1883.] TRANSACTIONS. 29 



would have been considered fun, when the writer was a boy ; 

 and were the operation dubbed mis(!hief, boys of like tendencies 

 might be discovered, at this late day. So much, at least, is cer- 

 tain ; we must conquer our Insect-Foes, or be conquered by them. 

 All remedies or methods of preservation, hitherto suggested, have 

 failed upon trial : usually for the reason that their application 

 exacted an amount of toil, and expense, wholly out of proportion 

 to the benefit actually experienced. Possibly the practice de- 

 vised by Dr. Hull, of guarding the Plum from the Curcnlio, by 

 the jarring system, should be excepted from this sweeping con- 

 demnation. Yet, few people care for Plums, when they can get 

 Apples, or Pears : so that the formula of Professor Riley comes 

 none too soon to supply an admitted want. A sure yield from 

 the Cherry-tree may also be expected ; since the loathsome 

 swarms of Aphides ought to succumb readily to the oily deluge. 

 The newspaper report leaves it in doubt whether the solution can 

 be used, without injury, upon Plants, — notably, the E,ose : but 

 precise experiment can determine what reduction, or further 

 dilution, may be necessary, if any. 



Some of our members, — " male and female created He them.! " 

 have striven at times, with varying success, to ascertain into what* 

 queer and unnatural shapes flowers could be perverted, or distor- 

 ted. All such may like to know that the Pennsylvania Horticul- 

 tural Society maintained its just pre-eminence ; and that its Flo- 

 ral Designs were, as in days of old, fearfully and wonderfully 

 made. There was, for example, a " Bridge Over Jordan ! " the 

 customary access to it, that hard road to travel, — being wrought 

 by a lively imagination. Philadelphia has ever been a godly 

 city, as was manifested by her burnt offering of churches, some 

 forty years ago: and, even now, in the process of evolution, she 

 is nothing, if not pious. So that you will not be surprised to 

 learn, after passing Jordan, that " the entire centre of the plat- 

 form " of Horticultural Hall, " was occupied by a Floral Chan- 

 cel." The local reporter gushes over its " elaborate design ? " 

 and becomes fairly enraptured with " its fine regard for harmony 

 of colors." To his charmed eye, rolling in a fine floral frenzy, is 

 " represented the sides and back of the chancel ; a reading-desk 



