1876.] 



The LANCASTER FARMER 



67 



faculty are systematically destroyed to feed 

 tlie others ? Beiiis; so far removed from their 

 native locality, and knowini; so little of tlieir 

 lKil)itsand tlieir ^jeneral liislory, we will not at- 

 tempt to solve tlie i|nestion, bnt leave it to the 

 pron<nniced Darwinian and anti-Darwinian 

 schools of science to "fix np"' or settle be- 

 tween tlicm. Perhajis, like some social and 

 political cpiestions, it can he settled satisfacv 

 torily to both parties — as duels are often settled 

 after a harmless discharge of weapons. 



INSECT REMEDIES ONE HUNDRED 

 YEARS AGO. 



Perusing the Lmulnn Mamzine for the year 

 ITVS — since I wrote the former ;irtiele — in tlio 

 month of May of tluU year I found the follow- 

 ing; experiments addressed to a memlu^r of tlie 

 Riiyal Society ; and as I appreliend tlit^ re- 

 publication may be of great public utility, I 

 shall be much pleased to see it in your useful 

 magazine : 



On the Effects of Elder in Preserving Growing 

 Plants from Insects and Flies. 



" 1. I was led to my first cxporiments by oonsider- 

 iniif how disatjri'calilc and orti'iinive to our olfactory 

 nerves tlie effluvia emitted l\v a lirusli ol' green elder 

 leaves arc, and from theiiee rcasonini; how niueli 

 more so they must he to those of a tnitterliy, wliom I 

 consider as a heini; as inueii sui>erior tons indelieaey 

 as inferior in size, Aceordiiiirly, I took some twigs 

 of young elder, and with them whipped the I'abbage 

 plants well, Init so gently as not to hurt them, ju.st as 

 the buttertlies tirst appeared — from which time, for 

 these two summers, though the Inittcrllies would 

 hover over and flutter around them, like gnomes or 

 sylphs, yet I could never see one pitch,* nor was 

 there, I iielieve, a single caterpillar blown after the 

 plants were so whipped, though an adjoining bed was 

 infected as usual. 



" 3, Refleeting on the etVeets above mentioned, and 

 considering blights as occasioned by small flies and 

 minute insects, whose organs were proportionately 

 finer than the former, I whipped the limbs of a Wall 

 plum-tree as high as I could reach, the leaves of 

 which were preserved green, nourishing and unhurt, 

 while those not six inches higher, and from thence 

 upwards, were lilighted, shriveled up, and full of 

 worms. Some of these last I afterwards restored by 

 whipping with and tyins up elder amongst them. It 

 must be noted that this tree was in full bloom at the 

 time of whipping, which was too late, as it should 

 have V)cen done once or twiee before the blossoms ap- 

 peared. But I conclude from the whole, that if an 

 infusion of elder was made in a tub of water, so that 

 the water might be strongly impregnated therewith, 

 and then sprinkled over the tree % a hand-engine 

 once every week or fortnight, it would effectually an- 

 swer every purpose that could be wished, without 

 any possible risk of hurting the blossoms or the fruit . 



".3. What the farmers call the "yellows" in 

 wheat, and which they consider as a kind of mildew, 

 is in fact occasioned by a small yellow fly wi*'' ^'lue 

 wings, about the size of a gnat. This blows in the 

 ear of the corn,t and produces a worm almost invis- 

 ible to the naked eye ; but being seen through a 

 pocket microscope, it appears a large yellow maggot, 

 of the color and gloss of amber, and is so prolitie, 

 that I last week distinctly counted forty-one living 

 yellow maggots or insects in the husk of one single 

 grain of wheat — a number sufflcicnt to eat up and 

 destroy the corn of a whole year. I intended to have 

 tried the following experiment sooner, liut the dry, 

 hot weather bringing on the corn faster than it was 

 expected, it was got and getting into fine blossoms 

 ere I had an opportunity of doing as I did ; but, 

 however, the next morning at daybreak two servants 

 took two bushes of {elder, and went one on each side 

 of the ridge, t from end to end, and so back again, 

 drawing the elder over the ears of corn of such fields 

 as were not too far advanced in blossoming : I con- 

 ceived that the disagreeable effluvia of tlic elder 

 would cfTeetually prevent those flies Irom pitching 

 their tents into so noxious a situation. Nor was I 

 disappointed, for I am firmly persuaded that no flies 

 pitched or blowed on thi^ corn after it had been so 

 struck, but I had the mortification of observing the 



"The word *' pitch '' here meauB to alight ou, or settle 

 down ou the plant, for the purpose of depositiug eggs. 



tit is almost unuecessary to state that the word "corn" iu 

 the above article has no rel'ereuce whatever to what we call 

 corn iu Peuusylvania, but to wheat or rye; iudeed, the 

 term corn was origiually applied to the seeds ov fruit of all 

 cereals. 



"The spriug is waniug fast, my love. 

 The corn is in the ear." 

 We have no " coru lu the ear " at that season except wheat, 

 rye or barley. What we call coru is called viaize iu Euglaud 

 and elsewhere. 



