414 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[August, 



shapes anil sizes, wl idi dejirediite iipfii \ei;e- 

 tation. AVc regret, tlierefore, that we are un- 

 able to sii^'gest witli any kind of certainty 

 what the insect may be, and what would l)e 

 the best remedy to destroy it. 



It has just oeeurred to us, however, that 

 possibly this may be the earlier stage of the 

 " clover-woim," which is so destructive to 

 hay when it is in the mow or stacl<ed. Accord- 

 ing to Wali-h, in the Prarticnl Entrminlogist, 

 Vol. 1, p]). H-2 — 815, a "clover-worm " had ap- 

 peared in the Wist as early as Dec. 2.'), 18151 ; 

 and Harris also refcired to a similar insect, at 

 an earlier period, in various jiarts of tlie coun- 

 try, (Inj. In. p. 4.")()). Neither Harris, Walsh, 

 or any other writer, up to IBtiO seemed to know 

 to what (inlfr the clover worm to whicli they 

 alluded, belonged, for it appears that most, if 

 not all, of their knowledge was gathered from 

 casual observers, or from newspaper para- 

 graphs similar to Uie above. 



Piof. Kiley, however, succeeded inbreeding 

 the "tly " of the clover worms sent to him in 

 1808 or ISCili, and he accordingly published a 

 brief notice of the insects, and also most ex- 

 cellent illustrations of alLtheir stages of devel- 

 opment, hirra, pupn, cocoon and imaijo, on p. 

 220 of the Ariicriian Entomologist, Vol. 1, 

 (July, 1809). 



And on pp. 102 to 107 in his " Si.xth Annual 

 Report on the Noxious, Beneficial and other 

 Insects of the State of Missouri," he repeats 

 the illu.strations, with a more extended history 

 of "The ClovekHay Wohm — Asojjia cnsta- 

 lis — (Fab)," but still not illustrating entirely 

 satisfactorily when and where the eggs are de- 

 posited, and the infant state of the larva; is 

 passed. The above extract from the Free Press 

 does not contain the first intimation of the size, 

 form and color of the "small worms" infesting 

 the clover in the fields while it was green ; but, 

 unfortunately, so superficial are the observa- 

 tions that are usually made, and so indifferent 

 are even those who sutler, that it is rarely they 

 will take the trouble to collect specimens and 

 send them to those who are supposed to know 

 something about them, and therefore, we have 

 not yet been foilunatc enough to receive any 

 of them, hence our observations on this occa- 

 sion nmst lie more or less conjectural. 



Neither was a hay-woiiii new to us in Har- 

 ris' and Walsh's tirai^, for as early as the win- 

 ter of 1820, when we w^re aboy-of-all-work on 

 a farm, we knew of a case where the hay in the 

 lower part of a mow was altogether unlit for 

 feed on account of worms, their webs, and 

 their fceces. Again, in 1844or '4") we hapi)eiied 

 to be jiresent in the mouth of February or 

 March, where a small stack of hay wasrcmoved 

 and the lower layers were rejected on account 

 of the worms and debris they contained. 



But as we were then only coleoplerally in- 

 clined, and said worms were not hedles, we 

 paid no special attention to them. We, how- 

 ever, are impressed that the stack was com- 

 posed of clover-hay. 



In regard to the remedy, we do not think 

 the precaution fif not using an old foundation 

 or an old mow for a new stack, or a newmfiw 

 of hay would make any difference, for liy the 

 time these were made all thelarvie of the pre- 

 vious season would have been transformed to 

 the moth state, and have abandoned the prem- 

 ises. It would be less difficult ihv us to believe 

 that the larvie had been carried to the stack or 

 the mow from the field while they were yet 

 young and too small to be readilj' observed, 

 and then to have worked themselves down 

 through the interstices into the lower layers of 

 the hay where the conditions for their develop- 

 ment would be longest continued, than for the 

 winged moths to creep in and deposit their eggs 

 in tlie very centre of the mass. If w-e could 

 have obtained specimens of these larvse on the 

 green clover heads, and ascertained that they 

 were Lepidopterous, it would have gone far to 

 confirm us in this view ; as it is, we can ouly 

 throw out these suggestions for the assistance 

 of further fibservations. 



