56 



GARDENING. 



Nov. y, 



habit of this beetle is that of burrowing 

 beneath the husks of com in the field and 

 eating away the kernels while in the milk 

 from the tip downward for several inches. 

 In years of unusual abundance of the 

 beetle, these injuries have been quite 

 serious in some sections of the country. 



We can do but little against this insect 

 except reducing its numbers by hand-pick- 

 ing, or by jarring it from the branches of 

 trees when occurring thereon. Only in oc- 



leg, and posteri. 



casional years does it become annoyingly 

 abundant. The present year it is being 

 frequently reported from New York local- 

 ities. ^ J A. LlNTNER. 



INJURIOUS BEETLES. 



I send you to-day two kinds of beetles. 

 The nutmeg colored one is either the pre- 

 decessor or successor of the borer which 

 is so destructive to my Norway maples, 

 beech and birch trees. I find daily a 

 cluster of from five to fifteen of these 

 beetles on the trunk of the trees, espe- 

 cially the Noripay maple, either near the 

 ground or a few feet up. The borer is 

 like the fruit tree borer. 



The striped beetle I saw coming out of 

 holes in the trunk of the common maple 

 and I find it on shrubs, M. F. M. 



Detroit. 



The "nutmeg colored beetle" of the 

 above communication, the larva of which 

 is thought by the writer to be destructive 

 in its burrowing operations in Norway 

 maple, beech and birch, is the "Indian 

 Cetonian," Euromyia Inda (Linn.). It 

 is the same as noticed in my reply to E. 

 B., White Plains, regarding an insect 

 aljounding on oneof his young peartrees. 



The clusters of the beetle observed on 

 the trunks of the Norwav maple have 



probably been drawn thither to feed on 

 the sap flowing from wounds in the bark. 

 If it can be shown that the "borers" ob- 

 served arethe larva;of this beetleit would 

 prove to be an interesting discovery, for 

 so far as I have knowledge its early 

 stages and habits arc unknown, and 

 therefore, a desideratum. 



The "striped beetle" seen "coming out 

 of holes in the common maple," is the 

 locust borer, Cyllcnc robinirc (Forster). 

 It is one of our handsomest long-horned 

 Ijcetles in its velvety-black thora.x and 



wing-covers, the former crossed by two 

 golden-vellow bands and the latter by six 

 waved or angulated ones. Years ago 

 this insect destroyed nearly all of our 

 locust tiees,but at the present its injuries 

 are not very noticeable. It is not known 

 to attack any other tree than the locust, 

 li the beetles'sent with the above inquiry 

 were taken while emerging from a hole in 

 a maple it is a singular circumstance, for 

 while the golden rods in autumn and 

 some other poUeniferous plants are vis- 

 ited by it for food, it should not be found 

 within a hole in a maple. There is an- 

 other beetle, the maple tree borer, Glyco- 

 biiis speciosus (Say)— of the same colors 

 and with similar markings as the above, 

 but of a larger size, which infests and 

 destroys the maples, and during the 

 month of August may often be seen de- 

 positing its eggs in crevices and holes of 

 the trunks. Has not the locust Cyllene 

 by some means been confounded with 

 the maple Glycobius? J. A. Li.nt.ner. 



fl MflPLE TREE BORER. 



From a subscriber, Milville, N. J., we 

 received some insects found sticking into 

 silver maple trees. The piece of bark 

 shows how the head remained stuck into 

 the hole. The hole did not seem to go be- 

 yond the bark. 



The cavity within the l)ark of the silver 

 maple contained a small poi'tion of the 

 pupal case of one of themapletree borers, 

 ^geria. acerni, Clemens, or the "maple 

 tree clear-wing." This insect is in some 

 localities, particularly in the Western 



The sugarma 



State ■•. very destructive to the soft and 

 sometimes to hard maples, by burrowing 

 through the sap-wood just beneath the 

 bark, and girdling them so that they die. 

 Where it is abundant, the trees should 

 be protected by a coating of whitewash, 

 or an occasional application of soft soap 

 during the summer months while the 

 winged insect is abroad for the deposit of 



its eggs. J. A, I.INTNEK. 



