THE SQUASH-VINE BORER : EXPERIMENTS AT THE STATE FARM. 67 



What means have been found the most successful against the borer ? 



The number of points above given upon which information is desired, 

 will serve to show that very little is known of this destructive insect and 

 its habits, and that it is now proposed to give it the critical study that 

 it has hitherto failed to receive. 



Experiments at the State Farm. 



Following the above request for additional observations and experi- 

 ments upon this insect, Mr. E. S. Goff, horticulturist of the New York 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, has very kindly communicated to me 

 the gratifying results of his experiments upon it at the Station, both with 

 insecticides and counterodorants, together with observations upon its 

 habits, transformations, etc. 



Under date of September 29, 1884, the following communication was 

 received from him : 



" It gives me pleasure to write to you that my experiments upon the 

 squash-vine borer {Melittia cucurhiUe) offer much hope that we shall be 

 able to battle this enemy with success. It has not been troublesome with us 

 this season, though it has appeared in sufficient numbers to give an op- 

 portunity to show the value of my applications. I have just made a very 

 thorough examination of the vines experimented upon, pulling up each 

 plant and carefully looking over the stem. I found in seven hills of 

 Hubbard squash, to which I had made no application, twenty borers (or 

 cavities where they had been). In seven hills of the same, where I used 

 a solution of copperas about the roots, I found eighteen borer cavities. 

 In eight hills of the same variety I wet the stems a distance of two feet 

 from the base of the plants with water containing Paris green at the rate 

 of half a teaspoonful to a gallon, after every rain, from the middle of 

 July to the first of September. In these plants I found only eight borer 

 cavities, (dl of wliich were farther from the lyase of the plants than the 

 Paris green ivater was applied. In eight hills of the same variety I 

 placed cobs dipped in coal-tar, five in each hill; following out the sug- 

 gestion that you gave me, I re-dipped the cobs from time to time during 

 July and August. In these plants I found but three borer cavities. 



" In sixteen hills of the Perfect Gem squash, where nothing was ap- 

 plied, I found fifteen borer cavities. In eight hills of the same, where 

 I used the soap emulsion on the stems, in the same manner as I used the 

 Paris green mixture in the case noted above, I found but two borer 

 cavities. 



" I think that these results give hope that we may very largely 

 diminish, if not entirely remedy the damage wrought by this insect, by 

 a thorough application of insecticides to the stems, or the use of 

 counterodorants. " 



In the above experiments, the application of the soap emulsion seems 

 to have given the best results, provided that the " Perfect Gem " squash 

 is as subject to attack as the " Hubbard," as eight hills gave but two 



