THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



73 



less to bore augur holes into it, especially when 

 they slope downwards, so as to become a receptacle 

 for rain water. 



Eemedy for the CcRnANT Worm. — H. Stanton, Jr., of 

 Syracuse, N. Y., under date of May 24th, sends the Rural 

 New Yorieer the following: — "We have recently made an 

 important discovery here, which we wish to make public 

 for the benefit of everybody in general, and their currant 

 bushes in particular. The nvagesof the terrible c»r7-a«( 

 worm can be completely stopped, and the eneftiy destroyed 

 by the simple application of road dust. We tried it last 

 year with perfect success, and the same this year so far. 

 Gather the dust when it is dry and fine, and keep it for 

 future use. As soon apd as often as the worm makes an 

 attack sprinkle it on and throw it up under the leaves so 

 that it will adhere to both sides. The best time is when 

 the dew is on in the morning. Remember, roarf dust from 

 the street or highway. Try it." 



I believe that there is only one noxious insect, 

 that can be successfully combated by lime or 

 ashes or road-dust or any such matter, viz: the 

 Slug-worm of the Pear. The reason is that this larva 

 is covered by a slimy secretion, to which the lime or 

 ashes adheres indissolubly and finally destroys it. 

 All other insects, that commonly infest the Field, 

 the Orchard or the Garden, have the faculty of 

 cleansing themselves from any such extraneous 

 matter, and are far too wise to take it into their 

 mouths along with the food on which they sub- 

 sist. Watch, for example, a common house-fly 

 after it has daubed itself with molasses or any 

 such substance, and you will see it cleanse one 

 leg with another, as deftly as any Christian could 

 do, and wipe its head and its wings with its 

 legs. In all probability the writer of the above 

 made his experiment shortly before the " currant- 

 worm " was about to go under ground to assume 

 the pupa state, and was thus deceived into suppos- 

 ing that his enemy was " destroyed." 



Scotch Snuff put in the holes where crickets come out 

 will destroy them. 



This is probably extracted from some English 

 publication. lu England House-crickets are very 

 common and frequent the backs and jambs of fire- 

 places, ovens, &c. ; but in this country they are 

 rare, and, so far as I know, occur only in Southern 

 Illinois, and according to Mr. Uhler, in Maryland. 

 Harris, evidently referring only to the New Eng- 

 land States with which he was best acquainted, says 

 that they are unknown in the United States. The 

 common white tree-cricket ( (Ecanthus niveus) 

 sometimes indeed flies into our houses by accident 

 in the Northern States, and annoys us by night by 

 its chirruping; but the ordinary domicile of that 

 insect is on trees and weeds. 



To Prevent Weevil is Wheat. — F. J. Robinson, of Lex- 

 ington, Georgia, writing June 10th to the Southern Culti- 

 vator, says : 



" I send you the following ' Recipe for the Prevention 

 of Weevil in Wheat,' which was given to me by my friend 

 and neighbor, Major C. G. Hargroves, ot this county, who, 

 after many years experience, informs me that he has 

 found his wheat to keep to his entire satisfaction: and 

 has thus been enabled to secure, at all times, good flour 

 for his own use, in cases where his succeeding crop was 

 poor, by holding over old wheat. You will perceive that 

 the remedy is a very simple one, and the expense next to 

 iio'hing. Here is the recipe: 



After thoroughly sunning your wheat — and sunning 



also your boxes or hogsheads — and, previous to taking up 

 the wheat, prepare a small fire of cobs or trash, and when 

 it is ablaze, put on it a small quantity of sulphur, and 

 fumigate each box or tub well. Then, while the wheat 

 is hot, and the receptacles for it also hot, put your wheat 

 away, and rest satisfied that when you draw upon your 

 bank of breadstuff, you will find your draft honored with 

 'wheat as is wheat." Insects are not partial, you well 

 know, to sulphur and its fumes, and hence the succesa 

 of the physic." 



I doubt very much whether the fumes of the sul- 

 phur would not entirely evaporate in a short time. 

 Ladies straw bonnets are bleached with sulphur, 

 and yet they have no perceptible sulphureous smell. 

 The burning sulphur would likely enough, if ap- 

 plied lor a sufiieieotly long time, destroy any wee- 

 vils that were lurking in the crevices of the boxes 

 or hogsheads, but it would not prevent, in my opi- 

 nion, weevils bred in other localities from infecting 

 the stored wheat. 



Weevil ra Barns.. — I have been troubled with weevil, 

 more or less, for fifteen years, in my grain bins, and have 

 tried every remedy I could hear of — lime, whitewash, 

 elderberries, Ac. — but all to no purpose; so I determined 

 to try something else. In July, 1SG4, my barn being 

 empty of grain, Ac, but occupied by millions of weevils, 

 I took a buciiet full of salt and sowed it in the barn as a 

 farmer would sow grain, broadcast, about the granaries, 

 mows, and every nook and corner wiiich had had grain 

 in. Ever since threshing time last year I have had grain 

 in the barn, and not one weevil to be seen. — Corres. Ohio 

 .Farmer. 



I am very skeptical as to the salt-cure, as well as 

 the sulphur-cure. In both cases, perhaps, the 

 After has been confounded with the Because. 



Elder Leaves and Insects. — The leaves of the elder if 

 strewn among corn or other grain when it is put into the 

 bin, will effectually preserve it from the ravages of the 

 weevil. — The juice will also kill bed-bugs and maggots. 

 — Exchange. 



Here we have another prescription — elder leaves 

 — -to head off the Weevil. The preceding writer 

 says that he tried elderberries to no purpose. I 

 should judge that the berries would, if anything, 

 be more effectual than the leaves; but I much doubt 

 if either would have any perceptible effect. As to 

 the assertion that " insects never touch elder 

 bushes," that is certainly incorrect. The flowers 

 are haunted by a variety of flies and bees, and a 

 large and well-known Boring Beetle (^Dcsmocerus 

 paUiatus) inhabits the stems in the larva state, and 

 in the perfect state occurs on the leaves and the 

 flowers. 



The Corn Grub. — The corn crop has several formidable 

 enemies to contend with, and among them is the grub, 

 which sometimes literally destroys whole fields, or da- 

 mages the crop seriously One of the best and most con- 

 venient remedies — perhaps the very best ever suggested 

 — IS the application oi salt as soon as the plant makes its 

 appearance above ground, prepared and used in this way : 

 Take one part common salt and three parts plaster or 

 gypsum, and apply about a tablespoonf'ul around each 

 hill. It will be found to be a sure protection. The mix- 

 ture should not come in contact with the young plants, 

 as it may destroy them. This method has been tried 

 over and over ag.i'in by some of the best farmers of Penn- 

 sylvania, Delaware and Jersey, and when properly ap- 

 plied, has never failed to be perfectly successful. We 

 hope our farmers, who have reason to fear the depreda- 

 tions of the grub the present season, will try this mixture, 

 leaving a lew alternate rows without the salt, and com- 

 municate to us the result.— Germantown Telegraph. 