Moreover, it is not unusual for larvae in their 

 earlier .stages to feed on tender substances, and 

 afterwards to appropriate that which is more 

 rigid. We have seen this illustrated on several 



occasions with the " White lined amiy worm" 

 (LiKaniu alhiUneu) which certainly feeds on 

 the lilades of the wheat and other iilants, early 

 in the season, and when the heads appear, to 

 mount the stalk and feed on them, even after 

 the grains are ri[)e, and as hard as rice, where 

 they needed it to fully develop their larval 

 condition. 



Mr. Lin ville informed us that last year when 

 he removi d his wheat shocks to haul them to 

 the stack, be conlil have gathered up the debris, 

 comiiosed of chatV, ])ellets, and broken grains 

 of wheat, by the quart, at each shock. 



Not l"i\( wivij the classic stahis of the insect 

 alluded to in our extract, we refrain from offer- 

 ing a remedy at this time. — Ed. 



A NEW ENEMY IN THE CORN CROP. 



" A new enemy to the growing crop of corn 

 has been discovered this si)ring, which is com- 

 mitting considerable destruction in some sec- 

 tions in the neighborhood of Reading, Pa. It 

 is a peculiar black worm which can scarcely be 

 crushed on the loose earth, as it is encased in 

 a suit of armor difficult to break. They ojier- 

 ate in the corn hills l)y eating off the young 

 plants. As many as fen or twelve worms are 

 found in one hill. The cut-worm has hitherto 

 been a great annoyance-, but this new pest is 

 said to be even more destructive. In some 

 tovMiships farmers are busy replanting eoni- 

 tields thiit have been thus devastated. Paris 

 green has been found to be as efficacious in ex- 

 terminating these worms as it is in destroying 

 the potato bug. Powdered white hellebore 

 also is said to be very effectual." — Christian 

 at Work. 



From the peculiar texture of the worm al- 

 luded to in the above paragraph, we infer the 

 writer refers to a species of " click-beetle" 

 (Ei.ATERiD^) in its lar\'al condition. Thisis, 

 however, not a -nev) enemy l)y any means, for 

 we have, years ago, lioth heard of, and seen it, 

 so engaged — not only destroying the young 

 com, but also the young wheat. 



This is probably a .species of Zabrus, aUhongh 

 from the above vague descrii)tion, it would be 

 impossible for us to locate it sjiecitially. Ac- 

 cording to Curtis there are several species of 

 Elateridans which depredate upon the grow- 

 ing crops, and especially the wheat crop ; and 

 on the continent of Europe and in England, 

 have produced serious mischief It aiijiears 

 that these insects are usually hidden during 

 the day, and come forth and attack the corn 

 and wilt at during the night, and it is alleged 

 that where crows and blackbirds are charged 

 with destroying the corn while it is in the 

 ground, it is these insects that they are in pur- 

 suit of. From this it will be iierceived how im- 

 portant it is for farmers to make thorough and 

 practical observations on the haliits of the in- 

 sects which attack their growing crops. 



Quite as often have we had a black species 

 of "snout-beetle" (CiircuHonida') avnt to us, 

 which it had been stated were detected jireyiiig 

 upon the roots of the grain and the corn. This 

 is the iSjjIiriioijhorus 2(«, of naturalists, which, 

 however, has been known to only attack the 

 grain while the insect was in its iierfect state. 

 The larrtp. of that genus are usually found in 

 dead and decaying wood. None of these in- 

 sects, so far as we liave V>een able to learn, have 

 yet been very destructive to the crops of Lan- 

 caster county, but we see no reason why they 

 may not lie eventually, unless some means are 

 discovered to destroy them. 



■WHERE THE POTATO BUGS GO. 



Now that the potato bug is disappearing from 

 Lancaster count}', the following item may be 

 of interest: A day or two ago a party of gen- 

 tlemen fishing near the middle of I.,ong Island 

 Sound, saw great (]ua.ntities of potato bugs 

 covering the surface of the water as far tm tiic 

 eye could reach. Every floating article, as well 

 as the water, was packed withtliein, and manj' 

 were clinging to eel grass and seaweed under 

 the water. The wind was lilowing from the 

 south, and had iirobably carried them from the 

 island, and they were being wafted toward the 

 Connecticut shore. Lilaud on the island the 



bugs appear to be increasing in numljers, and 

 the potato vines being dry, they have attacked 

 the egg plants, pepper jilaiits, aiid tomato vines. 



