS INSECTS
BLACKBERRY BORERS,

Several species of Borers infest the Blackberry: the
most common one is the larva of a small, slender, red-
necked beetle ( Oberea perspicillata, Hald.), fig. 131. The
small, legless grubs bore the pith of the canes, causing
them to die prematurely, or so weakening them that they
are broken down with the wind. As there are some four-
teen or fifteen species of the Oberea now known, it may
be that more than one species breed in the Blackberry.
Thus far, however, I am not aware that they have been
very injurious, but it would be well to gather all infested
canes and burn them with their contents.

The Blackberry is subject to the attacks of several spe-
cies of gall-insects. A fuzzy, prickly gall on the twigs

is produced by a four-winged fly (Diastrophus
cuscuteformis 0. 8.) Another species of the
same genus (Diastrophus nebulosus O. 8.) pro-
duces a large pithy gall on canes, but both
of these gall-makers have very formidable

Fig. 131. parasitic enemies which keep them in check.
pracnpennY ‘There are also a few leaf-eating beetles, slugs

and caterpillars, that sometimes attack the
Blackberry, but they are seldom sufficiently numerous
or injurious to attract much attention. The larger
species are readily destroyed by hand-gathering, and the
smaller ones can usually be driven off by dusting the
plants with lime.

The most formidable enemy however of both the Black-
berry and Raspberry is the Orange-rust, a minute fungus
(Uredo ruborum). It is perhaps more abundant on the
Black-cap Raspberry (Rubus occidentalis) than on the
ordinary varieties of the Blackberry; still it is sufficient] y
abundant and destructive to all to attract the attention
of horticulturists throughout the country. I do not
know of ony remedy except to stamp out the discase by
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 213

rooting up every affected plant and burning it. It may
be that applications of lime, salt, or some similar sub-
stance would check the disease, and while these may be
safely tried as preventive measures, the destroying of all
infested plants should not be omitted.

THE RASPBERRY.

As the Raspberry is closely allied to the Blackberry,
and belongs to the same genus, the
diseases and insects infesting both do
not materially differ. Some few spe-
cies of insects seem to prefer the Rasp-
berry, notably among which is what
is called the the Red-necked Bu-

ae pestris (Agrilus ruficol-

lis, fig. 132), a small
beetle that seems to be
| particularly fond of the
red and black-cap vari-
eties, but will occasion-
ally attack the Black-
: berry. The larva bores

Fig. 132. into the canes in sum-

ep Necnrr> mer, causing large ex-

crescences or galls (fig.
133), checking the flow of sap, and
causing the death of the cane. This
insect seems to be far more plentiful
in the Western than Eastern States;
but it is widely distributed, and every
cultivator of the Raspberry may as Tie eee eet
well be on the lookout for it, and :
gather and burn all canes upon which galls of any kind
are found.

  
   
*

214 INJURIOUS INSECTS

THE SNOWY. TREE-CRICKET.
(Ecanthus niveus, Harris.)

The Snowy Tree-Cricket, fig. 134, prefers the canes of
the Raspberry for its eggs to the twigs of other shrubs or
trees. It will, however, use the Grape, ro)
Willow, Peach, and other kinds, if
Raspberries are not convenient. The
long, slender eggs are deposited in a
close compact row, an inch or more
in length, each egg placed at a slight
angle, and deep enough to reach the ¢|
pith of the cane or twig in which it
is set (fig. 185). This weakens the

  
   

 

Fig. 134.—SNOWY TREE-ORICKET (ican-
thus niveus.)
canes, and they are often broken off
by the wind. This injury does not
amount to much, but the perfect
insect has a very bad habit of cutting
off leaves in summer; and sometimes
extends its mischievous work to the @ 3 ®A
T ine, trimming off ,
grape-vine, g both leaves ies awake oe
and fruit, working at night when per- sxowy TREE-cRICKET.
fectly safe from observation or moles- “geus within Stem: bee
tation. One of my correspondents in

 

 

enlarged; d, Cap of keg

- Texas wrote me, a few years ago, that one of these pests

would completely defoliate a young grape-vine in a sin-
gle night, and he was a long time in discerning the
successful nocturnal pruner, and when discovered he was
at a loss how to circumvent it. Destroying the eggs is
the only way thus far known of fighting this insect.
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 215

THE GRAPE-VINE.
THE HOG-CATERPILLAR OF THE VINE.
(Cherocampa pampinatricx, Smith & Abbott.)

Of the large, solitary caterpillars that attack the Grape-
vine, this is by far the most common and injurious in the
Mississippi Valley. We have frequently found the egg
of this insect glued singly to the underside of a leaf. It is
0.05 inch in diameter, perfectly round, and of a uniform

  
 
     

ho.
ly

= Uf Y : = Veins

LW Ze

Fig. 136.—80G-OATERPILLAR OF THE ‘VINE (Cherocampa pampinatriz.)

delicate yellowish-green color. The young worm which
hatches from it, is pale-green, with a long straight horn
at its tail; and after feeding from four to five weeks it
acquires its full growth, when it presents the appearance
of figure 136, the horn having become comparatively
shorter and acquired a posterior curve.

This worm is readily distinguished from other grape-
feeding species by having the third and fourth rings im-
mensely swollen, while the first and second rings are
216 INJURIOUS INSECTS

quite small and retractile. It is from this peculiar ap-
pearance of the fore part of the body, which strikingly
suggests the fat cheeks and shoulders and small head of
some breeds of swine, that it may best be known as the
Hog-caterpillar of the vine. The color of this worm
when full grown is pea-green, and it is wrinkled trans-
versely and covered with numerous pale-yellow dots,
placed in irregular transverse rows. An oblique cream-
colored lateral band, bordered below with a darker green
and most distinct on the middle segments, connects with
a cream-colored subdorsal line, which is bordered above
with darker green, and which extends from the head to
the horn at the tail. There are five and often six some-
what pale-yellow trian-
gular patches along the
back, each containing a
lozenge-shaped _ lilac-col-
ored spot. The head is
small, with yellow granu-
Fig. 137,—CHRYSALIS OF HOG-CATER- lations, and four perpen-
PILLAR. dicular yellow lines, and

the stigmata or spiracles

are orange-brown. When about to transform, the color of
this worm usually changes toa pinkish-brown, the darker
parts being of a beautiful mixture of crimson and brown.
Previous to this change of color Mr. J. A. Lintner has
observed the worm to pass its mouth over the entire sur-
face of its body, even to the tip of its horn, covering it
with a coating of apparently glutinous matter—the oper-
ation lasting about tro hours. Before transforming into
the pupa or chrysalis state, it descends from the vine,
and within some fallen leaf or under any other rubbish
that may be lying on the ground, forms a mesh of strong
brown silk, within which it soon changes to a chrysalis
(fig. 137) of a pale, warm yellow,speckled and spotted with

* brown, but characterized chiedy by the conspicuous dark

 
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 217

brown spiracles and broad brown incisures of the three
larger abdominal segments.

The moth (fig. 138) which in time bursts from this
chrysalis, has the body and front wings of a fleshy-gray,
marked and shaded with olive-green, while the hind
wings are of a deep rust-color, with a small shade of
gray neuwr their inner angle.

This insect is in northerly regions one-brooded, but
towards the south two-brooded, the first worms appear-
ing in the latitude of St. Louis, during June and July,
and giving out the moths about two weeks after they
become chrysalids, or from the middle of July to the first

 

Fig. 138.—mMoTH OF HOG-CATERPILLAR.

of August. The second brood of worms are full grown
in September and, passing the winter in the chrysalis
state, give out the moths the following May. On one
occasion we found at South Pass, Jll., a worm half
«grown and still feeding as late as October 20th, a circum-
stance which would lead to the belief, that at points
where the winters are mild they may even hibernate in
the larva state.

This worm is a most voracious feeder, and a single one
will sometimes strip a small vine of its leaves in a few
nights. According to Harris it does not even confine its
attacks to the leaves, but in its progress from leaf to
leaf, stops at every cluster of fruit, and either from

10
218 INJURIOUS INSECTS

stupidity, or disappointment, nips off the stalks of the
half-grown grapes and allows them to fall to the ground
untasted. It is fortunate for the grape-grower therefore
that Nature has furnished the ready means to prevent its
ever becoming excessively numerous, for we have never
known it to swarm in very great numbers. The obvious
reason is, that it is so freely uttacked by a small parasitic
Ichneumon-fly—belonging to a genus (Microgaster) ex-
ceedingly numerous in species—that three out of every
four worms we meet with will generally be found to be
thus victimized. The eggs of the parasite are deposited
within the body of the worm, while it is yet young, and
the young maggots hatching from them feed on the fatty
parts of their victim. After the last moult of a worm
that has been thus attacked, numerous little heads may
be seen gradually pushing through different parts of its
body; and as soon as they have worked themselves so far
out that they are held only by the last joint of the body,
they commence forming their small snow-white cocoons,
which stand on end, pushes open a little lid which it had
previously cut with its jaws, and soars away to fulfil its
mission. It is one of those remarkable and not easily
explained facts, which often confront the student of Na-
ture, that, while one of these Hog-caterpillars in its nor-
mal and healthy condition may be starved to death in
two or three days, another that is writhing with its
body full of parasites will live without food for as
many weeks. Indeed we have known one to rest for’
three weeks without food in a semi-paralyzed condition,
and after the parasitic flies had all escaped from their
cocoons, it would rouse itself and make a desperate
effort to regain strength by nibbling at a leaf which
was offcred to it. But all worms thus attacked suc-
cumb in the end, and the grape-grower should let
alone all such as are found to be covered with white
cocoons, and not, as has been often done, destroy them
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 219

under the false impression that the cocoons are the eggs
of the worm. The cocoons of a parasite are shown upon
another large larva, on page 88; figure 59.

THE ACHEMON SPHINX.

(Philampelus achemon, Drury.)

This is another large Grape-vine-feeding insect, belong-
ing to the great Sphinx family, and which may be popu-
larly known as the Achemon Sphinx. It has been found
in almost every State where the Grape is cultivated, and
also in Canada. It feeds on the American Woodbine
or Virginia Creeper (Ampelopsis quinguefolia) with as
much relish as on the Grape-vine, and seems to show no
preference for any of the different varieties of the latter.
It is, however, worthy of remark, that both its food-
plants belong to the same Botanical Family.

The full grown worm or larva is usually found during
the latter part of August and fore part of September. It
measures about three and one-half inches when crawling,
which operation is effected by a series of sudden jerks.
The third segment is the largest, the second but half its
size, and the first still smaller, and when at rest the two
last mentioned segments are partly withdrawn into the
third. The young larva is green, with a long slender
reddish horn rising from the eleventh segment and curv-
ing over the back, and though we have found full grown
specimens that were equally as green as the younger
ones, they more generally assume a pale-straw or red-
dish-brown color, and the long recurved horn is invaria-
bly replaced by a highly polished lenticular tubercle.
It is often of a pale-straw color which deepens at
the sides and finally merges into a rich vandyke-
brown. The worm is covered more or less with minute
spots which are dark on the back but light and annulated
220 INJURIOUS INSECTS

at the sides, while there are from six to eight transverse
wrinkles on all but the thoracic and caudal segments.

The color of the worm, when about to transform, is
often of a most beautiful pink or crimson. The chrysa-
lis is formed within a smooth cavity under ground. It
is of a dark shiny mahogany-brown color, shagreened or
roughened, especially at the anterior edge of the seg-
ments on the back.

Unlike the Hog-caterpillar of the Vine, this insect is
everywhere single-brooded, the chrysalis remaining in the
ground through the fall, winter, and spring months, and
producing the moth towards the latter part of June.

The moth is of a brown-gray color, handsomely varie-
gated with light-brown, and with dark deep brown spots.
The hind wings are pink with a dark shade across the
middle, still darker spots below this shade, and a broad
gray border behind.

We have never found any parasite attacking this spe-
cies, but its solitary habit and large size make it a con-
spicuous object, and it is easily controlled by hand, when-
ever it becomes unduly numerous upon the Grape-vine.

THE SATELLITE SPHINX,
(Philampelus satellitia, Linn.)

Like the Achemon Sphinx, this insect occurs in almost
every State in the Union. It also bears a strong resem-
blance to the former species, and likewise feeds upon the
Virginia Creeper (Ampelopsis), as well as upon the Grape-
vine; but the worm may be distinguished by having five
cream-colored spots each side, instead of six, and by the
spots themselves being less scalloped.

In the latitude of St. Louis, this worm is found full
grown throughout the month of September, and a few
specimens may even be found as late as the last of Octo-
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 221

ber. The eggs of this species, as of all other Hawk-
moths (Sphinz family) known to us, are glued singly to
the leaf of the plant which is to furnish the future worm
with food. When first hatched, and for some time after-

 

Fig. 189.—caTERPILLAR OF ae SPHINX (Philampelus satellitia,
inn.)
a, Mature Larva; b, at rest; c, Young Larva.
wards, the larva is green, with a tinge of pink along the
sides, and with an immensely long straight pink horn at
the tail. This horn begins to shorten, and finally curls
round like a dog’s tail, as at figure 139, ¢« As the worm
222 INJURIOUS INSECTS

grows older it changes toa reddish-brown, and by the
third moult it entirely loses the horn.

When full grown, it measures nearly four inches in
length, and when crawling appears as figure 139, a. It
crawls by a series of sudden jerks, and will often fling its
head savagely from side to side when alarmed. Dr.
Morris describes the mature larva as being green, with
six side patches; but though we have happened across
many specimens of this worm during the last seven years,
we never once found one that was green after the third
moult; nor do we believe that there are ever any more
than five full-sized yellow spots each side, even in the
young individuals. The specimen from which our figure
was made, occurred at Hermann, Missouri, in Mr. George
Husmann’s former vineyard. The back was pinkish,
inclining to flesh-color; the sides gradually became
darker and darker, and the five patches on segments 6
to 10 inclusive, were cream-yellow with a black annula-
tion, and shaped as in our figure. On segments 2, 3, 4,
5 and 6, were numerous small black dots, but on each of
the following five segments there were but two such dots.
A pale longitudinal line ran above the yellow patches,
and the head and first jot were uniformly dull reddish-
brown.

The most common general color of the full grown
worm is a rich velvety vinous-brown. When at rest, it
draws back the fore part of the body, and retracts the
head and first two joints into the third (fig. 139, 0), and
in this motionless position it no doubt manages to
escape from the clutches of many a hungry insectivorous
bird.

When about to transform, the larva of our Satellite
Sphinx enters a short distance into the ground, and soon
works off its caterpillar-skin and becomes a chrysalis of a
deep chestnut-brown. The moth (fig. 140) makes its
appearance in June of the following year, though it has
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 223

been known to issue the same year that it had existed
as larva. In this last event, it doubtless becomes barren,
like others under similar circumstances. The colors of

Cuury ‘o22n70;ns snjadwopnyg) XNIHAS ALITIGLYS AHL—'OPL ‘SLT

 

the moth are light olive-gray, variegated as in the figure
with dark olive-green, The worms are easily suhdued
by hand-picking,
224 INJURIOUS INSECTS

THE ABBOT SPHINX.
(Thyreus Abbotii, Swainson.)

This is another of the large Grape-feeding insects, oc-
curring on the cultivated and indigenous vines and on
the Virginia Creeper, and having, in the full grown
larva state, a polished tubercle instead of a horn at the
tail. Its habitat is given by Dr. Clemens, as New York,
Pennsylvania, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Ohio; but
though not so common as the Sphinx Moths already
described, yet it is often met with both in Illinois and

 

Fig. 141.—THE apport sPHINX (Thyreus Abbotii, Swain.)
Larva and Moth.

Missouri. The larva which is represented in the upper
part of figure 141 varies considerably in appearance.
Indeed, the ground-color seems to depend in a measure
on the sex, for Dr. Morris describes this larva as reddish-
brown with numerous patches of light-green, and express-
ly states that the female is of a uniform reddish-brown,
with an interrupted dark-brown dorsal line and trans-
verse strie lines, We have reared two individuals which
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 225

came to their growth about the last of July, at which
time they were both without a vestige of green. The
ground-color was dirty yellowish, especially at the sides.
Each segment was marked transversely with six or seven
slightly impressed fine black lines, and longitudinally
with wider non-impressed dark-brown patches, alternat-
ing with each other, and giving the worm a checkered
appearance. These patches become more dense along
the subdorsal region, where they form two irregular dark
lines, which on the thoracic segments become single,
with a similar line between them. There was also a
dark stigmatal line with a lighter shade above it, and a
dark stripe running obliquely downwards from the pos-
terior to the anterior portion of each segment. The
belly was yellow with a tinge of pink between the pro-
legs, and the shiny tubercle at the tail was black, with a
yellowish ring around the base. The head, which is
characteristically marked, and by which this worm can
always be distinguished from its allies—no matter what
the ground-color of the body may be—is slightly rough-
ened and dark, with a lighter broad band each side, and
a central mark down the middle which often takes the
form of an X. This worm does not assume the common
Sphinx attitude of holding up the head, but rests
stretched at full length, though if disturbed it will throw
its head from side to side, thereby producing a crepitating
noise.

The chrysalis is formed in a superficial cell on the
ground; its surface is black and roughened by confluent
punctures, but between the joints it is smooth and in-
clines to brown; the head-case is broad and rounded, and
the tongue-case is level with the breast; the tail termi-
nates in a rough flattened wedge-shaped point, which
gives out extremely small thorns from the end.

The Moth (figure 141,) appears in the following
March or April, there being but one brood each year. It
226 INJURIOUS INSECTS

is of a dull chocolate or grayish-brown color, the front
wings becoming lighter beyond the middle, and being
variegated with dark brown as in the figure; the hind
wings are sulphur-yellow, with a broad dark-brown bor-
der breaking into a series of short lines on a flesh-colored
ground, near the body. The wings are deeply scalloped,
especially the front ones, and the body is furnished with
lateral tufts. When at rest, the abdomen is curiously
curved up in the air.

THE BLUE CATERPILLARS OF THE VINE.

Besides the large Sphinx caterpillars, described and fig-
ured on the preceding pages, every grape-grower must have
observed certain so-called ‘‘ Blue Caterpillars,” which,
though far from being uncommon, are yet very rarely
sufficiently numerous to cause alarm, though in some few
cases they have been known to strip certain vines. There
are three distinct species of these blue caterpillars, which
bear a sufficient resemblance to one another, to cause
them to be easily confounded. The first and by far the
most common in the West, is the larva of

THE EIGHT-SPOTTED FORESTER.

(Alypia octomaculata, Fabr.)

