•^60 



N E vV ENGLAND FARMER, 



FEB. 10, 1« 



For the N. E. Farmer. 

 TIIK SQUASll-VINE DESTROYER. 



.■E^eria Cuctirbitce. 

 Mil PcTHAM — Dear Sir — Tn the " New England | 

 Parmer," for Aiigii.st the 22d, J8-28, 1 gave an ac- j 

 count of the insect that destroys the 8(|iiash-vinG | 

 by boring into its stem and roota, in llje manner 

 observed by Mr Coffin and yourself, as stated in 

 the Farmer of t)ie 2d instant. You will al.so find 

 n description of its ravaw^es, of its transformations, 

 and of its appearance when arrived ut maturity, in 

 my "Discourse before the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society," in October, 1832, in my " Descrip- 

 tive Catalogi:e of North American Insects belong- 

 ing to the Linnican genos Sphinx," published in 

 the ;}(!lh vrjjnme of Prof. Sillirnan's Journal of Sci- 

 ence, and a short notice of the same insect in my 

 lately printed " Report on the Insccla of .Massachu- 

 solts injurious to Vegetation." Having now made 

 a sketch of the creature in its winged stati!, I take 

 the liberty of sending it to you, together with the 

 following remarks, which may possibly interest 

 some of the readers of your paper, w)io have not 

 yet seen either of the four previously publi.=lied 

 accounts of this pernicious insect. A knowlcdiic 

 of its habits and transformations may postjibly lead 

 to the discovery of suitable means for jncventing 

 its ravages, by persons more favorably situated for 

 making experiments than myself. > 



During the month of Au ;'jst, thffsqnash and oth- 

 er cucurbitaccoiis vines are frequettly found to die 

 suddenly down to the root. The cause of this 

 premature death, as you liave observed, is a plump, 

 whitish worm-liko in.«ect, which begins its opora- 

 lions near the ground, bores into the stem, and de- 

 vours the pithy substance within. Through the 

 hole by which it enters the plant, it thrusts its re- 

 fuse castings ; and its burmw extends both above 

 and below tliis hole, and is rinally carried into the 

 root. The borer comes to its full size between the 

 middle of August and the first of September, and 

 then mcasurefl from one inch to one inch and a 

 quarter, or rather more, in length. Notwithstand- 

 ing its worm-like or grub-like appcinancc, it is a 

 true caterpillar, of the boring kind, like the borers 

 o( the peach tree and of the currant bush. These 

 naked caterpillars or borers differ essentially from 

 the borers of the apple, locust, and innple trees, in 

 having legs, and In being able to make a gummy 

 kind of silk. The body of the sijuash-vine borer 

 is not perfectly cylindrical, being a little pressed, 

 and tapering to a blunt point at each end. Its 

 head is sinull, and of u pale brown color; and on 

 the lop of the first ring behind the head, there are 

 two oblique brownish spots. It has sixteen legs, 

 all of them very short, however. The first three 

 pairs are the longest, arc jointed, and taper lo a 

 point. The others are mere fleshy warts, beset 

 with minute clinging hooks on the under side. As 

 •oon as it is fully grown, the insect goes into the 

 ground near the root of the vine, and there encloses 

 Itself in an oblong oval cocoon or pod, about an 

 iDch long, which, being made of gummy silk, be- 

 comes coated on the outside with grains of earth. 



Soon afterward-^ the insect changes to a chrysalis 

 within Its cocoon, and remains at re>t in the ground 

 thioughoui the auliinin and winter. 'J'he chryealis 

 is of a shining lironn color, and the rings of the 

 hinder part of its body are armed with tiansversc 

 rows of little teeth. Towards the end of June or 

 eaily in July, the chrysalis bursts open one end of 

 the cocoon, and hitcjjcs itself half wny out of the 

 opening by the help of the little teeth on its back. 

 Tiie skin over the fore part of its body then spliu, 

 and the creature, in the winged form, crawls out 

 and works its way to the surface of the ground, 

 leaving its empty chrysalis., skin sticking in the end 

 of its C(/Coon in the earth. The insect, thus dis- 

 closed in its perfected state, is a four winged day 

 moth, which I have named JKgeria cuciirbtta, or the 

 squash vine /Egeria. The upper side of its head 

 and thorax are brownish green or olive-colored. 

 The attennic or horns are greenish black. The 



From the Maseichuscits Plowman. 

 APPLE TREE BORER. 



Saptidit Bivillata. 