TIk' above is near akin to our own observa- 

 tion and exiierience, as to " AVhere. the Potato 

 Bugs Go. " Wc sjient the last week in .July, 

 1875, on a fishing excursion to the " Delaware 

 Breakwater," in the lower end of the State of 

 Delaware, and while there, we took occasional 

 strolls along the beach in search of ol)jects of 

 r(rtu. On ftue occasion our stroll was pro- 

 longed to some six or seven miles along the 

 Atlantic beach— froru the Ijight-IIouse to the 

 " Beacon," on the extreme point of Capellen- 

 lopen. Among other things, we picked up 

 many specimens of Coleo])terous, Neuroiiter- 

 ous, and Hy meuopterous insects, that had lieen 

 cast in a waved line on the beach for nearly the 

 whole distance, and among these insects, by 

 far the most numerous, were the "Colorado 

 potato-lieetles." We are quite sure there was 

 not a iiotato field within three miles of the 

 farthest outward jioint, nor was there any in- 

 tervening spot that exhibited any thing but 

 .sand, iiebbles, and weather-worn shells — ex- 

 cept here and there tufts and )'atchesof tough 

 and wiry grass, but no beetles were found upon 

 them. Some of these beetles were still alive, 

 but most of them were dead, and every suc- 

 ceeding wave that lashed the beach brought 

 in scores of insects. There were twice as many 

 potato-beetles as all other kinds ])ut together. 

 They evidently had been eastward bound, drop- 

 ped into the ocean, and were brouglit back by 

 the returning waves. We may infer also that 

 many never reached the shore again from 

 which they had made their departure, but 

 were gobbled up by the fishes that some- 

 times plentifully inhabit those waters. Nor 

 is this all : some distance up the Bay, 

 and nearer the town of "Lewes," there 

 is a trussel work — called the "Pier" — 

 which extends a quarter of a mile out into 

 Delaware Bay, uiion which is a railroad track, 

 upon which the cars of the .function Railroad 

 daily run to discharge their cargoes into sail- 

 ing vessels and steamboats that periodically 

 leave the outer end of the pier for New York, 

 Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore and other 

 points. In the morning and the evening, when 

 less commercial activity reigns, the pier is 

 esteemed a capital place to fish. Well, all 

 along this pier, from the shore to the extreme 

 outer end,' the ubiquitous potato-beetle was 

 l)resent, and at the outer end far more numer- 

 ous than nearer shore. The State of Delaware 

 at the time was full of these lieetles, from one 

 end to the other. The fruit-growers were 

 shipping their jieaches to market, and every 

 cargo In'oiight down from the interior also 

 brought down a goodly number of the beetles, 

 and it is not at all surprising that the^' should 

 be carried aboard of the waiting vessels and 

 transported to other parts of this country, if 

 not to Europe. Still, the Atlantic coast is 

 their eastern limit, except the few that may 

 etfect a clandestine passage to other localities 

 on board of the coasting vessels. They seem 

 to lie all eastward bound ; therefore, the fiirm- 

 ers occupying a belt of a few miles wide, run- 

 ning iiariillel with the Atlantic coast, are 

 likely to have their bands, eventually, full of 

 tbeni, unless they wage a vigilant and exter- 

 iniiKiting war against them. They do not 

 seem to be content with this belt, hence they 

 drop into the ocean and perish. 



Although the Colorado potato-beetle appear- 

 ed iu greater numbers early last spring than 

 they did at any former period siuce their ad- 

 vent into the county of Lancaster, yet the gen- 

 eral croi) has suffered very little, comiiara- 

 tively, either in (|uantity or quality. Early 

 vigorous hand-picking, and later applications 

 of Paris green, proved effective extinguishers 

 of them, AVlien farmers, heretofore deliaiit 

 or indifferent, came into town and purchased 

 ten to twenty pounds of the best Paris green 

 at a time, we felt that their action " meant 

 business," and the result has been a satisfac- 

 tory one, and no doubt ;3rt)/.s. Perhaps when 

 the beetles find that they cannot get any 

 farther eastward than the Atlantic coast, and 

 when they have eaten up aU that is suited to 