This larva (fig. 142, a), may often be found in the lati-
tude of St. Louis as early as the beginning of May, and
more abundantly in June, while scattering individuals
(probably of a second brood) are even met with, but half-
grown, in the month of September. The young larves
are whitish with transverse lines, the colors not con-
trasting so strongly as in the full-grown specimens,
though the black spots are more conspicuous. They feed
beneath the leaves and can let themselves down by a web.
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 227

The full-grown larva often conceals itself within a folded
leaf. It is of the form of our figure, and is marked
transversely with white and black lines, each segment
having about eight light and eight dark ones. The blu-
ish appearance of this caterpillar is owing to an optical
phenomenon from the contrast of these white and black
stripes. ‘The head and the shield on the first segment
are of a shiny bright deep orange color, marked with
black dots, and there is a prominent transverse orange-
red band, faint on segment 2 and 3, conspicuous on 4
and 11, and uniform in the middle of each of the other
segments. In the middle
segments of the body each
orange band contains eight
black elevated spots, each
spot giving rise to a white
hair. These spots are ar-
ranged as in the enlarged
section shown in the en-
graving (fig. 142, 5), name- f
ly, four on each side, as AM
follows: the upper one on WWakAyy
the anterior border of the
orange band, thesecondon Ms. 24). momearornen onsen
its posterior border, the a, Larva; b, Section ; c, Moth.
third just above spiracles

on its anterior border—each of the three interrupting one
of the transverse black lines—and the fourth, which is
smaller, just behind the spiracles. The venter is black,
slightly variegated with bluish-white, and with the orange
band extending on the legless segment. The legs are
black, and the false legs have two black spots on an
orange ground, at their outer base, but the characteris-
tic feature, which especially distinguishes it from the
other two species, is a lateral white wavy band—obsolete
on the thoracic segments, and most conspicuous on 10

 
228 INJURIOUS INSECTS

and 11—running just below the spiracles, and interrupt-
ed by the transverse orange band.

This larva transforms to chrysalis within a very slight
cocoon formed without silk, upon, or just below, the sur-
face of the earth, and issues soon after, as a very beautiful
moth of a deep blue-black color, with orange shanks,
yellow shoulder-pieces, each of the front wings with two
large light yellow spots, and each of the hind wings with
two white ones. Figure 142, c, represents the female, and
the male differs from her in having the wing spots larger,
and in having a conspicuous white mark along the top
of his narrower abdomen.

We have on one or two occasions known vines to be
partly defoliated by this species, but never knew it to be
quite so destructive as it often is in some Eastern local-
ities. In New York City the vines in the yards are often
completely stripped of their foliage through the agency
of this and related caterpillars.

THE BEAUTIFUL WOOD NYMPH.
(Eudryas grata, Fabr).

Here is another moth which surpasses in real beauty,
though not in high contrast, the species just de-
scribed. The front wings are milk-white, broadly bor-
dered and marked on their margins with rusty-brown,
the band on the outer margin being shaded on the inner
side with olive-green, and marked towards the edge with
a slender wavy white line: under surface yellow, with two
dusky spots near the middle. The hind wings are nan-
kin-yellow, with a deep-brown border, which does not
extend to the outer angle, and which also contains a
wavy white line: under surface yellow, with a single
black spot.

Surely these two moths are as unlike in general appear-
ance as two moths well can be; and yet their caterpillars
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 229

bear such a close resemblance to each other, and both
feed upon the Grape-vine. The larva of the Beautiful
Wood Nymph is, in fact, so very similar to that of the
Kight-spotted Forester, that it is entirely unnecessary to
figure it. It differs more especially from that species by
invariably lacking the white patches along the sides; the
hairs arising from the black spots are less conspicuous,
while the hump on the eleventh segment is somewhat
more prominent. The light parts of the body have
really a slight bluish tint, and in specimens which we
have found, we have only noticed six transverse black
stripes to each segment. This larva, when at rest, de-
presses the head and raises the third and fourth segments,
Sphinx-fashion. It is found on the vines in Missouri
as early as May and as late as September, and it devours
all portions of the leaf, even to the midrib. It descends
to the ground, and, without making any cocoon, trans-
forms to a chrysalis, which is dark colored, rough, with
the tip of the abdomen obtusely conical, ending in
four tubercles, the pair above, long and truncate, those
below broad and short. Some of them give out the moth
the same summer, but most of them pass the winter and
do not issue as moths until the following spring.

THE PEARL WOOD NYMPH.
(Eudryas unio, Hibner),

This little moth is also closely allied to, and much re-
sembling the preceding species. It is smaller, and differs
from the Beautiful Wood Nymph in having the outer
border of the front wings paler and of a tawny color,
with the inner edge wavy instead of straight; and in that
of the hind wings being less distinct, more double, and
extending to the outer angle.

The larva is said by Dr. Fitch to so much resemble that
of the preceding species that ‘‘ we as yet know not whether
230 INJURIOUS INSECTS

there are any marks whereby they can be distinguished
from each other.” The moth is more common in the
West than its larger ally, and though we have never bred
it from the larva, yet we have often met with a worm
which, for various reasons, we take to be this species.
It never grows to be quite so large as the other, and may
readily he distinguished by its more decided bluish cast;
by having but four light and four dark stripes to each
segment, by having no orange band across the middle seg-
ments, and by the spots, with the exception of two on
the back placed in the middle light band, being almost
obsolete. The head, shield on first segment, hump on
the 11th, and a band on the 12th, are orange, spotted
with black. Venter orange, becoming dusky towards
head; feet and legs also orange, with blackish extremities,
and with spots on their outside at base.

This worm works for the most part in the terminal
buds of the vine, drawing the leaves together by a weak
silken thread, and cankering them. It forms a simple
earthen cocoon, or frequently bores into a piece of old
wood, and changes to chrysalis, which averages but 0.36-
inch in length: this chrysalis is reddish-brown, covered
on the back with rows of very minute teeth, with the tip
of the abdomen truncated, and terminating above in a
thick blunt spine each side.

From the above accounts, we hope our readers will have
no difficulty in distinguishing between these three blue
caterpillars of the Grape-vine.

RemeprEes.—The larve of the two Wood Nymphs hare
a fondness for boring into old pieces of wood, to transform
to the chrysalis state, and Mr. T. B. Ashton, of White
Creek, N. Y., found that they would even bore into corn
cobs for this purpose in preference to entering the
ground, wherever such cobs were accessible. The Eight-
spotted Forester, on the contrary, has no such habit, and
while the only mode of combating it is to pick the larve
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 231

off and burn them, the Wood Nymphs may be more
easily subdued by scattering a few corn-cobs under the
vines in the summer—to be raked up and burned in the
winter. It has been suggested that many of these moths
might be destroyed by exposing poisoned molasses or
syrup at the time of their appearance in spring. White
HcHebore as described under Currant and Gooseberry
would no doubt be efficacious, and good results may be
expected to follow the use of Pyrethrum, or Persian In-
sect Powder.

THE GRAPE LEAF-FOLDER.

(Desmia maculalis, West.)

This has long been known to depredate on the leaves
of the Grape-vine in many widely separated parts of
North America. It is not uncommon in Canada West,
and is found in the extreme southern parts of Georgia.
It appears to be far more injurious, however, in the in-
termediate country, or between latitude thirty-five and
forty degrees, than in any other sections, and in South-
ern Illinois and Central Missouri proves more or less in-
jurious every year. It belongs to the same family as
our notorious Clover-worm, which attacks our clover
stacks and mows.

This genus is characterized by the elbowed or knotted
appearance of the male antenne, in contrast with the
smooth, thread-like female antenne; the maxillary palpi
are not visible, while the compressed and feathery labial
palpi are recurved against the eyes, and reach almost to
their summit; the body extends beyond the hind wings.
The moth of the Grape Leaf-folder is a very pretty little
thing, expanding on an average almost an inch, with a
length of body of about one-third of an inch. It is con-
spicuously marked, and the sexes differ sufficiently to
have given rise to two names, the female having been
232 INJURIOUS INSECTS

named Botys bicolor. The color is black, with an opal-
escent reflection, and the under surface differs only from
the upper in being less bright; all the wings are bordered
with white. The front wings of both sexes are each fur-
nished with two white spots; but while in the male
(fig. 143, 4), there is but one large spot on the hind wings,
iu the female (fig. 143, 5), this spot is invariably more or
less constricted in the middle, especially above, and is
often entirely divided into two distinct spots. The body
of the male has but one distinct transverse band, and a
longitudinal white dash at its extremity superiorly, while
that of the female has two white bands. The antenna,

 

Fig. 143.—GRaPE LEAF-FOLDER (Desmia maculalis, West.)
1, Worm ; 2, Head, etc., enlarged ; 8, Chrysalis ; 4, Male; 5, Female.

as already stated, are still more characteristic, those of
the male being elbowed and thickened near the middle,
waile those of the female are simple and thread-like.

There are two broods in this latitude—and probably
three farther south—during the year; the first moths ap-
pearing in June, the second in August, and the worms
produced from these last hibernating in the chrysalis
state. The eggs are scattered in small patches over the
vines, and the worms are found of all sizes at the same
time. These last change to chrysalids in twenty-four to
thirty days from hatching, and give forth the moths in
about a week afterwards,

The worm (fig. 143, 1), folds rather than rolls the leaf,
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 233

by fastening two portions together by its silken threads;
and for this reason, in contradistinction to the many leaf-
rollers, may be popularly known as the ‘‘Grape Leaf-
folder.” Itis of a glass-green color, and very active,
wriggling, jumping and jerking either way at every touch.
The head and thoracic segments are marked as at figure
143, 2. If let alone these worms will soon defoliate a
vine, and the best method of destroying them is by
crushing suddenly within the leaf, with both hands. To
prevent their appearance, however, requires far less
trouble. The chrysalis is formed within the fold of the
leaf, and by going over the vineyard in October, or any
time before the leaves fall, and carefully plucking and
destroying all those that are folded and crumpled, the
supply for the following year will be cut off. This should
be done collectively to be positively effectual, for the
utmost vigilance will avail but little if one is surrounded
with slovenly neighbors.

We believe this insect shows no preference for any par-
ticular kind of grape-vine, having found it on all the
cultivated, as well as the wild varieties. Its natural ene-
mies are Spiders, Wasps, and a small Tuchina fly, which
attacks it in the larva state, and a small clay-yellow
beetle is supposed to attack it.

THE COMMON YELLOW BEAR,
(Spilosoma Virginica, Fabr.)

This is one of the most common North American in-
sects. The moth, which is very generally dubbed “the
Miller,” frequently flies into our rooms at night.

Though the moth is so common, how few persons ever
think of itas the parent of that frequent and most trouble-
some of caterpillars, which Harris has so aptly termed
the Yellow Bear. ‘These caterpillars are quite frequently
234 INJURIOUS INSECTS

found on the Grape-vine, and when about one-fourth
grown bear a considerable resemblance to the mature
larva of the Grape-vine Plume. They seldom appear,
however, until that species has disappeared, and may
always be distinguished from it by their semi-gregarious
habit at this time of their life, and by living exposed
on the leaf (generally the underside) instead of forming
a retreat within which to hide themselves, as does the
Plume.

The Yellow Bear is found of all sizes from June to
October; and though quite fond of the Vine, is by no
means confined to that plant. It is, in fact, a very gen-
eral feeder, being found on a great variety of herbaceous
plants, both wild and cultivated, as butternut, lilac,
beans, peas, convolvulus, corn, currant, gooseberry, cot-
ton, sunflower, plantain, smart-weed, verbenas, gera-
niums, and almost any other plant with soft, tender
leaves. ‘These caterpillars are indeed so indifferent as to
their diet, that we have actually known one to subsist
entirely, from the time it cast its last skin till it spun up,
on dead bodies of the Camel Cricket (Mantis Carolina).

When young they are invariably bluish-white, but
when full grown they may be found either of a pale
cream-color, yellow, light brown, or very dark-brown,
the different colors often appearing in the same brood of
worms, as we have proved by experiment. Yellow is the
most common color, and in all the varieties the yenter is
dark, and there is a characteristic longitudinal black
line, more or less interrupted, along each side of the
body, and a transverse line of the same color (sometimes
faint) between the joints; the head and feet are ochre-
yellow, and the hairs spring from dark yellow warts, of
which there are ten on each joint, those on joint 1 being
scarcely distinguishable, and those on joint 12 coalescing.
There are two broods of these worms each year, the
broods intermixing, and the last passing the winter in the
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 235

chrysalis state. The chrysalis is formed in a trivial
cocoon, constructed almost entirely of the caterpillar’s
hairs, which, though held in position by a few very
fine silken threads, are fastened together mainly by
the interlocking of their minute barbs, and the manner
in which the caterpillar interweaves them.

The best time to destroy these worms is soon after
they hatch from their little round yellow eggs, which
are deposited in clusters; for, as already intimated, they
then feed together.

THE GRAPE-VINE PLUME,
(Pterophorus periscelidactylus, Fitch.)

Just about the time that the third bunch of grapes, on
a given shoot, is developing, many of the leaves, and es-
pecially those at the extremity of the shoot, are found
fastened together more or less closely, but generally so as
to form a hollow ball. These leaves are fastened by a
fine white silk, and upon opening the mass and separat-
ing the leaves, one or two caterpillars will generally be
found in the retreat. We say one or two, because the
retreat made by the smallest of the Blue-caterpillars
of the Vine, namely, the larva of the Pearl Wood
Nymph, so closely resembles that of the Grape-vine
Plume under consideration, that until the leaves are
separated it is almost impossible to tell which larva
will be found. Both occur at the same time of year.
In an ordinary season they do not draw together the tips
of the shoots until after the third bunch of grapes is
formed, and in devouring the terminal bud and leaves, °
they do little more than assist the vineyardist in the
pruning which he would soon have to give. They act,
indeed, as Nature’s prunine-knives. But the severe
frost which generally kills the first buds, so retards the
236 INJULRiOUS INSECTS

growth of the vines that the worms come out in full force
before the third bunch has fully formed, and this bunch
is consequently included in the fold made by these
worms, and destroyed.

The larva of the Grape-vine Plume invariably hatches
very soon after the leaves begin to expand; and though it
is very generally called the Leaf-folder, it must not be
confounded with the true
Leaf-folder, described on page
231, and which does its prin-
cipal damage later in the
season. At first the larva
of our Plume is smooth and
almost destitute of hairs, but
after each moult the hairs
become more perceptible, and
when full grown the larva
appears as at figure 144, a,
the hairs arising from a trans-
verse row of warts, each joint
having four above and six
below the breathing pores
(see fig. 144, e). After feed-
ing for about three weeks our
little worm fastens itself se-
ee curely by the hind legs to the
a, Larva; b, Pupa; c, Horn; d, Moth; Underside of some leaf or

oe other object, and, casting
its hairy skin, transforms to the pupa state. The pupa
(fig. 144, b), with the lower part of the three or four
terminal joints attached to a little silk previously spun
by the worm, hangs at a slant of about forty degrees.
It is of peculiar and characteristic form, being ridged
and angular, with numerous projections, and having
remnants of the larval warts; it is obliquely truncated
at the head, but is chiefly distinguished by two com-

 
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 237

pressed sharp-pointed horns, one of which is enlarged
at figure 144, c, projecting from the middle of the
back: it measures, on an average, rather more than one-
third of an inch, and varies in color from light green with
darker green shadings, to pale straw-color with light-
brown shadings.

The moth (fig. 144, d), escapes from this pupa in about
one week, and, like all the species belonging to the genus,
it has a very active and impetuous flight, and rests with
the wings closed and stretched at right angles from the
body, so as to recall the letter T. It is of a tawny yellow
color, the front wings marked with white and dark
brown as in the figure, the hind wings appearing like
burnished copper, and the legs being alternately banded
with white and tawny yellow.

All the moths of the family (Alucitide) to which it
belongs have the wings split up into narrow feather-like
lobes, and for this reason they have very appropriately
been called Plumes in popular language. In the genus
Pterophorus the front wings are divided into two, and
the hind wings into three lobes. In this country, a some-
what larger species (P. carduidactylus, Riley) occurs on
the Thistle, and though bearing a close resemblance to
the Grape-vine Plume in color and markings, yet differs
very remarkably in the larva and pupa states.

From analogy we infer that there are two broods of
these worms each year, and that the last brood passes
the winter in the moth state. We have, however, never
noticed any second appearance of them, and whether this
is from the fact that the vines are covered with a denser
foliage in the summer than in the spring, or whether
there is really but one brood, are points in the history of
our little Plume which yet have to be settled by further
observation.

On account of its spinning habit this insect is easily
kept in check by hand picking.
238 INJURIOUS INSECTS

THE GRAPE-BERRY MOTH.

(Penthina vitivorana, Packard.)

The Grape-berry Moth is an illustration of the well-
known fact that an insect may suddenly appear in many
different parts of the country where it had not been
known before, for previous to 1878 no account of it had
been published, and it was entirely unknown to science.
It had however been noticed im several localities in Ohio,
Illinois, and Missouri, for three or four years, but never
so abundant as in 1878. In that year it was common in
Missouri, in Illinois, and ruined about fifty per cent. of
the grapes around Cleveland, Ohio. It has also appeared
in Pennsylvania, and may appear at any time where
grapes are grown.

Its natural history may be given as follows: About the
1st of July, the grapes that are attacked by the worms
begin to show a discolored spot at the point where the
worm entered, (fig. 145, c). Upon opening such a grape,
‘the inmate, which is at this time very small and white,
with a cinnamon-colored head, will be found at the end
of a winding channel. It continues to feed on the pulp
of the fruit, and upon reaching the seeds, generally eats
out their interior. As it matures it becomes darker, be-
ing either of an olive-green or dark-brown color, with a
honey-yellow head, and if one grape is not sufficient, it
fastens the already ruined grape to an adjoining one, by
means of silken threads, and proceeds to burrow in it as
it did in the first. When full grown it presents the ap-
pearance of figure 145, d, and is exceedingly active. As
soon as the grape is touched the worm will wriggle out
of it, and rapidly let itself to the ground, by means of
its ever-ready silken thread, unless care be taken to pre-
vent its so doing. The cocoon is often formed on the
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 239

leaves of the vine, in a manner essentially characteristic.
After covering a given spot with silk, the worm cuts out
a clean oval flap, leaving it hinged on one side, and,
rolling this flap over, fastens it to the leaf, and thus
forms for itself a cozy little house. One of these cocoons
is represented at figure 146, b, and though the cut is some-
times less regular than shown in the figure, it is undoubt-
edly the normal habit of the insect to make just such a
cocoon as represented. Sometimes, however, it cuts two
crescent-shaped slits, and, rolling up the two pieces, fast-
ens them up in the middle as shown at figure 147. And
frequently it rolls over a piece of the edge of the leaf, in
the manner commonly adopted by leaf-rolling larve,

 

Fig. 145.—GraPe BERRY-MOTH (Penthina vitivorana, Packard.)
a, Moth; b, Larva; c, Punctured Berry; d, Shrunken Berry.

while we have had them spin up in a silk handkerchief,
where they made no cut at all.

