14 



AGKICULTUEE. 



and grasshoppers, are due primarily to the 

 waning fertility of the soil, and the fact that 

 these depredators find in the great decrease of 

 the grasses and weeds, which are their natural 

 aliment, the necessity of preying upon the more 

 precious crops, and that these in their turn can- 

 not derive from the impoverished soil the 

 means of replacing the tissues which the raven- 

 ous insects have devoured. This leads us to 

 speak of the terrible plague of insects inju- 

 rious to vegetation experienced during the past 

 year. To a considerable extent these were 

 new enemies. The army-worm and the boll- 

 worm preyed upon the cotton as they had done 

 before; the midge and the Hessian fly com- 

 mitted ravages among the cereal grains; the 

 aphis or plant-louse family, universal pests, 

 destroying with equal zest the life-juices of 

 the hop, the rose, the potato, and the grape ; 

 and the grasshoppers were almost universally 

 prevalent and destructive to grass, to herbage 

 and foliage, not only on the plains of Kansas, 

 Nebraska, and Iowa, but in the hills and val- 

 leys of the Eastern States. These were old foes. 

 But the newer comers were the ten-lined spear- 

 man, or potato-bug, which has for some years 

 committed such havoc upon the potato crop ; 

 the great variety of beetles large and small, 

 which have attacked the roots of grasses and 

 other plants ; the larvae of innumerable moth 

 and butterfly tribes, from the odious measur- 

 ing-worm, the Procris (those yellow worms 

 with black dots which are found in colonies of 

 from 15 to 100 on the under side of the grape 

 leaves) ; the eight-barred Alypia, whose light- 

 blue color banded with black renders him less 

 disgusting than his depredations warrant; to 

 the giant larvaa of the sphinx tribes, huge 

 loathsome creatures of various shades, from 

 light-green to velvety brown, and, prettier but 

 equally destructive, the larvaa of the beautiful 

 wood-nymphs. When we add to these the 

 whole race of hairy caterpillars, and the crick- 

 ets which devour so voraciously every green 

 thing ? we have an army of enemies, which will 

 almost drive the horticulturist, the grape- 

 grower, and the farmer, to despair. 



How shall we rid ourselves of these pests ? 

 The birds, especially the sparrows, the swal- 

 lows, the wrens, and the robins are good friends 

 in this extremity, and if they claim a few straw- 

 berries, cherries, or grapes as toll, they have 

 richly earned them by their activity and zeal. 

 But the insect tribes were too abundant in the 

 summer of 1868 to be completely kept under 

 by any family of birds. The song-sparrows, 

 the most active of these destroyers of noxious 

 insects and worms, so glutted themselves that 

 after a time they lost their appetite and became 

 discouraged. Birds, too, do not readily find 

 or seize those larvae which colonize the under 

 side of the leaves of the grape, the pelargonium, 

 and other large-leaved plants. For these, other 

 measures of destruction or prevention are need- 

 ful. So far as the eggs, from which these dep- 

 redators are hatched, are deposited in the 



ground, or on the roots of plants, trees, and 

 shrubs, the free use of the Phoenix disinfec- 

 tant or some other powder, containing a con- 

 siderable quantity of the carbolate of lime in 

 fine powder, seems to be the most effectual 

 remedy. But the greater part are hatched 

 from eggs deposited on the plants themselves. 

 For these, syringing or sprinkling with sul- 

 phur is the only effectual remedy. There are 

 many washes or solutions recommended as 

 certain to destroy these insect pests ; some of 

 them are doubtless effective, but they kill the 

 plant as well as the insects. A solution of 

 tobacco-soap, a filthy, disgusting compound, is 

 largely advertised, but is not always efficacious ; 

 the suds from whale-oil soap, which is also 

 strongly recommended, frequently fails ; that 

 of cresylic soap is better, and is perhaps pref- 

 erable to any thing else, but there is danger 

 to the plants if it is applied in too great 

 strength. Numberless nostrums have been 

 advertised as sure to accomplish the object, but 

 those which are best owe their value to the 

 presence of either cresylic or carbolic acid in 

 some form of combination. 



For the destruction of the " ten-lined spear- 

 man" or potato-bug (which, though belonging 

 to the family of the Cantharida, like the potato 

 blister-fly, CantJiaris mttata, was well known 

 in the Eastern States, is now named by ento- 

 mologists DorypTiora, decim lineata, from its 

 peculiar markings), various means have been 

 recommended, but none of them thoroughly 

 effective. The use of slaked lime in powder, 

 sprinkled over the vines, of sawdust saturated 

 with coal-oil, of brine (which must be much 

 diluted or it will kill the plants as well as the 

 bugs), of powdered hellebore (somewhat dan- 

 gerous, being an active poison), and of soot, 

 have all been recommended. We believe the 

 suds from cresylic soap as good as any of them. 

 Another method of exterminating the bugs is 

 to take a double scoop-net, made something like 

 an eel-pot, and passing it swiftly and vigorously 

 over the potato vines, sweep them into it, and 

 then, when once caught, drop them into boiling 

 water. This is effectual, but it is tedious work. 



The year was more prolific than most of 

 those which preceded it, in the publication of 

 really able and valuable books on agriculture 

 and horticulture. The following were the 

 most important : " The Agricultural " and the 

 " Horticultural Annual "'for 1868 ; " The book 

 of Evergreens," by J. Hoopes; "Cotton Cul- 

 ture," by Lyman ; " Darwin's Variations of 

 Animals and Plants," 2 vols. ; " Gardening for 

 Profit," by Peter Henderson; Harris's " In- 

 sects injurious to Vegetation," a new edition ; 

 " How Crops Grow," by Professor S. W. John- 

 son; " The Percheron Horse ; " Harris's " Eu- 

 ral Annual," 2 vols. ; " The Tim Bunker Pa- 

 pers " ; " The Crack Shot," by Barber ; Du 

 Breuil's "Vineyard Culture," edited by Dr. 

 Warder; "Farm Talk," by Brackett; Geyelin's 

 "Poultry Breeding;" Waring's "Elements 

 of Agriculture." 



