Itf 



gish and inactive. The lice are seldom devoured at this time, but the lady-birds 

 lay their eggs also on the under side of the leaves, usually in clusters of about 

 twenty each. These eggs adhere to the leaves, are yellow in color, and of a 

 long, oval shape ; they are soon hatched, and the progeny which creeps forth 

 is the 'black nigger' or 'serpent,' as they are called in the districts. They 

 are ferocious-looking creatures, greatly resembling in shape, though not in size, 

 the lizards of the olden time. As soon as they are hatched they commence the 

 work of destruction upon the lice, which are their peculiar food, as the lice are 

 of their parents, the lady-birds ; and if the lice are not extremely numerous, they 

 often succeed in clearing the plant of the vermin, otherwise they devour them 

 until they are literally gorged with food, and then, attaching themselves to the 

 leaves of the hop, after remaining dormant in the larva state, they cast off their 

 outer cuticle, and are transformed into the perfect lady birds, when they again 

 pursue their good work of destroying the enemies of the hop — consuming about 

 thirty lice daily." 



We have described the depredations of the lice, and the good work of the 

 lady-bugs, at some length, that the hop-grower might see the necessity of two 

 things — -first, havin-g the ground in the highest condition as to richness and til- 

 lage, that the plant may be enabled to over come the attack of the lice ; and, second, 

 that he might see the necessity of preserving the lady-bug, one of the most use- 

 ful of the beneficial insects. The lice could be destroyed by syringing the vines 

 with whale-oil-soapsuds, but this remedy is too tedious for hop cultivation. 



2. The Tnouhl. — There are various diseases to which common parlance has 

 given this name, but the one now described is the most fatal to the hop. These 

 diseases, like the lice, are parasitic, that is, both exist upon the juices of the hop 

 plant, which, being deprived of them, are blighted. Hence the term blight does 

 not designate the cause, but the result of the attack of the disease or insect. 

 Morton's Cyclopaedia of Agriculture thus speaks of the disease now under con- 

 sideration : 



"The mould is a disease rather than a blight. "We believe it to be a para 

 sitical vegetable fungus, usually generated in wet seasons and in damp situations. 

 It is of all diseases the most dreaded by the hop-grower, inasmuch as there is 

 no known i-emedy for it, and as it steadily progresses in its attack, with more or 

 less rapidity, according to the character of the season, till the crop is gathered. 

 It often originates from the negligence and inattention of the cultivator, and thus 

 prevention is better than cure. It is intimately allied to, if it be not precisely 

 the same, as the white mildew which we see in hawthorn Iwjdges, and on rose- 

 bushes, especially if the latter grow in shady situations. When the mould ap- 

 pears to any considerable extent upon the hops so early as the end of June or 

 beginning of July, however luxuriant the vine may then appear, there is no 

 hope of a crop worth picking. Dampness and a want of a free circulation of 

 air and light seem to be the predisposing cause of mould, and thus we often see 

 it emanate from wild hops, wdiich are carelessly allowed to gTOw in neighboring 

 hedges. As soon as this violent disease appears, it spreads in every direction 

 with astonishing rapidity, diminishing in intensity as the distance increases from 

 the centre of mischief. It is first noticeable upon the upper side of the leaf as 

 a white speck, not larger than a small pins head, the spot increasing in size till 

 it attains the diameter of al)0ut one-eighth of an inch ; below this Avhite spot, on 

 the under side of the leaf, there is a corresponding indentation, which renders 

 this incipient indication of mould unmistakable. From the spots on the surface 

 of the leaf the seeds of this parasitical fungus, as we imagine it to be, are blown 

 in all directions, and the minutest particle of this white dust when it settles on 

 another leaf in a few days becomes a minute speck of mould. Each new spot 

 then propagates the disease, and thus we perceive this vegetable pestilence ad- 

 vances with fearful rapidity of geometrical progression, and if the season be 



