STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 287 



blackish or brown color on the back, with a yellowish stripe on each 

 side. They not only infested the apple trees, but also the plum and 

 some kinds of shrubbery. Scarcely any of the rnaybeetle — the larvse 

 of which is the white grub, so injurious to the strawberry beds and 

 grass plats — were seen flying this year; but the two-year old larvae, 

 that is now in the ground, were rather more destructive than the aver- 

 age of seasons. 



I found an insect of Plantbury family upon the young twigs of the 

 plum; they were apparently feeding upon the juices of the twigs, 

 and wherever one was found the leaves and end of the twig above had 

 turned black and appeared as if blighted. I have sometimes seen a 

 nearly allied specie upon the blighting twigs of the apple. 



Aphides, or plant lice, were very plentiful and in many cases injur- 

 ious. I had a halt acre of Lima beans that were nearly ruined by them. 

 They were so numerous that no fruit set, or did the plants make any 

 perceptible growth for about three weeks. The points of the vines 

 and the blossoms were thickly covered with them. I purchased a 

 pound of Dalmation powder and gun. and commenced applying it as 

 an experiment. I soon noticed a variety of the lady bug upon every 

 plant, so after going over about forty hills I concluded that to save 

 the beans at the risk of destroying the lives of so many friendly in- 

 sects might prove to be an unfortunate speculation. The result 

 proved to be a war of races in which the bug came out ahead. In a 

 short time the aphides disappeared and the bean commenced thriving, 

 although so late that they did not mature their fruit. 



Before closing this report I wish to allude to two insects that are 

 doing an immense amount of damage out in our prairie counties, the 

 Cottonwood tree beetle and the willow worm. These insects are in- 

 creasing so rapidly and committing such depredations that it is only 

 a matter of a very short time before these valuable pioneer trees can 

 no longer be grown unless some remedy is found for them. I would 

 suggest that our agricultural department of the State University en- 

 ter upon an investigation of these destructive pests, and try and aid 

 our prairie farmers to head them off. This is a line of work that calls 

 for immediate attention. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Gibbs. Knowing as I do that what is said at these meetings is 

 "for the benefit of the large number of people that read the reports, 

 and as 1 am glad to see the annual increase in the number of such 



