66 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



New Freedom, York co., Pa., 



Juue!Mth,lS74. 

 Prof. S. S. Rathvon — Dear Sir: Enclosed find 

 (in a quill) abuir. While worl\ing in m.v potato patch 

 to-day, I found him rcfjalina; himself by sucking the 

 juices of Colorado potato-beetle grubs. He is, there- 

 fore, the insect for the times — what is his name and 

 habits? Keply through t]w IiilcUigeiicer. Very re- 

 spectfully yours, T. M. Coulson. 



In replying to the above, we are happy to 

 find such an uiiqiiahtit'il confirmation of our 

 statement in an article on the " Colorado Po-. 

 tato Beetle," published in the Lancaster In- 

 quirer oi June 27th, coming from such an intel- 

 ligent souice. 



In speaking of remedies in the article alluded 

 to, we stated that there were natural remedies, 

 and that among these were certain species of 

 predaceous insects, whicli preyed both upon 

 the eggs and larva of the potato-beetle ; and 

 conspicuously among them is the species sent 

 by our correspondent " in a'quill." This is the 

 Arma s})iwjfia, (Fig. 0) of Entomologists, but 

 commonly called the " Spined Soldier Bug," 

 and belongs to the order Hemiplera, which 

 comprises the true hwjs. It is a suctorial in- 

 sect, and feeds entirely upon the juicy sub- 

 stances of other insects, but does not confine 

 itself exclusively to the soft lurrn of potato- 

 beetles, but will also attack the larva of any 

 other insect to which it can gain access. Tliis 

 insect is about three quarters of an inch in 

 length from the front of its head to the end of 

 its closed wings, and aljout one-quarter of an 

 inch broad across the base of its wings. It has 

 a large, acutely triangular piece (Si-iiteUum) on 

 the back, the acute angle pointing towards the 

 hind end of the body. At the two outer angles 

 of the base of the thorax, or chest, are two 

 short, blunt spines, from which the insect de- 

 rives its specific name. The color above is a 

 dusky, clay yellow, and a brighter or greenish 

 yellow beneath. The intensity of the colors 

 vary, however, according to age or sex. Two- 

 thirds of the wing-covers are hard, opaque or 

 leathery, and the terminal third memljranace- 

 ous. The antenruv are filiform and four-jointed, 

 and the feet are clay yellow. 



As to how this itisect passes its immature 

 period, we are not well-informed, and can only 

 reason inferentially. We have known it for 

 thirty years, and have observed and collected 

 it under various circumstances, never detected 

 its feeding on plant food, but njtcn attacking 

 other insects. On one occasion a female de- 

 posited about twenty eggs on a leaf, which we 

 kept until the young were hatched. After 

 keeping them a few days without discovering 

 that they partook of vegetable food, we left 

 them disperse, feeling assured that they were 

 the friends of vegetation in all the stages of 

 their development. 



As they, however, beloiig to a family (Pen- 

 tatomaua) that is nearly allied to the family 

 (Coreid.e) which includes the common 

 "Squash. Bug" {Coreus trittis,) they may 

 easily be confounded with some of their plant- 

 feeding allies; and this circumstance seems to 

 forcibly demonstrate the necessity of a practi- 

 cal entomological education among those who 

 propose to make Agriculture, Horticulture, 

 Floriculture, Arboriculture or Sylviculture, a 

 secular siiecialty — involving at least a know- 

 ledge of the habits of those insects which are 

 the enemies or the fi»«'n<ls of vegetation, or 

 other productions in which the human family 

 has a domestic interest. Ajnerican travelers 

 are sometimes astonished at finding such cor- 

 rect zoological and botanical knowledge among 

 the seemingly ignorant peasantry, in some dis- 

 tricts on the continent of Europe; and when 

 they learn whence it comes, it is found that 

 the elemental i)rinciples of it have been taught 

 in their schools. This may not be so necessary 

 in sparsely poi)ulated America as it is in 

 densely populated Europe, but a thought or 

 look in that direction now is fraught with 

 much more interest than it was twenty or 

 thirty years ago; and before the close of the 

 present century we may have liberally endow- 

 ed Vollcgesof Natural Jlistori/, non-progressive 

 or retrogressive " fogyism " to the contrary 

 notwith.standing. 

