224 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [CnAr. II. 



E. G. Pakdee — I have tried the liot water very often, and have always 

 found it effectual ; and I thought that hy this time everybody had heard of 

 it, but if they have not, I hope this letter will be read and renieiiibcred. 

 Instead of clay I used leached ashes, as they were more convenient, and they 

 answered a good purpose. 



The Chairman presented a new pest of the peach — a dark-colored worm, 

 about an inch long, that fixes itself in the foot-stalks of the leaves and destroys 

 them. 



Wm. S. Caepeptter — Tiiis insect discussion is one of great importance to 

 farmers. These little, insignificant things arc great destroyers of our crops. 

 What if we could discover a I'cmedy for the bugs that eat up the potato vines, 

 or a remedy for the effect of cold upon fruit-trees ; for I have noticed, within 

 a day or two, that the northerly sides of the pear-trees are blasted and turned 

 dark by the cold wind. The cold of a day or two in spring often destroys 

 many tender vegetables. 



It was observed that cold nights sometimes have a beneficial eflect upon 

 fruits, by destroying some of tlie insects that usually prey \ipon them. It did 

 in the spring of 1860. That season proved the most productive of fruit of 

 any year in the memory of most young people. Of the hot-water remedy 

 for the peach-grub, we speak from experience, that it is the best of all we 

 ever knew. Lime, too, has been tried with good results. Ilon. John M. 

 Clayton, of Delaware, assured us once, at his house, that the peach-trees Ave 

 were then looking at, which were so vigorous, had been ti'cated with half a 

 bushel of lime, placed in contact with the body and upper roots, and he be- 

 lieved it would continue to be a preventive of the peach-grub. 



253. lusect RemedieSt — We give the following various remedies for insects, 

 all of which are vouched for by good men ; some believing one infallible, 

 and some another. 



The following wash is recommended for all sorts of trees, as a preventive 

 remedy against caterpillars, etc. : Potash, 20 lbs. ; air-slacked lime, half a 

 bushel ; sifted wood-ashes, half a bushel ; fresh cow dung, half a bushel. 

 Mix in water enough to be of the consistence of whitewash. Scrape off the 

 rough bark, and rub the wash in well with a brush. 



Caustic soda wash is one of the best things we ever saw applied to a fruit- 

 tree. It will make the bark as smooth as if wax-polished. It leaves no 

 harbor for insects under pieces of dead bark. It is made by heating the 

 common sal-soda red hot in any old iron vessel, and then making a lye of it 

 — say about one pound of the salts to a gallon of water — and washing tlie 

 trees with a brush. It is best to put it on in the spring. A piece of old 

 stove-pipe, battered up at one end, and stuck into one of the stove-holes, 

 answers very well to heat the soda in. The wash should be too caustic to 

 put your hands in, and, while putting it on, it will not be worth while to 

 wear a fine broadcloth coat. 



The Liquid Brimstone Bemedy. — M. Letellier states in the Journal of the 

 Paris Horticultural Society, that a liquid formed by boiling 63 grains of red 