T«E SQUASH BUO. 



F. A. W., Convent Station. N.J. .sends 

 some insects, and asks what's lluir name 

 and how to get rid of them. 



The insects sent are the notorious 

 scpiash bug, Annsa tristis (DeGeer), in 

 their mature and ])upal stages — the 

 smaller ones with wing-pads only (unde- 

 veloped wings) being the pupa-. All 

 squash growers are familiar with the- 

 harm done by this insect. 



The best remedies for it arc believed to 

 be the following: The iii-Mct p^^TS the 

 winter in concealment in ii-.|irik,i stage, 

 and generally comes all! 'Mil h.un its hid- 

 ing places toward the l:il in |Mit ..I June. 

 If about Ihi.-s time, or .i little before, 



pieces of bark, chips, bits of wood, or 

 pieces of board, be laid on the ground 

 near the hills, the hibernated bugs will 

 hide beneath them when not feeding or 

 depositing eggs. The "traps" should be 

 lifted and examined morning and evening 

 and all found beneath them killed. A 

 small pail containing kerosene will be 

 found convenient for dropping them in 

 and killing them. In addition to the 

 trapping, the underside of thelower leaves 

 should be examined at intervals of a few 

 days for the eggs, which are of a dull 

 orange color, flattened on their sides. As 

 they occur in clusters, the\' can easily be 

 detected and crushed by hand. By the 

 above means, the injuries of this pest can 

 lie greatly mitigated. J. A. Lintner. 



Sc.\LE ON Greenhouse Plants.— G. S., 

 Pendleton, Oregon, asks: ''What is best 

 means to overcome scale in a general 

 greenhouse? I have found nothing so far 

 except hand picking and that is almost an 

 endless job, where a large collection of 

 general plants is kept. It has troubled 

 our abutilons, palms and citrus varieties 

 principalh'. Fumigation is not practical." 



Brushing it oflf with a small stiflish 

 brush and washing with soapy water and 

 a sponge is the safest method. Try Fir 

 tree oil, or Little's Antipest, using them 

 according to directions. Badly infested 

 plants aren't worth cleaning. Get up a 

 stock of clean young plants, then throw 

 the old ones away. Getting rid of scale 

 on greenhouse plants is time killing, 

 tedious work. Fumigating with tobacco 

 has no effect whatever on scale. 



The Fruit Garden. 



THE MUSCAT OF fllEXflNDRIft ORflFE. 



What a beautiful and truthful picture 

 of my muscats you have got to be sure. 

 These two bunches were in the collection 

 of hothouse grapes exhibited by me last 

 year at Boston, when I obtained the gold 

 medal. That master of grape growing, 

 David .\llan, vi-as so pleased with them 

 that he carried them out to a photo- 

 grapher and had thtm photographed for 



G.iRDENING. 



The Muscat of Alexandria although one 

 of the oldest and commonest sorts is still 

 the best all purpose white-skinned green- 

 house grape iia existence. Perhaps if a 

 penson were restricted to one greenhouse 

 grape he would choose the Black Ham- 

 burgh, if to two he would certainly add 

 this muscat. 



I start our muscat grape vines early in 

 March with a night temperature of 40° 

 to 50 % syringing the canes two or three 

 times a day and shut up the house early 

 to keep in some of the sunheat. As 

 growth advances increase the tempera- 

 ture to 65° at night, and allow it to rise 

 10° or 20° higher during the daj'. 



When the vines come into flower let the 

 temperature range from 70° to 75° at 

 night, and 5° higher with the aid of fire 

 heat on sunless days; on bright days it 

 may rise to 90° if free ventilation is given. 

 But avoid cold draughts. 



Wlicn the vines are in flower I take a 

 camel's hair brush and go over the 

 l)unclies three times a day, dusting them 

 with their own pollen, or better still, with 

 jiollen from some other variety, if it is a 

 free setting one, that I may havein bloom 

 at the time, .\fter the berries are set wc 

 use the syringe to wash off" the old flow- 

 i rs, but we do not svringe the vines again 