 But, to return to our insect again, we would 



endorse our correspondent's conclusions, that 

 this is one of " the insects for the times," and 

 should be fostered by an intelligent discrimi- 

 nation. 



It is impossible even to estimate how many 

 of the noxious insects annually fall victims to 

 the rapacity of the innoxious and parasitic 

 species; and when we find a redundancy of the 

 former, we may infer that the e<iuililiriinu has 

 somehow been destroyed through the inter- 

 ventions of human progress and improvement, 

 aided by tlie absence of that cliscrhni nation to 

 which we have alluded. Two years ago several 

 specimens of tlie tarra of the "White-Cabbage 

 Butterfly " were sent to us from a locality in 

 tlie western part of Lancaster county, and 

 two-thirds of these were infested by parasites, 

 which prevented them from developing the 

 mature insects. We have, therefore, reasons 

 to believe that these parasites will ultimately 

 diminish, if not entirely extinguish, the cab- 

 bage pest. 



In like manner the multiplication of the Col- 

 orado i)Otato-l)eetle may lie diminished ulti- 

 mately; but we would advise human co-opera- 

 tion, rather than relaxation of all efforts to de- 

 stroy them; simply because these insects are 

 endowed with greater powers of reproduction 

 than any of their enemies are. In conclusion, 

 liermit us to say, that as we have found Anna 

 Sjnnotta late in fall and early in spring; we 

 therefore conclude tliat it bybernates during 

 the winter. 



■^ 



An Early Bait for the Colorado Beetle. 



After two years' experience with the Colorado 

 potato-beetle, I recommend the following : Plant a 

 few potatoes quite early, hills far apart and not over 

 two or three eyes to the hill, so that insects and eggs 

 may be easily seen. The beetles come in advance of 

 the earliest potatoes and are'ready to begin operations 

 as soon as the potatoes put in an appearance. They 

 are not voracious eaters like the larva ; they do eat, 

 however, and they begin at once to lay their eggs, 

 which they invariably deposit on the under si^ of 

 the leaf. The patch being small and thinly planted 

 it is soon gone over either with Paris green or hand- 

 picking, and by taking the stalks in your hand and 

 stroking them upward the eggs are brought to view 

 and easily destroyed with a pair of broad tweezers or 

 by picking the leaves and burning them. Thus the 

 tirst stock of beetles is destroyed before the 'main 

 crop of potatoes is up and there will be but few left 

 to prey upon them, and if we could have proper co- 

 operation we could soon destroy this pest, but there 

 are those around us who plant potatoes apparently 

 only to propagate the beetle. I use no Paris green, 

 on account of my chickens. With the assistance of 

 these faithful workers I manage them by liandpick- 

 ing. I eontine my chickens beside the potato patch, 

 letting tlicra out i)art of every afternoon, when they 

 feed upon the larva as they would upon earth-worms. 

 I have thus far saved my potato crop uninjured. But 

 after the potato tops in the neighborhood are dried 

 up, they become great foragers and come upon us in 

 such numbers that resistance seems useless. Toma- 

 toes then appear to be their favorite forage, and the 

 crop is very soon destroyed, even the hark is eaten 

 from the vines. If they become as numerous along 

 the sea-board as they do here during the latter part 

 of the season they will certainly find their way across 

 the water. They will be upon boxes, trunks, and 

 everything else, and it will take more than a corpo- 

 ral's guard to every vessel to prevent " Doryphora " 

 from taking passage. — J. D. G., Center Co., Fenn. 



The above, from the Tribune of April .30, is 

 of some importance at this time, when farmers 

 are about " putting in " their potato crops. 



We knew an instance where a man saved 

 his melon plants from the ravages of the 

 "striped cucumber beetle" (Diahrotica vil- 

 tata) by planting cucumbers around the base 

 of his "melon hills, a little earlier tlian he 

 planted his melons. By the time they had 

 destroyed all the cucumber plants their brief 

 season was over and the melons escaped ; a 

 similar ride may be applied to the potato- 

 beetles. 



