SUMMER MEETING AT BUTLER. 67 



WEDNESDAY EVENING. 



The evening exercises were opened by prayer by Rev. Walker, of 

 the Presbyterian church, after which followed a song entitled "A thou- 

 sand Years." And this was followed by a duet by Mrs. Parkinson and 

 •daughter, a little lass of seven. 



VEGETABLE PARASITES. 



BY PROF. TAFT, OF COLUMBIA. 



Success in horticulture is the reward of eternal vigilance. Fifty 

 years ago an orchard could be set out, or a vineyard planted and they 

 would rarely be imperilled by the attack of insects or blights. To-day, 

 however, there is not a single order of plants which does not have its 

 particular pest, and some number them by the hundred, while the 

 farmer gives less thought to whether he may be able to cultivate and 

 harvest a crop, than he does to whether he may be able to save it from 

 its insect and vegetable parasites. 



The attention of some of our first scientists has for years been de- 

 voted to studying the habits of our insect pests, and their investiga- 

 tions have enabled them to devise means for preventing their devasta- 

 tions. If one begins in season it is only a question of time, and a sup- 

 ply of Paris green, hellebore, tobacco, kerosene, etc., as to whether he 

 or the insects shall have the crop. 



The so called vegetable parasites give more cause for anxiety, as 

 many of them are so subtle and insidious in their attacks, that they 

 are able to completely infest the plant before their presence is per- 

 ceived, and they will then require but a day or two of favorable weather 

 to destroy the crop. 



The vegetable parasites consist of such plants as draw their nour- 

 ishment from the living tissue of other plants. It is well known that 

 the dodder, mistletoe, and a few other flowering plants belong to this 

 <;lass, but it is not so well known that all of the smuts, mildews, blights, 

 ■etc., which destroy our crops, are also parasitic vegetables. 



