498 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



could not tell what was the matter with my 

 late planting, for the weather seemed favorable. 

 I looked, and found the onions covered with the 

 midge. I did not make over a third of a crop. 

 In August we planted two patches of winter 

 onions— No. 1 where the spring crop was grown; 

 No. 2. 300 yards from where onions had been 

 grown for several years. Patch No. 1 died 

 nearly to the ground before winter, after they 

 were knee high. Patch No. 2 was injured 

 about half as much as No. 1. I sowed 8 oz. of 

 Pearl seed the last of August; another 8 oz. 

 Sept. 1,5th, in adjoining beds, 17,5 yards away 

 from where onions had ever grown. The first 

 lot of plants were killed nearly to the ground 

 before winter, and the others were practically 

 uninjured. A part of each lot were transplant- 

 ed in December. Three-fourths of the first 

 lot. both transplanted and in the bed. were 

 killed by the winter. The second lot was un- 

 injured. This spring the first lot was the first 

 to be injured by the midge, except some of lot 

 two that were planted beside the winter onions 

 above mentioned, and began to show the effects 

 of their work as early as any. These pests are 

 in the ground in old onion-patches, also in the 

 onions, sets, and buttons. But in the case of 

 the seed-beds, where did they come from ? 



I sprayed a few onions with kerosene emul- 

 sion. That seemed to do some good ; but thou- 

 sands of insects came from the adjoining rows 

 and covered them again. I will try acid on 

 some of my later onions. Our druggist charges 

 4.5 cts. per lb. for carbolic acid. I fear that is 

 too expensive to be used extensively. Then I 

 fear the applications will have to be repeated 

 frequently to kill those that come from the 

 ground; or are they all on the plants while they 

 are growing? I wish our experimenters would 

 learn of some cheap effective way to get rid of 

 this pest. It is my opinion that treatment, to 

 be successful, must be preventive. I would 

 suggest working the ground during freezing 

 weather, or planting winter onions about the 

 patch in August, then pulling and burning late 

 in the fall, when they are covered with the in- 

 sects. Tf water will destroy the midge, whv 

 would it not be a good plan to flood both patch 

 and seed-bed. where possible, just before trans- 

 planting? The onion is my best-paving crop, 

 but the midge will destroy three-foiirths of it 

 this year. I shall have to abandon the crop 

 entirely if I can not destroy the little fellows. 



Malvern, Ark., May 16. P. C. Shockky. 



The above was at once forwarded to our Ohio 

 Experiment Station, and below is their reply: 



Friend Root.-— Our Prof. Webster, who has 

 done considerable work with the insect referred 

 to. refers me to a bulletin recently published by 

 the Iowa Experiment Station, in which Prof. 

 Osborne gives a description of the insect, under 

 the name of the " Western Onion Thrip." It 

 is one of those insects which do not have a par- 

 ticular liking for any special plant, but has 

 been found on squash, turnin, catnip, sweet 

 clover, cucumber, and many other plants. The 

 eggs are laid beneath the surface of the leaf; 

 and as soon as they batch they begin to feed on 

 the plant-tissue. They evidently crow quite 

 rapidly, and there are, in all probabilitv, a num- 

 ber of generations each year. They live 

 through the winter ia both the larval and 

 adult form, and begin to multiply as soon as 

 vesetation is ready for them. 



The insect has never yet. except in exception- 

 al cases, been so troublesome but that success- 

 ful remedies have been found to meet it: but 

 Prof. Osborne thinks that kerosene emulsion 

 should be one of the first things to be tried. 

 This will kill the thrips whenever it hits them; 

 but there will be many that are in between the 



leaves that will escape, and, with those hatch- 

 ing out, it would probably take several appli- 

 cations; and as the insect flies quite readily it 

 would probably come from othei' places. To 

 pull and burn the plants when badly infested 

 would check them; and especially would this 

 be advisable early in the season, when they 

 commence, as they did in the onion-fields of 

 Lodi and Creston, in spots, and gradually spread 

 over the field. 



As the onion crop is such a valuable one it 

 will pay to do more than ordinary work in 

 fighting the pest; and the grower who watches 

 closely and carefully for the first appearance of 

 it, and then fights it from the start, will have 

 the best success; but as it is an insect that has 

 so many food-plants, it may be only a condition 

 that forces it to feed upon the onion. It is evi- 

 dent that these insects seek succulent plants, 

 and it may be that only in a dry season will it 

 prove serious to the onion. Bulletin No. 27, of 

 Iowa Experiment Station, contains quite an 

 account of the insect, and can be obtained by 

 sending for it. The address is. Experiment 

 Station. Ames. Towa. E. C. Gkeen. 



VVooster, O., May 3. 



A visitor at our onion-beds here has just now, 

 June 1, shown me that the midge or thrip has 

 started in on our American Pearl onions. As 

 we are now marketing them, however, they 

 will not be likely to do us serious harm. Should 

 the present drouth continue, however. I greatly 

 fear a repetition of the troubles of last year. 

 We are glad to get the facts given in both the 

 above letters, but regret to know the insect has 

 been doing mischief over localities so widely 

 separated. In the onion-gardens at Creston, 

 Wayne Co., O.. they nearly ruined the crop. 

 One of the owners, a Mr. Jordan, told me it was 

 his belief they all wintered over in some old 

 onions left in the ground overwinter to produce 

 sets. This t>grees. you will notice, with the 

 statement of friend Shockey. We have never 

 found them on our Egyptian or winter onions; 

 but thev fini'sh maturing their sets, usually, 

 before the midge gets to be very bad. At the 

 Lodi onion-gardens, a few miles from Creston, 

 it has been for some years their custom to clear 

 off every thing in the shape of vegetable growth 

 from their grounds in the fall, and burn all 

 rubbish. This, the men told me, was to pre- 

 vent insects, fungoid diseases, etc.. from being 

 carried over from one season to another. Friend 

 Shockey. you will notice, also suggests pulline 

 and burning late in the fall. Can some one tell 

 us whether flooding has ever been tried? The 

 most successful celery and onion farms at the 

 present time have arrangements for irrigation 

 that could be modified so as to flood the land in 

 the winter, without vety much trouble. 



OXYDONOR AND ELECTROPOISE. 



BLUXDERERS AND TLUNDERERS. 



The following is from the Rev. C. N. Pond, of 

 Oberlin, O.. who has been for many years con- 

 nected with the Ohio Sunday-school Associa- 

 tion, and is also recognized as a contributor to 

 several of our religious periodicals. He is also 

 well versed in chemistry and electricity. I have 

 asked him to examine the advertisements and 

 circulars, and give us his opinion. Here is what 

 he says: 



Deny Brother Roo/;— The documents you sent I 

 liave carefully looked over; also some directly from 

 the Oxydonor office. The claims made are simply 

 astounding-. "Maljesyou absolute master of dis- 

 ease." "It will make you as absolutely independent 

 of disease as if it did not exist." "It is per sc more 