^ 



THE FACTS OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



On page .3.30 of "American Natural His- 

 tory," by the bite John D. Godnian, M. i)., 

 of Philadelphia, (Vol. 1) the following para- 

 graph occurs in relation to the habits of the 

 " Groinid-hog" — Arctonijis monax: 



" At the commencement of cold weather 

 the marmot goes into winter quarters ; hav- 

 ing blocked up the door from within, he there 



remains until the return of the warm season 

 revives him again to renew his accustomed 

 mode of life." 



Having read the biography of Dr. Godman, 

 and also his "Rambles of a Naturalist," we 

 inferred that his remarks on the habits of the 

 animals he describes were partly, if not 

 wholly, made from personal observation, or 

 upon the observations of intelligent and reli- 

 able authorities ; and therefore, in our article 

 " About Ground-Hogs," in the April number 

 of The Fahmer, p. 53, we based our remarks 

 mainly upon his authority. 



At the meeting of the Li7mman Society, held 

 on Saturday, April 24, Mr. Wilmer P. Bolton 

 stated that in allhis observations upon the hab- 

 its of the ground-hog he had never known an in- 

 stance in which the burrow of this animal was 

 closed up during cold weather, and this state- 

 ment was corroborated by Mr. W. L. Hershey. 

 Both of these gentlemen — the former residing 

 in Martic and the latter in West Hempfield 

 townslii])s — possess ample op])ortunities to 

 make practical observations upon the habits 

 of the animals of their respective districts, 

 and from their intelligence and their general 

 characters for veracity, we believe their state- 

 ments entitled to respect. It is just the obser- 

 vations of such men on "the facts of natural 

 history" that we need, to clear up many of 

 the errors that find their way into books, 

 magazines and newspapers, and are transmit- 

 ted from one publication to another, all along 

 the course of time and events, until they ac- 

 quire a currency among those who have no 

 opportimity to make personal observations, 

 and finally settle down as authentic, when, in 

 fact, they may have no foundation whatever, 

 or one that admits of many important qualifi- 

 cations. 



It is for this very reason that we have for 

 years been urging our farmers, our rural citi- 

 zens, and the public in general, for thar facts 

 — facts in agriculture, horticidture, arljoricid- 

 ture, floriculture, gallinoculture, ovaculture, 

 domestic econoiuy, MuXfactsin natural history. 



AVe care nothing about speculations and theo- 

 ries, however useful these may be when prop- 

 erly applied, but we desire the facts upon which 

 speculations and theories should be founded, 

 to be of any value in the illustration of a sub- 

 ject, in making it plain, intelligible and use- 

 ful to the community at large. The greater 

 number, if not all, our farmers are able to 

 give us these /ac(.s, if they could only over- 

 come their tmwillingness to record them. 



Although there appears to be something of 

 a discrepancy between the historical record 

 referred to, and the personal observations of 

 Messrs. B. and H., it may still be not .so great 

 as it seems "at a first sight. " Possibly Dr. G. 

 meant that the animal closed up the hole in 

 immediate proximity to his winter quarters, 

 "deep down in the bowels of the earth," 

 whilst these gentlemen may never have fomid 

 it closed at its outer entrance, in which case 

 both parties may be right, and, if so, it only 

 affords another illustration of the loose man- 

 ner in which many observations and records 

 are made, and to which the article headed 

 " Good Co)-rcs2»ndei!ts," page 24, col. 3, April 

 No. of The Farmer, specifically alludes, 

 and the "com" of which we are compelled to 

 acknowledge, however humiliating it may be. 



We once heard of a "crack-shot" who 

 stated that he drove seven rifle balls into a 

 mark the .size of a "ten-cent piece," and 

 when one of his auditors suggested that they 

 must have all gone througli one hole, he im- 

 mediately qualified his statement by adding 

 that he meant a ten-cent " shinplaster"— that 

 being the elegant phraseology applied to the 

 fractional currency of the period. With this 

 explanation the matter became perfectly 

 recimcilablc with the pos.sibilities of the case. . 

 At best, these are oidy illustrations of the 

 problems involved in questions of reed and eip- 

 parent truth. For instance, we say the sun 

 rises, and so would every unlettered man on 

 earth .say who had ever seen it rise ; but it 

 don't rise after all. The whole is only a phe- 

 noniinal appearance that is in perfect har- 

 mony with the hidden but real fact. 



