79 



Treatment for the Horn Fly. 



• * * lu reply to your question "What is boiug done by the people in your 

 neighborhood in regard to the lloru Fly ? " I have to say, hardlj' auythiug. There is. 

 a spasmodic attempt being made to fight this pest, but nothing systematic. Oui 

 our place we have several times thoroughly annointed our fattening cattle with a- 

 mixture of axle grease, tar, and carbolic acid. This keeps the fly from worrying thetui 

 for several days. This week I had a mixture of fish oil, tar, and carbolic acid thor- 

 oughly rubbed over our milk stock. The flow of milk has not been very much in- 

 creased as yet. Heretofore their time has been taken up in fighting the flies, which 

 made them so restless it was hard to milk them at all. Now they stand much better 

 and, in fact, this mixture has been of great benefit. I shall have it renewed in a few 

 days, and shall advise our people through our county papers to use this or some sim- 

 ilar remedy. If you find out any other remedies for this pest, keep me posted. » * * 

 —[J. S. Strayer, Port Republic, Va., June 26, 1891. 



A NeTw Enemy to Currants 



I send you a bug which I find f ceding on white and red currants. I have not beea 

 able to fiud it on any of the forest growth here and in 6 years have not seen one like 

 it. I presume it is not an abuu dant insect. — [H. Stewart, Highlands, Macon County^ 

 North Caiolina, June 10, 1891. 



Reply. — * * * The insect is the so-called Leaf-footed Plant-bug (Leptoglossus 

 phyUoptis). It is found commonly throughout the South and, although its habits are 

 normally predaceous, it has occasionally been noticed to pierce cotton bolls and the 

 buds of different plants. It has not before been noticed, so far as I am aware, as an 

 enemy of currants. If it is sufficiently abundant to do much damage I would advise 

 you to spray with a dilute kerosene emulsion made according to the formula given on 

 page 3 of Circular No. 1, second series.— [June 22, 1891.] 



A California Thrips on the Potato. 



I mail you to-day specimens of a Thrips that is very injurious to the leaves of potato 

 plants in various portions of Los Angeles County. I find them only on the under 

 side of the leaves, and when numerous they cause the part of the leaf which they at- 

 tack to wither and finally to die. I saw one field of about 100 acres of potatoes of 

 which a large percentage of the plants had been seriously injured by these pests. I 

 al.so found them in large numbers on Onion, and this species may prove to be the same 

 as the one I sent you specimens of from onions last year. Besides potatoes and 

 onions I also found them in large numbers on a plant commonly known as "Tumble- 

 weed ; " on this they were even more numerous than on the Potato. I would be glad 

 to receive the name of this Thrips and to learn whether or not it is an introduced 

 species. I am now carrying on a series of experiments against it with Paris green 

 and whale-oil soap and will report results. — [D. W. Coquillett, Los Angeles, Cal.,, 

 Jnne 8, 1891. 



Reply. — » » * This is the same species which you sent last year upon onion, 

 and is a new species of the true genus Thrips. — [June 17, 1891.] 



Rocky Mountain Locust in North Dakota. 



First letter. — I send you by mail a few specimens of an insect that has made its 

 appearance here in some spots in great numbers. We believe it to be the Rocky 

 Mountain Locust. It was first noticed a week ago. They seem to have been hatched 

 on stubble land that was not plowed. Their ravages have so far been confined to 

 grain bordering on such land. At night they leave the grain and roost on the ends 

 of prairie grass near by. Whenever they walk or jump it is towards the south. 



