by special augers, or by more complicated machinery, drawn by horses. It is believed that petroleum emulsions will supersede it as an underground insecticide, and prove to be the best, cheapness, safety and efficiency considered. (From "General Truths in Applied Entomology," Riley.) PREVENTIVES OF GRAPE DISEASES. The recipes prescribed by the United States Department of Agriculture for the treatment of mildew and black-rot of the grape, are here republished. They are as follows: NO. 1. EAU CELESTE, OR BLUE-WATER. One pound sulphate of copper. One and a half pints of liquid ammonia. NO. 2. EAU CELESTE. One pound sulphate of copper. One pound carbonate of soda. Dissolve the sulphate of copper in one gallon of boiling water. In another vessel dissolve the carbonate of soda, then pour the two solutions together, and when all chemical reaction ceases add the ammonia. Dilute the mixture to twenty-two gallons when required for use. NO. 3. BORDEAUX MIXTURE. Sulphate of copper, six pounds. Fresh lime, four pounds. Water, twenty-two gallons. Slake and dissolve the lime in two or three gallons hot water, and strain it, making milk of lime. Dissolve the copper sulphate in three gallons hot water, mix the two solutions and add water to make twenty-two gallons. The mixture should be well stirred before applying as a spray to the foliage and fruit. In preparation of formula No. 1, Eau Celeste, the copper sulphate should be dissolved in a gallon of hot water, then pour in the ammonia a little at a time, until all the copper is precipitated; the liquid is then turbid, and of a clear blue color. Add several gallons water and let stand an hour or two to settle. Then pour off the clear liquid, which contains sulphate of ammonia, the compound which causes burning of the leaves. Then pour upon the precipitate left in the vessel enough liquid ammonia to dissolve it, say one pint of ammonia; the result is a clear blue liquid. Dilute this with water to make twenty-two gallons. The Department of Agriculture directed a trial of these various formulas to be made, in order to determine which is preferable. Reports from all the experiment stations in the United States, of the experience of 1887, indicate that the Bordeaux mixture is most effective in preventing or curing grape mildew and anthraenose. Reports from France are favorable to Eau Celeste, formula No. 1. The formulas are slightly modified from those used last year, to obviate the chance of injury to the young and tender foliage of the vine. As regards the efficacy of these preparations in prevention of leaf mildew, experience proves them all to afford complete protection. Concerning the black-rot the testimony conflicts. The weight of evidence, however, especially from France, is that if employed early in the season it is protective against black-rot. EXTRACTS FROM A PAPER READ BEFORE THE CAMDEN COUNTY BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. BY ISAAC W. NICHOLSON. The importance to the agriculturist of a more extended knowledge of entomology is but imperfectly appreciated. It is important to be able to distinguish which are our friends and helpers and which are our foes, and make their habits somewhat familiar, thereby acquiring the power to move successfully and prevent their encroachments in the destruction of the various crops that are liable to their attacks. In a short article of this kind it will be impossible to more than merely outline the number which are a serious drawback to our efforts in agriculture, or the friends which are enemies to them. Quite recently a worm has made its appearance in the wheat crop. [See page 164, Report.] The past summer a fly of the Stromox family was also noticed. [See page 163, Report.] It is entirely unknown at the U. S. Entomological Department at Washington. It is believed to be an imported species. The May bug is a beetle which requires three years to attain a perfect development, during this time feeding upon the roots of plants. Whilst in the larva it is sought by many birds and chickens, and pigs, moles and some other animals have a tendency to keep them in check. The beautiful metallic lustre of the June bug is but a slight recompense for the ravages committed by it during its three years of underground life, when it attacks the strawberry plants as a small white grub, cutting off the roots and entirely blasting the hopes of the grower, after the plant has successfully withstood transplanting. Lawns suffer very severely from their attacks; sometimes the grass is so completely shorn from the roots by them that it can be rolled up like a flower. When such cases occur, the moles will make roads in nearly every part of the affected spots and frequently get the blame for the damage, when they are acting a friendly part and are