In two days after completing the cocoon, the worm
changes to achrysalis. In this state (fig. 146, a), it meas-
ures about one-fifth of an inch, and is quite variable in
color, being generally of a honey-yellow, with a green
shade on the abdomen. In about ten days after this
last change takes place, the chrysalis works itself almost
entirely out of the cocoon, and the little moth repre-
sented at figure 145, a, makes its escape.
240 INJURIOUS INSECTS.

The first moths appear in Southern Illinois and Central
Missouri about the Ist of August, and as the worms are
found in the grapes during the months of August and
September, or even later, and as Mr. Read has kept the
cocoons through the greater part of the winter, there is
every reason to believe that a second
brood of worms is generated from
these moths, and that the second
brood of worms, as is the case of the
Codling-moth of the apple, passes
the winter in the cocoon, and pro-

Fig. 146. duces the moth the following spring,
rout, Pony 2 time to lay the eggs on the
grapes while they are forming.

This worm is found in greatest numbers on such grapes
as the Herbemont, or those varieties which have tender
skins, and close, compact bunches; though it has also
been known to occur on almost every variety grown. As
already stated, there can be little doubt but that the greater
part of the second brood of worms passes the winter in
the cocoon on the fallen leaves; and, in such an event,
many of them may be destroyed by raking up and burn-
ing the leaves at any time during the winter. The ber-
ries attacked by the worm may easily
be detected, providing there is no
“grape rot” in the vineyard, either by
a discolored spot as shown at figure 145,
c, or by the entire discoloration and
shrinking of the berry, as is shown at
figure 145, d. When the vineyard is attacked by the
‘‘rot,” the wormy berries are not so easily distinguished,
as they bear a close resemblance to the rotting ones. All
fallen berries should be picked up and destroyed.

 

 

 

Fig. 147.—cHysaLis.
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 241

THE GRAPE-VINE FLEA-BEETLE.
(Graptodera [formerly Haltica] chalybea, Ilig.)

Of the numerous insect enemies with which our grape-
growers have to deal, this occupies a prominent place.

The beetles which have hibernated begin their destruc-
tive work in the spring as soon as the buds commence to
swell, and it is at this early period that the greatest dam-

 

Fig. 148.—GRAPE-VINE FLEA-BEETLE (Graptodera chalybea, Nig.)
a, Young Larve on Leaf; 6, Larva, enlarged; c, Chrysalis; d, Beetle.

age is done by the beetles boring into and feeding on said
buds. Later in the season the beetles feed upon the
leaves, and upon these, in the month of May, the female
lays her small orange-colored eggs in clusters. These
soon hatch, and the young dark-colored larve riddle the
leaf as shown in figure 148, a, or when. very numerous
completely devouring it, leaving only the largest ribs,
11
242 INJURIOUS INSECTS

In about a month the full-grown larve (fig. 148, 0), de-
scend into the ground, where each forms a small earthen
cell (fig. 148, c), and changes to a dull-yellowish pupa of
the shape normally assumed in this family. The perfect
beetle issues about three weeks later, from the middle of
June to the middle of July, and again begins to eat the
leaves, but the damage done is trifling compared with
that done in early spring. So far as we have observed
there is but one annual generation, but it is probable
that in the more Southern States there will be two. As
soon as cold weather approaches the beetles retire under
fallen leaves in the ground, at the base of trees, under
loose bark, in houses, in short, in any place which offers
shelter from the cold. ,

In considering the best means of preventing the injuries
of this insect, it must be borne in mind, that, according
to our observations, the female beetle deposits her eggs
by preference on the leaves of the wild grape vines, as
the larve are rarely met with in cultivated vineyards.
It is against the perfect beetle, therfore, that we must
direct our efforts at destruction, and while it is undoubt-
edly desirable to keep the vineyard clear of rubbish in
winter time, by burning wherever fire can be used safely,
this means of destruction loses much of its importance
by the fact that the beetles hibernate in the woods and
in any number of other places where they cannot be de-
stroyed by fire. Dry lime and hellebore, which may be
used to advantage against the larve, have proved useless
against the beetle, while lye and soapsuds cannot be used
strong enough to kill it without injurious effects upon the
plant. Tin pans or pails with some liquid at the bottom
have been used to advantage for collecting the early bee-
tles, which could be knocked into them, and we have re-
peatedly advised for this and other insects that infest the
grape-vine, which fall to the ground upon disturbance, the
use of sheets along the trellis to catch them. Unless re-
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 243

peatedly shaken from such sheets into vessels containing
liquid, the beetles will of course soon escape.

The wonderful efficacy of kerosene in destroying insect
life has long been known. It was used with excellent ef-
fect in shallow tin pans, or on stretched sheets of cloth,
for the destructive locust of the West.

Mr. I. O. Howard, Assistant Entomologist to the De-
partment of Agriculture, employed it successfully on
sheets against the Grape-vine Flea-beetle, finding it so
satisfactory that he did not hesitate to recommend it in
the following terms:

“Take two pieces of common cotton sheeting, each
being two yards long and half as wide; fasten sticks across
the ends of each piece to keep the cloth open, and then
drench with kerosene. Give the sheets thus prepared to
two persons, each having hold of the rods at the opposite
ands of the sheets. Then let these persons pass one sheet
m either side of the vine, being careful to unite the cloth
iround the base of the vine; then let a third person give
the stake to which the vine is attached a sharp blow with
a heavy stick. Such a blow will in nearly every case jar
the beetles into the sheets, where the kerosene kills them
almost instantly.

‘‘This process, after a little experience, can be per-

formed almost as rapidly as the persons employed can
walk from one vine to another. The expense necessary
is very trifling, and boys can do the work quite as well
asmen. Warm bright afternoons are the proper times
for this work to be done, and it should be performed
faithfully every sunny day until the vines are out of dan-
ger.”
° Until something is discovered, which, blown or
syringed on the buds, will keep off the beetles, this
method of Mr. Howard’s of dealing with the insect, will
remaia the best yet known.
244 INJURIOUS INSECTS

THE SPOTTED PELIDNOTA.
(Pelidnota punctata, Linneeus.)

This is the largest and most conspicuous beetle that
attacks the foliage of the Grape-vine, and in the beetle
state it seems to subsist entirely on the leaves of this
plant, and of the closely allied Virginia Creeper. Though
some years it becomes so abundant as to badly riddle the
foliage of our vineyards, yet such instances are excep-
tional; and it usually occurs in such small numbers, and

 

Fig. 149.—THE spoTTeD PELIDNoTA (Lelidnota punctata, Linn.)
a, Grub; b, Pupa; c, Beetle; d, Markings.
is so large and clumsy, that it can not be considered 1
very redoubtable enemy.

Its larva has, for a number of vears, been known to
feed on the decaying roots of different trees. It is a
large clumsy grub (fig. 149, a), bearing a close resemblance
to the comman White Grub of our meadows, and differs
from that species principally in being less wrinkled, and
in having the chitinous covering (or skin, so-called) more
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 245

polished and of a purer white color, and in the distinct
heart-shaped swelling above the vent (fig. 149, d). To-
wards the latter part of June we have found this larva
in abundance, in company with the pupa (fig. 149, 4), in
rotten stumps and roots of the Pear. In preparing for
the pupa state, the larva forms a rather unsubstantial
cocoon of its own excrement, mixed with the surround-
ing wood. The pupa state lasts but from eight to ten
days, and the beetle (fig. 149, ¢), is found on our vines
during the months of July, August, and September. It
is not yet known how long a time is required for the de-
velopment of the larva, but from analogy we may infer
that the insect lives in that state upwards of three years.

This beetle was named about a century ago by Linneus,
who met with a specimen in the magnificent collection
of shells and insects belonging to Queen Louise Ulrica of
Sweden. It occurs throughout the States and Upper
Canada, and is even met with in the West Indies. It
flies and feeds by day. The wing-covers are of a slightly
metallic clay-yellow color, with three distinct black spots
on each, and the wings themselves are dark-brown inclin-
ing to black; the thorax is usually a little darker than
the wing-covers, with one spot each side; the abdomen
beneath, and legs, are of a bronzed-green. It is easily
kept in check by hand-picking.

THE ROSE-BUG, OR ROSE-CHAFER.
(Macrodactylus subspinosus, Fabr.)

This insect does its injurious work in the beetle state.
The larva develops under ground. The following ac-
count is condensed from the standard work of Harris.
In arranging insects according to the plants to which
they are injurious, it is difficult to decide where to place
this; if we take into account the pecuniary loss it causes,
246 INJURIOUS INSECTS

perhaps the grape-grower is the greatest sufferer, and it
is accordingly placed among the insects especially injuri-
ons to the Grape:

“The prevalence of this insect on the Rose, and its
annual appearance coinciding with the blossoming of
(out flower, have gained for it the popular name by which
itis here known. For some time after they were first
noticed, Rose-bugs appeared to be confined to-their fa-
vorite, the blossoms of the Rose; but within forty years
they have greatly increased in number, have attack-
ed at random various kinds of plants in swarms, and
have become notorious for their extensive and deplorable
ravages. The Grape-vine, in particular, the Cherry,
Plum, and Apple trees, have annually suffered by their
depredations; many other fruit trees and shrubs, garden
vegetables and corn, and even the trees of the forest,
and grass of the fields, have been laid under contribu-
tion by these indiscriminate teeders, by whom leaves,
flowers, and fruits, are alike consumed. The unexpected
arrival of these insects in swarms at the first coming,
and their sudden disappearance at the close of their
career, are remarkable facts in their history. They come
forth from the ground during the second week in June,
or about the time of the blossoming of the Damask
Rose, and remain from thirty to forty days. At the end
of this period the males perish, while the females enter
the earth, lay their eggs, return to the surface, and,
after lingering a few days, die also.

“The eggs laid by each female are about thirty in
number, and are deposited from one to four inches be-
neath the surface of the soil; they are nearly globular,
whitish, and are one-thirtieth of an inch in diameter,
and are hatched twenty days after they are laid. The
young larvee begin to feed on such tender roots as are
within their reach. They attain their full size in an-
tumn, being then nearly three-quarters of an inch long,
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 247

and about an eighth of an inch in diameter. In October
they descend below the reach of frost, and pass the win-
ter ina torpid state. In the spring they approach to-
ward the surface, and each one forms for itself a little
cell, of an oval shape. Within this cell the grub is trans-
formed toa pupa during the month of May. During
the month of June, the included beetle bursts open its
earthen cell, and digs its way to the surface

of the ground. Thus the various changes, from

the egg to the full developmeut of the perfected

beetle, are completed within the space of one

year.”

The beetle is given of its real size, about 7
seven-twentieths of an inch in length, in figure ak
150; its body is entirely covered with a very
short and close ashen-yellow down; its legs are of a pale-
red color, while the joints of the very long feet are
tipped with black.

RemMeEDIEs.—Such being the metamorphoses and habits
of the Rose-bugs, it is evident we cannot attack them in
the egg, the grub, or the pupa state. When they have
issued from their subterranean retreats, and have con-
gregated upon our vines, trees, and other vegetable pro-
ductions, in the complete enjoyment of their propensi-
ties, we must unite our efforts to seize and crush the
invaders. They must indeed be crushed, scalded, or
burned, to deprive them of life, for they are not affected
by any of the applications usually found destructive to
other insects. Experience has proved the utility of
gathering them by hand, or of shaking them or brush-
ing them from the plants into tin vessels containing a
little water. They should be collected daily, especially
in early morning, when they are torpid, and burned or
scalded. If a film of kerosene is floated upon the water
in the vessels in which they are caught, it will help to
prevent their escape.
248 INJURIOUS INSECTS

THE GRAPE PHYLLOXERA.

(Phylloxera vastatrix, Planchon.}

This minute insect, which has caused such devasta-
tions in the vineyards of Europe, is a native of this
country, where its destructive work was known long be-
fore the cause of it was discovered. The life history
of the Phylloxera has been worked out by Prof.
Riley in his Missouri Reports, especially in the Sixth,
from which the following account is condensed.

The insect presents itself under several different forms,
all of which belong to two types. One of these is the
Leaf-gall type (gadlicola, R.), and the other is found
upon the roots of the vine (radicicola, R.).

First, as TO THE Lear-caLtL Type ((Gallicola.)—
The gall or excrescence produced by this is a fleshy
swelling of the under side of the
leaf, more or less wrinkled and
hairy, with a corresponding depres-
sion of the upper side, the margin

oes of the cup being fuzzy, and
1g. Lol.
ee ee Galea
of Abortive Galls. 5S § J cup
shaped, but some times greatly
elongated or purse-shaped (figure 151, a, 0).

Soon after the first vine-leaves that put out in the
spring have fully expanded, a few scattering galls may be
foand, mostly on the lower leaves, nearest the ground.
These vernal galls are usually large (of the size of an
ordinary pea,) and the normal green is often blushed
with rose where exposed to the light of the sun. On
carefully opening one of them (fig. 152, d), we shall find
the mothcr-louse diligently at work surrounding herself
with pale-yellow eges of an elongate oval form, scarcely
-Ol-inch long, and not quite half as thick (fig. 152,

 
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 249

c). She is about .04-inch long, generally spherical
in shape, of a dull-orange color, and looks not unlike
an immature seed of the common purslane. At times,
by the elongation of the abdomen, she is more or
less perfectly pear-shaped. Her members are all dusky,
and so short, compared to her swollen body, that she ap-
pears very clumsy, and undoubtedly would be outside of
her gall, which she never has occasion to quit, and which

 

Fig. 152.—GRAPE PHYLLOXERA—LEAF-GALL TYPE.

a,b, Newly: hatched Larva, ventral and dorsal view; c, Egg; d, Section of Gall,
Sw. elling of Tendril; /,g. 2%, Mother Gall-louse— “jateral, dorsal and ventral’
views; i, her ‘Antenna; j, her _two-jointed Tarsus. Natural sizes
indicated at sides by small circles.

serves her alike as dwelling house and coffin. More care-
fully examined, her skin is seen to be shagreened or mi-
nutely granulated and furnished with rows of minute
hairs. The eggs begin to hatch, when six or eight days
old, into active little oval, six-footed beings, which differ
from their mother in their brighter yellow color and more
perfect legs and antenne, the tarsi being furnished with
long, pliant hairs, terminating in a more or less distinct
globule. In hatching, the egg splits longitudinally from
the anterior end, and the young louse, whose pale-yellow
250 INJURIOUS INSECTS

is in strong contrast with the more dusky color of the
egg-shell, escapes in the course of two minutes. Issuing
from the mouth of the gall, these young: lice scatter over
the vine, most of them finding their way to the tender
terminil leaves, where they settle in the downy bed which
these leaves affords, and commence pumping up and ap-
propriating the sap. The tongue-sheath is blunt and
heavy, but the tongue proper—consisting of three brown,
elastic, and wiry filaments, which, united, make so fine
a thread as scarcely to be visible with the strongest mi-
croscope—is sharp, and easily run into the leaf. Its
pancture causes a curious change in the tissues of the
leaf, the growth being so stimulated that the under side
bulges and thickens, while the down on the upper side
increases in a circle around the louse, and finally hides
and covers it as it recedes more and more within the
deepening cavity. Sometimes the lice are so crowded
that two occupy the same gall. If, from the premature
death of the louse, or other cause, the gall becomes abor-
tive before being completed, then the circle of thickened
down or fuzz enlarges with the expansion of the leaf, and
remains (fig. 151, ¢), to tell the tale of the futile effort,
Otherwise, in a few days the gall is formed, and the
inheld louse, which, while eating its way into house and
home, was also growing apace, begins a parthenogenetic
maternity by the deposition of fertile eggs, as her imme-
diate parent had done before. She increases in bulk
with pregnancy, and one egg follows another in quick
succession, until the gall is crowded. The mother dies
and shrivels, and the young, as they hatch, issue and
found new galls. This process continues during the
summer until the fifth or sixth generation. Every egg
brings forth a fertile female, which soon becomes wonder-
fully prolific. The number of eggs found in a single gall
averages about two hundred; yet it will sometimes reach
as many as fivehundred. yen supposing there are but
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 251

five generations during the year, and taking the lowest
of the above figures, the immense prolificacy of the spe-
cies becomes manifest. As summer advances, they fre-
quently become prodigiously multiplied, completely cov-
ering the leaves with their galls, when they appear as
in figure 153. The lice also settle on the tendrils,
leaf-stalks, and tender branches, where they also form
knots and rounded excrescences (figure 152, ¢), much
resembling those made on the roots. In such acase, the
vine loses its leaves prematurely. Usually, however, the

 

Fig. 153.—LEAF OF THE GRAPE-VINE WITH PHYLLOXERA GALL.

natural enemies of the louse seriously reduce its numbers
by the time the vine ceases its growth in the fall, and
the few remaining lice, finding no more succulent and
suitable leaves, seek the roots. Thus, by the end of
September, the galls are mostly deserted, and those which
are left are almost always infested with mildew, and
eventually turn brown and decay. On the roots, the
young lice attach themselves singly or in little groups,
and thus hibernate. The male gall-louse has never been
252 INJURIOUS INSECTS

seen, and there is every reason to believe that he has no
existence. Nor does the female ever acquire wings. It
is but a transient summer state, not at all essential to .
the perpetuation of the species, and does, compared with
the other type, but trifling damage.

As already indicated, the autumnal individuals of gal-
licola descend to the roots, and there hibernate. There
is every reason to believe also that, throughout the sum-

 

 

Fig. 154.—GRAPE PHYLLOXERA, ROOT-INHABITING TYPE.

a, Roots of Clinton vine, showing relation of Swellings to Leaf-galls, and power of
resisting decomposition ; b, Larva as it appears when hibernating; c,d,
Antenna and Leg of same; e. f, & Forms of more mature Lice;

h, Granulations of Skin; i, Tubercle.

mer, some of the young lice hatched in the galls are
passing on to the roots; as, considering their size, they
are great travellers, and show a strong disposition to
drop, their natural lightness enabling them thus to
reach the earth with ease and safety. At all events. we
know from experiment, that the young gallicola, if con-
fined to vines on which they do not normally form galls,
will, in the middle of summer, make themselves perfectly
at home on the roots.
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 253

Tue Roor-InHaBitina TyPsE (Radicicola).—We have
seen that, in all probability, gadlicola exists only in the
Wingless, shagreened, non-tubercled, fecund female
form. Jadicicola, however, presents itself in two prin-
cipal forms. The newly hatched larve of this type are
undistinguishable, in all essential characters, from those
hatched in the galls; but in due time they shed the
smooth larval skin, and acquire raised warts or tubercles
which at once distinguish them from gallicola. In the
development from this point the two forms are separable
with sufficient ease: one (A) of a more dingy greenish-
yellow, with more swollen fore-body, and more tapering
abdomen; the other (B) of a brighter yellow, with the
lateral outline more perfectly oval, and with the abdomen
more truncated at tip.

