360 



BUGS, INSECTS, ETC.— REMEDIES FOR. 



pass through the winter in the chrysalis 

 state. 



Remedies. — The climbing cut-worms 

 are easily headed off by a little vigilance. 

 From the orchard planted upon light, 

 warm soils they can be driven away en- 

 tirely by claying the ground about the 

 trees ; a wheelbarrow full is nigh enough 

 for each tree when spread around its base 

 and as far as the limbs extend. This is 

 the most thorough and lasting. A small 

 strip of tin, three inches wide, carefully 

 secured around the body of the tree, will 

 effectually prevent their ascension ; if the 

 tin is old and rusty it will require to be a 

 little wider. Each night, after the swell- 

 ing of the bud, an hour or two after mid- 

 night a slight jar of the tree will bring 

 every one on it down, when they can be 

 caught in a spread sheet and destroyed. 

 This will have to be followed up till the 

 bud has unfolded into the leaf, after which 

 there is no longer anything to be appre- 

 hended from the worm. The reasons 

 why the clay is so efficient are two-fold : 

 1. The worms seem to have an instinctive 

 "dislike to crawling over it. 2. In drop- 

 ping from the tree on the hard surface 

 they are frequently disabled, and whether 

 ■disabled or not, they cannot immediately 

 burrow into it as in sand, and they are all 

 the more exposed to their numerous mid- 

 night enemies which are ever watching 

 for them. 



For the common field cut-worms we 

 are convinced that there is no better rem- 

 edy, as a rule, than hunting and killing 

 them. It is generally believed that ashes 

 and lime used about plants will keep off 

 cut-worms, and we might fill pages with re- 

 corded experiments, going to prove the 

 good effects of these substances. The 

 experimenters generally forget, however, 

 that there is a period in the life of these 

 worms when they of themselves go down 

 in the earth and disappear, and anything 

 applied just before this happens is sure to 

 be heralded forth as a perfect remedy. 

 Experiments show, however, that when 

 placed in a box with separate quantities 

 of ashes, lime, salt and mold, they will 

 burrow and hide in all of them, but es- 

 pecially in the ashes and mold. Soot 

 seems to be more obnoxious to them, and, 

 although we have not yet had an opportu- 

 nity to give it a thorough test, we do not 

 *ish to discourage its trial. Fall plowing, 



to be efficacious, must be done very late 

 in the fall, when the worms are numbed 

 with cold, and then we think it is of doubt- 

 ful utility further than it exposes them to 

 the attacks of enemies, including birds. 



POTATO STALK-BORER.— This larva 

 (Fig. 4,) is of a livid hue when young, 

 with light stripes along the body, as shown 

 in the figure. When full grown it gener- 

 ally becomes lighter, with the longitudi- 



nal 

 it 



5- 



3. 2 



Fig. 4. — Potato Stalk-Borer. 



lines broader, and at this time 

 more frequently resembles Figure 

 It commonly burrows in large stalks 

 of the potato; 

 but it is not pe- 

 culiar to that 

 plant, as it oc- 

 Fig 5.. curs also in the 



stalks of the tomato, and in those of the 

 dahlia and aster and other garden flow- 

 ers. We have likewise found it boring 

 through the cob of growing Indian corn, 

 and strangely confining itself to that por- 

 tion of the ear : though it is likewise 

 found occasionally in the stem of that plant. 

 By way of compensation, it is particularly 

 partial to the stem of the common cock- 

 lebur {Xanthium strumarium) ; and if it 

 would only confine itself to such noxious 

 weeds as this, it might be considered as a 

 friend instead of any enemy. 



Remedy — Prevention. — The careful 

 florist, by an occasional close inspection 

 of his plants about the beginning of July, 

 may detect the point at which the borer 

 entered, which is generally quite a dis- 

 tance from the ground, and can then cut 

 him out without injury to the plant. As 

 this is not feasible in a large potato field, 

 care should be taken to prevent his at- 

 tacks another year as far as possible to do 

 so, by hunting for him wherever a vine is 

 seen to suddenly wilt. 



POTATO STALK-WEEVIL.— This insect 

 is more particularly a Southern species, 

 occurring abundantly in the Middle 

 States, but, according to Dr. Harris, be- 



