22 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



melon also can be gi'own in any direction ; he had got one up to 

 thirty-seven and a half pounds, and three weighed a hundred pounds. 

 These did not deteriorate. The case is the same with all vegeta- 

 bles, and Mr. Hill thought that sufficient attention was not paid to 

 the selection of seed. 



Mr. Pierce said that the method of manuring recommended by 

 him was adopted because his soil required heat. He did not mean 

 to say there was any connection between the borer and the black 

 bug, but only to say that they both produce the same eflect. He 

 had noticed hills wilting when there were no bugs to be seen on 

 them, but he usuall}^ found dry leaves near the root, which indicated 

 that the}^ had been there. He thought half a dozen black bugs 

 would make a vine that had run ten feet, wilt. He never found a 

 vine that had been attacked by black bugs that did not wilt in a 

 hot sun. 



J. S. Richards had found, in every instance where vines wilted, 

 some trouble at the root — either blue lice, or rust, or some other 

 cause of injury to the health of the plant. The cause might be in 

 the manure. 



E. W. Buswell suggested that a vine growing in a manure heap 

 often produced more squashes than half a dozen vines in the field, 

 so that the injury could hardly be from the manure. Perhaps the 

 vines were attacked by microscopic insects. 



Mr. Richards did not believe that you could give a squash too 

 much manure, if of the right kind ; but thought the plants might 

 be injured by unsuitable manure. Maggots might do mischief, but 

 he had always found the root diseased. 



Mr. Pierce had found small white n:iaggots at the roots of vines. 

 A vigorous vine might survive the attacks of the black bug for 

 some time. 



Mr. Hill said that of late years he had paid no attention to the 

 l)lack bug, but that he did make a business of examining his vines 

 for borers two or three times a week. He found them by cutting, 

 and had sometimes traced them for a foot. He put dry earth over 

 the wounds, and if a quarter of the stem was left the vine would 

 grow and heal ; if covered with wet earth it would rot. He had 

 had fields where the borers were as plenty as ever were seen, and 

 no vines wilted. If the black bug was not poisonous to the vine, 

 he did not think the sap drawn out by them would injure it. He 

 had seen young vines attacked by the black bug, which continued 

 to grow vigorously and ripen fruit. 