The first or mother form (fig. 154, f, g), is the ana-
logue of gailicola, as it never acquires wings, and is oc-
cupied, from adolescence till death, with the laying of
eggs, which are less numerous and somewhat larger than
those found in the galls. We have counted in the spring
as many as two hundred and sixty-five eggs in a cluster,
and all evidently from one mother, who was yet very
plump, and still occupied in laying. As a rule, however,
they are less numerous. With pregnancy this form be-
comes quite tumid and more or less pyriform, and is con-
tent to remain with scarcely any motion in the more
secluded parts of the roots, such as creases, sutures, and
depressions, which the knots afford. The skin is dis-
tinctly shagreened (fig. 154, h,) as in gallicola. The
warts, though usually quite visible with a good lens, are
at other times more or less obsolete, especially on the ab-
domen.

The second or more oval form (fig. 154, e), is destined
to become winged. Its tubercles, when once acquired,
are always conspicuous; it is more active than the other,
and its eyes increase rather than diminish in complexity
254 INJURIOUS INSECTS

with age. From the time it is one-third grown, the
little dusky wing-pads may be discovered, though less
conspicuous than in the pupa state, which is soon after

 

Vig. 155.—G@RAPE PHYLLOXERA, RUOT-INAABITING TYPE.

a, Shows a healthy root; b,one on which the lice are working, representing the
Knots and swellings caused by their punctures; c,a Root that has heen de-
serted by them, and where the rootlets have commenced to decay ;

d, d, d, show how the lice are found on the larger roots ; e, fe-

Male pupa, dorsal view; f, same, ventral view ; 7, winged
female, dorsal yiew; hk, same, ventral view.

assumed. The pupe (fig. 155, e, f), are still more active,
and, after feeding a short time, they make their way to
the light of day, crawl over the ground and over the
vines, and finally shed their last skin and assume the
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN, 255

winged state, which is shown in figure 155, g and A.
In this last moult the tubercled skin splits on the back,
and is soon worked off, the body in the winged insect
having neither tubercles nor granulations.

These winged insects are most abundant in August
and September, but may be found as early as the first of
July, and until the vines cease growing in the fall. The
majority of them are females, with the abdomen large,
and more or less elongate. From two to five eggs may
invariably be found in the abdomen of these, and are
easily seen when the insect is held between the light, or
mounted in balsam or glycerine. A certain proportion
have an entirely different shaped and smaller body, the
abdomen being short, contracted, and terminating in a
fleshy and dusky protuberance; the limbs stouter, and
the wings proportionately larger and stouter.

This form has been looked upon as the male by myself,
Planchon, Lichtenstein and others. Yet we have never
succeeded in witnessing it performing the functions of a
male, nor has any one else that we are aware of. The
males in all plant-lice are quite rare, and, in the great
majority of species, unknown.

As fall advances the winged individuals become more
and more scarce, and as winter sets in, only eggs, newly-
hatched larve, and a few wing-less, egg-bearing mothers
are seen. These last die and disappear during the winter,
which is mostly passed in the larva state, with here and
there a few eggs. The larve thus hibernating (fig. 154,
b), become dingy, with the body and limbs more
shagreened and the claws less perfect than when first
hatched; and, of thousands examined, all bear the same
appearance, and all are furnished with strong suckers.
Assoon as the ground thaws and the sap starts in the
spring, these young lice work off their winter coat, and,
growing apace, commence to deposit eggs.

At this season of the year, with the exuberant juices of
256 INJULKIOUS INSECTS

the plant, the swellings on the roots are large and succu-
lent, and the lice plump to repletion. One generation of
the mother form (a) follows another—fertility increasing
with the increasing heat and Juxuriance of summer—
until at least the third or fourth has been reached before
the winged form (s) makes its appearance in the latter
part of June or early in July.

Since (in 1870) the absolute identity of these two types
was proved, by showing that the gall-lice become root-
lice, the fact has been repeatedly substantiated by dif-
ferent observers. (In 1873 galls were obtained on the
leaves of a Clinton vine from the root-inhabiting type,
thus establishing the identity of the two types).

THE MORE MANIFEST AND EXTERNAL EFFECTS OF
THE Puytioxers Disease.—The result which follows
the puncture of the root-louse isan abnormal swelling,
differing in form according to the particular part and
texture of the root. These swellings, which are generally
commenced at the tip of the rootlets, eventually rot, and
the lice forsake them and betake themselves to fresh ones
—the living tissue being necessary to the existence of this
as of all plant-lice. The decay affects the parts adjacent
to the swellings, and on the more fibrous roots cuts off
the supply of sap to all parts beyond. As these last de-
compose, the lice congregate on the larger ones, until at
last the root system literally wastes away. The appear-
ance of the root fibres before and after they have been
attacked by the insect, is shown in figure 155, a, 4, ¢.

During the first year of the attack there are scarcely
any outward manifestations of disease, though the fibrous
roots, if examined, will be found covered with nodosities,
particularly in the latter part of the growing season.
The disease is then in its incipient stage. The second
year all these fibrous roots vanish, and the lice not only
prevent the formation of new ones, but, as just stated,
settle on the larger roots, which they injure, and which
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 257

become disorganized and rot. At this stage the out-
ward symptoms of the disease first become manifest, in a
sickly, yellowish appearance of the leaf and a reduced
growth of cane. As the roots continue to decay, these
symptoms become more acute, until by about the third
year the vine dies. Such is the course of the malady on
the European vine (V. vinifera), when circumstances are
favorable to the increase of the pest. When the vine is
about dying it is generally impossible to discover the
cause of the death, the lice, which had been so numerous
the first and second years of invasion, having left for
fresh pasturage.

Mone or Spreapinc.—The gall-lice can only spread
by travelling, when newly hatched, from one vine to
another; and if this slow mode of progression were the
only one which the species is capable of, the disease
would be comparatively harmless. The root-lice, how-
ever, not only travel under ground along the interlock-
ing roots of adjacent vines, but crawl actively over the
surface of the ground, or wing their way from vine to
vine, and from vineyard to vineyard. Doubts have been
repeatedly expressed by European writers as to the power
of such a delicate and frail-winged fly to traverse the air
to any great distance.

But there is abundant evidence as to their power of
flight; they have been caught in spider-webs in Europe,
and have been captured on sheets of paper prepared with
bird-lime, and suspended in an infested vineyard, and
there is no doubt that they can sustain flight for a con
siderable time under favorable conditions, and, with the
assistance of the wind, they may be wafted to great dis-
tances. These winged females are much more numerous
in the fall of the year than has been supposed. Where-
ever they settle, the few ezgs which each carries are suf-
ficient to perpetuate the species, and thus spread the dis-
ease, which, in the fullest sense, may be called contagions.
258 INJURIOUS INSECTS, ,

SUSCEPTIBILITY OF DIFFERENT VINES TO THE DiIs-
EASE.—As a means of coping with the Phylloxera dis-
ease, a knowledge of the relative susceptibility of different
varieties to the attacks and injuries of the insect is of
paramount importance. As is often the case with injurious
insects, the Phylloxera shows a preference for and thrives
best on certain species, and even discriminates between
varieties; or, what amounts to the same thing, practi-
cally, some varieties resist its attacks, and enjoy a rela-
tive immunity from its injuries. It may be stated that
there is a relation between the susceptibility of the vine
and the character of its roots—the slow-growing, more
tender-wooded, and consequently more tendcr-rooted
varieties succumbing most readily; the more vigorous
growers resisting best. The European Vine (Vitis vini-
fera), in its many varieties, is little affected by the leaf-
inhabiting type, but it succumbs in a few years to the
root-lice. Varieties of the Northern Fox-grape (V. La-
brusea) vary much; some, like the Concord and others,
resist well, while others, like the Catawba, suffer severe-
ly. Varicties derived from 7. estivalis and V. cordifo-
fia are nearly exempt from the root-form, but some of
them have the leaves much attacked by the gall-type.
The Southern Fox-grape (V. vulpina) is entirely free
from Phylloxera in any form.

REMEDIES AND PREVENTIVES.—Thus far, the only
practicable method of combating the insect when estab-
lished upon the root, is by drowning it by irrigating the
soil. In Europe, the method largely adopted is to graft
their vines upon varieties, the roots of which are Phyl-
loxera proof; for this purpose American varieties have
been sent to Europe in immense numbers, as cuttings
and as rooted plants. An enterprising grape-growing
firm has even established nurseries in Europe for the pro-
duction of vines that resist the Phyloxera,
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 259
THE GRAPE LEAF-HOPPER,
(Tettigonia vitis, Harris.)

In many parts of the country, if one passes through a
vineyard during July or August, he will be annoyed by the
clouds of a small insect which, as it flies, appears as if it
were of a dirty white color. These insects are generally
known as ‘ Thrips,” a name belonging to a different
genus, and which should be superseded by Leaf-hopper.
The insect belongs to the Order Hemiptera, or true Bugs.
It isthe Tettigonia vitis of Harris (though some authors
place it in Zrythroneura), who thus describes it: “In its

perfect state it measures one-tenth of inch

in length. It is of a pale-yellow color;
there are two little red lines on the

\ . head. The back part of the thorax,
| the scutel, the base of the wing-covers,
‘\, and a broad band across their middle
are scarlet; the tips of the wing-covers
Fig. 156.—craps are blackish, and there are some little
THAFHOPPER. yed lines between the broad band and
the tips. The head is crescent-shaped above, and the
eyelets are situated just below the ridge of the front.”
The insects appear upon the underside of the leaves
in June, but are not much noticed, as they do not
have their wings until later. They pass their larve state
quietly, sucking at the juices of the leaves, which they
penetrate with their beaks, though if disturbed at this
time, they leap from leaf to leaf in a lively manner.
They undergo all their changes on the leaves, and their
emptyskins may be found on the underside of the leaves,
or upon the ground beneath the vine, in great numbers.
The insect probably hibernates in the perfect state, hid-
den in the rubbish and in tufts of grass. When present
in great numbers, they rob the vine of its proper nutri-

 
   
260 INJURIOUS INSECTS

ment, and induce a weakly condition which results in
poorly developed fruit. They attack the thin-leaved va-
rieties in preference to those with more robust foliage,
such as the Concord, and vines of that class. Occasion-
ally they cause much annoyance by attacking the exotic
vine under glass. The Leaf-hopper seems to be more
abundant at the East than at the West, and in some sea-
sons is very numerous in the vineyards of Western New
York. It has been suggested to destroy the young insect
by fumigating with tobacco smoke, using a movable tent
to cover the trellis and confine the smoke. When the
insect can fly, it may be destroyed by carrying lighted
torches through the vine-yard, though at this time most
of the mischief has been done.

THE CRANBERRY.

Several insects are injurious to the Cranberry, but as
these are treated of in full in the standard works on the
culture of this fruit, and as they are of interest only to a
comparatively small number of persons, a brief enumera-
tion is all that need be given here. The conditions under
which Cranberry culture only can be successful—the
ability to flood the plantation with water, and to draw it
otf at will—are those which afford a remedy against
nearly all of these insects. Flooding at the right time
will allow the cultivator to destroy the insects that attack
the vines, as well as those that injure the fruit.

THE VINE-worMm is the larva of a moth (Anchylopera
vacctniant) which feeds upon the foliage. In Massachu-
setts, it hatches about the 20th of Mav, from eggs which
have remained on the vine during the winter, and again,
about the 4th of July, a second crop appears from eggs
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 261

laid in June. The eggs are a flat, circular scale, of a
honey-yellow color, and are deposited on the underside
of the leaves.

Tue Fruir-worm is also the larva of a moth, buta
distinct and not identified species. It is of a yellowish-
green color, and enters berry after berry, eating the in-
side of each, and finally goes into the ground to spin its
cocoon, and change to a chrysalis state; unlike the Vine-
worm, which spins its cocoon among the leaves at the end
of the vine, drawing two together for this purpose.

The leaves are also attacked by the larva of a Saw-fly
(Pristiphora identidem), but this insect is not numerous.
The Fly makes a slit in the leaves, depositing an egg
within. Broods of this species appear in June and
August.

THE Bup-worm, a small reddish-brown beetle (A ntho-
nomus suturalis), about the middle of July, selects blos-
soms just before they are ready to expand, and deposits
in them an egg through a hole made in the center of the
bud. The beetle usually cuts off the bud after deposit-
ing itsegg. A dull-white grub hatches from the egg,
and feeds within the bud, changing to a pupa, and then
to a perfect beetle, and eats its way out, leaving a round
hole in the side of the bud. The beetles sometimes,
though seldom, feed upon the berry. The larve are
often killed by a minute chalets fly.

Some other insects are occasionally injurious; if not
disastrously so, they serve to weaken the vines and inter-
fere with their productiveness. Among these is a Leaf-
hopper (Clastoptera proteus, Fitch.) In its larval state,
it covers itself with froth; the perfect insect jumps with
the agility of a flea. Also a small Gall-gnat, the maggot
of which is in some places culled the ‘‘ Tip-worm,” as it
draws together the small leaves at the tips of the grow-
ing shoots,
Insects of the Flower Garden and Green-fouse.

Flowering plants, whether in the green-house or in the
dwelling, are subject to the attacks of several insects,
which, unless they are kept in subjection, soon cause the
plants to assume an unhealthy appearance. Most of the
insects that infest the plants when indoors, as a general
thing, remain upon them when they are placed outside
during warm weather, and some of them attack hardy
plants also.

In green-houses, where water can be freely used to
shower the plants, and where the house can be filled with
tobacco smoke as often as may be necessary, there is little
difficulty in keeping the plants in a healthy condition so
far as insects are concerned. Those who cultivate win-
dow plants find it more difficult to keep them free from
insects by these means. Where syringing is necessary,
the pots may be set in a bath-tub or sink, or, if it is de-
sired to wet the underside of the leaves, laid upon the
side, and water applied by means of a syringe, or by the
use of a watering-pot with a fine rose; this should be held
high above the plants in order that the water may fall
with force against the foliage. All smooth-leaved plants,
such as Camellias, Ivy, ete., should have the leaves oc-
casionally washed on both sides, by the use of a sponge
or soft cloth; this will not only remove the dust, but be
of great service in keeping the insects in check.

House plants may be fumigated by having a large box,
in which they may be shut up, and the smoke made by
damp tobacco stems or other cheap form of tobacco upon
a few live coals placed in an iron vessel or an old flower

262
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN, 263

pot. As the use of smoke in the small way is incon-
venient, und as there is a risk of injuring the plants by
over-heating, it is better to apply tobacco in the liquid
form. The cheapest kind of tobacco are the ‘‘ stems,”
really the mid-ribs of the leaves, removed by the cigar
makers. Either these or cheap tobacco of any other kind,
may be placed in any convenient vessel and covered with
water. ‘The infusion thus made will be too strong to ap-
ply to the plants, and when used should be diluted with
wuter until it is of the color of ordinary tea. The plants
may be syringed with this, or it may be applied with the
watering-pot, as suggested for the use of water. The
most thorough method of using tobacco-water, and on
the whole the most convenient, is to have it properly di-
luted in a deep tub or barrel, and to dip the plants in it,
moving them up and down a few times before removing
them. If this can be done once a week the plants will
be kept free from most insects.

The insects which attack flowering plants in the open
air only, are chiefly the Rose-bug and the Rose-slug,
though grasshoppers, when abundant, are sometimes
troublesome. The Rose-bug by no means confines itself
to the plant from which it takes its name; itis described
under the Insects Injurious to the Grape-vine on page 245,

THE ROSE-SLUG.
(Selandria rose, Harris.)

The main points in the history of this well-known gar-
den pest are given by Harris in his ‘‘ Insects Injurious to
Veyetation,” etc. It undoubtedly originated in New
England, probably upon Rosa lucida or R. blanda, as
these are the species of wild Rose upon which it prefera-
bly feeds. Dr. Harris first observed it in the gardens of
Cambridge, Mass., in 1831, and observes that six or seven
264 INJURIOUS INSECTS

years elapsed before it made its appearance in Milton,
where he then resided. It feeds only at night, except in
very cloudy weather, and exclusively upon the upper sur-
face of the leaf, from which it gnaws the soft portion,
leaving the veins intact. During the day it rests motion-
less on the underside of the leaf.

The larval life of this insect extends over a period of
fourteen days, during which it moults four times. The
full-grown slug is rather more than one-third of an inch
in length, by one-ninth in diameter. The thoracic joints
are somewhat smaller and humped, but not puffed out
laterally, as in some closely allied species, nor has it, like
these, a slimy surface. The color is a translucent dull-
yellow, becoming more opaque at the last moult. Soon
after this it enters the ground, and incloses itself in a
fragile, earthen cocoon, within which it remains dormant
for many months, not changing to pupa until the follow-
ing spring. Harris’s assertion that it is double-brooded
has long been doubted by careful observers, and is un-
questionably disproved by Miss Murtfeldt’s experiments.

Owing to the longevity of the flies and the different
dates at which they emerge, there is a succession of lar-
ve, covering a period of from four to six weeks; but they
are all of the same brood, and when once they have
entered the ground, that is the end of them for the sea-
son.

The Rose-slug, like most other insects, has a large
number of natural enemies, but these are not yet ade-
quate to the task of keeping it in check. The attention
of florists has, therefore, been largely directed to the
discovery of some reliable artificial remedy.

Various applications have been tried with more or less
success, among which the most certain in its effects is
whale-oil soup suds, made in the proportions of one pound
of soap to eight gallons of water. The objections to this
remedy are, that it has a disagreeable odor and is hable to
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 265

discolor the opening buds. Dusting freely with White
Hellebore has also been tried with very good success, and
it may be used in water, as directed for Currant worms,
p. 204. The Pyrethrum powders have as yet been used
only to a limited extent, but with the prospect that
throughly applied they would prove effectual.

