414 Missouri State Horticultural Society. 



colored onions are less strongly flavored tlian red ones. The most 

 sugar is derived from beets destitute of coloring matter, and red 

 carrots have a more pungent taste than yellow or white ones. White 

 apples are, as a rule, much less acid than their brighter colored rel- 

 atives, and the same is true of pears, and even more strikingly of 

 jjeaches. A more marked instance is seen in the white and red 

 currants. 



Of the practical benefits to be derived from the application of 

 this hypothesis, Mr. GofE says : "In the amelioration of fruits and 

 vegetables, it is the constant aim of the horticulturist to intensify, 

 so far as possible, the desirable qualities, and to eliminate the unde- 

 sirable ones. It is evident therefore, that if it can be shown that 

 the color of the flesh has a direct relation to its flavor and tender- 

 ness, we have a valuable index in the work of selection. If by 

 whitening the flesh of a fruit through selection we can eliminate 

 acidity and solidity, or if by darkening tiie flesh of another fruit, 

 already too tender and insipid, in the same way, we can heighten 

 its characteristic flavor, and increase its firmness, we have gained a 

 new faculty in the work of making the products of nature subserv- 

 ient to our wants," 



ADVANCEMBSTT IN ENTOMOLOGY. 



Prof. C. V. Eiley recently read a valuable paper before the 

 Philosophical Society of Washington on the subject of recent ad- 

 vances in economic entomology, which he has kindly sent to the 

 Prairie Farmer for publication. The paper set^ forth tlie parr 

 which insects play in the economy of nature, and particularly their 

 influence on American agriculture. The earlier writers on applied 

 entomology in_ the United States, as Peck, Harris, Fitch, Walsh, 

 LeBaron, Glover, did some excellent work in their studies, but the 

 most important results followed when such studies were combined 

 with fleld work and experiment by competent persons and upon 

 scientific principles. A number of the remedies proposed in the 

 agricultural press are foolish and based on misleading experience. 



Economic entomology as a science is of comparatively recent 

 date. It implies full knowledge of the particularly injurious 

 species to be dealt with and of its enemies, of its relations to 

 other animals, and to wild and cultivated plants. In short, the 

 whole environment of the species must be considered, especially 

 from the standpoint of the farmer^s wants. The habits of birds, 

 more particularly, and the bearings of meteorology and of the 

 development of minute parasitic organisms must be considered. 



