1876.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



Irl5 



their taste thrre — vinlcss they iire drowned in 

 the ocean, or greened to di'ath Ijy tlic f'arnicrs 

 ill that liart of tile coiiiitry— they may take a 

 notion to return to tlie fertile parts of Pennsyl- 

 vania ; bnt let them eonie, our farnieis have 

 learned soniethinj^, and will know how to meet 

 them, if they prolit by the h'ssims they have 

 already Uiarned. Under any einnnnstanees, 

 the potato-beetle is eomiuL; to be reKar<led as 

 a permanent iroudition or fixture in afjrieul- 

 ture, that must bi^ pnivided for as essentially 

 iis plowing, planting and enllivatint;, in order 

 to se.cm-e a crop. Thi'y are no longer regarded 

 as a mere incidental, that may or may not 

 occur, or can be with impunity neglected. It 

 is sometimes astonishing wliat importance the 

 subject has assumed, and with what interest 

 tile beetles are inquired about — fully as much 

 as that which attaches to the state of the 

 weather, or any other contingency, present or 

 prospective. 



Potato Beetle Progress. 

 Reports show that the Colorado potato 

 beetle is committing very serious injury along 

 the Atlantic ocean. The tanners of Long 

 Island more particularly have snlT red .seven^- 

 ly, the insects getting into hot-l)eds and de- 

 stroying tomato and egg ))lants. L;ust fall, 

 before going into winter ipiarters, the beetles 

 swarmed on Coney Isl.iTid and other portions 

 of the coast. Meeting the Atlantic, the tirst 

 serious obstacle to its eastward march since it 

 left its Ilocky Mountain home, this insect will 

 naturally accumulate along the coast, and for 

 a few years will probably be more injurious 

 for 200 or 3(H) miles north and south of New 

 York, than it has been in any |>arl of the coun- 

 try. It will be well, therefore, for gardeners and 

 potato growers to prepare for it, and to en- 

 deavor to co-operate in their work against it. 

 The Paris green mixture (one part of pure 

 green to twenty-tlve or thirty of some dilutent) 

 is the best and cheapest antidote against its 

 ravages, and experience and experiment have 

 proven it a perfectly safe remedy where cau- 

 tiously used. Concerted and persistent eifort 

 at this season to destroy the lirst beetles will 

 render subsequent work all the easier. 



THE VEGETABLE CATERPILLAR. 



" The moth from whose eggs are produced 

 this caterpillar, is of the genus Sphinx, and is 

 named by the New Zealandcrs, Pc^x'. [ts pei'ioil 

 of life is from November to December — the 

 commencement of sunnner in this country. 

 About the end of the eighth or the beginning 

 of the ninth month, this caterpillar buries 

 itself in the ground to the depth of live or six 

 inches, previous to assuming the chrysalis form ; 

 and it is a singular fact, that the, in.«ect de- 

 scends into its subterranean hiding-place with 

 its hindpart downwards. In the .second month 

 of the fiillowiiig year small reed-like plants 

 about three or four inches high, may Ije seen 

 growing in great numbers from the groimd 

 under the shade of the ratd trees ; this plant 

 being du,; ui> carefully is found to grow out of 

 the heail of the caterpillar just desci'ibed, 

 which, however, no longer possessesany vital 

 ity ; for, cutting into its bo<ly, it is found to 

 consist of a tough, whitish substance, similar 

 to a fungus. In the tenth month the reed-like 

 plant dies away, but springs up again the fol- 

 lowing year, dying away again in the tenth 

 month, and sending out a fresh shoot yearly 

 for three or lour years, probably till all the 

 animal matter supplied by the caterpillar has 

 been consumed." — I. M. McOmn, in Fan. 

 J<Hir, 



Time was when records of the foregoing 

 character were j-egarded by tlu^ learned with 

 indifference, ridicule, or " laughed to scorn," 

 although there must have been some data for 

 their record, and some faith in their truthful- 

 ness; notwithst.inding they may have been 

 much exaggerated. No phenomena of the kind 

 have ever come under our own observation, 

 but several printed accounts of them have. 

