200 



their way into the tissue, thus starting a new gall. By this spreading of the young 

 from Ihe galls in which they have hatched and starting new ones, the number of 

 galls on a tree may become i-apidly multiplied. The mites live within the galls till 

 the drying of the leaves in the autumn ; then they migiatetothe leaf buds at the ends 

 of the twigs, where, after working their way beneath the leafy scales, they remain 

 throughout the winter." 



No satisfactory remedy has as yet been hit upon for this pest. Prof. Comstock's 

 experiments showed that Kerosene Emulsion sprayed on the leaves was not satisfac- 

 tory,and all that can at present be suggested is spraying freely with Kerosene Emul- 

 sion at the time the buds burst in spring. It is difficult to mix any powder with 

 Kerosene Emulsion, but this can be done with care, and Flowers of Sulphur would 

 certainly be a valuable addition on account of its special efficacy in destroying mites. 



THE CLOSER ROOT-BORER. 



{Hylesinus trifolii, Miiller). 



Attack. — Small, brown beetles, shown magnified in the figure, which bore 

 into the roots of clover and deposit eggs there; these eventually turn to white grubs 



and destroy the root of the clover plant. 



This troublesome insect is now well known in some of 

 the States of the Union ; but has never, to my knowledge, 

 been before this year found in Canada. In August last I 

 received from the editor of the Farmers' Advocate the fol- 

 lowing letter, to which I replied as below : — 



" Sir, — I send you by parcel-post specimens of red clover 

 roots infected by insects, and black knot taken from cherry 

 trees, with the worms still in them. There are two broods 

 of the clover insect in a season, the first becoming a beetle 

 and leaving the clover roots about the first of July, and the 

 other about the time the red blossoms should develop for 

 the second crop; but if the insects are numerous, there 

 are no red blossoms, and I think they may have been the 

 cause of the almost total failui-e of the crop of clover seed 

 in this section for a number of years. ^ As to black knot, 

 I am satisfied that it is caused by insects, and that the 

 fungus exists only in the cranium of those so-called profes- 

 soi's who argue otherwise. If they examine the knots the fore 

 part of July they will find fi-om one to ten maggots in each, 

 without any openings to get in. Theie are openings now, 

 as they 'are about to leave the knots, which dry up and 

 Fig- 7. make no further growth, and the insects do no more harm. 



If the knots are not destroyed before the insect escapes, it is useless to do so after." 

 — (S. A. Arnold, Harwich Township, Ont.) 



" Sir, — I now send you a short article on the beetle which was destroying Mr. 

 S. A. Arnold's clover, Mr. Arnold's opinion concerning the nature and origin of 

 black knot of the plum and cherry is entirely wi'ong. The nature and mode of 

 growth of this parasitic fungus are now just as well known as that of the plum tree 

 upon which it grows, and it has been ably treated in yout pages by Prof. Panton. 

 It is a rather new kind of argument that because an insect is found inside an object 

 that, therefore, it made it. In the same line would be trying to prove that because 

 maggots are found inside the ordinary mushroom that, therefore, they made the 

 mushroom. There are no holes showing on the outside, because, when the insects 

 hatched from the eggs laid by the mother insect, they were so very small that the 

 hole necessary to allow them to enter the substance of the fungus could hardly be 

 seen, and also because its increase of growth would soon obliterate the holes. (The 

 eggs might also have been inserted in the substance of the gall by the female insect.) 



*NoTK. — It is very evident that the gentleman is here confounding two insects — the Clover-seed Midge 

 and the Clover Root-borer. 



