MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 421 



the fruit large and of good quality, but the Professor was in doubt re- 

 garding its fruitfulness. Mr. Smith, of Wisconsin, said that the State 

 Society of Wisconsin had examined the Jessie and the members were 

 very enthusiastic in praise of the new fruit. The plants run well and 

 the berries are large. Some of the berries were from seven to nine 

 inches in circumference and Mr. Smith was sure that, if they did as 

 well upon foreign soil as upon native ground, they would prove* a 

 popular fruit. Mr. Crawford said that he had cultivated the Jessie for 

 two years, and was assured that it was the best berry in the market. 

 ]\[r. Albaugh spoke of a new Ohio strawberry called the Western Union. 

 The foliage was large, strong, and very heavy, and the fruit was about 

 the size of the Cumberland Triumph. 



President Earle asked for information concerning the tarnished 

 plant bug, an insect which feeds upon vegetation, and was ruining the 

 strawberries of Illinois. This bright green bug sucks the juice from 

 the berries, and in some years has destroyed from one-half to three- 

 quarters of the crop. Mr. Earle asked if there was a remedy against 

 the encroachments of the insect. Mr. Wood, of Akron, O., reported 

 that the same bug had attacked the currant bushes in this State. Mr. 

 Smith, of Wisconsin, said that in early years insects and bugs had 

 ruined his strawberries, but during the past fifteen years he put the 

 berry plants on cultivated ground where bugs could not live, and after 

 picking the first crop he turned the plants under the surface. This 

 plan has succeeded well, and in the years he did not act in this manner 

 he was bothered with insects. Mr. IMyrick said that in Massachusetts 

 it was customary to dip the roots of plants into a weak solution of pot- 

 ash, and this killed the bugs. The subject of currants was taken up, 

 and the Fay and cherry currants were highly praised. Mr. Albaugh 

 said his brother in Covington, O., was the originator of the Lucretia 

 Dewberry, the best blackberry in the market. Mr. Caywood said the 

 Lucretia was a wonder, the finest berry in the world, larger, earlier, and 

 yielding greater crops than any other. Mr. Crawford had ascertained 

 that the Lucretia grew from root-cutting, although without sending up 

 suckers when the roots were not cut. Mr. Crawford had raised vines 

 that ran along the ground for eighteen feet. Mr. Van Deman described 

 a new blackberry hailing from Dallas, Texas, that was very popular, and 

 was the finest of the blackberry species growing in that State. Mr. 

 Van Deman thought the Dallas berry was a cross between the black 

 and dewberry. Mr. Caywood said he had originated a new berry, its 

 hardiness being equal to the Snyder, and it was as large as the largest 