PLANT-LICE—APHIDES,

There are a great many species of plant-lice or aphides.
Almost every plant is liable to the attacks of some species
peculiar to itself. They are found upon the roots as
well as upon the stems and leaves, where they insert their
long tubular beaks and suck the juices of the plants, and
only change their places when they have exhausted the
sap in that locality. It would be impossible to even men-
tion the various species in a work like this, much less to
give a detailed description of them. Every farmer and
gardener will know from the curled appearance of the
leaves of various trees and herbaceous plants the author
of the mischief.

Numerous parasites keep these destructive plant-lice
greatly in check, and it is always well to look closely, be-
fore making an application to destroy the lice, to see if
there are not some parasites at work, and if so they will
often clear the plants much more effectively than any
remedy we can apply. This I have observed both at the
North and South, and usually when I have been studying
other insects.

In Florida I was studying a large black and red ant
(Cumpanotus esuriens), and was greatly interested in
their immense droves of dark-colored aphides—the “‘ ant’s
cows” as they are often called, that were thickly clustered
on the underside of the young leaves of an orange tree.
While watching the ants moving about among the droves,
I noticed several tiny Ichneumon flies mounting the

IR
266 INJURIOUS INSECTS

backs of the plant-lice. They were so small as to be
scarcely visible tu the naked eye, but a good lens soon
helped me to see what they were doing. They were busy
depositing eggs in the ‘‘ant’s cows!” The Ichneumon
would mount the back of a ‘‘ cow,” when the latter would
become restive and try to dismount its rider by kicking
wud nearly standing on its head, and this would set the
others next it to kicking in the same way, until all on
the leaf seemed to be panic-stricken, and were kicking,
striking, and throwing themselves about in a most ludi-
crous manner, all the while holding on by their beaks.
And it was very amusing to see the excited ants trying
to find the cause of the panic. But the little Ichneu-
mons did not seem to be in the least disconcerted and
did their work most effectually as the sequel proved.

Not many days after I witnessed the egg-laying, the
abdomens of the plant-lice were very much distended, and
they no longer gave any nourishment to the ants, who
passed around among them as if discouraged. ‘T'wo ants
would meet and seem to consult over the matter, then
they would stroke the ‘‘cows” with their antenne, but
meeting with no response they would pass to another
leaf, with no better result. At last they tried to remove
the ‘‘cows,” they would take them gently in their mandi-
bles, but in many cases the beak was inserted so firmly in
the leaf or twig they could not remove it. When they
did succeed in removing one they invariably carried it to
the nest.

This was the most complete destruction of plant-lice I
ever witnessed. I could not find a single living speci-
men left. In due time a little shining black Ichneumon
fly—the counterpart of its mother—emerged from a hole
in the back of each aphis.

Since my observations were made on this orange aphis
it has been named by Mr. Ashmead, Siphonophora citri-
folii, and the little Ichneumon has been named by Mr.
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 267

Cresson as a species of Trioxys. Aphides, wherever they
occur, are readily destroyed by the use of tobacco, applied
as smoke or in infusion as already described. What is
known to gardeners as the ‘‘ Blue Louse” is an aphis
which sometimes attacks the roots of verbenas, asters,
and other flowers in such numbers as to cause their death
before the source of the trouble is suspected. When
these underground lice attack the roots, a persistent ap-
plication of tobacco-water will save the plants if it is
used before the injury has gone too far.

THE MEALY-BUG.
Genus Dactylopius.

This insect is a common pest of the green-house both
in this country and in Europe, and is often injurious to
plants in the open air.
There are several spe-
cies, all of which are
more or less covered
with a quantity of
floury matter secreted
through pores scat-
tered over the body.
They are often very
abundant upon almost
every variety of house-plant and very destructive. They
are most frequently found in the crotches of the branches,
and close down in the axils of the leaves, though they do
not confine themselves to these places. The engraving, fig-
ure 157, shows a Mealy-bug, with its powdery covering
removed and much magnified. One species—D. de-
structor, Comstock—is one of the worst enemies to the
orange groves in Florida.

Professor Comstock, in his Report as Entomologist of

 

Fig. 157,—MEALY-BUG.
268 INJURIOUS INSECTS.

the Department of Agriculture, says: ‘‘ the natural ene-
mies of the Mealy-bug—JD. destructor—is a little chalcis
fly (Encyrtus inguisitor, Howard),” also ‘‘a small red
bug was observed by myself and several of our correspond-
ents to prey upon the Mealy-bug. The very curious lar-
ve of a ludy-bird beetle, known as Scymnus bioculatus,
were found feeding upon the eggs of the Mealy-bug at
Orange Lake. These latvee mimic the Mealy-bug so
closely they might easily be taken for them.”

The great difficulty in the way of destroying this insect
is the floury secretion with which it is covered, most
washes having little effect upon it. The best remedies, so
far as I know, are given by Professor Comstock in the
Report above mentioned.

REMEDIES.

“SNUFF AND SuLPHUR.—Equal parts by bulk of smok-
ing tobacco and flowers of sulphur were ground together
in a mortar until thoroughly mixed. This compound
was perfectly successful when dusted over wet plants;
and it adhered to the plant for a long time notwithstand-
ing rain. Still this does not seem to me to be a remedy
that will admit of successful and economical application
on a large scale. It may be useful in conservatories, and
upon ornamental plants.”

A decoction of tobacco is also useful in destroying the
Mealy-bug. The Mealy-bug upon window plants and
upon those in green-houses, if taken in time and perse-
veringly followed, may be kept in check by a modified
hand-picking, removing the insects wherever they may
be found by means of a small stick, such asa sliver of pine
sharpened to a point. An ‘‘exterminator” is offered,
but as its composition is kept secret, it can not be intel-
ligently commended.
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 269

THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOCUST.
(Caloptenus spretus, Thomas.)

Though thé ravages of this insect are confined to a lim-
ited area, its destructiveness is so great in the localities it
visits, that it seems desirable in a work like the present
to give the leading facts in its history. It is usually
called the Rocky Mountain Locust, but is sometimes
known as the ‘‘ Hateful Grasshopper.” This insect has
visited Kansas, Nebraska and other Western States with
most destructive effect, the recital of which reminds one
of the accounts of the plagues of Egypt. Few insects
have had their life history more thoroughly studied, and
the useful information given by entomologists concerning
this single insect has more than warranted the cost of the
various State and General Government Commissions. An
elaborate account of this insect is given in the Seventh
Missouri Report, and another, in the Report of the U. 8.
Entomological Commission for 1880. The following is
compiled from an account in the ‘‘ American Entomolo-
gist,” by Wm. A. Byers, and from other sources. The
Rocky Mountain Locust is common in all the western
or rainlesg region, one-third of the United States, but
its breeding place is upon the hot, parched plains and
table lands, from four to six thousand feet above the
sea. The greater the heat, the more they flourish.
Though they endure considerable cold and live, they are
at the same time exceedingly sensitive to its effects; be-
coming torpid in frosty nights or in snow storms, and
reviving to active life in the succeeding sunshine. The
swarms that devastate the country in their flights are in-
variably natives of sandy plains or basins, comparatively
destitute of vegetation, where the direct and reflected
heat of the sun’s rays in summer are more intense than
270 INJURIOUS INSECTS

are experienced in the Valley of the Mississippi. The
humidity, however, is very much less; the air being like
that of a furnace. In such places, and on the hottest
days, the Grasshopper is the most active, and then it at-
tains its greatest perfection. When it has reached a cer-
tain stage in its existence, it takes to flight. Those
hatched in the same locality, and necessarily under the
same climatic influences, rise in the air about the same
time, but they do not move in concert. Their course is
directed by the prevailing winds more than ky any other
influence. Consequently, in this country, it is generally
from northwest to southeast. They alight or move for-
ward at pleasure, each individual upon its own account.
Many of them fly at an immense height. They have
been seen on the highest peaks of the snowy range, four-
teen to fifteen thousand feet above the sea, filling the
air as much higher as they could be distinguished with a
good field glass, glistening in the sunlight like snow-
flakes. In crossing the snowy ranges countless myriads
of them perish. Nearly all that alight for food become
so chilled that they are unable to rise again, and in a few
days they die. On the great snow fields it is nothing un-
common to see the dead so plentiful that they might be
shovelled up by wagon loads. When the season comes
for depositing their eggs, the swarms which happen to be
in favorable localities, proceed to do so, after which most
of them soon die and the pest disappears. Some doubt-
less continue their flight. If the succeeding winter is
mild, young Grasshoppers may be found upon sandy,
sunny hillsides long before spring, but the great swarms
appear with the earliest vegetation. Then it is they are
the most destructive. Itis a common belief that a young
Grasshopper eats more than half a dozen full grown ones.
They feed and grow, and in due time take flight, as did
the generation before them. But few Grasshoppers are
hatched in the nyountains, properly speaking. It is true
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 271

they do in some of the valleys, up to the altitude of seven
or eight thousand feet— possibly sometimes to nine thou-
sand—but they usually come out so late that the frosts
of the following fall catch them before they take flight.
As an illustration, the Middle Park of the Rocky Moun-
tains is a great basin, bowl-shaped, with a single line
broken out of its westernrim. Otherwise, it is surround-
ed by snowy mountains. Fifteen years ago, it was in-
vaded by Grasshoppers from the direction of Utah,
which deposited their eggs all over it. In its lower por-
tion the young began hatching about the first of July.
They attained maturity and took flight in August.
Their hatching ground was from six to seven and a half
thousand feet above the sea. Further up toward the rim
they came out later, and at nine thousand feet they did
not appear until the last of August. September frosts
and snows caught them, and they never left their native
ground. About the same time these latter hatched, im-
mense swarms of full-grown insects came again from the
west, but instead of lighting in the Park they drifted up
against and upon the snowy range east of it, where they
perished in countless millions,

In August, 1864, this country had its worst visitation
of “Hateful Grasshoppers.” They had hatched in the
valleys of the Upper Missouri, from six hundred to eight
hundred miles distant, and swept over Colorado with a
solid front. They ate up late crops and then deposited
their eggs and died. In the following spring, their pro-
geny came out of the ground with the early crops, which
they devoured. When about one-third grown they. were
attacked by an Ichneumon Fly, which stung them in the
back, depositing one or more eggs. The product of these
destroyed probably one-half or two-thirds of the Grass-
hoppers, and the balance in due time took flight and left
us. With the exception of those two years, Colorado has
not been generally nor severely scouryed by that pest.
272 INJURIOUS INSECTS

They have done damage in several restricted localities,
and have passed over in greater or less swarms almost
every year since the settlement of the country, but the
prevalent idea that they are a yearly plague is a mistake.
In New Mexico, which has been settled by the same
people for two hundred years, generation after genera-
tion of the same family, cultivating the same fields, they
say they expect to lose about one crop in seven by Grass-
hoppers. The experience in Utah, Montana, Idaho and

 

Fig. 158.—THE FEMALE ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOCUST DEPOSITING HER EGGS.
a, a, a, Female Locusts in different positions, ovipopiting + b, Egg-pod extracted

from ground, with the end broken open; c, Eggs; ad, e, Earth partially removed, to
show an egg-mass already in place, and one being placed; f, shows where such a
mass has been covered up.

Nevada, is about the same as Kansas and Nebraska,
which States have suffered more or less until recently.
They will not propagate in great numbers in the Missis-
sippi Valley—not because it is too hot or too low, but be-
cause it is too damp.

When the Grasshopper invades a district, it at once
sets about depositing its eggs, and the great injury to be
apprehended is, from the brood to be hatched from them.

Eq@c-LaAYING AND Hatcnine.—Figure 158 illustrates
the manner in which the female lays her eggs. With two
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 273

pair of horny valves at the tip of the abdomen she is able
to drill a cylindrical hole in the ground, preferring for
this purpose soil that is rather firm, though not too hard.
In a moist climate, or where vegetation is rank, she
chooses bare and exposed places, but in her native range,
viz., the Northwestern Plains, where the vegetation is
usually scant and short, she chooses rather the shade at
the base of some Sage bush or Grease-wood shrub. When
the hole is once drilled the eggs are laid in four tolerably

   

   

 

6 \ar ia

Fig. 159.—EGG-MASSES OF LOCUST, MAGNIFIED.
Ea@a@ Mass.—a, from the side, within burrow; 0, from beneath, c, from above.

regular rows (fig. 159), interspersed by a fluid which is
frothy and mucous, and which dries around the eggs and
fills up the neck of the burrow (fig. 159, d). Each fe-
male lays from two to three batches of eggs, each batch
containing about thirty eggs. The eggs are laid through-
out the late summer and fall months until winter sets in,
at which time every stage of embryonic development can
be found. The great bulk of the eggs remain unhatched
until the ensuing spring.

Hasits AND DEVELOPMENT.—The young locusts con-
gregate in large numbers in warm and sunny places. At
night, or during cold and damp weather, they usually
huddle together under any shelter or rubbish that may be
at hand. They do not migrate until they have eaten off
the vegetation where they hatch. This usually happens
when they are about one-third or one-half grown, They
274 INJURIOUS INSECTS

then travel during the warmer hours of the day by alter-
nately walking and hopping in vast bodies in some given
direction. In thus travelling they move at the average
rate of about three yards a minute. There are six stages

 

Fig. 160.—THE LARV# AND PUPA OF LOCUST.
a, a, Newly-hatched Larve ; b, Full-grown Larva, c, Pupa of the Locust.

of growth, ¢. e., the locust moults at five different periods.
The change at each of these moults is but slight, and the
wing-pads are first distinctly noticeable and turned up in

 

Fig. 161.—THE PUPA OF THE LOCUST ACQUIRING WINGS.

a, Pupa with skin just split on the back; 0}, the imago extruding ; c, the imago near-
ly out; d, the imago with wings expanded.

the fourth stage, or after the third moult. After the
fourth moult we have the true pupa stage (fig. 160, c),
and with the fifth moult the wings are acquired, the pro-
cess being ulustrated at figure 161. The time required
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 275

from hatching to full development varies according to
season and weather, cold and wet weather retarding, and
warm weather accelerating development. It averages,
however, two months. There is but one generation each
year, the term of the insect’s life being bounded by the
spring and autumn frosts.

Of the various methods of combating the attacks of
this Grasshopper, we have

THe DESTRUCTION oF THE Eaas.—Harrowing in the
autumn, or during dry, mild weather in early winter,
will prove one of the most effectual modes of destroying
the eggs and preventing future injury, wherever it is
available. A revolving harrow or a cultivator will do ex-
cellent service in this way, not only in the field, but
along roadways and other bare and uncultivated places.
The object should be, not to stir deeply but to scarify and
pulverize as much as possible the soil to about the depth
of an inch.

Piow1ne.—Next to harrowing this is one of the most
generally available means possessed by the farmer of
dealing with locust-eggs.

Irrication.—This is feasible in much of the country
subject to locust ravages, especially in the mountain
fields or gardens.

CoaL-o1L.—The use of coal-oil and coal-tar may be
considered, as both substances are employed in various
ways for trapping and destroying the insects. Coal-oil is
the very best and cheapest that can be used against the
locusts. It may be used in any of its cruder forms, and
various contrivances have been employed to facilitate its
practical operation. The main idea embodied in these
contrivances is that of a shallow receptacle of any con-
venient size (varying from about three feet square to
about eight or ten by two or three feet), provided with
high back and sides, either mounted on wheels or run-
276 INJURIOUS INSECTS

ners, or carried (by means of suitable handles or support-
ing rods) by hand. If the ‘“‘pan” is larger than, say,
three feet square, it is provided with transverse positions
which serve to prevent any slopping of the contents (in
case water and oil are used), when the device is subjected
to any sudden irregular motion, such as tipping, or in
case of a wheeled pan, when it passes over uneven
ground. The wheeled pan is used like a wheeibarrow;
the hand-worked pan is carried by long handles at its
ends. On pushing or carrying, as the case may be, these
pans, supplied with oil, over the infested fields, and man-

 

Fig. 162.—cOaL-OIL PAN FOR CATCHING LOCUSTS.

ipulating the shafts and handles so as to elevate or de-
press the front edge of the pan as may be desired, the
locusts are startled from their places and spring into the
tar or oil, when they are either entangled by the tar and
die slowly, or, coming in contact with the more active
portion of the oil expire almost immediately. Fig. 162
represents a sheet-iron pan that has been used in some lo-
calities with good results. It must be made sufficiently
tight to hold kerosene, of which sufficient is used to cover
the bottom. A simpler form of pan is shown in figure
163. The bottom of this is to be covered with a thin lay-
er of coal tar. Pans of this kind are made light enough
to be drawn across the fields by boys ; or if heavy, horses
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. QT

are used to drag them. The majority of the insects per-
ish within the pans, which must be occasionally emptied.
If some of the loousts jump out, it is of little conse-
quence, as all that have been touched by the oil will soon
die. In Colorado they use kerosene to good advantage

 

Fig. 163.—cOAL-TAR PAN FOR CATCHING LOOUSTS.

on the water in their irrigating-ditches, and it may be
used anywhere in pans or on cloths, stretched on frames
and saturated with it, to be drawn over the field.

DESTRUCTION OF THE YOUNG OR UNFLEDGED Locusts,

1st. BurntnGc.—This method is perhaps the best in
prairie and wheat-growing regions, which compose the
larger part of the area subject to devastation by this lo-
cust. In such regions there is usually more or less old
straw or hay that may be scattered over or around the
field in heaps and windrows, and into which the locusts,
for some time after they hatch, may be driven and
burned. During cold or damp weather they congregate
of their own accord under such shelter, when they may
be destroyed by burning, without the necessity of previous
driving. Much has been said for and against the benefi-
cial results of burning the prairies in the spring. This
278 INJURIOUS INSECTS

is chiefly beneficial around cultivated fields or along the
road sides, from which the locusts may be driven, or
from which they will of themselves pass for the shelter
the prairie affords.

As locusts disperse more and more from their hatch-
ing-grounds into the prairie as they develop, burning the
grass in spring is beneficial in proportion as it is delayed.

2nd. CrusHine.—The wholesale destruction of locusts
by this means, can only be advantageously accomplished
where the ground is smooth and hard. Where the sur-
face of the ground presents this character, heavy rolling
can be successfully employed, especially in the mornings
and evenings of the first eight or ten days after the newly
hatched young have made their appearance, as they are
generally sluggish during these times, and huddle to-
gether until after sunrise. It is also advantageously em-
ployed during cold weather at any time of day, since the
young when the temperature is low seek shelter under
clods, etc. Various machines have been devised for
crushing the young.

3rd. TRaPppING.—This can easily be accomplished, es-
pecially when the locusts are making their way from roads
and hedges. The use of nets at sunrise, or long strips
of muslin, calico, or similar materials, converging after
the nianner of quail-nets have proved very satisfactory.
By digging pits or holes three or four feet deep, and then
staking the two wings so that they converge toward
them, large numbers may be secured in this way after the
dew is off the ground, or they may be headed off when
marching in a given direction. Much good may be ac-
complished by changing the position of the trap while
the locusts are yet small and congregate in isolated or
particular patches.

