STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 53 



by insects. I have seen persons, when their trees had been damaged by 

 leaf-lice, busily employed in destroying young lady-birds, which had just 

 completed the job of eating up the leaf-lice, and were in great numbers 

 running over the trees, busily engaged in searching for more. Toads, 

 frogs and lizards should always be very carefully preserved. Always be 

 sure you are right, then go ahead. For instance, my grounds, orchard 

 and nursery, three years ago, at this time, were very seriously affected by 

 the apple-leaf crumpler. I discovered that a few of them contained para- 

 sites. I hired boys to gather them, and instead of burning them, as rec- 

 ommended, I merely threw them on a piece of bare ground ; the parasites 

 being mature, developed, the crumplers, not being mature, starved ; to-day 

 I find the crumpler very scarce, and nearly every one parasitized on my 

 place. I could give other instances leading to the same happy results.) 



Great care should be taken of the beetles known as lady-birds {Hip- 

 odamias and Coccinelles), small, oval, turtle-shaped beetles, which may 

 be generally known by their being marked black with red spots, red with 

 black spots, and yellow with black spots. These are very common every- 

 where ; they are the most insidious foe of leaf-lice {Aphides), bark-lice 

 [coccidcz), and many other noxious insects. The larvae or young of these 

 lady-birds have the same general characteristics of the young of the Colo- 

 rado potato beetle — (and their eggs closely resemble those of the potato 

 beetle, only they are smaller and in smaller clusters, and as they are often 

 deposited on the same plant, care should be taken not to destroy lady-bird 

 eggs when mashing those of the potato bug, as I have often seen done ; 

 both the lady-bird and its larvK are very voracious in hunting up and 

 eating the eggs of this potato beetle) — ^only smaller, more slender, quicker 

 in motion, and always shiny on the sides. and back. At the next meeting 

 of the commission this part of the subject will be ^\\tx\ further attention. 



VI. — Cryptogamic Parasites, /. e., Moulds, Mildews, Etc. 



(Prof. T. J. Burrill, of our State Agricultural University, at Cha^i- 

 paign. 111., has this department under special study, and will, no doubt, 

 in the future, give some very valuable facts. He will be pleased to receive 

 specimens of plants and fruits infested with mould or mildew, and be 

 pleased to give any information regarding such diseases possible. Prof. 

 Burrill coincided with the majority of the commission in recommending 

 the lime and sulphur remedy as given heretofore, and reported as follows 

 on fungi noxious to the fruit growers): 



The peach rot is the result of a fungus which also preys upon the 

 leaves of some varieties, particularly of the serrate kinds. The dust from 

 a decayed fruit is the spores — (spores fulfill the same office to fungi that 

 seeds do to plants generally) — of the fungus. These spores germinate 

 only in presence of moisture, hence the rot is worse in wet times, and 

 upon fruit whose skin is punctured by insects. 



Gathering the affected fruit as soon as observed, and before the dis- 

 semination of the spores, and burning or burying them, is the best 

 remedy. Old rotten peaches should not be allowed to remain upon the 

 trees during the winter. The same fungus injures plums and cherries. 



