174 GENERAL HISTORY. 



At his call D. A. Pelton gave an illustrated history of the Imported Cur- 

 rant Borer (Aegeria tipuliforuiis.) 



^This was followed by G. W. Park, on the subject of Plant Lice or Aphides, 

 and their enemies, with an account of the remedies that may be employed 

 against them. 



Professor Cook now remarked: It is not always the great things of this 

 world that make the most disturbance. We have in the diseases which infest 

 our plants an illustration of the dire effects of little plant growths, too small 

 to be seen by the naked eye. In the life with which the entomologist has to 

 deal we also find abundant illustration of the amazing destructiveness of ani- 

 mals too small to be seen without a microscope. It is upon one group of 

 these " small fry " that I have invited Mr. C. P. Gillette to talk with yon to- 

 day. He will discuss the subject of 



MITES, 



of which several kinds were described and illustrated, and their life habits 

 portrayed. 



The foregoing exercises were closed with a short miscellaneous discussion 

 respecting the curculio, and also the cause of the premature dropping of its 

 leaves by the plum tree, which Professor Cook thought could not be caused 

 by an insect. 



Professor Beal thought it might by caused by a small fungus. 



THE JAPANESE PERSIMMON (l)IOSPYRUS KAKi) 



was the subject of a paper by Kizo Tamari, a student of the Agricultural 

 College from Japan, who gave an interesting account of the Japanese modes 

 of propagation, and the uses made of the fruit. 



The grape discussion was resumed, and the secretary read a letter from D. 

 W. Beadle, of Ontario, on 



FASHION IN GRAPES, 



this being apparently supposed to be mainly a question of color. 

 A paper was read on 



PRUNING THE GRAPE, 



by N. E. Smith, of Ionia. In closing he states that Moore and Hartford were 

 in bloom June 1st, 1886 ; Concord, Delaware and several others, June Uth. 

 In 1875 Concord did not bloom till July 3d. 



A letter was read from Jacob Ganzhorn, of Ann Arbor, giving an account 

 of a 



NATIONAL VITICULTURAL ASSOCIATION 



recently organized at Washington, D. C, under the auspices of the Agricult- 

 ural Department. 



ORNAMENTAL USE OF VINES 



was the subject of a paper by Ossian C. Simouds, of Wright's Grove, 111., 



