274 



and makes a fair crop, as it did last year with us ; but they may con- 

 tinue, reproduce, and destroy the plant entirely. Something has been 

 said in print about introducing the English sparrow to destroy the 

 worm, but, so far as I know, no effort has been made to get them. The 

 expense will probably prevent a decisive experiment of their utility. May 

 I suggest that the Department supply to some careful farmers of Georgia 

 and Alabama a few of these birds for experiment*? The beneficial ser- 

 vices of birds in destroying the cotton worms have been noticed in 

 several instances. A farmer in Lavaca county planted a part of his 

 cotton field in common millet, which ripened at the time the worms 

 appeared in force and attracted the birds, who ate up the worms 

 also, and preserved the cotton an acre deep where it and the millet 

 joined. A like result was had in Grimes county, the adjoining cotton 

 being kept clear of the worms by the birds. The i^lan most effective 

 would be to plant millet in the cotton throughout the field. Other 

 benefits would result from the sowing of the millet, it being the best 

 forage known to us, and from leaving convenient passways over the 

 field, in cotton gathering time, after the millet has been cut and saved. 

 The local supply of birds would be wholly inadequate to the demand 

 of half a dozen joining cotton farms. It has been suggested here, too, 

 that to multiply birds (by protecting them) to an extent commensurate 

 with the demand for cotton protection would render them too numerous 

 and destructive. South Carolina and rice growing countries are 

 troubled with rice birds very much some seasons, yet rice is abundantly 

 produced, and there are ready means to be used when birds are in a 

 great excess. 



THE POTATO BUG. 



Whiteside County, 111. — The Colorado potato bugs have appeared in 

 force. 



Putnam Cotmty, III. — Potato bugs have made their appearance. 



Boone County, III. — The bugs have attacked the potato vines. Acre- 

 age less than last year. 



Madison County, Ind. — ^Potato bugs are very destructive. 



Wells County, Ind. — The Colorado j)otato bug has made its appearance 

 by millions. 



Van Wert County, Ohio. — The potato bug has made its appearance in 

 considerable numbers. 



Mercer County, Ohio. — The potato bug is making sad havoc with the 

 potato vines. 



Jefferson County, Ind. — We have a new potato bug. I think it must 

 be the "Colorado"' bug. When full grown it is half an inch long and 

 somewhat broad, striped, and multiplies freely. I have succeeded best 

 in disposing of them by shaking them off into a pan and destroying 

 them. 1 tried lime on the potato vines with some success. 



Monroe County, Mich. — Two kinds of potato bugs, called here the 

 Colorado and the California, are making considerable ravages upon the 

 crop. The Colorado bug is of a reddish color, resembling, at a little 

 distance, a lady bug, but is without wings, and sluggish in habits. The 

 California is a large, striped bug, nearly an inch long, with wings. They 

 are very active, and gTeat eaters. The former are the most numerous. 



Green Lake, Wis. — I have been using the following remedy for the 

 p.otato bug, which has become a serious nuisance and destroys the crop 

 when it is not destroyed. One part of Paris green and forty parts of 

 flour mixed and sprinked on the vines when the dew is on, or the vines 



