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BUGS, INSECTS, ETC.— REMEDIES FOR 



the maggot would sometimes crawl away 

 from the joint and get nearer the head, 

 between the stalk and the sheath. The 

 pupa state lasted from twelve to fourteen 

 days, and the first flies emerged during 

 the first week in July. 



Remedies. — Much can be done in an 

 artificial way by cutting off and destroy- 

 ing all the infested stalks, which may 

 readily be recognized by the signs al- 

 ready described; but even if this plan 

 should faithfully be carried out, it is 

 doubtful whether it would pay in a coun- 

 try where labor is so scarce and de- 

 mands such high wages as in ours. 

 We therefore have to fall back on the 

 only practical means within our reach, 

 viz. : that of varying the culture by alter- 

 nate courses, and this style of cultivation 

 will have to be more generally adopted, 

 should this pigmy foe sufficiently increase 

 as to greatly diminish the yield of the 

 "staff of life." There is every reason to 

 believe, however, that nature has her 

 own means of keeping these flies within 

 due bounds, for they are known to be 

 preyed upon by parasitic Ichneumon 

 flies in Europe, and we noticed many 

 flies of this last description, of polished 

 hues and active movements, deftly darting 

 through, and resting upon the wheatplants 

 of the fields infested with the Meromyza. 



CURRANT WORSE.— The imported 

 currant worm, or saw-fly, was very de- 

 structive during 1875. The insect is stated 

 to have been imported first in the neigh- 

 borhood of Rochester, and to have trav- 

 eled about twenty-five miles a year. 

 The perfect fly comes out of the ground 

 about April or May, and lays her eggs 

 along the principal veins on the under 

 side of the leaves. The lame have 

 twenty legs, black heads, and are of a 

 greenish color, spotted with black, but af- 

 ter the last molt they become entirely of 

 a green color, with large, dark, eye-like 

 spots on each side of the head. When 

 fully grown the larvae are about three- 

 fourths of an inch in length. They then 

 burrow into the earth, or hide under 

 dead leaves, and spin a thin oval cocoon 

 of brown silk, in which the pupa is 

 formed. The perfect insect appears about 

 June or July, and the second brood 

 does not come out until the following 

 spring. The native currant-worm, is said 

 not to be as injurious as its foreign rela- 



tive, and differs from it by being, in the 

 larval state, always of a uniform green 

 color, without the black dottings always, 

 found on the imported species, except af- 

 ter the last molt. The cocoon is also- 

 spun among the twigs and leaves of the 

 bushes on which it feeds, and it does not 

 go under ground to form its cocoon. 

 The insects are only about three-fourths- 

 the size of the imported pest, and the 

 sexes are alike in coloration, while the 

 female of the imported species has the 

 body mostly of a bright honey-yellow, 

 the male being principally black; the 

 venation of the wings also varies. The 

 larvce of both feed upon the currant and 

 gooseberry, and some were said to have 

 been found feeding on the leaves of the 

 strawberry, planted around the currant 

 bushes. The best remedy is dusting the 

 bushes with pulverized white hellebore — 

 the root of the Veratrum album of Eu- 

 rope — which may be found at any drug- 

 gist's. The success of our native species,. 

 Veratrum viride, of Gray, the American 

 white hellebore, or Indian poke, has not 

 yet been reported on, but should be tried. 

 Syringing the plants with a strong de- 

 coction of hellebore is said to kill the in- 

 sect also, and although it is poisonous in 

 large quantities, the American Entomol- 

 ogist states that in minute doses there is. 

 no reason to be afraid of it. Dr. Fitch 

 states, as a proof of its innocuous proper- 

 ties, that it has long been in use as the. 

 basis of certain snuffs. It would be well r 

 however, to wash the fruit before using it. 



NEW YORK WEEVIL.— This large 

 gray beetle often does considerable 

 damage to fruit trees. It kills the twig 

 by gnawing off the tender bark, in the 

 early part of the season, before the buds 

 have put out, and later in the year it de- 

 stroys the tender shoots which start out 

 from old wood, by entirely devouring; 

 them. It eats out the buds, and will also 

 frequently gnaw off the leaves at the base 

 of the stem, after they have expanded. 

 It attacks, by preference, the tender 

 growth of the apple, though it will also 

 make free with that of peach, plum, pear 

 and cherry, and probably of other fruit as. 

 well as forest trees. 



Remedy. — This insect is more active 

 at night than day, and is often jarred down 

 upon a sheet of curculio-cacher, for it falls 

 about as readily as the Plum Curculio. 



