62 



THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



picture of a veritable "Thrip" above. Prettily as he is 

 spotted, he is a very ugly beast to have in great swarms 

 on one's grape-vines. b. d. w. 



UNIVERSAL REMEDIES. 



There is scarcely a quack medicine adverti.ged in 

 the newspapers, that is not good for some disease 

 or other, under some peculiar circumstances. The 

 mischief is, that such remedies are usually adver- 

 tised, as heing sure to cure all diseases whatever 

 under all imaginable circumstances. Gout, rheu- 

 matism, neuralgia, dyspepsia, pains in the head and 

 pains in the great toe, softening of the brain and 

 ossification of the heart, arc all warranted to be 

 cured by the same Infallible and Universal Elixir. 

 Just so with noxious insects. We perpetually see 

 remedies proposed, not for the destruction of some 

 particular insect, the habits and history of which 

 have become well known, but for the extirpation 

 of all insects indisci'iminately, no matter what their 

 peculiarities may be. With philosophers of this 

 description the whole vast world of insects is com- 

 prehended under the genus "Bug," while in the 

 larva state it is classified under the genus "Worm," 

 sometimes, for the sake of variety and euphony 

 called "Grub ;" but whether the "Bug" develops 

 into the " Worm," or the reverse, or sometimes one 

 and sometimes the other, "the said deponent sayeth 

 not." Take the following, for instance, which is 

 now going the rounds of the Agricultural Press, as 

 an amusing specimen of a universal remedy against 

 the genus "Worm :" 



PaoTECTiNt; TnEF;s Ag.mnst Worms. — The bandage sys- 

 tem, which we were the first to suggest some fifteen years 

 ago, and often referred to since, is the only eflfeotual pro- 

 tection we have yet seen against the o[.ierations of the 

 worm in fruit trees. We repeat again, that in not a sin- 

 gle instance have we ever had a worm in our dwarf pear 

 trees, where this system was properly followed. It is 

 simply to bandage the bottom of the tree with any kind 

 of muslin or cloth, and tie it, letting the bandage be about 

 six inches above ground and two inches below. It should 

 be applied in February, or as soon as the ground is in a 

 fit condition to go upon. These bandages should be re- 

 moved at the end of October. As long as this is continu- 

 ed we defy the worm. The bug lays its eggs an inch or 

 two above the ground, early in the spring, that is, as soon 

 as the warm days in March will admitof its coming forth 

 from its winter quarters; the eggs are soon hatched by 

 the sun, being laid on the sunny-side of the trunk, and the 

 young grub tinds its way down to the soft bark beneath 

 the soil, where it gradually works its way in. The band- 

 age prevents both the haying of the eggs and the descent 

 of the grub. Let doubters try it. One man will bandage 

 two hundred trees in a day. We have no doubt it will 

 also protect the peach tree in the same way. 



"The worm in fruit-trees!!!" As if fruit trees 

 were not afflicted by hundreds of diflFerent "worms," 

 diflfering from each other in size, shape, color, ha- 

 bits, length of life, time of coming to maturity, itc, 

 as much as a Horse difters from a Hog I Yet the 

 universal Bandage System is warranted to kill them 

 all. Does the Apple-worm bore your apples ? Band- 

 age the but of the tree and he perisheth forthwith. 

 Does the Web-worm spin his web in the branches'/ 

 Bandage the but, and he dieth immediately. Does 

 the caterpillar known as the lled-huniped Promi- 

 nent, or the Yellow-necked worm, strip the leaves 

 of}'? Bandage the but, and hci/ presto! he quitteth 

 his evil ways. Does the Buprestis Borer bore into 



the upper part of the trunk or into the branches 'I 

 Still you must bandage the but with the same uni- 

 versal calico, and in a twinkling he vamoseth the 

 ranch. Be the disease what it will, the Universal 

 Patent Never-failing Pill is certain-sure to extirpate 

 it — provided you take pills enough. In the words of 

 the advertisement, "As long as this is continued, 

 we defy the worm." In obstinate cases, it may per- 

 haps be necessary to bandage the whole tree — 

 trunk, branches, twigs and all — but if you only 

 apply bandages enough, the Great Bandage An- 

 thelmintic Vermifuge is sure to be a specific against 

 the genus "Worm." The genus "Bug" may per- 

 haps require a distinct prescription — something in 

 the nature of a Catuplasm or an Emollient Lo- 

 tion. 



In sober serious earnest, this "Bandage system" 

 is available against just two, and only two insects 

 — the striped Borer of the Apple-tree ( Sivperda bi- 

 vittata), and the Peach-tree Borer (^Trochilium ex- 

 itiosum). In both these two species, the mother in- 

 sect has the habit of laying its eggs almost exclu- 

 sively at the but of the infested tree, and any such 

 substance as tarred paper, cloth bandages, straw 

 wrappings or the like, placed on the but of the 

 tree, prevents that mother insect from reaching the 

 particular spot, where Nature directs her to deposit 

 her eggs. Limited in this manner, the remedy is 

 as old as the hills, and would not be sufficiently 

 "sensational" to be copied by a single Agricultural 

 Journal. Blazoned forth as a universal remedy 

 against every species of the great genus "Worm," 

 it tickles the popular palate, and runs like wildfire 

 through the Agricultural Press. In the former 

 case it is indeed true — but then it does not make 

 the reader open his eyes wide with astonishment. 

 In the latter case it is an absolute and unmitigated 

 falsehood ; but then it makes people stare and crowd 

 into the Circus-tent, to see the wonderful perform- 

 ance; and in the meantime the Ticket-seller has 

 his hands full of business. 



Long live King Humbug ! He still feeds fools on 

 flapdoodle, and many of them have large and flour- 

 ishing families, who will perpetuate the breed to 

 the remotest generation. B. D. W. 



POISONING NOXIOUS INSECTS. 



The following is from a correspondent of the 

 Agricultural Bureau, in Trimble Co., Kentucky, 

 and appears in the Monthly Keport for September, 

 1866, p. 343: 



"The tobacco worm is the most formidable adversary 

 the farmer has to contend against in the culture of the 

 weed, and this season many planters in this country and 

 elsewhere, are providing and administering poison to the 

 fly which lays the egg. The process generally pursued is to 

 drop a few drops of ratsbane, or other poison, in a liquid 

 form, into the flower of the Jamestown weed, wild morn- 

 ing-glory, Ac, into which they are sure to insert their 

 large bills and die almost instantly. — With the death of 

 each fly, or miller, as they are termed, three to five hun- 

 dred eggs are destroyed, each of which produces a 

 worm." 



This is an entirely new idea, so far as I know, 

 and may probably be carried out in other directions 

 so as to prove very serviceable. For example, tha 

 notorious Cotton Caterpillar or Cotton Army-worm, 



