68 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



unsurpassed in his power of presenting the subject familiarly, but 

 the greater part of the most valuable details about our own insects 

 have been discovered since his time, through the impulse he gave to 

 the study. Nothing of economic importance was added to the 

 later editions. His book, with Dr. Fitch's New York Reports, 



* Eiley's Missouri Repoi'ts ; the * Illinois Entomological Reports, by 

 Walsh, and afterwards by Le Baron ; Walsh's papers in the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Entomological Society of Philadelphia, and in the 

 *American Entomologist in connection with Mr. Rile}", and the 



* Practical Entomologist, are the most desirable works on the sub- 

 ject for horticulturists, and those marked with a star may all be 

 purchased for twenty dollars. Much important detail may be found 

 in other works. 



The spring brood of currant worms is apt to be divided into two 

 parts, one appearing earlier than the other. This is the case with 

 many insects, and frequently a third portion will remain over until 

 another season. This is apparently a provision of nature to secure 

 the continuation of the race. 



P. B. Hovey thought the currant borer more difficult to contend 

 with than the currant worm. We might be obhged to cut the bush 

 aU away, and a single borer may destroy a plant when grown in tree 

 form. 



Mr. Mann said that if the currant borer had gone down to the 

 bottom, the stem was destroyed and might as well be cut off. There 

 is no wa}^ of destroying it in the moth form, as it is then smaU and 

 inconspicuous. 



Sweet substances are more available than light to attract insects. 

 Poor molasses and ale, mixed and smeared on the bark of trees or 

 on rough boards, is excellent for this purpose. Townsend Glover, 

 the entomologist of the United States Department of Agriculture, has 

 devised a trap for catching insects, consisting of a box with con- 

 verging sides and conical entrances, and a light in the centre. 



CM. Hovey suggested that the currant borer might be provided 

 by nature to take away old currant stems and cause the growth of 

 new. The tree form is unnatural for the currant. 



P. B. Hovey said that currants bear best on wood three or four 

 years old, and do not form spurs until the second year. He thought 

 that the best fruit was pi'oduced on trees, but when the stem is per- 

 forated by the borer it becomes so weak as to break, or at least the 

 quality of the fruit is deteriorated. 