DircHin@ and TRENCHING properly come under this
head; and both plans are very effectual in protecting
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN, 279

crops against the inroads of travelling schools of the in-
sects. They were found especially advantageous in much
of the ravaged country in a year when there was little or
no hay or straw to burn. They are the best available
means when the crops are advanced, and when most of
the other destructive methods so advisable early in the
season can no longer be effectually used. Simple ditches,
two feet wide and two feet deep, with perpendicular
sides, offer effectual barriers to the young insects. They
must, however, be kept in order so that the sides next
the fields to be protected are not allowed to wash out or
become too hard, They may be kept friable by a brush
or rake.

The young locusts tumble into such a ditch and ac-
cumulate and die at the bottom in large quantities. In
a few days the stench becomes great, and necessitates the
covering up of the mass. In order to keep the main
ditch open, therefore, it is best to dig pits or deeper side
ditches at short intervals, in which the locusts will accu-
mulate and may be buried. If a trench is made around
a field about hatching-time, but few locusts will get into
that field until they acquire wings, and by that time the
principal danger is over, and the insects are fast disap-
pearing. If any should hatch within the inclosure, they
are easily driven into the ditches dug in different parts of
the field.

PRoTEcTION BY BarrizeRsS.—Where ditches are not
easily made, and where lumber is plentiful, a board fence
two feet high and with a three-inch batten nailed to the
top or side from which the locusts are coming, the edge
of it smeared with coal-tar, serves as an effectual bar-
rier, and proves useful to protect regions, where, save in
exceptionally favorable locations, agriculture can be suc-
cessfully carried on only by its aid, and where means are
already extensively provided for the artificial irrigation
280 INJURIOUS INSECTS

of large areas. Where the ground is light and porous,
prolonged and excessive moisture will cause most of the
eggs to perish, and irrigation in autumn or in spring
may prove beneficial.

4th. Trampina.—lIn pastures or in fields where hegs,
cattle, or horses can be confined when the ground is not
frozen, many if not most of the locust-eggs will be de-
stroyed by the rooting and tramping.

5th. CoLLecTiIne THE Eaas.—The eggs are frequently
placed where none of the above means for destroying
them can be employed. In such cases they should be
collected and destroyed by the inhabitants, and the State
should offer some inducement in the way of bounty for
such collection and destruction. Every bushel of eggs
destroyed is equivalent to a hundred acres of corn saved,
and when we consider the amount of destruction caused
by the young, and that the ground is often known to be
filled with eggs; that, in other words, the earth is sown
with seeds of future destruction, it is surprising that
more legislation has not been had, looking to their exter-
mination.

One of the most rapid ways of collecting the eggs, es-
pecially where they are numerous and in light soils, is to
slice off about an inch of the soil by trowel or spade, and
then cart the egg-laden earth to some sheltered place
where it may be allowed to dry, when it may be sifted so
as to separate the eggs and egg-masses from the earth.
The eggs thus collected may easily be destroyed by bury-
ing them in deep pits, providing the ground be packed
hard on the surface.

THE PROTECTION OF FRUIT TREES.

The best means of protecting fruit and shade trees de-
serves separate consideration. Where the trunks are
smooth and perpendicular they may be protected by white-
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 281

washing. The lime crumbles under the feet of the in-
sects as they attempt to climb, and prevents their getting
up. By their persistent efforts, however, they gradually
wear off the lime and reach a higher point each day, so
that the whitewashing must be often repeated. Trees
with short, rough trunks, or which lean over, are not
very well protected in this way. <A strip of smooth,
bright tin answers better for the same purpose. A strip
three or four inches wide brought around and tacked to a
smooth tree will protect it, while on rougher trees a piece
of old rope may first be fastened around the tree with
small nails, and the tin tacked to the rope, so as to leave
a portion of it both above and below. Passages between
the tin and the rope or the rope and tree can then be
blocked by filling the upper area between the tin and tree
with earth. The tin must be high enough from the
ground to prevent the *hoppers from jumping from the
latter beyond it, and the trunk below the tree, where the
insects collect, should be covered with some coal-tar or
poisonous substances to prevent girdling. This is more
especially necessary with small trees, and coal-tar will
answer as a preventive.

One of the cheapest and simplest modes is to encircle
the tree with cotton batting, in which the insects will
entangle their feet and thus be more or less obstructed.
Strips of paper covered with tar; stiff paper tied on so as
to slope roof-fashion; strips of glazed wall-paper, and
thick coatings of soft-soap, have been used with varying
success; but no estoppel equals the bright tin. The oth-
ers require constant watching and renewal, and in all
cases coming under our observation some insects would
get into the trees, so as to require the daily shaking of
these morning andevening. This will sometimes have to
be done when the bulk of the insects have become fledged,
even when tin is used, for a certain proportion of the in-
sects will then fly into the trees. They do most damage
282 INJURIOUS INSECTS.

during the night, and care should be had that the trees
be unloaded of their voracious freight just before dark.

It has been found that the whitewash was rendereu
still more effectual by adding one-half pint of turpentine
to the pailful,

DESTRUCTION OF THE WINGED INSECTS,

The complete destruction of the winged insects,
when they swoop down upon a country in prodigious
swarms, is impossible. Man is powerless before the
mighty host. Special plants, or small tracts of vegeta-
tion may be saved by perseveringly driving the insects
off, or keeping them off by means of smudges, as the lo-
custs avoid smoke; or by rattling or tingling noises con-
stantly kept up. Long ropes perseveringly dragged over
a grain field have been used to good advantage.

 
Beneficial Insects,

We need all the helps we can get in destroying noxious
insects, and only those who have studied their life are
aware of the important part the carnivorous insects
take in keeping the vegetable-feeding ones in check.
And if with the aid of illustrations and descrip-
tions we can make the more common ones plain
enough to be recognized by the observing farmer and
gardener, they will soon learn
to know all friends from foes,
so that they may protect and
encourage these helpers in the
work of destroying the pests of
the farm and garden.

The Cut-worms are among
the most grievous annoyances
that the gardener has to contend ,
with, and from their habit of fig. 164.—carosoma catipuM.
burrowing in the ground dur- u, Larva ; 6, Beetle.
ing the day they often escape the parasitic hymenoptera
that fly in the day-time. But they cannot escape the
ferocious Lion-beetle (Calosoma calidum), whose main
business in life is to hunt and devour them ; a, in figure
164, shows the larva ; 8, the perfect beetle. This beauti-
ful beetle is about an inch in length, and glossy black,
with three rows of gold-colored indented dots running
along the entire length of the wing-case. These beetles
hunt mostly in the night when the Cut-worms have
come forth to feed on the tender vegetation, so we most
often see our gold spangled Lion on damp, cloudy

(283)

 
284 INJURIOUS INSECTS

days, or just at twilight. The larva is a dark-colored,
nearly black, ferocious-looking creature, and when full
grown is nearly two inches in length. When it is not
gorged with food it runs rapidly over the ground, but
I have often found it in such a condition that it
could scarcely move from the excess of its gluttony.
Its favorite food is cut-worms, and, like its parents,
it hunts mostly at night, hiding away from the direct
rays of the sun under rubbish, and sometimes burrowing
in the earth. Its mode of attacking a Cut-worm is
always by seizing the throat, and it never lets go its
hold until it has extracted the juices of its writhing
victim, when it leaves the
limp, dead body, and goes
in pursuit of another.
Calosoma scrutator (fig.
165) is another Lion-beetle
which is more noticeable
and finer looking than the
first mentioned. The wing-
cases are a bright golden-
green, and the rest of the
body is marked with gold,
violet-blue and green. It
is somewhat larger and has
longer legs than its darker
relative. It does not shun the light, but seems to
enjoy the bright sunshine, as if aware that its resplendent
colors were shown with dazzling effect by the sun’s rays.
It kills and eats all soft-bodied larve apparently with
equal relish. In New Jersey it has learned that it can
find good prey by hunting in the corn-fields. It
mounts a stalk of corn and runs over the ear, now and
then standing perfectly still as if listening. If a worm is
in the ear it soon finds it, pulls it out and devours it,
The larva of this fine beetle looks much like the other ;

 

Fig. 165.—caLosoMa SCRUTATOR.
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN, 285

it is equally rapacious and will ascend trees in pursuit of
prey, or burrow in the earth after Cut-worms.

The Elongated Ground-beetle, Pasimachus elongatus
(fig. 166), is another of our handsome carnivorous beetles,
Its color is shining black, bordered with deep blue. It
is often met with in our gardens, and preys indiscrim-
inately upon all soft-bodied larve—especially upon the
larvee of the Colorado Potato-beetle.

Several other large predaceous beetles are common in
gardens and cultivated grounds, but most of them are
plain black or dark brown, and can be easily recognized
by their powerful sickle-shaped jaws,
and by their quick, active movements.

Cicindelide is a family of beetles
whose popular name—Tiger-beetles
—is very appropriate and signifi-
cant. They are somewhat less in
size than the above mentioned, and
their haunts are mostly confined
to sandy soils. These beetles are
very alert and swift on the wing, ig 166.—ztoncaTep
and they pounce down upon an un- _ @BOUND-BEETLE.
suspecting victim with lightning. (sa? dongatus.)
like rapidity. Under a magnifying lens their colors are
indescribably beautiful; the eye is fairly dazzled with
their brilliant hues of metallic luster. But the young
Tigers are the oddest looking creatures imaginable—as
ugly as their parents are beautiful. They are of a dusky-
whitish color, with broad, flat heads, and strong curved
jaws. They live in burrows or tunnels from eighteen to
twenty inches in depth, and their bodies are furnished
with a pair of hooks, by which they can hang themselves
up and rest at the top of their burrows while waiting for
prey. When an unsuspecting insect comes within reach
of this ferocious creature it seldom escapes, for the con-
cealed watcher springs upon it and takes it to the bot-

 
286 INJURIOUS INSECTS

tom of its tunnel, where he can enjoy his meal at his
leisure. At figure 167 is seen the beetle and its larva.

The most widely known and justly appreciated bene-
ficial beetles are the pretty little Lady-birds. Their
shining rounded elytra, or wing-cases, and bright colors
make them conspicuous objects. The ones most com-
monly noticed are red, spotted with black, but there are
others of a black color spotted with red, one especially
—a great benefactor—with two bright spots on the
shoulders, called the Twice-stabbed Lady-bird. And
still others that are yellow,
spotted and barred with black;
but these colors are not always
the same in different individ.
uals of the same species—we
mm can scarcely find any two

if marked precisely alike—but
the general resemblances are
the same.

We do not know, we can
scarcely comprehend, the greav
value of these Lady-birds to
the agriculturist. Quietly and
silently they perform the work
of extermination before our
eyes, often unheeded, their
worth and value entirely un-
noticed or ignored. Last summer the leaves of a fine
plum tree were almost covered with Plant-lice (Aphides).
We gaveit up as lost for that year, saying no fruit would
ripen, but shortly afterwards we rejoiced to see myriads
of Lady-birds on the tree; some of the twigs were fairly
red with the little creatures, their numbers were almost
past belief, and in a few days the Aphides disappeared,
and the tree yielded a good crop of plums. The species
was the Nine-spotted Lady-bird (Coccinnella novem-

 

Fig. 167.—TIGER-BEETLE AND
LARVA.
OF THE FAnM AND GARDEN, 287

notata). The young Ladies were more voracious than
their parents, and they were not at all shy or ashamed
of their immense capacity for eating, but devoured victim
after victim before our eyes with the utmost gusto. They
did not at all resemble their mothers, but looked more
like bright-colored little lizards than they did like their
respected parents. They were dressed in blended colors
of red, yellow and black, and after they had eaten
untold numbers of Aphides, and had come to their full
growth, they hung themselves fast to the under side of
twigs and leaves, where they assumed the pups state
within their old, cast-off dresses, all wrinkled as they
were, and split open in the backs ; but we suppose they
served as a sort of protection to the little chrysalids.

While the Lady-birds were clearing the plum tree we
noticed a small shrub of English Hawthorn with curled
leaves, and beneath each leaf were immense numbers of
Aphides, doing their best to pump
out the sap. So we transferred a
dozen or more of the young Ladies,
together with their parents, from the
Plum tree to the Hawthorn, and in b a
less than twenty-four hours they gp sete IN
cleared the shrub, hese Lady-birds “| tarva; 0, Pupa;.
are not only enemies to Plant-lice; Beetle.
they devour several other kinds of noxious insects. Five
or six species are known to prey upon the Colorado
Potato-beetle. The eggs of the Lady-bird very much
resemble those of the Potato-beetle, the clusters are less
in size, but the eggs are of the same color, and only a
little smaller, so if we would preserve one of our bene-
factors it is necessary to look close when destroying
eggs of the Potato-beetle, and not mistake a friend for
an enemy.

Beetles are not the only beneficial insects by any means ;
by far the greater number are found among the Hymen-

   
288 INJURIOUS INSECTS

optera. This order includes the parasitic Ichneumon-
flies, which range all the way from flies an inch or more
in length, to minute species scarcely visible to the naked
eye. The larger kinds deposit only one egg in each
victim, while some of the smaller leave their entire com-
plement of eggs on one caterpillar. A well-known
example, which is familiar to most gardeners, may be
found in the Tomato-worm. A small, black, microgas-
ter fly goes peering about among the tomato-vines until
it espies a worm, on which it lays its eggs. These soon
hatch, and the tiny larve eat their way into the worm,
and are soon thickly packed between the skin and vital
organs, where they eat all the substance that would
otherwise go to make the future moth, and their pres-
ence does not prevent the worm from eating and growing
until the little parasites are full-fed, when they eat their
way out of their host, and each stands on end and spins
for itself a tiny white cocoon. Sometimes these cocoons
are so numerous that the back of the worm is almost
entirely covered with them, and now it shrivels and rap-
idly shrinks in size and soon dies. (See page 88.) And
this work of destruction is constantly going on all around
us. Were it not for these parasites, vegetation could
scarcely exist on the earth.

The great service of these Ichneumon-flies has long
been known, but are orchardists and gardeners aware of
the untold numbers of noxious insects that a colony of
White-faced Hornets (see fig. 169) will destroy in a
season ? They are somewhat troublesome friends, it is
true—hasty and hot-tempered, as one 1s pretty sure to
learn if he ventures too near their dwelling, and their
tempers have not been improved by coming in contact
with mankind, for have not their great paper nests ever
been a target for boys until they have inherited a dispo-
sition hostile to us, and which can scarcely be overcome
by the most gentle and kind treatment on our part ? But
OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 289

notwithstanding all this, I would rather have a colony in
my orchard when infested with the Slug (Selandria
cerast), than ever so many barrels of London-purple.
In the summer of 1886 I found these hornets were busy
from morning until night in the orchard, taking the
Slugs from the leaves, and carrying them to their young,
where their nest was suspended on one of the trees.
There are also many blood-thirsty creatures found in
the order Hemiptera, or true bugs. These are not pro-
vided with jaws like the beetles, but only with a sharp,

 

Fig. 169.—WwHITE-FACED HORNET. Fig. 170.—HARPACTOR CINOTUS,

(Vespa maculata.) THE BANDED ROBBER.
stout beak—for example, see the illustration of the many-
banded Robber, figure 170, a representing the perfect in-
sect, b its magnified beak. It belongs to a group of bugs
called the Reduvius family, all of which are classed
among beneficial insects. The Many-banded Robber is
elegantly marked with yellow, white and black. Itisa
high-minded creature, most often found on trees and tall
plants, but if it does not find sufficient food in its lofty
position, it frequently deigns to come down to the potato
patch and feed on the larve of the Colorado Potato
Beetle.

The well-known Wheel-bug also belongs to this group,
and so does the rapacious Soldier-bug, which is of a light-
brown color, something of the shade of the Squash-bug,
with which it is sometimes confounded ; but an observing
290 INJURIOUS INSECTS

person, on comparing the beaks of the two, will never
mistake one for the other. Another way to distinguish
the injurious ones from our friends, is by the disagreeable
odor given off by the former, while the beneficial ones, so
far as I know, are free from the odor.

The two-winged flies—order Diptera—furnish the agri.
culturist with but few directly beneficial insects, and
these are the pretty, bright-colored Syrphus flies, and
the dull-colored, parasitic Tachina flies. But there are
many that act the part of scavengers while in the larva
state—as the house and flesh flies—while others are very
annoying, as the mosquito and horse-flies.

In the order Orthoptera, including grasshoppers, crick-
ets, cockroaches, etc., we fail to find any that are useful

 

Fig. 171.—Lacn-wINGED CHRYSOPA.

to man, and so pass them by and stop at the last order,
Neuroptera, where nearly all are carnivorous. These
insects are called nerve-winged, because the veins in their
wings look like net-work. The Mosquito Hawk or
Dragon-fly is a good example of this order, as are also
the pretty little Lace-wing flies (Chrysopa), seen in figure
171 in all their stages. The larve of these Lace-wings eat
the Plum Curculio and the Pear Slug, and probably many
other noxious insects. The eggs of the Lace-wings are
each attached to a long foot-stalk, and all fastened to a
leaf or blade of grass, as seen at a, figure 171. The per-
fect insect, d, is a pretty, pale-green, gauzy-winged crea-
ture, with prominent, shining, golden eyes.
 

  

 

 

 

Achemon Sphinx............... -. 219
geri CUCUTDUR ... cee e eee 68
CMU OBE sca: aiewisiscew sain 183
“ tipuliformis.......6. 0 cece 206
Agrilus ruficollis
Agrotis scandens.
“ telifera..
Aletia argillacea...
Alypia octomaculata...... ...60... 226
American Bean-weevil............ 19
American Woodbine.......... 219-220
Ampelopsis quinquefolia... ... 219-220
Amphicerus bicaudatus......... ..145
Anasa tristis........0 66 cece eee eee 61
Anchylopera fragant@........ eeu 209
se VACCINIANA.. 0... e ee ceee 260
Anisopteryx vernata .. .
Anthocoris insidiosus aii
Anthonomus quadrigibbus.......... 165
he suturalis .. 5
Anthomyia bel@........
“ CEPATUM. 0... cee ccne eee
" DOB essing sinisin erigrastins
ADS accngis oaaG sstsctemiendiasieete ea Rawat
ADhidess scdicianis- dan see teseaneanes 264
Aphis, Orange.............+- adineide 266
Apple -161-164-165-166-170-171-1 72-174
Apple Curculio..... 22.2... sees eee 165
Apple Maggot.............:s.eeees 164
Apple-tree ....139-144-145-147-148-151
Apple-tree Bark-lice..... 6 eisieteieasiatews 147
Apple-tree Borers............... 4. —

Apple-tree Borer, Flat-headed.....
Apple-tree Borer, Round-headed..