 The first that we can recall is a case where a 

 sort of a fungus plant was said to have grown 

 out of the limb of a patient — somewhere be- 

 tween the knee and the heel — in the ea-stern 



part of tliis county. This account, with an 

 accompanying illustration, was published in a 

 local journal, about thirty-live years ago, but 

 it seemi'd to l)e so mneh of a tax upon our 

 creilulily thiM), that we sulTeicrl it to \i;isn en- 

 tirely unheeded. We thiidv the plant, in two 

 branches, was said to have grown to the height 

 of about three inches, and asthi<:ka,sa clay 

 liipe-stem. The second account which came 

 to our notice, w:is pnblishid in a magazine is- 

 sue<l in Cincinnati about the year 1S,")(), as near 

 as we can recollect, but We Siiw it in lSi;:{, and 

 for the same reason we could not attach any 

 credit to it — namely, it seemed too prepo.ster- 

 ons. We ranked it with the famous "Goo.se- 

 tree," of two lunidred years ago, and recently 

 reproduced in " I'raetieal S(>i(!uce," ;us a relic 

 of the superstitions of England in " ye ol<len 

 times." In this Cincinnati account the phe- 

 nomenon was said to liaveoccinred in or near 

 Covington, Ky., and tin; plant was said to 

 have-grown out of the body of an insei't, shaped 

 sometiiing like a grasshopper ; and insects of 

 the same kind were produced by th(! plant, 

 drop])e(l into the soil, and from the.se other 

 l)lants grew nj) like the parent. We returned 

 the volume containing the account to the 

 owner, without making any use of it, who has 

 since dieil, and the work has become inaccessi- 

 ble. With all these seemingly extravagant 

 narrations there may have been the shadow of 

 truth as the foundation for them. 



On pages 77, 01, IWOand 207 of {hn American 

 EntomaJorjiM, vol. 1, are "'replies to corres- 

 pondents," giving accountsof a " White Ontb 

 i^(()i(/i(.s, " or "a plant growing out of an in- 

 sect," by the editors, Messrs. Walsh and Riley, 

 and as these white grubs were .sent to the 

 otlice by dilferent correspondents, and from 

 different localities, and moreover by persons 

 entitled to credit, the cases seem uncpiestion- 

 able. Prof. Riley has also an article on the 

 .same subject commencing on page IW of his 

 tirst annu.al report on the "Noxious, J5(!neneial 

 and other Insects" of the State of Missouri, 

 18()0. This article and those on pi). ISO and 

 2(J7 of the Enlrimologi.'it are illustrated ; in one 

 instance, exhibiting a "white grub worm" 

 (the larva of Liirhiio.stcmn ifwrcina) with two 

 fungus plants growing out of its head fully 

 live inches in length ; and while this phenom- 

 enon was yet new to white people, according 

 to Win. II. Edwards, the well-known Lepidop- 

 terist, it was very familiar to the Virginia 

 negroes, who dug them up by dozens right be- 

 fore their masters' eyes. Some of these fungi 

 were of a greenish and others of a whitish 

 color, but all growing in two sprouts out of 

 the heads of the above named grubs, or allied 

 species, and they are all too well authenticat- 

 ed to admit of a doubt. It is well known that 

 the eggs of these insects are deposited in the 

 ground, by what is popularly known as the 

 brown " May-beetl(\" <ir "June-bug," but 

 how it hapiiens that the fungus grows just un- 

 der such circumstances, or how it further 

 propagates itself, is not clearly known. It 

 appears fiom the accounts given, that Prof. 

 Riley liad subsecpieutly .some of them growing 

 in his garden, hut the linal result, so far as we 

 know, has not been published. Hut t/ircf were 

 the grubs, their yellowish heads, their six feet, 

 their segmental divisions, and their large ter- 

 minal segment, so characteristic of the larva 

 of the Melolonthons. The spores of the fun- 

 gus seem to have taken root in the grubs (hut 

 why always growing from the heail is not 

 known) and after they are properly grown the 

 whole body of the worm becomes of the con- 

 sistence of the plant, and has the fungus smell. 

 D<iubt!ess the fatty matter of t his grub is favor- 

 able to the germination and growth of this 

 kind of fungus. Is it not wonderful ¥ 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Mr. R.. LiincaMer. — Your lish probably be- 

 longs to tile ScLKKODKitMi, a family of Iwhcs 

 with iiard or granulated skins. We have 

 neitheran illustrati(m norasi)eci(icdescripti(m 

 of it, and therefore cannot locate it, excei)t on 

 the merest ))robability. It makes some ap- 

 proach to the "Trunk-lishes," (Oslrucion). 



We found a.specinien at the Delaware Break- 

 water about a year ago, somediMlance in from 

 the bea<Ii, less ill si'/.e, and darker in color than 

 yours, which the local lishi'mien called ail 

 "Oyster-cracker," others called it a "Sea-jxH-- 

 cupine," ami otliera a "Lump-lish." As wo 

 have not access to a scieiuilii' description of it 

 at this time, therefore this must sulii<:e. 



./. .1/. ir., LannitUr, Pa.— The. hirge l>alo 

 green moth, with the white <lowny Ixxly, the 

 fi-athered antinna, the long swallow-tails, and 

 the moon-shaped spots on its front and hind 

 wings, expanding abimt livi-anil a half inches, 

 is the "American Lunar .Moth" ( .iHa'i(.s htna.) 

