THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



EHEMIES OF THE EICE CEOP. 



Rice, as is well known to southern planters, 

 is grown in plots of marshy land below the high- 

 water mark of the adjoining rivers, but enclosed by 

 embankments in such a manner, that they can be 

 flooded or laid dry at the discretion of the rice- 

 grower. By this alternation of wet and dry, not 

 only are aquatic weeds scorched out and upland 

 weeds drowned out, but noxious insects are efl'eetu- 

 ally subdued upon precisely the same principle. 

 As may be learnt from some very valuable 

 articles on the cultivation of rice in the Southern 

 Cultivator of Feb. 1867, "the rice in light lands 

 is often attacked by grubs, which feed upon the 

 roots; but a flow of 12 hours effectually destroys 

 them." But, like St. Paul, the rice-crop is not 

 only "in perils by land," but it is also in "perils 

 by water." After the rice-fields have been flooded 

 some time and the water becomes foul, it appears 

 that the crop is injured by certain maggots, other- 

 wise known as "water-weevils," which "make their 

 appearance about the roots of the plant and destroy 

 them," and also "destroy the germ of the rice in 

 fields which have been thrown out for some time, 

 or in which the stubble has been turned in, ren- 

 dering it necessary to replant." But there is a 

 remedy for everything but death. Having fought 

 the upland grubs with water, the planter now sub- 

 dues the water-weevils with drought, laying his 

 rice-fields dry, for this express object, for tliree or 

 four days at a time, so often as may be necessary. 



Northern farmers are too apt to look down upon 

 the whole system of Agriculture in the South as 

 unscientific and barbarous; but they might often 

 learn a useful lesson from such simple, but effective 

 processes, as have been detailed above. Instead of 

 racking their inventions to devise new washes for 

 subduing all manner of noxious insects, composed 

 of a hundred different ingredients, five score of 

 which are perfectly useless, if they would only, as 

 the Rice-planter has done, study the peculiar habits 

 of each of their insect foes, and attack each of 

 them by some simple weapon aimed at his one vul- 

 nerable part, they might very soon effect something 

 considerable. As it is, it is every day becoming 

 more notorious, that instead of the Agriculturists 

 gaining upon the Insects in the North, it is the 

 Insects that are gaining upon the Agriculturists. 



The "water-weevils" and the " grubs," spoken 

 of in the above extracts as injurious to the Rice- 

 crop, are, I believe, wholly unknown to the Ento- 

 mologist; and it would be an intere.sting task to 

 trace them through their transformations, and 

 ascertain into what perfect insect they change. This 

 could probably only be done in the South, because 

 in the North we have no rice-plants to feed them 

 on. But from the simple inspection of specimens 

 of these larvae preserved in alcohol, it can be at 

 once determined to what great group of insects 

 each belongs; and even this would be something 

 gained towards the increase of our stock of useful 

 knowledge. Who will mail us such specimens, 

 duly labelled, from the great rice-growing regions 

 of the South? b. d. w. 



THE CAirXEBWORlf ONCE UOBE. 



There is an excellent article on the best mode of 

 fighting this pernicious insect, in the columns of 

 the loKa Homestead, of March 13, 1867, from the 

 pen of W. G. C, of Monroe county, Iowa. The 

 author's experience establishes the fact — which has 

 been independently arrived at in several other parts 

 of Iowa — that Sorghum is preferable to tar for 

 preventing the wingless female moth from mounting 

 the trunks of the doomed apple-trees, to lay her 

 eggs thereon. His reasons in favor of Sorghum 

 are, 1st, that it is cheaper and more readily pro- 

 curable in the West than tar, the refuse skimmings, 

 which would otherwise be fed out to hogs, being 

 available for this purpose; 2d, that it does not dry 

 up quite so fast as tar; 3d, that it can be applied 

 directly to the bark of the infested tree without 

 fear of injuring its health; while tar must be 

 daubed on to a bandage, or if applied to the naked 

 bark injures the tree more or less. 



The facts ascertained by this writer, respecting 

 the habits of the Cankerworm moth, tally exactly 

 with those recently given in the Practical Ent 

 TOMOLOGJST. But I cannot resist the tepiptatioij 

 of quoting his very graphic account of the mode 

 in which he carried on the war against this pest of 

 the fruit-grower: 



lu 1806, very early, (I cannot recollect precisely the 

 time, but it appears to ine that it was as early as the last 

 days of February), there were two or three summer-like 

 days, but yet I had no idea that any insect could possibly 

 be abroad; but curiosity led me to take a lantern in hand 

 and go out into the orchard. I climbed up into the trees, 

 (it was so cold that an overcoat was needed to keep com- 

 fortable), and there I found the varmints having a per- 

 fect fandango all through the trees — up and down the 

 limbs, two and two, and only one pair of wings between 

 them. I found they had stolen a march on me. Next 

 morning, however, I prepared a bucket of molasses and 

 an old broom, and gave the trunks of my trees a good 

 coating, and when the dusk of evening appeared, I ex- 

 amined the worst infested trees. I discovered large num- 

 bers wallowing in the syrup, and from ten to twelve feet 

 from the trees, could see others coming from every direc- 

 tion, on a bee line for the trunks of the trees. No navi- 

 gator could lay his course with more precision; but alas, 

 when they arrived at the molasses, they were invariably 

 swamped. 



I employed two small boys every afternoon to go over 

 my trees, (those infested), each with his bucket of mo- 

 lasses and old broom — giving the trunks a coating of 

 eighteen inches or more, up and down the surface of each 

 tree, and every morning we found ourselves well paid for 

 the labor. I followed up this practice with my two little 

 boys for over two months, and as long as I thought it 

 paid. 



I have the pleasure to say that the Cankerworm did 

 my orchard no damage in I'SOO, and that I have had a 

 reasonable amount of fruit, of which, perhaps, I will 

 inform you further some day. One thing I verily be- 

 lieve, and that is, the man that does not protect his trees 

 from the ravages of the Cankerworm will Ipse them, for 

 their end is not yet. 



♦ ■ ■ — 



KOIfE SO BUND AS THOSE WHO SHUT THEIB EYES. 



It is singular what a propensity some men have 

 to go through life with their eyes shut. Here is 

 theJEditor of an Iowa Agricultural Journal, who is 

 living in a State that is literally swarming with the 

 New or Colorado Potato Bug, (Dori/phora 10- 

 lineata), and yet has not found out that the little 

 pest can fly ! !' He must have been present when 