preventing their further development, thereby preventing an increase. The wire-worm, which is so destructive to the young corn when it is in the larva state, is of the Clater family, or snapping beetle; its enemies are the crow, blackbirds, robins, &c., and the larvæ of the lady bird, of which there are eight different species. They are very homely, but quick and persistent in their attacks, seizing their prey by the thorax, and not relinquishing their hold until they have completed their repast. They attack all kinds of grubs, and at maturity destroy the ova of many kinds of insects, not the least of which is the potato bug and aphis, or lice which are upon fruit trees, plants, rose bushes and melon vines. The tomato worm belongs to the Sphinx family, and when matured is a night-flying moth. When one is found with little white cocoons upon it, which might be mistaken for eggs, be careful not to destroy it, as it has upon it that which will not only destroy it, but the little trachina flies which emerge from those cocoons will pay their respects to other worms and deposit eggs, the larvæ from which will feed upon the juices of the worm, thus destroying it. How many prized hedges of evergreens and trees have been despoiled or killed by the attacks of the basket-worm, which is often unseen until its work of destruction has been accomplished. It takes the persistency of the fly catcher or wheel bug to prevent their devastating our roadsides of the beautiful cedars or the lawns of their effectiveness. The ovum of the wheel bug is found upon the under side of limbs of trees in a cluster of about twenty glued together in a pentagonshaped mass. The larvae, when young, look like small red spiders, are very voracious, and will attack caterpillars, flies, &c. The developed bug can readily be mistaken for a squash bug, but upon examination of the shoulders there is a semicircle with teeth upon it; hence the name wheel bug. It is also one of the greatest insect enemies of the fall web-worm, which defoliated many trees during the present season. [See [See "Predaceous Insects," page 529.] Eoxchistus servus is another insect that preys upon the caterpillars similar to the wheel bug. Podisus spinosus is also quite common during a caterpillar plague; in all stages of this insect it is found feeding upon insects. But few birds are known to feed upon them. The black-billed cuckoo and the common screech owl are known to be attracted to it. The cabbage-worm, though of quite recent introduction, is known by its formidable increase. It is one of the greatest obstacles to the successful raising of the crop, and as is the case with all importations of such plagues, there seems to be no parasitical enemy to it. Within a few years, under the auspices of the Agricultural Department, at Washington, there have been two importations of a parasite from England, one of which appears to have been successful. The larvae of the hand-maid moth, which are seen in large clusters on apples and many oak and walnut trees, after completely destroying all the tender part of the leaves, fall upon the ground to undergo the transformation period. They are attacked by a fly a little larger than the common house fly, which, despite the wiggling of the worm, deposits its eggs in segments of the worm's body, when the larvæ of the fly feed upon the juices of the worm, completely destroying and keeping it in check, so for some years they are found only in limited numbers. An insect with the color and marking of the hornet, but much larger, known as the burrow wasp, is very active and swift on the wing, capturing the cicada (harvest fly), taking it to its cells under ground, storing it with other insects and their larvæ for the nourishment of its own larvæ. The greater benefactor in keeping insects in check is undoubtedly the fungus which attacks their bodies, generally their abdomens and under their wings. It is of a reddish color, and frequently can be seen with the naked eye on the common house fly, and upon the larvæ of some of the larger insects, such as the true locust, crickets, and different species of caterpillars. It is very doubtful economy, in order to protect some crop from the insectivorous birds, to wantonly slay them, for who has not watched the incessant labor required of a pair of robins or blackbirds to keep a supply of grubs or beetles in the open mouths of their young? So with all the native birds; through heat and rain they are incessant workers, and with a little care their damage to crops is not the one-hundredth part of what their benefit is by their continual exertions to feed their young and gratify their own appetites. Even the quail is but a sort of the granivorous, substituting the ants, beetles and grubs much the greater part of the time. |