221 



marked by tliecliimi)s of beetles. N'othingescapedthem except peaches, 

 and they ouly escaped because there were none anyway! But even 

 peach foliage was attached. Pears were infested as badly as apples; 

 but quinces were not such favorites. Of the small fruits, the black- 

 berries seemed very attractive. They were on each blossom and ate 

 the petals but left the green, forming fruit. Last year they ate the 

 leaves as well and left only the canes. This year they left the leaves. 

 Easpberries were totally destroyed. Last season they were in such force 

 on Colonel Pearson's strawberry patches that the field looked a yellow 

 mass of moving insects. Magnolias are immense favorites and the 

 trees were loaded. Millions of tbem swarmed in a couple of sour-gum 

 trees on the road. In the woods a number of trees and shrubs were 

 defoliated, and sumach was neatly scraped, the upper surface only of 

 the leaves being eaten. In Mrs. Treat's garden her flowers suffered 

 greatly. Poppies were great favorites, while hollyhocks bore heavy 

 burdens; not ouly flowers and buds were eaten, but masses of them 

 ate even into the stem. The foxglove was also attacked ; but this was 

 fatal to those that ate, as a circle of dead beetles around each plant 

 proved. The plant was not a favorite, however, and could never prove 

 a j)rotection. 



Larkspur only seemed exempt, no beetles being seen on this and no 

 plants were found injured. Roses are well known favorites, and blos- 

 soms and buds were completely devoured. In the vineyard the havoc 

 was woeful. Dozens of them were on each bunch of blossoms and their 

 fate was sealed. There were not enough blossoms to go around and the 

 leaves were attacked. On Clintons they ate the entire substance of the 

 leaf; on Concords they ate only the top, leaving the woolly underside. 

 The destruction of the leaf was equally complete either ,vay, for the 

 shaved leaves dried and withered. Concord blossoms were rather the 

 favorites, beingin better condition for food than the Clintons, on which 

 considerable fruit had set. 



The contemplation of such enormous swarms induced a feeling of 

 helplessness that was discouraging. Colonel Pearson has done con- 

 siderable experimenting on his own account, and lacccepted his experi- 

 ence as conclusiv'e, knowing the Colonel's reliability on sut;h matters. 

 He had used the various copper compouniis and found none of them 

 efiective. Vines completely coated with the Bordeaux mixture were 

 just as badly attacked as were those where none was applied. Lon- 

 don purple had been applied to some vines, and while it was effective 

 so far as killing some of the insects is concerned, it was not protective 

 at all, since all the buds and blossoms were eaten before the poison 

 began to work. Here is our most serious problem. The insects come 

 in immense swarms and come suddenly ; they attack at once the very 

 heart of the crop — i. e., the blossoms — and do the injury long before the 

 applied internal poisons can have any chance to prove effective. Then, 

 even if the first column is oviathrown and destroyed, new forces are 



