440 



ground. In Thayer County, Nebraska, com was seriously damaged by 

 anotlier species, Caloptenus spretufi, 



Pea-bugs. — Tbe pea-bug {Bruclms ly'mi) troubled I'armers in some parts 

 of Davis County, Utah, causing them to discontinue the i)lantiug of 

 that crop. 



Cotton insects. — The cotton cateriullar, or army-worm of the South, 

 [Anomis xylincv,) and the boll-worm, (.Heliothls armigera,) completed 

 their summer's work by a very efiective demonstration during Septem- 

 ber. North Carolina, judging from our previous reports, had enjoyed 

 almost entire immunity from this scourge during the summer, but 

 during September it was felt seriously in several parts of the State. 

 Eeports of insect'depredations have been received from Tyrrel, Wake, 

 Craven, Edgecombe, and Sampson Counties. In Dooly County, 

 Georgia, the caterpillars appeared early in the month, and entirely 

 swept the top crop. They reduced the j'ield one-half in Calhoun County, 

 and were very mischievous in Muscogee, Lee, Sumter, Worth, Colum- 

 bia, Heard, Marion, Schley, Wilkinson, Chattahoochee, Upson, Liberty, 

 Whitfield, Clay, and Decatur Counties. In several cases their depreda- 

 tions exceeded anything of the kind previously known, involving the 

 destruction of leaves and bolls entire. In other cases their injuries 

 resulted in the reduction of the yield by a very formidable percentage. 

 Caterpillars and boll-worms, also, figure prominently in the Florida 

 County reports. Serious depredations were committed in Liberty, 

 Jackson, Suwannee, Orange, Gadsden, Jefferson, Alachua, Clay, Colum- 

 bia, and Levy Counties. In Alabama, the same blighting inflnence was 

 felt in St. Clair, Hale, Butler, Clarke, Lee, Montgomery, Colbert, Blount, 

 Calhoun, Macon, Chambers, Pike, Autauga, Perry, and Limestone 

 Counties. In some cases, as in Pike County, the brunt of the disaster 

 fell upon the lowland cotton. The mischief appears to have been even 

 still more serious in several counties of Mississippi. In Jasper every- 

 thing about the cotton plant that a worm could eat was stripped. 

 Complaints are very earnest of these depredations in Eankin, Warren, 

 Grenada, Amite, Wayne, Yalabusha, Lauderdale, Washington, Wilkin- 

 son, Winston, Jefferson, Hinds, and Kemper Counties. In several of 

 these counties very little cotton matured after August 1. Louisiana 

 sends reports of insect damages to cotton in Union, Morehouse, Tangi- 

 pahoa, East Feliciana, Concordia, Claiborne, and Washington Counties. 

 Very great damage was also done in DeWitt and Austin Counties, 

 Texas. In the last-named county whole Adds were swept. 



CHEMICAL MEMORANDA. 



By Ryland T. BrowNj Chemist. 



Laboeatoey work. — J. E. Johnson, of Saint George, Utah, forwarded 

 to the laboratory a specimen of Indian food, much used by the tribes 

 inhabiting the great central barjn of the continent. The specimen 

 which reached the laboratory had the appearance of a bulbous root 

 which had been subjected to the action of heat till it was quite soft. Mr. 

 Johnson describes the plant as belonging to the genus Yucca, and as 

 growing abundantly in dry rocky soils. We regret that we are not able 

 to obtain the root in its fresh state, for in its roasted condition, both 

 the starch and true sugar would probably appear as glucose, or fruit 

 sugar, in the analysis. After subjecting the sample to a temperature of 



