AGEICULTURE. 



ALABAMA, 



9 



there being no danger of over-manuring under 

 such circumstances. 



" The best manure to he employed in these 

 cases is guano, at the rate of 450 to 900 pounds 

 per acre. The ground should be continually 

 stirred, but this stimulus should not he given 

 until it is certain the lice are disappearing." 



Injurious insects are much lessened in num- 

 ber by natural enemies. That which is most 

 destructive of these lice is the lady-bug, or, as 

 called in England, the lady-bird. Of these the 

 work just quoted from says : 



"They, in the first instance, destroy multi- 

 tudes of lice, a single one killing eight or ten in 

 as many minutes ; and where the lice are not 

 too numerous, the lady-birds will clean the hop 

 plantations. But, generally, the lice have time 

 to deposit some of their young on the under 

 side of the leaves before their enemies attack 

 them, especially if the weather be clouded, 

 when 'the lady-birds are sluggish and inactive. 

 The lice are seldom devoured at this time, but 

 the lady-birds lay their eggs also on the under 

 side of the leaves, usually in clusters of about 

 twenty each. These eggs adhere to the leaves, 

 are yellow in color, and of a long, oval shape ; 

 they are soon hatched, and the progeny which 

 creeps forth is the ' black nigger ' or ' serpent,' 

 as they are called in the districts. They are 

 ferocious-looking creatures, greatly resembling 

 in shape, though not in size, the lizards of the 

 olden time. As soon as they are hatched they 

 commence the work of destruction upon the 

 lice-eggs, which are their peculiar food, as the 

 lice are of their parents, the lady-birds ; and if 

 the lice are not extremely numerous, they often 

 succeed in clearing the plant of the vermin, 

 otherwise they devour them until they are 

 literally gorged with food, and then, attaching 

 themselves to the leaves of the hop, after re- 

 maining dormant in the larva state, they cast 

 off their outer cuticle, and are transformed into 

 the perfect lady-birds, when they again pursue 

 their good work of destroying the enemies of 

 the hop consuming about thirty lice daily." 



"We have described the depreciations of the 

 lice, and the good work of the lady-bugs, at 

 some length, that the hop-grower might see the 

 necessity of two things : 1, having the ground 

 in the highest condition as to richness and til- 

 lage, that the plant may be enabled to overcome 

 the attack of the lice ; and 2, the very great 

 importance of preserving the lady-bug, one 

 of the most useful of the beneficial insects. 

 The lice could be destroyed by syringing the 

 vines with whale-oil-soapsuds, but this remedy 

 is too tedious for hop cultivation. 



2. The mould. There are various diseases to 

 which common parlance has given this name, 

 but the one now described is the most fatal to 

 the hop. These diseases, like the lice, are para- 

 sitic, that is, both exist upon the juices of the 

 hop-plant, which, being deprived of them, are 

 blighted. Hence the term blight does not des- 

 ignate the cause, but the result of the attack 

 of the disease or insect. Morton's " Cyclopae- 



dia of Agriculture " thus speaks of the disease 

 now under consideration : 



" The mould is a disease rather than a blight. 

 "We believe it to be a parasitical vegetable fun- 

 gus, usually generated in wet seasons and in 

 damp situations. It is of all diseases the most 

 dreaded by the hop-grower, inasmuch as there 

 is no known remedy for it, and as it steadily 

 progresses in its attack, with more or less ra- 

 pidity, according to the character of the season, 

 till the crop is gathered. It often originates 

 from the negligence and inattention of the culti- 

 vator, and thus prevention is better than cure. 

 It is intimately allied to, if it be not precisely 

 the same, as the white mildew which we see in 

 hawthorn hedges and on rose-bushes, espe- 

 cially if the latter grow in shady situations. 

 "When the mould appears to any considerable 

 extent upon the hops so early as the end of 

 June or beginning of July, however luxuriant 

 the vine may then appear, there is no hope of a 

 crop worth picking. Dampness and a want of 

 a free circulation of air and light seem to be the 

 predisposing cause of mould, and thus we often 

 see it emanate from wild hops, which are care- 

 lessly allowed to grow in neighboring hedges. 

 As soon as this violent disease appears, it 

 spreads in every direction with astonishing 

 rapidity, diminishing in intensity as the dis- 

 tance increases from the centre of mischief. It 

 is first noticeable upon the upper side of the 

 leaf as a white speck, not larger than a small 

 pin's head, the spot increasing in size till it at- 

 tains the diameter of about one-eighth of an 

 inch ; below this white spot, on the under side 

 of the leaf, there is a corresponding indentation, 

 which renders this incipient indication of mould 

 unmistakable. From the spots on the surface 

 of the leaf the seeds of this parasitical fungus, 

 as we imagine it to be, are blown in all direc- 

 tions, and the minutest particle of this white 

 dust when it settles on another leaf in a few 

 days becomes a minute speck of mould. Each 

 new spot then propagates the disease, and thus 

 we perceive this vegetable pestilence advances 

 with fearful rapidity of geometrical progression, 

 and if the season be damp, acre after acre falls 

 a victim to the attack, which often originates 

 from sheer inattention." 



Mould spreads fastest in warm, damp weather. 

 It commences near the ground, and therefore 

 great attention ought to be paid to the frequent 

 pulling off of the suckers, as they sprout 

 through the hill in the summer months. Every 

 spotted leaf should be destroyed. And here 

 we now see the necessity of making such se- 

 lection of the site of the hop plantation as will 

 secure a free access of air and sunlight, for dry- 

 ness is a check to this disease.* 



ALABAMA. At the commencement of the 

 year 1865, the determination to prosecute the war 

 with all the resources at command, had not been 



* The meteorological returns for 1864 were not received 

 in season to be used in this article, but will be given, with 

 those for 1SG5, in the next volume. 



