74 



THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Is it the so-called "White Grub" that is here 

 spoken of, or the Wire-worm? ]iut both these in- 

 sects burrow under ground to reach the corn, and 

 it is-'incredlblo to uie, that so minute a dose of salt 

 as one-tjiird of a tablespoonful, scattered on the sur- 

 face round a hill of corn so as not to touch the corn, 

 i. e. in a thin line about a yard lon^, could stop 

 them on their travels beneath the surface. 



The Curculio. — Take hemp tow, or anything else that 

 will make good wrapping, and bind it around the tree 

 two or three feet from the ground, having the band four 

 or five inches wide. Then comjjletely saturate the band 

 with tar, and keep it so until the fruit is fully developed, 

 and you will have no trouble in raising fine ]jlums. My 

 mother practiced this method more than thirty years ago, 

 and has never known it to fail. A neighbor of mine says 

 that he tried this method successfully on an apricot tree 

 Bome two years ago. I have practiced it for several years 

 on English plum trees, that never produced fruit tit for 

 use until I made the trial. It must be done soon enough, 

 continued /o(j enough, and to succeed the bandage should 

 always be kept wet with tar. — J. H. Garrad, in Rural 

 American. 



This proceeds on the hypothesis that the curculio 

 has got no wings, and is compelled to climb up the 

 trunk of the tree that it attacks. Unfortunately, 

 however, for the new theory, it has got full-sized 

 wings, and can fly with ease. If the insect did not 

 fly, it would be impossible for it to search out and 

 sting every plum on a tree so rapidly and completely 

 as it often does. Fencing out the curculio by tarred 

 bandages would be a good deal like fencing out the 

 crows and black birds from a field of corn by a tight 

 board fence. 



Tobacco. — The cut-worm will troublet he plants almost 

 as soon as set, by eating them oflT close to the bud: hunt 

 them out and destroy them, and replace any missing 

 plants. The green worm is next to be fought and killed, 

 or he will destroy your tobacco. He commences depre- 

 dations when the plants get a foot in height, or before, 

 sometimes, and works till the tobacco is hung in the barn, 

 and longer, unless picked off and destroyed. The eggs 

 of the miller, which produce the worm, are laid on the 

 underside the leaf, and are a little lighter color than the 

 leaf, and of the size of a pin's head ; all of these destroyed, 

 are so many worms destroyed in embryo. The miller is 

 of a gray color, with orange-colored spots on each side tif 

 the body, and about as large as a humming bird; has a 

 long, trunk-like tongue; when not in use, is closely coiled 

 up and not observable; they are seen hovering about du 

 ring twilight, at which time they may be caught and 

 destroyed. — W. H. White on Tobacco Ca/Uire, in Rural Ame- 

 rican. 



Quite correct. 



How TO Kill Shkep Ticks — I have recently been expe- 

 rimenting with coal oil for killing sheep ticlts. I took a 

 couple of ticks and dropped a little oil on them, and it 

 killed them. I then took two or three lambs that were 

 ticky, opened thewool.aiid applied it to the ticks After 

 several days I exiiinincd them and found the vermin 

 that were touched with the oil dead. I then applied it 

 to about twenty lambs, with good results. Try it. farm 

 era. Take a bottle and fill it full of common oil used for 

 turning after putting in the cork, make a hole in it, and 

 introduce a quill, and open the wool, and whenever the 

 ticks are found squirt it in. The ticks will die, and the 

 wool and sheep be improved. This is my experience. 

 Try it.— W B. Diahro. in Rural Anitncan. 



From what I know of the effects of kerosene upon 

 insects. I think the above very likely to be success- 

 ful, though it would be called "slow business" out 

 West. The common practice' with shepherds, in 

 England, is to rub a portion of Blue Mercurial Oint- 



ment on the naked surface between the hind legs of 

 every sheep at shearing time, which is sujiposed to 

 kill tlie ticks over the whole body of the animal. 

 Whether it really does so or not, I have no personal 

 knowledge; but every physician is aware that sali- 

 vation is produced in the human subject by re- 

 peated rubbings of this kind, which proves that 

 mercury, when applied in this manner, penetrates 

 the whole system. 



In Economic Entomology what is now wanted, is 

 extensive and carefully conducted experiments upon 

 the best mode of counterworking the insect foes of 

 the Agriculturist. If all the remedies published 

 at various times in various agricultural journals 

 were collected together, thoy would probably amount 

 to at least ten thousand in number, each vouched 

 for by its author in the most emphatic and persua- 

 sive manner. The very multitude of the prescrip- 

 tions is enough to embarrass and bewilder the 

 afflicted patient. Which way is he to turn himself? 

 Whom is he to believe? One physician recom- 

 mends mercury, another sulphur, another sal-soda, 

 another a hodge-podge of ingredients .such as enters 

 the witches' caldron in Macbeth. Can we wonder 

 that under such circumstances the afflicted farmer, 

 having tried three or four of the so-called remedies 

 and found them practically useless, often turns away 

 in disgust, pronounces Entomology a humbug, and 

 consigns the devotees of that science to a place 

 which it would shock polite ears to mention more 

 explicitly ? 



Rock Islano, III.. April 10, 1866. ' 



Outlines of the Study of Insects. 



In tnese papers it will be the object of the writer 

 to present, in as familiar language as possible, the 

 leading points in the structure of insects, their re- 

 lations to other animals, their mode of development, 

 the forms of the dift'erent groups, and the special 

 characters by which they may be recognized. These 

 lessons will in great part be purely theoretical, as 

 practical entomology, or the relations of insects to 

 agriculture and the means of arresting their attacks 

 are .abundantly treated of in the other columns of 

 this paper. 



GENERAL VIEV/ OF INSECTS. 



The animal kingdom was divided by Cuvier into 

 four branches, the Iladiata, Articulata, MoUusca 

 and Vertebrata. He perceived that the essential 

 point of difference which separates the articulates 

 from all other animals, was the fact that their bodies 

 were invariably made up of joints or cylinder-like 

 rings which protect the organs within. In this 

 respect an articulate animal differed from the soft 

 massive sac-like shell-fish, .such as the clam or oys- 

 ter, which is often protected by a calcareous shell, 

 and from the radiate animal, or star fishes and jelly 

 fishes, whose organs or anatomical systems are ar- 

 ranged concentrically about the alimentary canal 

 which forms the axis of the body; and lastly, from 

 the vertebrate who.se solid skeleton of lime forms 

 the central support of the body. 