IThe word "ridge" has reference to what in Lancaster 

 oouuty is termed a " laud "—that is, the field in plowing is 

 laid off into lands^ the furrows on each side being turued to- 

 wards the centre, IcaWug a valley between each laud, aud a 

 faint ridge in the middle. 



flies, the evening before it was etruek, already on the 

 corn, six, seven or eight on a single ear ; sotliat what 

 danuigo liad accrued was done l)efore the operation 

 took plaee ; fi>r ont^xamining it last week, I found tht^ 

 corn whieh had been struck, pretty free of the yel- 

 lows, very nnieh more so than what was not struck. 

 I have Iherefore no doubt but Iiad the operation ticen 

 performed sooner, 1 lic^ corn would have remained to- 

 tally clear and untnuehed. If so, simple as the pro- 

 cess is, I flatti'r myself it bids fair to preserve fine 

 erops of corn from destruction, as tlie small insects 

 are the crops" greatest enemy One of these yellow 

 flies laid at li'ast eight or ten eggs, of an oblong 

 shape, on ray thumb, only whllecarrylnghy the wing 

 across three or four ridges, as appeared on viewing 

 with a jioi-ket micrnscope, 



" 4. Crops of turnips are frequently destroyed 

 when young by lieing bitten by some Insects — eithiT 

 flies or llcas. This, 1 flatter myself, uniy be effectually 

 prevented by having an elder-bush spread so as to 

 cover abimt the breadth of a rlilge, and drawn fince 

 forward and ttackward over the young turnips. I 

 am conlirincd in this idea by having struck an elder- 

 bush over a bed of yiung colliflowcr|| plants, which 

 had begun to l)e bitten, and would otticrwise have 

 been destroyed by these insects, but after that opera- 

 tion it remained utitouched. In stip|M)rt of my opin- 

 ion, I lieg leave to mention tin* tbllowing fact from 

 very creditable information : Thataiiout eight or nine 

 years ago this country was so inlcsted with co<'k- 

 chaffi^rs, or oak-webs, that in many parishes they ate 

 everv green thing but elder, nor left a green leaf un- 

 touched but ehlcr-lmshcs, which alone remained 

 green and unhurt amid the general devastation of so 

 voracious a multitude. On reflecting on these several 

 circumstances, a thought suggested itself to me — 

 whether an elder, now esteemed noxious and otfen- 

 sive, may not be seen one day planted witti and en- 

 twining its branches amongst fruit trees, in order to 

 preserve the fruit from destruction of Insects; aud 

 whether the same means which produced these sev- 

 eral efTects may not be extended to a great variety of 

 other cases in the preservation of the vegetable 

 kingdom. § The dwarf ehler, {ebulus) I apprehend, 

 emits more ofl'ensive ellluvia than common ehler — 

 therefore must be preferable to it iu the several ex- 

 periments. BEN.rA.MIN MiFPLI.N'." 



From tlie U. S. Magazine for May, 1779. 



Of course the reader will perceive that only 

 the introductory and foregoing are from the 

 pen of Mr. Milflin, all the rest being from the 

 London Magazine, orginally, hence it will also 

 be seen that the experiments were made in 

 Europe. 



In regard to this "elder bush " and " elder 

 decoction " remedy, we have frequently seen 

 it rec(_)mmended, during the last twenty years, 

 in some of our American newspapers and ag- 

 ricultural journals, but we have never learned 

 that any experiments were made and the re- 

 .sults published in this country. 



We rememVier, distinctly, that in our boy- 

 hood the clder-ljusl. was generally considered 

 a good antidote against flies troubling horses 

 in summer time, but we did not take the 

 trouble to ascertain whether it was better 

 than any other kind of bush. AVe also re- 

 member that a farmer, with whom we wrouglit, 

 almost inviiriably covered his meat, which he 

 brought from tlie town in harvest time, with 

 elder bushes ; but we did not learn that they 

 were used as an antidote against flics, but 

 to keep ofl' the Iieat of the sun, or because 

 they were more conveniently gathered than 

 other kinds. This we knotv, ho\vever, that 

 our Elders — Sambucus canadfnsi^, tt puhcns — 

 are often infested by "Plant-lice"'— ^Ip/ti.s— 

 by species of Capsiis — "Plant-bugs;" and 

 tliat tlie flowers arc sometimes fairly eaten up 

 by " Rose-bugs " — MacrodacUjliis subsjnnosus ; 

 moreover, tlie heart or iiith of the canes are 

 infested by the larvr of (uir beautiful " Elder- 

 beetle" — De,-!mi>rtrmcyaneiis; but, as "what is 

 one man's meat is anotlier man's poison," the 

 plant may have a destroying or repelling power 

 on other insects. 



The conunon elder of Europe is the Sambu- 

 CK.s nigra, of which there are tliree varieties, 

 the Ijerries of which are black, red, and green. 

 These are cultivated— especially the lirst-for 

 the pnrpo.se of making a favorite winter 

 beverage, and supjiosed to be sliglitly narcotic. 