 Wm. Burkminster, Esq. — Dear Sir — Your i »« 

 versation with nie about the apple-tree bor 

 short lime ago, has led me to think that a wfj lie 

 communication on the siibjcct may be accept <"< 

 to you. From your remarks, I inter that thii 



hind body is orange-colored, with a row of four, sect, in its perfected or winged condition, ilill<!* 

 five, or six black dots on the back. 'J'ho fore generally known. The person who told yon #e 

 wings expand about one inch and a quarter; they | it resembled a wasp, h.i.<; probably confound^ '*■ 

 are of a glossy olivc-hiowii color; and the hind jrwith the winged borer of the peach tree, wl 

 wings are colorless and transparent, with blackish really has somewhat the appearance of a 

 veins and a brown fringe around the margin. The The apple-tree borer, when arrived at maturiM Uti 

 hind legs are long, are covered in the outer side a hard-shelled beetle, approacliing lo a cylin^ I's 

 with orange-colored hairs, and are thickly fringed shape, and is furnished with six legs and two* m 

 with long black hairs within. From the tenth of ' tapering horns, or antennse. The upper side 4 Fo' 

 July till the middle of August, these pretty moths body is brown, with two broad, white stripesji* 'f 

 may he seen hovering over the vines, and frequent- 1 ginning on the head and continued along the I f 



to the end of the shelly wing covers. The ro» | 

 its body, its horns, and its legs, are white. (S 

 pencil sketch of the insect, inclosed in this cot 

 nication.) This pretty beetle varies in length! 

 a little more than one half to three quarters 

 inch. Its scientific name is isapcrda Invitlnt 

 two-striped Saperda. It comes forih froii 

 trunks of the tiees in the month of June, 

 its escape and taking wing only in the ni( 

 which time, also, it lays its. eggs. On accci 



ly alighting upon them, close to the roots, to drop 

 an egg. So intent are they in this business, that 

 they may often be approached quite closely without 

 being alarmed. The eggs arc not much larger 

 than a poppy seed, and are of a deep orange color, 

 'i'he insect continues laying several days in suc- 

 cession, and dies when her store is exhausted. 



If any offensive substance, that would not injure 

 the plants, could he applied around the vines, near 

 their roots, it might prevent the insects Irom laying 



their eggs on them. Jilubber ml has been suggest- | its nocturnal habits it is very rarely seen; biltj 

 ed ; but I do not know whether it would prove ef. ' be found in the night, in June and July, oi 

 fectual without destroying the vines. Aa soon as i lower part of the trunks of apple treei, in 

 a vine is seen to wither, it should be examined iin- orchards which have siift'ered from its pi 

 mediately, and the borers slumld be taken out and ravages. During the day it remains at rest 

 killed. This may not save the vine attacked, per- ' concealed among the leaves. The plants 

 haps, but it will tend to diminish the number of which it lays its eggs are the apple tree, the qi 

 the insects. By carefully searching the ground j mountain ash, hawthorn, and other thorn bot . 

 around the vines in the autumn, the cocoons may the choke-berry, the June-berry or shad-bush, ' 

 be found, and these also should bo crushed. other kinds of Aronia. Our native thorns 



Yours, respectfully, j Aronias appear to be the natural food of thd 



T. W. HARRIS. I sects, for I iiave repeatedly seen the beetles 

 . Cambridge, Mass., Feb. 8, ]84'i. jlliem, eating the leaves, and have fomM 



The foregoing communication from Dr. Harris, 

 shows us that we were wrong in our conjecture that 

 the squnsli-vine destroyer commenced its work of! 



destruction below tho surface of the ground, and I , , , ' , , " .' , 



ivori,«,i .,„.„„. I n- 1 1 11 I ■ ed from llicm, are the borers, Mnich are so 



worked upwards. /re, individually, are much n- , , , , . ^ , 



(lf.i.i/,,1 . . n. II <■ .1 ■ I .1 u ■ known that a particuar description of them I 



(leDteU to Dr. M. for the information he has here 



given, and wo doubt not that our readers will be 

 equally so. — Ed. 



j young, the borers, within the stems of tlics 

 j The eggs of these beetles ate laid upon ilie 1 1 

 I near the root of the trees. They ore hatcliJ 

 about three weeks ; and the young insects pp 



ptio 



Men spend their lives in anticipations, in doter- 

 inining to be vastly happy at some period or other, 

 when ihey have time. But the present time has 

 one advantage over every other — it is our ovm. It 

 has been well observed, that we should treat futuri- 

 ty as an aged friend from whom we expect a rich 

 legacy. Let us do nothing lo forfeit his esteem, 



and treat him with respect, not with servility /^o- 



con. 



Nothing annoys an enemy so much as kindness. 



P 

 necessary. It will be enough lo mention that 

 are fleshy, whitish grubs, with a smalt browi 

 head, and are entirely deKlilute of legs. Bf 

 want of these they arc ea.sily dislingiiishcd A 

 the borers of the peach tree, which have sixd 

 short legs. With their strong jaws they iiniM 

 ately gnaw through the bark, and begin to bort 

 to the wood, the fragments of which they deft 

 and, from lime lo time, as they proceed, il.ry ( 

 the undigested refuse out of the holes I' "I 

 they had enlcred. 



From observations made upon the borcn 

 rious limes, I infer that tiiey come to their 

 in the third summer, that is when they are 



i 



