13G STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



them again in autumn. This insect will also be fully described in our next 

 agricultural report. The same remedies that I have recommended for the 

 parsnip-seed larva will also avail here. If the poisons are used, they should be 

 applied early, before the vines commence fruiting; of course, the earlier the 

 better. 



In reference to new methods of fighting injurious insects, the following 

 from a paper which I read at the last meeting of the Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science will be of practical interest to horticulturists, and may 

 well find a place in our reports, especially as the first experiments detailed were 

 made because of suggestions offered at the last February meeting of this 

 society : It is well known that there is no worse pest to the pomologist than 

 the codling moth. (CarpacajJsa pomonella, Linn.) The great mischief done by 

 this pest is augmented, from the fact that the best preventive hitherto known 

 has been effective only after the insect had done its evil work. We have known no 

 way to destroy the larvae until after the apples were eaten. Last winter I learned 

 from Mr. J. S. Woodward, of Lockport, N. Y., that trees thoroughly syringed 

 with Paris green, about the 20th of May, bore apples which were wholly ex- 

 empt from the ravages of the apple-worm. Acting upon this suggestion, I 

 thoroughly sprayed some Siberian crab-apple trees the 25th of May, and again 

 the 20th of June; but I used London purple, one table-spoonful to two gallons 

 of water. The fruit of these trees has been seriously injured whenever they 

 have borne during previous years. This year they were loaded with fruit, but 

 careful examination, made August 19th, discovered not a single injured apple. 

 A few showed signs of the previous work of the larvae, but as no burrow ex- 

 tended more than one-fourth of an inch, no harm was done. Other apple 

 trees, only a few rods distant, which were not treated with the poisonous liquid, 

 are bearing fruit, one-fourth to one-half of which is "wormy." 



From the very small amount of the poison applied to each tree, not more 

 than one-third of an ounce, the cost of the remedy is light. For the same 

 reason, as also the early application of the poison when the fruit is yet imma- 

 ture, and is sure to be washed by frequent rains before it is gathered, we should 

 expect no danger from the use of London purple. But to make assurance 

 doubly sure, I cut from a portion of the apples, on a part of a tree where the 

 poison was applied in such excess as to destroy the foliage, one hundred of the 

 blossoms, the portion where the poison would be sure to lodge, and submitted 

 them to Dr. Kedzie for analysis. Not a trace of the poison was found. If 

 future experience sustains the conclusions as to the efficiency of this remedy, it 

 will be a very important discovery. 



Previous to the present time, there has been no satisfactory method known 

 of fighting such pests as the cabbage maggot (Anthomyia br'assicm, Bouche) 

 and other insects of the same genus, and the squash borer (Melittia cucurbitce, 

 Harr.). The late Dr. Walsh recommended hot water, but this has proved 

 only partially successful. During the present season my pupil, Mr. Charles 

 McKenny, and myself have tried bisulphide of carbon with the happiest re- 

 sults. I was led to try this from its excellence in destroying museum pests, 

 and the success which has attended its use in Europe in destroying the grape 

 Phylloxera. To apply it a small hole is made in the earth near the main root 

 of the plant, by use of a walking-stick or other rod, and about one-half a 

 teaspoonful of the liquid poured in, when the hole is quickly filled with earth 

 and pressed down by the foot. In every case the insects were killed without 

 injury to the plants. I believe this substance promises most satisfactory results 

 in fighting the above-mentioned insects, the peach-borers and other insects 



