1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



219 



For the New England Farmer. 

 DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS. 



Mk. Editor: — I made a note of an article with 

 the above heading in the A^eiv England Farmer 

 of October 31st, written by Mr. S. I3rown, a wri- 

 ter over whose signature I always expect to find 

 something worth reading. In that article, occurs 

 the following passage : '"There is a natural law 

 operating among reptiles and insects, and all an- 

 imals which multiply to excess, which causes near- 

 ly their extermination periodically." 



I am glad to see attention called to this sub- 

 ject, for I believe that, until we arrive at a suf- 

 ficient knowledge of what these causes are, to en- 

 able us to co-operate tcith ihcni, we shall produce 

 about as much effect as we should by sweeping 

 back the tide with a broom. 



We may, it is true, save the fruit of a single 

 plum tree, or the blossoms of a single rose bush, 

 from the depredations of the curculio and rose- 

 bug for a single year, l)ut unless the same eflbrts 

 are renewed every year, a new and countless ar- 

 my will come from some other source, ready to 

 destroy each succeeding crop. 



I know it is a favorite method of enforcing the 

 importance of destroying insects, to exhibit their 

 rapidity of increase, and show us what numbers 

 are nipped in the germ by destroying a single in- 

 dividual ; but let us look at the other side ; take, 

 for instance, the common caterpillar ; Downing 

 says, "each female lays from two to five hundred 

 eggs ;" allowing the number of males and fe- 

 males to be equal, and taking the lowest estimate, 

 suppose out of each hundred caterpillars scattered 

 over our orchards and forests, many of them in 

 almost inaccessible places, we succeed in destroy- 

 ing ninety, this will give us one thousand next 

 j"ear, in place of one hundred this. I would not, 

 however, discourage any one from making war 

 upon the caterpillar, even with our present knowl- 

 edge of the subject. I only wish to show the value 

 of such calculations. 



Perhaps I shall be told, many cultivators save 

 their plums and other fruits from the ravages of 

 the curculio, and that there are many simple rem- 

 edies which are often successful. That brings us 

 exactly to the point. Show me a cultivator who 

 succeeds in raising a good crop of plums every 

 year, and I will grant that his skill or location, 

 produces this result ; very probably the former ; 

 but to one living as I do, in a region where a 

 majority of the farmers leave their fruit trees to 

 take care of themselves, it is not difficult to see 

 how these remedies originate ; some natural cause 

 keeps down the curculio for one season, and every 

 remedy, tried for the first time during that sea- 

 son, succeeds perfectly. 



But to treat my subject more directly, the 

 causes which, according to my observations, ap- 

 pear to have had most eflect in producing the 

 partial extinction of various species of insects, 

 are parasuic insects, late spring frosts, and cold, 

 at a certain stage of their development. I have ob- 

 served the first particularly with the common cat- 

 erpillar ; some few years since, our orchards were 

 so infested with this pest, that whole trees were 

 entirely stripped of their foliage by them, but 

 suddenly their ravages almost ceased, and I per-j 

 ceived that after the nests had gained about half i 

 their usual size, they appeared to be deserted. l' 



at first attributed this to the Oriole, but on closer 

 examination, I found the remains of the cater- 

 pillars evidently eaten by some parasite. This 

 insect is now again on the increase. 



Of the eflfect of late frosts, I do not feel quite 

 so sure, but think the large black pumpkin bugs 

 were nearly exterminated by the frost in 1834. 

 Perhaps some of your readers will recollect that 

 in many places, nearly all the apples were killed 

 that year, by a frost, -while the trees were in blos- 

 som, about the middle of May, I think. These 

 bugs, which had destroyed most of the vines for 

 several years previous, did no damage at all that 

 season. The past year witnessed another general 

 disappearance of this enemy, although not as 

 complete as before, and this time it was not ac- 

 companied by severe spring frost, but I would 

 suggest, whether the cold, wet weather may not 

 have had some agency in it ? 



In an article on this 'subject, in the Countr;/ 

 Gaitleman of August 13, Mr. Levi Bartlett, 

 of Warner, N, H., says he has not seen the first 

 black bug this year, and not over half a dozen 

 striped bugs ; if this should meet his eye, will 

 Mr. B. give us his opinion ? 



Cold weather, accompanied by high wind, I 

 think reduced the number of rose bugs at least 

 nine-tenths in one season, a few years since. 

 Those who have observed the habits of this bee- 

 tle, are probably aware that they make their ap- 

 pearance about the time of the first blossoms of 

 the common white rose, and are most abundant 

 in the first part of the hay season, especially in 

 very warm, sultry days ; at least, they are much 

 more active on such days, and they fly with dif- 

 ficulty when the wind blows. Now for several 

 weeks of the year alluded to, just at the time for 

 them to come, we had almost continual cold win- 

 dy weather, and very few rose bugs were seen, 

 and although they have been increasing most of 

 the time since, they are not near so numerous 

 now as previous to that time. 



I throw out these hints to call farther attention 

 to this subject, with the hope, that some of your 

 readers, who are better acquainted with entomol- 

 ogy, may make farther observations, and give us 

 information by which we may assist nature in 

 this work, as perhaps we might do, by preserving 

 the parasites which feed on these noxious insects, 

 by exposing our cultivated grounds more to the 

 action of frost, or by giving more shelter to birds, 

 by planting evergreens, and retaining a larger 

 proportion of our forests. 



MeanM'hile, I would suggest that every reader 

 of the Farmer "keep his eyes open" during the 

 insect season, make a note of all important ifacts, 

 and communicate them for the benefit of all con- 

 cerned. Wm. F. Bassett. 



Ashfield, Mass., 18o8. 



TO PKEVEWT HEISTS SITTING, 

 ^lake a small, open pen of laths, or some sim- 

 ilar material, in one corner of your hen-house, 

 about eight inches wide, and of any convenient 

 length and height. Let one of the laths or slats 

 be so secured that it may be easily taken out or 

 moved one side, so that a hen may be convenient- 

 ly passed into or taken out of the pen. On the 

 bottom of this pen, and running lengthwise 

 through it, set up a couple of laths on edge, and 