   

 

 
  

Apple-twig Borer........... : 1145
Apple-tree Tent-caterpillar. 151
Apple-worm..... eeeEeee -161
Army-worms......) Jove eee cee ee eens 129
Army-worm, Northern....... ..... 130
Army-worm, Wheat-head 184
Ash-gray Blister-beetle... . 90
Ash-gray Leaf-bug...... ..118
Asopia costalis........ «1387
Asparagus-beetle....... - 15-33
Aspidiotus conchiformis..........4+ 148

a Harvristi..... 2.06.65 vee 147

 

BRUCL ccncaies ney, canknratawi vecenue 83
Bagwititiecssxesitesag 544 ivadunde 1%
Baridius trinotatus............2..45 85
Bark-lice, Apple-tree... ........... 147
Bark-louse, Harris’. ... ... 147
ir Oyster-shell.... ....... 148
Barley: caaccnctanigayecienstieninnaice seloa's 124
Basket-worm............000.s seen ee 17
Bean sicscceidien ese. La dictncucncteatee ¥ 1%
“ English, or Windsor 91
© -WeeV weccccces oeacs se9
Beautiful Wood-nymph «228
BOGS sca menawazie de xanee - 10
BOO isis cnc atetarteesa -.
“ Carrion Beetle . 67
So By) Sc csisaisanaes - 67
Beetles........... - 10
“Click. . - 81

“ Carrion...... «- OF

    
   
 
   

‘“* Colorado Potato.
“Golden Tortoise
‘*  Grape-vine Flea.....
{ SDPINBs<soedencawsies ¥
a Strawberry-leaf.
* Striped Turnip. .

 

“ Three-lined Leaf... ee se 92
Beneficial Insects........ wails aay 283
Blackberry.... : 210-211-212

ae BOPer isin cisnise cies ahaa oe 212
SS Flea-louse. 211
« Gall i... sic)
Black Blister-beetle... ... ... «+. 91
Black-legged Tortoise-beetle ..... 109

Black-rat Blister-beetle...

 

Blissus leucopterus.
Blister-beetle, Ash-gray.
BACK ai00senecincertane
ee Black-rat
ee Margined. .... ..... 92
gs Swiped.............. 89
Blue Caterpillars of the Vine...... 226
Blue-louse .........05 cence ceeeees 267
Bogus Colorado Potato-beetle...... 97
Boll-worm.. ...... ae th Case 66-68
BOrers: «4 exunavcarssxendeccesame ns « 8
‘© Apple-tree.............2.065 139
‘© Apple-twig..............0.. 145
88 Black berey ccs se siieves vad 212
“© Clover-root.............06. 196
 

   

 

 

   

 
 
 
  

   
   
   
  
    
   
 
   
    
 

 

2d2 INDEX.
Borers, Currant-stalk ... .......... 206 , Cecitdomyia lrifolit... 0... ccc eee eee 135
Flat-headed Apple-tree.....144 | Celery i
Bhs SP ORCI ac ccnccaviressis.s saa tAaS 183 | Centipedes.................. 00.2
Sf POUtO-StAN KE ac oe nr ceaciolaaie 83+ | Cénedl Grains: ivaceueharcedin gadis
“  Round-headed Apple-tree..139 | Cherocampa pampinutrir
SP AS QUABN tans esis As ctacesernisiesens 63 | Chafer, Rose.........--..--.056 ees
‘© Strawberry Crown.......... 209 | Chalcid, Four-winged Fly........ 1:
Botys bicolor............ | Chenopodium album....
Bru PADI icin ssa ceveuwewne Cherry, Wild......
“ pist _ Cherry-slug..
Bud-worm, Cranberry . ‘ , Pbineb-bag. 22: ++.
Bug, Chinch.......... 112 |
SS MGA see: wstaswrasisige nae apamiiesa’ 268 Chrysalis.............. aaig
“Rose « M5 | Chrysobothris femorata.........6...
“Squash 61 | Cicada, Periodical..................
oe “\ Seventeen-year. “i
Bupestris, Red-necked ............213 Me APHIRteeNzVeaR 35. -ie:s 0. 00-de-0'0
BuUbtersies: 3. she eck jacind oa naeos Cicada septendecim. ... ...........19
# ene EP OMOCEN, 32 20.3 inne
Butterfly, Pot-herb.. Classification of Insects.
py Rape........... ' Clastoptera proteus.....
4 Southern Cabbage. : | Click-bectles.............
Cabbage .. .. .21-24-27-29-31- 53-35 - 37 Climbing Cut-worins.....
Cabbage-bug, Harlequin....... ... 37 Clisiocampa Americana.... ....
as Butterflies........... 21 | Chsiocampa sylvalicd......... 0.6...
we PlUSi Os seasencceg sin 29). CONGR when eg 34 eye
“ worm, New. .33 | ‘© Hay-worm.......
Caloptenus spretus......... so | “  Root-borer... .
Camel Cricket. / © Seed Midge. 8 eA
Camellias... ......... Cock: chaferys.: assesaass cower:
Campanotus esuriens.. Cockle-Diltizs245 e062 aacanawid aati
Canker-worm ......... 3 Codling-moth.
OirR WAY: cacsuncwies sos Awe Seda COMOPHEPG ss isiatswaiie cae yas, Pak
Carmatiene. cccsn samssmaweasccene Colorido Potato-beetle............. §
Carrion-beetle, ; a ai < vite, OF
Carrot..... ] as “Parasite... .101

   
 

Carpocapsa pomaiialld.
Cassita anvichalecea .

 

 

OS OSDBUOS 5 Seas ceursieks uke < 105
“ guttata.. Se

OS | GNEQTINOR eee vista ots aca cc ics
SS DOMIN Gee fe see Siedie. wnt se -108
Caterpillars: wiccws ies cosncac 8
Caterpillar, Apple tree Tent... 51
Blue, of the Vine., 226
ee COM as cia wads -» 66
. Hog, of the Vine.... ... 215
nA Red-humped... .. 170
" SUBPAGE ccscacsssans snes mW
a Tent, of the Forest ....155
ts ZEOED  snsdcnssing ie sectors 31
CN AOWORS seis sdaceiaveta aioe be -21-31

Crcedomyia destructor... -. cece 1.0

Conotrachelus nenuphar z
Coreus trislis..00 0. cee ceca
Corn, Indian

“Seed...

 

  
  

te Bud-worm. .
Fruit-worm..
Be Leaf-hopper
a SAW’ ss useead iene va 261
ee Vine-worm .. 5:
Cricket. Snowy-tree... 2.0.02. 2.
Crioseris asparagi.
Crow..
Cucumber.
Cucumber-beetle, Striped...

 

 
 

 

  

 

   
 
  
 

    
 

 

 

 

 
 

 
  

   
  

INDEX. 293
Curculio, Apple............ SMacer gens 165 | Gall, Blackberry .... ............. 212
s SS GRaBpDEeITY a wic. eevee se 2 213
Garden Vegetables, Insects Injuri-
OS: t0hcs xa. fecwaeas aees gee Kam 15
‘“ worm, Imported........... 202° | Girdler, TW gisccucese xe o4 exioseneiss WW
“worm, Native.............. 205 | Golden Tortoise-beetle.... .. .... 106
Cut worm, Greasy.... .......... 65-80 | Gortynia nitida........0....0...... 88
CUE WORDS abecss2 os varieties sits % | Gooseberry...............4. 199-202-205
te Y  CliMbiNg ies. sacas a des 174 | Gooseberry Span-worm............ 199
Dactylopius destiuctor.....6.0 cee ee 268 | Goose-foot..................2.0. 08 33
TODA G 3 Sta, susterseed dud soe So ealsiciea Se as 83 | Grape, 174-215-219-220-224-226-228-229
DVGGUIG . i Ne-cea eluate Size Gaon Sagalagune 99 231-233-235-238-241-244-245-246-248-
Desmia maculalis . ......... 231 259.
Diabrotica 12-punctata............ 45-63 | Grape-berry Moth.................. 238
VELEOL GS so.cinl8a cialeniveiaccsaisiaie’d 42 | Grape Leaf-folder.................. 231
Diasti ophus cuscuteformis.......... 212 ‘\ Leaf-hopper................. 259
es NebUlOsUs. .... 6.62... 212 “ Phylloxera., ... .......... 248
Grape-vine Flea-beetle............. 241
es P PHIME: ce) aucdaa senedonie 235
ne SET APIPS Poe cjadie dieser a 259
Grapotdera chalybea............... 241
Grass Crops................ eee eee 112
Doryphora decemlineata. —....... 94 | Grasshopper, Hateful..... ......... 269
“| JUNCLO saiscscsrecins “rsveites: sais 97 5 “Rocky Mountain ...269
Dragon-fly.......... Greasy Cut-worm................ 65-79
Drop-worm. Grub, White ................ oes 206
Egg ......5. Grub Ss sepectcssse neta ke wasup os 8
Egg-plant... Haltica chalybea......-6. 62. eee. 241
Eight-spotted Forester.... ........ 226  Btr4OLAIA... ee eee eee 35-110
Elater. HAT MCtON vai ck caves send: ec as "5
Harris’ Bark-louse......... 2... 2... 147
Harlequin Cabbage-bug.... .... 3T
Harpactor cinctus.........06.045 119
Hateful Grasshopper........... .. 269
OSG sas scsscaaauaregeey uisracintan Grate q
Heart-worm..................0. 005 23
Heliothis armigera....... ....... 66-68
BUflchid PBT. ex saneesnega 199 | Hellebore, White.... ...... 0... 204
Fall Web-worm.............. ..0- 160 |! Hemiptera...  ...... eee 12
False Chinch-bug ......-.......55- 117 | Hessian Fly. .............0.05 00. 120
‘© Wire-worms........... Sanit OB) | HICKOL Ye. ss scuravase eae A pasetece 171
Mennel ss. cues wanes es eos a8 . 55 | Hog-caterpillar of the Vine... .. 215
Flat-headed Apple-tree Borer ..144 | Honey-locust.......... 0... .....00. 91
Flea-beetle, Grape-vine. .. - 241 | Horse-nettle........0. 2. ccc. eee 29-98
‘© Wavy-striped.. .... 85 | Hylesinus trifolit ......... 002.0000. 186
Flower-bug, Insidious. 119 | Hymenoptera....... 2... e eee cee 10
Bl yy Beet snautora-s nes. aos oe 67 | Ayphantria textor ................5 160
8 "Messi ates: sins to niidrens aacee 120 | Ichneumon Flies..... ........... 10-28
Forest Tent-caterpillar.. » 155) | TMA: cine. aemicex sae-acie el . 9
Forester. Eight-spotted...... ..... 226 | Imported Currant-worm. ... 202
Fruit Trees Indian Corn......... 0 .......2.. 67
Fruit-worm. Cranberr Qn Insects Injurious to Garden Vege-
Fungus on White Grub........ ... 78 FADIOS ota sc srcseydunip-ties tured csievio cates 15
   
 

  
  
  
      
 
   
 
    
   
 
 
 

 

   
 
  
 

  

 
   
 
 
  

294 INDEX.
Insects Injurious to Root Crops... 67 | Mantis Carolind...........+--eeree 284
Insects of Flower Garden and Many-banded Robber........... .. 119

SPORT NORGE os omnsiececeoes veneers 262 | Margined Blister-beetle... ... vey B2
Introduction............2. seeeeeee % | May-bug............... ain . 13-78
Insidious Flower-bug........ «sss. 119 | Mealy-bug,........ CCR er +268
Asosoma hordét ... 0... eee eee ceee 124 | Melolontha vulgaris........+. ~
Ithycereus Noveboracensis.......... 172 | Melon-worm.... ...........2.45 . 48
Indus multistriatus.......0.6 6 cece 83 | Midge, Clover-seed..

WY basienduereiasiee s+ aceisieremcnton en eras 262 “ Wheat.... ..
Jamestown Weed..........---...65 99 | Mignonette......
FOMt WOM iis caiases se os Rew ae 124 | Millipedes .. .
FUNE*DUB sis siis issesses cies slaleieaiecvrrecs %3 | Moths......... .

#8 Ppa ptOBoesceecyeedereuecs 78 | Moth, Codjing..................08.
Kansas, Year of Drouth............ 70 “© Grape-berry......... 0.0.00
Lachnosterna fuscd...... cecevevees %3 | Mottled Tortoise-beetle............108
Lady-bird 75
Lady-bugs ........:.06- seeeeee eens 11 | Mustard............. cece eee cee eee 39
Lambs-quarter.. ............5.068- 93: | Myrlapodie. ss. escesus esuwss oh secre, 82
Laphrygma frugiperda........-..++ 129 | Mytdlapsis pomicorticis..... ....2-45 148
AI as inane sets we (8 | Naeturtlomeieg : wcsiesew 4554 eer 21
Leaf-beetle, Strawberry. . 208 | Native Currant-worm....... ...... 205

a ‘© Three-lined. . 92 | Nematus ventricosus...... 22. .....202
Leaf-bug, Ash-gray... ..118 | Nerve-winged Insects.............. 14
Leaf-folder, Grape. EQBE |) NEUTOM EE: 220%. sect a5 26+ Meeoe's 14
Leaf-gall Phylloxera.. ..2%48 | New York Weevil.................5 172
Leaf-hopper, Cranberry. ..261 | Northern Army Worm............. 130

ve of Grape... --259 | Nolodonta concinnd...... ceccveeere 170
Leaf-roller, Strawberry. -209 | Nymph, Beautiful Wood........... 228
Lema trilineata......... ee Pearl -Wo0d sisiesisc «, -asisieis ne 229
Lepidoptera..........6 cee Nysius destructor... e 61-115
Leucania albilinia....... Oberea perspicillata.......... 02.0205 212

se unipunctata. a Gcanthus niveus..... -214
Dice; Pladt.....cccaceeeccdeanecugees Oncideres cingulatus
PA QUT US: cisrejsinisisinfolarsiccactincieia'ss oe eens Onion..............
BiNG8ic. choses aciet Onion-fly, Black ..
Linden, American ae “Imported
Locust, Rocky Mountain.......... QOPAN BG: cisesscieiacdereccyioniieriaiavaees
“« Seventeen-year... “© Aphis.
“« Thirteen- year. . Orange-Rust.
London Purple......... Ortalis fleRA ... cece cece cee
Louee, Blue... ......... Orthopter@.... 06.6. ve cee
Lubber Grasshopper.... Oyster-shell Bark-louse
Lytta atrata... cc... os oe Painted Mamestra

“cinerea... Pale-thighed Tortoise-beetle....... 108

“  marginata.. Parasite of Colorado Potato-beetle.101

MUTING.... 66s we ‘* Potato-worm........ 8s

S VAULGIG. 6. cee eee POriG AErTING .... ccc cence ec nes 208
Macrodactylus subspinosus ... Paris Green, Use of. . 99
Maggots....... .ccae ceeee ere eeeenes ParsleywOrmionics coewwses exe eens da 55
Maggot, Apple ................0005 Parsnipyi.s ccmzzcuin dnasenppeuenns «» 55

oc Seed Corn.......... : Pons weevils scission vv toa aesasay 56
Mamest7r Pict. .cecccccccercceccees SH | POAC ssid crtaysaeeis aradactensnideced 172-183
Mangel Wurzel..... emeatte, Git 6% | Peach-borer 006. cease savaaiew oa ve 183

 
 

 

   
  
  

 

 

  
   
   
 

  
   
 
  
   
   
 
   
  

 

INDEX. 299
So ..1%0-171-172-174-182 ) Rose Bug...
PORTO yo sl onnesasnaareracuests 182 te
Pearl Wood-nymph................ 229
Pelidnota punctata........e.ce.ceee 244
Pelidnota, The Spotted ........... 244 . 82-110
Penthina vitivorana....... reins foceeare 238 | Saperda bivittata. ...139
Periodical Cicada................65 190 | Satellite Sphinx... -220
PCCM 2.01 seme vena gscawvnednes 171 | Saw-fly, Cranberry................. 261
Phacellura Huai ysauteet renee 48 | Scymnus bioculatus.............006- 268
He nitidalés ........ Seed-corn Maggot.. . 72
Philampelus achemon......... Selandria cerasi... .182
rt satellitia “ TOS@esie- seasisiaies crane dite 263
Phylloxera, Grape.......... Semiotelus destructor......... ss. 00 122
Phylloxera vastatrix. ... Seventeen-year Cicada.. -.190
Pickle-worm .. ....... 2 45 | Silpha opaca......... -. 67
Pieris oleracea.... Siphonophora citri folks. pelea 266
“ Protodice. - Skunk.............8 wane onwig ee caes 18
“ POPE....... Slug, Cherry.............cceeeeeeee 182
Piesma cinerea..... Wes POAR sai. cisere Ses wale maura ein wet 182
Pimpla conquisitor.. ON ROS csacacrscne Seekedesiines 263
Pionea rimosalis... Small Fruits. . 199
PlantiLicessss -snviadeavtes diditowaa: SMow-besry....... 2. eee ee eee e eee 33
POM i is 5s) Sieced- seiveswrewlans Snowy Tree-cricket................ 214
Plum Curculio.. .... Solanum Carolinense.... + 29-98
Plume, Grape-vine........... (6 MELONGEND. 04.0005 . 99
Plusiad brassie@.. ccc ccc cess Southern Cabbage Butterfly. 20
POLO cs. oth teseve auntie ate “« Grags-worm...... 129
“Beetle, Colorado. Span-worm, Gooseberry 199
“ Stalk-borer Sphinx, Abbot........ 2 224
“ Stalk-weevil ...........0.000- 85 “« Achemon -219
“ Worm......... .*  Satellite.. 220
“ Worm Parasite... cudialintueavieanse Sphing Carolina........ +» 86
NE SWECty i o's dessins mrew ee -siece ‘© quinquemaculata. -65-86
Pot-herb Butterfly......... ....... 24 | Spilsoma Virginica...... 223,
Pristiphora grossulari@ ........06. 205 | Spiracles......... so, 8.
es Udentidem...... cer ceeee 261 | Spotted Pelidnota.. 4
Prunus serolund........65 Sigieiecdheinis he 154 | Squash.......... 61-63
P8yllA PUvi ov cseccccceeceeeeenes 211 aS: BORED cacigins <3 caprpiacmetsien 63
Pterophorus periscelidactylus....... 235 BOB casiccassaces x aceeeh estate 61
Pumpkin Spring-beetles........ . 81
PUPA. i. .58 Stalk-borer, Currant. . -206
Radish: sinaceariscesaeees ees oy Stizus grandis . ..... -197
Rape Butterfly............-.00e eee 22 | Strachia héstrionica..... 2 3%
RASpderry iss cevine seen oe 212-213-214 | Straight-winged Insects........... 13
ye Galls cc pacinsce sen stieys 213 | Strawberry. . 74-83-206-207- 208-209 210
Red-humped Caterpillar. .......... 170 a Crown-borer... ..... «209
Red-necked Bupestris.............. 213 ” Leaf-beetle....... one 208
Red Spider........ arctacoel 0. 5 Leaf-roller.
Reduvius......ccececees . 12 x Worm.......
Robber, Many-banded.. 119 | Striped Blister-beetle.......... pails
Rocky Mountain Grasshopper. wy “  Bug......... ; i
se Locust.......... 269 “ Cucumber-' beetle... asin 42
Rose....... nicans alee sais aeigicresovsebaive 246 Mt Turnip-beetle............. 35
296

Surface Caterpillars...

