656 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Tar oils containinj? phenol, or, still better, the crude carbolic acid itself, were 

 found to be very effective as herbicides when used in a 15 per cent solution. 



The first injurious effects of soils containing carbolineum solutions were ob- 

 served when the soil contained 0.02 gm. of water-soluble carbolineum per pot of 

 200 gm. of earth, and the injury manifested itself by a diminished growth of 

 the plant. On grapevines treated with carbolineum the first injury was ob- 

 served from a water-soluble solution of 2 gm. per pot. The soil disinfection 

 with carbolineum compounds was greatest when the crude tar oil itself was 

 used, but was injurious to plant production if used on the soil shortly before 

 planting. If, however, the soil was treated several months before the planting, 

 the yield was increased. 



ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY— ENTOMOLOGY. 



Our grosbeaks and their value to agriculture, W. L. McAtee (U. 8. Dept. 

 Agr., Farmcrfi" Bui. .'i56, pp. ]-'/. figs. 3). — Seven kinds of finches, commonly 

 known as grosbeaks, are said to summer within the United States. Two of them 

 live mainly in cold or mountainous areas and have little to do with farms or 

 with the insects that prey on crops. The other 5. namely, the rose-breasted 

 grosbeak or potato-bug bird, the cardinal or redbird. the black-headed grosbeak 

 or western grosbeak, the blue grosbeak or blue pop, and the gray grosbeak or 

 parrotbill, live largely in agricultural regions and secure most of their food 

 about cultivated lands. All 5 feed to some extent upon crops, but only one does 

 appreciable harm. On the other hand, all perform invaluable service in de- 

 stroying certain of our worst insect pests. 



The author briefly describes the food habits, a fuller account of which has 

 been previously noted (E. S. R., 19. p. 958), and the means of preventing them 

 from damaging crops, and of attracting and protecting them. 



" Present investigations prove that the services of gi'osbeaks in destroying 

 insect pests are invaluable. Each kind pays special attention to certain pests 

 which if unchecked would cause enormous losses. Few of our birds are to be 

 credited with more good and with fewer evil deeds than the grosbeaks, and 

 none more clearly deserve protection by the practical farmer." 



A brief report on the work now being prosecuted by some economic ento- 

 mologists in the state universities, agricultural colleges, and experiment 

 stations of the United States, T. J. Headlee (Jour. Econ. Ent., Jf (1911). No. 

 1, pp. 35-47). — ^A report presented at the twenty-third annual meeting of the 

 American Association of Economic Entomologists. 



Eeport of the entomologist of the Arizona Horticultural Commission for 

 the year ending June 29, 1910, A. W. Morrill (Ariz. Hart. Com. Ann. Rpt., 

 2 (1910), pp. 8-15). — The insects, the occurrence of which is briefly noted, are 

 the codling moth, woolly aphis, bryobia mite, date-palm scales, grasshoppers, 

 orange thrips, ants, and soft scale. Inspection work and insect control are also 

 briefly considered. 



Sixth annual report of the state entomologist of the State of Maine, E. F. 

 HiTCHiNGS (Ann. Rept. State Ent. Maine, 6 (1910), pp. 39, pis. 2).— The author 

 reports briefly upon the occurrence of some of the more important insects of 

 the year and upon the work of nursery inspection. A report by E. E. Phil- 

 brook, special field agent in charge of the gypsy moth work, is appended. 



Injurious insects, C. B. Waldron (North Dakota Sta. Rpt. 1910, pp. 51, 

 52). — Grasshoppers, the only pests that caused serious injury during 1910, were 

 the source in a few instances of total losses of from 80 to 100 acres of grain. 

 Meadows and pastures suffered severely and fruit trees and shrubs to a con- 

 siderable extent. Losses to garden crops were also very common. The de- 



