358 Musouri State Horticultural Society. 



enough left to do any serious damage. The stems can be obtained 

 very cheaply at the large tobacco factories, and act as a fertilizer 

 besides preventing insect depradations. 



WIRE WORMS. 



Prof. Tracy also stated that he had successfully fought these 

 pests by the potato remedy so much used m England. Potatoes 

 were buried a few feet ajsart and a few inches deep in the infested 

 melon and cucumber patches, and when examined often contained 

 a dozen of the worms. They were usually only part way in the 

 potato, so that they could be easily removed and destroyed, but 

 occasionally they were in so far as to necessitate cutting out with a 

 knife. 'Potatoes used as bait in this way soon rotted, probably 

 because of the access of air through the holes bored by the worms. 



CABBAGE FLIES. 



Secretary Garfield stated that this pest had almost ruined cab- 

 bage production in the vicinity of (rrand Rapids, as also, according 

 to Prof. Tracy, was the case about Detroit. In the latter instance 

 the 'estimated loss was $20,000. Bisulphide of carbon is said not 

 to destroy these pests on clay ground. Kerosene and soap mixtures 

 have been successfully used in several cases, although the kind of 

 soil has not been reported. 



CABBAGE AVORMS. 



Prof. Cook recommended the kerosene emulsion for these 

 insects. In recent papers hot water has been frequently advocated 

 to destroy cabbage worms, but Prof. Forbes has found that water 

 cannot be applied hot enough to kill the worms without at the same 

 time injuring the plants. A neighbor of the writers, who has a 

 large field of cabbages, has sent his hired boy out with a butterfly 

 net for about an hour each day to catch the white butterflies since 

 they have appeared. At first fifty or sixty were caught each day, 

 but later they became much scarcer. This, combined with occa- 

 sional picking of the worms has kept the cabbages nearly free from 

 their ravages. 



About one year ago Prof. S. A. Forbes found that the cab- 

 bage worms {Pieris rapce) about Normal were dying. They exhib- 

 ited the following symptoms : The caterpillars affected first be- 

 came pale, finally before death an ashy green, and in the later 

 stages of the disease were somewhat torpid. They die upon the 

 leaves and decay with astonishing rapidity, soon being reduced to a 

 blackish semi-fluid mass which dissolves at a touch. The writer at 



