THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



93 



hasty in jumping to conclusions as to the food- 

 phints of insects, from botanical analogies; and 

 2nd, that we need not soap the trunks of our Pear- 

 trees in the spring to keep off the borer ; nor go 

 over their twigs in the winter in search of the egg- 

 masses of the Tent Caterpillar Moth. B. D. w. 



MORE UNIVEESAL REMEDIES. 

 The following appears in the MonMj Rrport of 

 the Washington Bureau of Agriculture, February, 

 1867, p. 60. It was sent to us long ago, but we 

 did not think it worth while to cumber our columns 

 with such nonsense. Now, however, that it has 

 made its way into print, we will furnish the bane 

 and the antidote both together: 



DESTRUCTION OF INSECTS. 

 A correspondent writing from New York communicates 

 the following recipe for the eradication of insects, Ac, 

 with the assurance that where it is properly applied, 

 these jiests will, in a great measure, disappear from the 

 orchards, graperies, tfec. He wrote this direction fur pre- 

 paration and application: — ''Preparation. — Saw a hogshead 

 in two; put twenty or thirty pounds of sulphate of iron 

 into one half, and fill up with chamber-lye; (water will 

 answer, but urine is best). When the liquid becomes 

 black it is fit for use." '^ Application. — The preparation 

 must be applied to the trunks and branches of trees, and 

 poured round the collars, which will keep off all worms 

 infesting these parts, and add vitality to the trees. It is 

 also claimed that trees, grain, vines, Ac, on being steeped 

 (the roots) with the liquid a few hours before planting, 

 will escape all worms which infest the roots, trunks, and 

 branches, and the growth will be much accelerated." 

 The writer further states that "sulphate of iron placed in 

 the crotches of the tree and branches is of great benefit. 

 and when applied early to the branches, trunks, and roots 

 of trees, will avert the falling off of the fruit." 



Kemarks by B. D. W. — 1st. The insects that 

 infest fruit-trees diifer a? much from one another 

 in their structure and habits, as a monkey differs 

 from a rabbit, or a bat from a field-mouse. Is it 

 likely then, that the same chemic:d substance will 

 be universally offensive to all of them ? Perhaps 

 the writer of the above found, or fancied that he 

 found, his chamber-lye broth offensive to some par- 

 ticular insect. But does it therefore necessarily 

 follow that it should be offensive to "all worms" 

 infesting fruit-trees ? Quinine cures the ague. 

 Does it follow that it will cure the gout ? Sulphur 

 cures the itch. Does it follow that it will cure 

 neuralgia ? 



2d. It is a distinguishing characteristic of a 

 veritable quack, not to fix any limits to the dose 

 which he recommends. "Being purely vegetable 

 and consequently harmless, these pills may be 

 taken in any desired quantities without any dele- 

 terious consequences whatever." Thus our Tree- 

 quack orders half a hogshead of his medicated 

 urine to be prepared, aud for aught that he says to 

 the contrary, the entire hell-broth may be poured 

 round the roots of a single small tree with the 

 most beneficial results. I h;ive known a large 

 apple-tree, that stood in a boys' play-ground, killed 

 in no very long time by the continual application 

 to its roots of the unsavory fluid, which forms one 

 ingredient in the above panacea. 



3d. A man who believes that steeping the roots 

 of a tree, for a few hours before planting, in the 

 above mixture will kill any borers that may already 



exist in its trunk, has more Faith than I have. 

 " It is CLAIMED that, &c., &c." What we want is 

 not claiming hut pro vitiff. 



4th. He that believes that sulphate of iron, 

 placed in the crotch of a tree, in any quantity not 

 sufficient to kill the tree itself, will prevent the 

 fruit falling, if badly attacked by the Curculio or 

 the Apple-moth, ought immediately to turn Mor- 

 mon or Mahometan. To such a man's ravenous 

 swallow, the simple truths of the Bible are not 

 suflftciently strong food ; he requires, in addition, 

 the outrageous absurdities of the Koran and the 

 Book of Mormon to satiate his appetite for be- 

 lieving:. 



HOP-GROAVING IN THE WEST. 



I recently cautioned Western Hop-growers, to be 

 careful how they introduced the Plant-louse of the 

 Hop into their Hop-j'ards from the Eastern States. 

 (Practical Entomologi.st, II, p. 70). I have 

 since learned from an experienced Hop-grower at 

 Rock Island, that this little pest has already made 

 its appearance in great numbers in two different 

 Hop-yards in Michigan. With proper care, it may 

 be prevented from extending farther West for many 

 years. But the mischief is that Hop-growers fancy 

 that they know more about insects, than men who 

 make such matters the study of their lives. Incre- 

 dible as it may seem to well-informed Entomolo- 

 gists, I find that they very generally believe, that 

 the lice in their yards are not propagated from 

 other lice, in the ordinarj' course of nature, but that 

 they are specially created from time to time in each 

 locality by the Great Author of Nature. Yet thesfe 

 same men would laugh me to scorn, if I were to 

 assert that a calf or a pig, or a lamb had been 

 " specially created" some fine morning on some- 

 body's farm. Why ? Because they understand 

 perfectly well the generative economy of Cows and 

 Hogs and Sheep, while they know nothing at all 

 of the generative economy of Plantrlice. But to 

 those who are familiar with the Natural History of 

 Plant-lice, one thing seems just as incredible as the 

 other; and I could just as readily believe' that a 

 Colt was created out of nothing in my stable, as 

 that a Plant-louse was created out of nothing on 

 my Hop-vine. 



The following extract from a letter, recently re- 

 ceived from a Hop-grower in Blichigan, will give 

 some idea of the mischief that is being worked out 

 in that State by this little insignificant fly, the body 

 of which is scarcely bigger than a mustard seed. 

 Of course the idea that it is the same species of 

 Plant-louse thatinfests the Hop,the Grape-vineand 

 the Currant, is a mistake. Indeed, if this Were 

 really so, since the Currant Plant-louse' has existed 

 time immemorial in the United States, there could 

 then be no possible reason why it should never 

 have attacked the Hop till the year 1863, in this 

 country. Whereas, if it is a distinct species, and 

 has been recently imported from Europe, we see at 

 once why this should be so. 



We have had rather a poor crop of hops last season. 

 The Hop-fly has almost destroyed them in many yards — 



