228 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



pearance on Long Island, and there was perfect agony on the 

 part of the Long Islanders. Dr. Fitch was sent for, and upon 

 making an examination of the ground, he found the remains 

 of these beetles. Continuing his investigations, he found 

 that the skunks were eating the asparagus beetles whenever 

 they found tliem ; there was nothing they seemed to enjoy so 

 well. He then, from the analogies of the case, suggested 

 that it was very possible that hens might destroy them, and 

 by his advice, the gardeners on Long Island turned their hens 

 into their asparagus fields, and the consequence is, these 

 beetles do very little damage. 



I will state a single other fact, for I will not take up too 

 much time. There is a sort of aphis which, until some years 

 ago, was entirely unknown in this country. It is of an orange 

 color, and much larger than the ordinary green aphis. I had 

 never seen one in my life, and I do not believe any man in 

 America had seen one, although I was perfectly familiar with 

 the insect from the beautifully colored plate of Mr. Curtis, 

 and recognized it at once when I did see it. I had been in 

 the Adirondack woods for some time, and knew nothing of 

 what was going on in this part of the world, and on coming 

 out of the woods, I spent a few days in North Elba, going 

 through a field of wheat there, on the farm which belonged 

 to John Brown, whose soul is now " marching on." I was 

 impressed with the idea that I had never seen a field that was 

 so utterly rusted in my life. Drawing one of the heads down, 

 and examining it through my glass, I found that it was no 

 rust at all, but it was this identical yellow aphis, that I had 

 never dreamed was to be found in America. It was a perfect 

 mystery to me where they came from. I asked the hunters 

 around North Elba if they had ever seen this aphis ; they 

 said. No, it was entirely new ; they all thought it was the 

 rust until I called their attention to it. When I returned 

 home, I asked if they had seen any strange aphis? Yes, 

 they said, in 1864, the whole wheat crop had been destroyed. 

 The next year I watched very carefully, and I found it made 

 its appearance occasionally, but I found also an enormously 

 developed red bug, which preyed upon it. There was no 