Swedes....... 1a ah
BWEEU POtatos. ooo siveadiesisa oo gredendion

ee “ Beetle, Two-striped. .105
SYMPHOVECANPUS PUCEINOBUS. oo eee 33
Tent: caterpillar, Apple-tree ... 151

of the Forest...... 154

Tetliqontnt vitis. occ... eee ae
Texan Cubbage-bug
Thirteen-vear Cicada,........ zee +196
Ee

    
  

 
    

Thyreus Abbotié. :
Tobacco-water, Use of.

 

By as Parasite...
Tortoise-beetles 6. 2... eee 101
Tortoise-bectle, Black-legge 109

ue He Mottled...... -108

$i ‘“s Pale-thighed...... 108
Trap for June-bug.,......... .... 7

   
  
 

 

Trochilium cucurbile.
Trypeta pomonella, .

 

 

   
 
 

es Beetle, Striped... augugintertt 35
ne Flea-beetle,.  ..........2.2. 110
OO BY wise seieennciieais va acleecariaae 110
Twelve-spotted Sqaash-beetle...... 63
= wy Diabrotica,..... ... 45
MWwige Pied ePicacavank amsawananereecs 171
Two-Striped Sweet Potato Beetle. .105
Two-winged Insects......... .
Tyloderma fragariae :
Tred TUBOTUM Lo icc cece cece e eens

Uropota Americana...
Veratrum album

VAP QW COMP cscs cities ot a Sema we Se
Vine-worm, Cranberry............. 260
Virginia Creeper........... 219-220-224

Vines, Susceptibility to Phylloxera.258
WAS DBs. isica. eects ved Sis meiciayae Sete ae 10
Wasp, Diggericaiciaes saz sinccnnimerd 197

 

 

 

INDEX.

   
 

Wavy-striped Flea-beetle....... 35-110
Web-worm, Fall............ «+ 260
Weevil, American Bean... 1y
#8 New YORK: jo ge ae <3 9 292
sf PCO: ssi gas segues .. 56
ss Potato-stalk.... 02... 22. 85
Wheaties ox cetange ee seae & 23 ase 115
Wheat-head Army Worm... ... 134
Wheat- Midge: jp cccssag saceueey vex l23
WCDI Gaciudt iasateee Areeehin
White Berry ..
White Grub... .
er 8 PUN SUB ys wetesesaaans oe
White Hellebore................... 204
Wald’ CHerEV sissiatcn tt a3, cmon abte-s 154

Wire-worms....

“ec “

we

 

worm, Apples icaisxicaa wos cates e : 161
Army.

 
    

“Fall Web

“False Wire. ............ roo ee
‘Gooseberry Span........... 199
Se JDO sive sue 2

“Muck

 

“Native
“Northern Army..

   
  
  

sf Potato...........

‘““ Southern Grass....

“ Strawberry.....

‘© Tobacco...

«« Tomato.....

. Vo WABG tcc sawieoone eee | Srocey

Yellow-bear, Common.
Zebra Caterpillar.
The Management and Feeding of Cattle

By Pror. Tuomas SHaw. The place for this book will
be at once apparent when it is stated that it is the first
book that has ever been written which discusses the man-
agement and feeding of cattle, from the birth of the calf
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block or at the pail. The book is handsomely printed on
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inches. 496 pages. Cloth . . ... . . . Net, $2.00

The Farmer’s Veterinarian

By Cuartrs Wititiam Burkett. This book abounds in
helpful suggestions and valuable information for the most
successful treatment of ills and accidents, and disease
troubles. A practical treatise on the diseases of farm
stock; containing brief and popular advice on the nature,
eause and treatment of disease, the common ailments and
the care and management of stock when sick. It is
profusely illustrated, containing a number of halftone
illustrations, and a great many drawings picturing diseases,
their symptoms and familiar attitudes assumed by farm
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first time, a plain, practical and satisfactory guide for
farmers who are interested in the common diseases of the
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First Lessons in Dairying

By Husert E. Van Norman. This splendid little book
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elementary text-book for colleges and for use especially
in short-course classes. It embodies underlying principles
involved in the handling of milk, delivery to factory, ship-
ping station, and the manufacture of butter on the farm.
It is written in a simple, popular way, being free from tech-
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A Dairy Laboratory Guide

By H. E. Ross. While the book is intended primarily
for use in the laboratory, it should be of value to the
practical dairyman. The time has come when the suc-
cessful dairyman must study his business from a purely
scientific point of view, and in this book the scientific
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ciples are illustrated by practical problems and examples,
90 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth, ..... . Net, $050

@) a aoa
Profitable Stock Raising

By Crarence A. SHAMEL. This book covers fully the
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dairying type. It tells of sheep and mutton raising, hot
house lambs, the swine industry and the horse market.
Finally, he tells of the preparation of stock for the market
and how to prepare it so that it will bring a high market
price. Live stock is the most important feature of farm
life, and statistics show a production far short of the
actual requirements. There are many problems to be
faced in the profitable production of stock, and these are
fully and comprehensively covered in Mr. Shamel’s new
book. Illustrated. 5x7 inches. 288 pages. Cloth.

Net, $1.50

The Business of Dairying

By C. B. Lane. The author of this practical little book
is to be congratulated on the successful manner in which
he has treated so important a subject. It has been pre-
pared for the use of dairy students, producers and handlers
of milk, and all who make dairying a business. Its pur-
pose is to present in a clear and concise manner various
business methods and systems which will help the dairy-
man to reap greater profits. This book meets the needs
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Questions and Answers on Buttermaking

By Cuas A. Pustow. This book is entirely different
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a class by itself. The entire subject of butter-making in
all its branches has been most thoroughly treated, and
many new and important features have been added. The
tests for moisture, salt and acid have received special
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Questions and Answers on Milk and Milk Testing

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a
Bean Culture

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duction and marketing of beans. It includes the manner of
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tion and breeding, planting, harvesting, insects and fungous
pests, composition and feeding value; with a special chapter
on markets by Albert W. Fulton. A practical book for the
grower and student alike. Illustrated. 144 pages. 5 x 7
inches; “Cloths: aj e ae Ga a we a $O.SO

Celery Culture

By W. R. Beattie. A practical guide for beginners and a
standard reference of great interest to persons already en-
gaged in celery growing. It contains many illustrations giving
a clear conception of the practical side of celery culture. The
work is complete in every detail, from sowing a few seeds in
a window-box in the house for early plants, to the handling
and marketing of celery in carload lots. Fully illustrated.
150 pages. 5 x 7 inches. Cloth . . ... . . $050

Tomato Culture

By Witt W. Tracy. The author has rounded up in this
book the most complete account of tomato culture in all its
phases that has ever been gotten togetner. It is no second-
hand work of reference, but a complete story of the practic: *
experiences of the best-posted expert on tomatoes in the
world. No gardener or farmer can afford to be without the
book. Whether grown for home use or commercial purposes,
the reader has here suggestions and information nowhere else
available. Illustrated. 150 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. $0.50

The Potato

By SamMuEL Fraser. This book is destined to rank as a
standard work upon Potato Culture. While the practical side
has been emphasized, the scientific part has not been neglected,
and the information given is of value, both to the grower and
to the student. Taken all in all, it is the most complete, reliable
and authoritative book on the potato ever published in Amer-
ica. Illustrated. 200 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. . . $0.75

Dwarf Fruit Trees

By F. A. WaucuH. This interesting book describes in detail
the several varieties of dwarf fruit trees, their propagation,
planting, pruning, care and general management. Where
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purposes, and where quick results are desired, this book will
meet with a warm welcome. Illustrated. 112 pages. 5 x 7
inches. Cloth, . . . 2. 6 «© «© = © «© « « « $050

(6)
Cabbage, Cauliflower and Allied Vegetables

By C. L. Atten. A practical treatise on the various
types and varieties of cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels
sprouts, kale, collards and kohl-rabi. An explanation is given
of the requirements, conditions, cultivation and general man-
agement pertaining to the entire cabbage group. After this
each class is treated separately and in detail. The chapter
on seed raising is probably the most authoritative treatise on
this subject ever published. Insects and fungi attacking this
class of vegetables are given due attention. Illustrated. 126
pages. 5x 7 inches. Cloth. . . . . . + « + $0.50

Asparagus

By F. M. Hexamer. This is the first book published in
America which is exclusively devoted to the raising of aspara-
gus for home use as well as for market. It is a practice?
and reliable treatise on the saving of the seed, raising of the
plants, selection and preparation of the soil, planting, cultiva-
tion, manuring, cutting, bunching, packing, marketing, canning
and drying, insect enemies, fungous diseases and every re-
quirement to successful asparagus culture, special emphasis be-
ing given to the importance of asparagus as a farm and money
crop. lllustrated. 174 pages. 5 x 7 inches. Cloth. . $0.50

The New Onion Culture

By T. Grriner. Rewritten, greatly enlarged and brought
up to date. A new method of growing onions of largest size
and yield, on less land, than can be raised by the old plan.
Thousands of farmers and gardeners and many experiment
stations have given it practical trials which have proved a
success. A complete guide in growing onions with the great-
est profit, explaining the whys and wherefores. Illustrated.
5 x 7 inches. 140 pages. Cloth . . . . . . . $0.50

|
The New Rhubarb Culture :

A complete guide to dark forcing and field culture. Part
I—By J. E. Morss, the well-known Michigan trucker and
originator of the now famous and extremely profitable new
methods of dark forcing and field culture. Part II—Com-
piled by G. B. Fiske. Other methods practiced by the most
experienced market gardeners, greenhouse men and experi-
menters in all parts of America. Illustrated. 1330 pages.
5x7 inches. Cloth. . . 2. 2. 1 1 ww 1. $o80

(7)
Alfalfa

By F. D. Cosurn. Its growa., ttses, and feeding value.
The fact that alfalfa thrives in almost any soil; that without
reseeding, it goes on yielding two, three, four, and sometimes
five cuttings annually for five, ten, or perhaps 100 years; and
that either green or cured it is one of the most nutritious
forage plants known, makes reliable information upon its pro-
duction and uses of unusual interest. Such information is
given in this volume for every part of America, by the highest
authority, Illustrated. 164 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. $0.50

Ginseng, Its Cultivation, Harvesting, Marketing
and Market Value

By Maurice G. Karns, with a short account of its history
and botany. It discusses in a practical way how to begin with
either seeds or roots, soil, climate and location, preparation
planting and maintenance of the beds, artificial propagation,
manures, enemies, selection for market and for improvement,
preparation for sale, and the profits that may be expected.
This booklet is concisely written, well and profusely illus-
trated, and should be in the hands of all who expect to grow
this drug to supply the export trade, and to add a new and
profitable industry to their farms and gardens, without inter-
fering with the regular work. New edition. Revised and en-
larged. Illustrated. 5 x 7 inches. Cloth, . . . . $0.50

Landscape Gardening

By F. A. WauceH, professor of horticulture, university of
Vermont. A treatise on the general principles governing
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in the commoner problems of gardening. Every paragraph is
short, terse and to the point, giving perfect clearness to the
discussions at all points. In spite of the natural difficulty
of presenting abstract principles the whole matter is made
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Hedges, Windbreaks, Shelters and Live Fences

By E. P. Powerit. A treatise on the planting, growth
and management of hedge plants for country and suburban
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to plant and how to treat them; and especially concerning
windbreaks and shelters. It includes the whole art of making
a delightful home, giving directions for nooks and balconies,
for bird culture and for human comfort. Illustrated. 140
pages. §x7inches, Cloth. . . ..... . $050

(8)
Farm Grasses of the United States of America

By WILLIAM JaAsPeR SPILLMAN. A practical treatise on
the grass crop, seeding and management of meadows and
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impurities, grasses for special conditions, lawns and lawn
grasses) etc., etc. In preparing this volume the author’s object
has been to present, in connected form, the main facts con-
cerning the grasses grown on American farms. Every phase
of the subject is viewed from the farmer’s standpoint. Illus-
trated. 248 pages. 5x 7 inches. Cloth . . .. $1.0

The Book of Corn

By Hersert Myrick, assisted by A. D. SHamata, E. A.
Burnett, ALsert W. Futon, B. W. SNow, and other most
capable specialists. A complete treatise on the culture, mar-
keting and uses of maize in America and elsewhere for
farmers, dealers and others. Illustrated. 372 pages. 5 x 7
inches. Cloth, . . 2. 2. 6 2 2 ee ew ew ee) $1.50

The Hop—Its Culture and Care, Marketing and
Manufacture

By Hersert Myrick. A practical handbook on the most
approved methods in growing, harvesting, curing and selling
hops, and on the use and manufacture of hops. The result of
years of research and observation, it is a volume destined to
be an authority on this crop for many years to come. It takes
up every detail from preparing the soil and laying out the
yard, to curing and selling the crop. Every line represents the
ripest judgment and experience of experts. Size, 5 x 8;
pages, 300; illustrations, nearly 150; bound in cloth and gold;
price, postpaid, . . 2. 2. 2 2 © © © © © © © $1.50

Tobacco Leaf

By J. B. Kitteprew and Hersert Myrick. Its Culture and
Cure, Marketing and Manufacture. A practical handbook
on the most approved methods in growing, harvesting, curing,
packing and selling tobacco, with an account of the opera-
tions in every department of tobacco manufacture. The
contents of this book are based on actual experiments in field,
curing barn, packing house, factory and laboratory. It is the
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ject of tobacco for many years. 506 pages and 150 original
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(9)
Bulbs and Tuberous-Rooted Plants

By C. L. Aten. A complete treatise on the history,
description, methods of propagation and full directions for
the successful culture of bulbs in the garden, dwelling and
greenhouse. The author of this book has for many years
made bulb growing a specialty, and is a recognized authority
on their cultivation and management. The cultural direc-
tions are plainly stated, practical and to the point. The
illustrations which embellish this work have been drawn
from nature and have been engraved especially for this
book. 312 pages. 5x 7inches. Cloth . . . . $1.50

Fumigation Methods

By Wits G. Jounson. A timely up-to-date book or
the practical application of the new methods for destroying
insects with hydrocyanic acid gas and carbon bisulphid, the
most powerful insecticides ever discovered. It is an indis-
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gardeners, florists, millers, grain dealers, transportation com
panies, college and experiment station workers, etc. Illus-
(sated. 313 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth . . . . . $1.00

Diseases of Swine

By Dr. R. A. Cratc, Professor of Veterinary Medicine at
the Purdue University. A concise, practical and popular guide
to the prevention and treatment of the diseases of swine. With
the discussions on each disease are given its causes, symptoms,
treatment and means of prevention. Every part of the book
impresses the reader with the fact that its writer is thor-
oughly and practically familiar with all the details upon which
he treats. All technical and strictly scientific terms are
avoided, so far as feasible, thus making the work at once
available to the practical stock raiser as well as to the teacher
and student. Illustrated. 5x7inches. 190 pages. Cloth. $0.75

Spraying Crops—Why, When and How

By Ciarence M. Weep, D.Sc. The present fourth edition
has been rewritten and set throughout to bring it thoroughly
up to date, so that it embodies the latest practical information
gleaned by fruit growers and experiment station workers. So
much new information has come to light since the third edi-
tion was published that this is practically a-new book, needed
by those who have utilized the earlier editions, as well as by
fruit growers and farmers generally. Illustrated. 136 pages.
5 x7 inches. Cloth . . 2. 2. . ©. « « «. . « $0.50

(10)
Successful Fruit Culture

By SamueLt T. Maynarp. A practical guide to the culti-
vation and propagation of Fruits, written from the standpoint
of the practical fruit grower who is striving to make his
business profitable by growing the best fruit possible and at
the least cost. It is up-to-date in every particular, and covers
the entire practice of fruit culture, harvesting, storing, mar-
keting, forcing, best varieties, etc., etc. It deals with principles
first and with the practice afterwards, as the foundation, prin-
ciples of plant growth and nourishment must always remain
the same, while practice will vary according to the fruit
grower’s immediate conditions and environments. Illustrated.
265 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth . . . . . . . $1.00

Plums and Plum Culture

By F. A. WaucH. A complete manual for fruit growers,
nurserymen, farmers and gardeners, on all known varieties
of plums and their successful management. This book marks
an epoch in the horticultural literature of America. It is a
complete monograph of the plums cultivated in and indigenous
to North America. It will be found indispensable to the
scientist seeking the most recent and authoritative informa-
tion concerning this group, to the nurseryman who wishes to
handle his varieties accurately and intelligently, and to the
cultivator who would like to grow plums successfully. Illus-
trated. 391 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth . . . . . $1.50

Fruit Harvesting, Storing, Marketing

By F. A. WaucH. A practical guide to the picking, stor-
ing, shipping and marketing of fruit. The principal subjects
covered are the fruit market, fruit picking, sorting and pack-
ing, the fruit storage, evaporation, canning, statistics of the
fruit trade, fruit package laws, commission dealers and deal-
ing, cold storage, etc. etc. No progressive fruit grower can
afford to be without this most valuable book. Illustrated.
232 pages. 5 x 7 inches. Cloth, . . . . . . . $1.00

Systematic Pomology

By F. A. Wave, professor of horticulture and landscape
gardening in the Massachusetts agricultural college, formerly
of the university of Vermont. This is the first book in the
English language which has ever made the attempt at a com-
plete and comprehensive treatment of systematic pomology.
It presents clearly and in detail the whole method by which
fruits are studied. The book is suitably illustrated. 288
pages. 5x 7inches. Cloth . . . . . . 2... $1.00

a1)