 According to Kind, Uoerliaave, the'great pliy- 



lINow generally termed cauliflower, a variety of Brawca 

 olcrarfa, or cabbage. 



{A bush of elder laid ou fresh meat or fish in the summer 

 prevents the fly from blowing ou them. And it is not Im- 

 poBsilile, from the foregoing experiments by Christopher 

 Ctullet, that water strongly impregualeJ therewith, aud 

 once a week or fortnight siiriukled over cabbageu, will pre- 

 serve them from beiug lousy. 



sici;in, is said to liave reg;irded the elder with 

 so much reverence, for its medicinal virtues, 

 that lie ;ihvays raised his hat wlien lie psLSscd 

 ;i tree nr bush of it. The leaves are iKin-ofic, 

 ;;i(r;/a(ii'^iuid luriil; the llowcrs, in decoction, 

 are (/id/j/onti'r— tliat is, they promote perspi- 

 ration. KlilerlM'rry wine is a cnnimon domes- 

 tic Ijcverage in this coimtry, and is coiisitU'red 

 " wlir)lcsoine. " (rullet, it appeal's, considered 

 the " Dw:irf Elder " — Sniiihiuiai f ibuliis—lUv. 

 most virulent. As we liave some of the same 

 species of noxious insects as those alluded to in 

 the foregning p;iper, in this country, and also 

 otliers allii-d to them, this elder-busli remedy 

 is so simple that its virtues, if any, might lie 

 easily tested, and we do not think it ought to 

 be rejected untried, only because it is old. 

 These insects and tlicsi' remedii-s will at le;tst 

 illusfr;ite how long a time the agricultiu'ist 

 has hecn battling against destructive insects, 

 and wh;it little progress has been made in ex- 

 tcrmiiKiling them. There might be some use 

 in going bai'k iuid giving old n'uiedies a more 

 thorough tria.1 than they have elicited hereto- 

 fore. 



The insect alludctl to in the first jmragraph 

 is doubtless the "White Cabbage IJultertly " 

 — I'icris rapir — of which there h:is been an 

 abundiinceall over this country, belter known 

 in its (((rra state its the "(iret'ii Cabkige- 

 Worm." In the second paragraph tlie writer, 

 no doubt, alludes to the " Plum-slug" — a 

 sjiecies of .saw-fly [Srlandrin'), or to the "Plum- 

 louse" — Aphix prunus — or to both; species of 

 these also infest the |)lums of our country. 



The third undoubl!edly alludes to the 

 '' Whcat-midge "' — Cecidoinyia Irirtici — whicll 

 al.so infests the wheat of this country and has 

 been imported from Europe, We have ob- 

 served these depositing eggs uiuh-r similar cir- 

 cumstances. 



The fourth may allude to several species ot 

 insects which infest the turnip, both in Euroi)e 

 and America, some of which are identical. 

 The "Turnip saw-fly" — Athalia spinarum — 

 the " Turnip-llea" — Allica nirDioruin, — the 

 " Turnip-leaf plant-louse " — AjMs rapm — and 

 several others, infest the turnip crops of Eng- 

 land and the continent of Knrope. 



Wc, i>f the present pciiod. arc apt to think 

 that our forefathers had a gnind, easy and 

 jolly "old lime" of it. but when we appeal 

 totlierecorils we tind that they were solicitous 

 about the same things that now excite our 

 anxiety or attention ; therefore, if thisold docu- 

 ment can afford no instruction it may afford 

 some consolation. — Ed. 



HONEY-DE'W." 



The f-vU of our esteemed corresiiondent, 

 W. P. Bolton, in reference to his observations 

 on honey-dew, are of suHicienl importance to 

 give him a respectful hearing tlirouiih the 

 medium of the Fahmkk, But we think that 

 he has unwittingly crcatcil a phantom in order 

 that he may demolish it. If he read.s our paper 

 in the April number of the Fahmkk carefully 

 over again, he will find that we nowhere staled 

 th;it "o?/" honey-dew wascau.sed by Apkidx, 

 but that we recognized several cau.scs for its 

 appearance on plants ; we mainly denied tliat 

 it was causeil by the condensation of aroma, 

 odor, or scent, as Mr, Xoe had suggested. 



lAfr. 1?., residing on a farm, and endowed 

 with the necessary inlelligentH', ha.s therefore 

 oiiimrtunitics to "make observations that we 

 have not posscs.scd for thirty years, but we 

 confe.-is that we have never seen the .saccha- 

 rine substance, known ;us honey-dew, on grass 

 that wc did not suppose was discharged from 

 aphiils, from flowers, or from the exudation 

 of Irce.s, shrubs or i>lants, and not by any 

 means from the clouds. And yet, under very 

 extraordinary circumstance.s, it may be as 

 l^ossible for this substance to be can"ied up 

 .into the air and then deposited on plants, as 

 it is for pollen to be carried up and then to 

 descend in what has been poimlarly termed 

 " sul[phur showers," 



The feathers of fowls "bedraggled with 

 dew," is a very common occurrence, and one 

 that wc have often seen, and we have also 