 It is very pretty, and although never abundant 

 yet it is not rare— indeed, rather common in 

 this locality. 



.S'. A., L-irvn^ler, Pa. — The gnipo leaf wliich 



you sent us (Clinton, W(! think.) and which is 

 covered .all over on the under side with IuImt- 

 cular galls, is infested with the great French 

 I>lague Plii/llirMTa rristalrix — or "(Jrapeleaf 

 Phylloxera," and as each littlir gall contains 

 a n'umlier of eggs we would recoinnu-nd you to 

 pluck olT every inf>-sled leaf on your viin.'S, and 

 .scalil them, or burn Ihem imm iliately. This 

 same insect also infests tlii^ roots of tin; grape 

 vines, and it is there where it hits done so much 

 damage to the vineyanls of Euro|>e and 

 especially those of Fiance. For a more de- 

 taih-d historyof it look ovitr.soineof the volumes 

 of The Fau.mei; (irevions to 1875. 



F. D., Lancaster, Pa.. — The very sinf^ular 

 ash-gray worm, with bru.shes of diverging hairs 

 along the sides, and the black velvi^ty .stripe 

 across the forepart of tlie Iwdy, Is the "lurrtF of 

 a rare species of Caloaila, one of the moths 

 commonly called the red, yellow, blue or black 

 "I'nderwings. " You say you found it adhering 

 to the branch of a ]>ea(h tree, but we are not 

 prepare(l to say that it feeds upon the foliage 

 of the peach. We have founil it but rarely, 

 and then on the apple and (piince, but some 

 how we did not succeed in bree<liiig the moth, 

 and yet we may have it in our limited collection 

 of this family. It occurs too rarely, however, 

 to create any anxieties about its destructive- 

 ness. 



J. S. i?., LaivaaUr, Pa.— The "strange 

 bird " you called our attention to, is a young 

 " Tnrkey-I5uz/,ard " ( Calhartci awa), alKUit 

 one-third grown ; a carnivurrnuf bird belonging 

 to the family of "Vultures" (VrLTUlilD/K). 

 After it reaches maturity, and even before it 

 reaches that period, it will have shed all the 

 white downy feathers on its neck, bn^ast, and 

 imiler-parts of the body, and l)e a bl.ick or 

 swarthy black, all over. Turkey Huzziirds 

 breed in Lancii-ster county, and in the collec- 

 tion of the Liniia'an .Society is a stulled speci- 

 men about the age and size of the one in your 

 jiossession. These birds are regarded a.s such 

 good scavengers, that they are especially pro- 

 tected by law in many places, and we think 

 this is tlie ea.se in some of the Southern States. 

 Two years ago. while at Lewes, in the State of 

 Delaware, we found them very abunilanl there; 

 and on one occ^asion we s<aw half-a-dozen of 

 them sitting on the top luil of a fence in the 

 suburbs of the town. They are certainly u.se- 

 fiil there, in preying u|K>n the many ilead ani- 

 mals that are thrown up by tb' waves and 

 ])erisli upon the lieach, which otherwise would 

 create an intolerable stench. 



Heah Editor. — Yours of-^ti-ruet Ist, In regard to 

 cliiclion clioliTii ramr duly l<i liiiml. I slioujil Imvo 

 wrillcn you i-ooiicr, liul tliouL'liI [Mrlmiis I could irct 

 Boiiie inforuialioii from parlies tlial had Buirrri'd 111 

 tliclr Itoiks froui the choliTa, that ml^ht Ik; of sonio 

 use to your UKiuiriii'r friends : Imt (Ind that there Is 

 liut one point that they ap|>far to airn-e u|)Oii, and 

 that is tlMt tlie ehlekens die. .<o far as niiiedied or 

 preventatives are coneerned they arc at sea. 1 have 

 kept (thickens for twenty-seven years, yet have not 

 had a sinstle ease of cholera on my yanls. Have 

 tliercfore had no praetleal cx|KTlciiee In the matter, 

 and will not attempt to recommend any of the many 

 sure cures for the disease. Three or. four years airo 

 I had two ImxKls of chicks runninc on a farm. The 

 farmer sent me wonl tliat they were dylntr with cliol 

 era. 1 brouu'lit nine eliicke, my share of tlic t)rooil8, 

 liome, put them on a yanl liy theiUHelves, and tliey 

 dill llnely. One weeji laler I sSw tlie farmer ; he 

 said of tlie nine cliicks, (liis share) seven were dead. 

 1 do think that tilth has much to do with chicken 



