THE SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 307 



boxes, and all but two or three, which were not favorably located, were occu- 

 pied. My crop of wrens could scarcely have been less than o'.ie hundred and 

 fifty, and the old birds filled the air with music wlieu they were not on duty in 

 building their nests or feeding their young. The coming spring I intend to 

 put up at least a hundred of tliose nesting-boxes in my orchards and groves, 

 and I have no doubt I shall be repaid a hundred thousand fold for the little 

 labor it costs. As long as they come back so regularly every year, and in 

 constantly increasing numbers, and serve me so well, 1 shall do all in my 

 power to protect and encourage them. And I am of the opinion that when one 

 species of social, useful birds can be made to congregate in such unusual 

 numbers, others will come also. Bat the hardiness, sociability, love of the 

 locality where it is reared, and wonderful fecundity of the little house wren, 

 render it, in my judgment, one of the most valuable of our insectivorous birds. 



THE OXIOX MAGGOT. 



Miss Eleanor A. Ormcrad, of England, in treating of the onion maggot 

 ( Ajitliourgia cejmrum), in her valuable report for 1880, states that "the most 

 successful remedy for tlie attack, when found to bo established, appears to be 

 the use of paraffin oil." In one locality where this pest was doing considerable 

 damage, it was found that after mixing "a good glassful" of paraffin oil with 

 about six gallons of water, and carefully throwing a spray of the mixture over 

 the onion bed two or three times, the attack was terminated. Another observer 

 used the paraffin in proportion of one pint to two gallons of water; but states 

 that the paraffin should be used carefully in dry weather, lest it should burn 

 the plants. The paraffin is also applied by saturating sand with the oil and 

 sowing the sand among the onions, and afterward watering it by means of a 

 can with a rose. Limewater Avas found to be less effectual than paraffin, but 

 destroyed the insects after a time. In one instance a good crop of onions was 

 secured by taking care to pull and burn the infested plants with the infesting 

 larvae, as soon as they could be detected by the turning yellow of the leaves. 

 And still another observer states that he has no trouble with the maggot, as 

 "on its first appearance I water freely with soapsuds two or three times, which 

 usually destroys it and nourishes the onions." — Professor J. H. Comstoch. 



TO DESTROY MEALY BUGS. 



I have tried various means to destroy mealy bugs and other pests of a like 

 nature, from cold water forcibly applied to expensive insecticides, and have 

 found nothing so efficacious as hot water and soft soap. The water is boiled, 

 a very liberal quantity of soap, having previously been dissolved into a thin 

 paste, is added, and the plants syringed with the mixture. I have cleared two 

 collections of camelias of the woolly scale by this means and sponging the 

 leaves. Stephanotis may be made clean by weekly syringings, more quickly so 

 if the plant is kept rather cool. The flowers are in no way harmed by the 

 mixture. Crotons, dracsenas, palms, and other foli;!ge plants subject to scale 

 and thrips, may be kept clean and in good health by periodical syringings. I 



