1879.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



83 



not. Those on the ash may be a. distinct 

 species or a different genus "from those we 

 have mentioned above — indeed, even those 

 are now included under different generic 

 names. None are now accessible to us with 

 which we can compare them. Tliese fungoids 

 consist of groups of minute orange, or rust- 

 red cups, and these cups are filled witli still 

 more minute sporules, wbich are the seeds of 

 the fungus, and these seeds or spores are scat- 

 tered abroad and germinate, forming new 

 fungus plants. 



We may know that they are not the eggs of 

 insects from the fact that the groups are of 

 different sizes, and even the cups in the same 

 group are different in size. Those in the 

 centre of the groups are two, three or four 

 times larger than those at the outer margins, 

 increa-siiig in size from the centre to the cir- 

 cumference, from which the group was pro- 

 duced, perhaps, from a single central cup, and 

 that the others grew up successively around 

 them. Tlie smaller ones are still covered with 

 a cap, or lid, and when they are matured this 

 cap or lid is bursted open or tlirown off and 

 the sporules are scattered. 



The best remedy for this species of rust is 

 the removal of the parts infected, even if it 

 should require the sacrifice of the whole i)lant. 

 But a wash of sulphate of copper, lime water 

 or glauber salts is also recommended in minor 

 cases. Large trees, however, may thrive 

 reasonably, in spite of the infection, because 

 something is due to meteorological causes, 

 and in another season they may disappear 

 entirely. 



KiMBLEviLLE, Chester to., Pa., June 5, 1879. 



Dr. S. S. Ratuvon— Z>cai- Sir: I here send you a 

 kind of insect, and I would like to know the name of 

 It. It is a pest to the corn. It will get at the stalk 

 right below the surface, and just eat down to the 

 roots. It is their first year here. We have a field of 

 corn of about twenty acres, and they have destroyed 

 about seventeen acres of it. I had these insects in a 

 bottle for twelve days, and they are living yet. I 

 thought I would send some of them to you to see 

 what they are called, as I have seen your name often 

 In the proceedings of the Lancaster County Agricul- 

 tural Society. I would very much like to know 

 what they are, and if you can find a name for them 

 you will oblige yours, &c., B. F. L. 



Your insects (somewhat crushed).came duly 

 to hand, and are the "Corn-plant Weevil," 

 [Sphenophorus zea). Th(y are becoming every 

 year, slowly but su ely, more destructive to 

 the young corn plants. They belong to the 

 great "snout-beetle" family (Curculioni- 

 Dje), but do not breed, so far as is yet known, 

 in the stalk of the corn ; but are usually to be 

 found in decayed wood under bark, an(f we 

 have found them also under stones. They 

 belong to a group that are destroyers of tim- 

 ber, trees, &c. The removal of old, dead 

 wood would, perhaps, be the best preventive. 



May 19, 1879. 



Mb. Editor— .Sir ; In The Lancaster Farmer 

 for May, 1879, (page 69) I see that a young gentle- 

 man wishes to know where he can buy good land for 

 $1.50.00 per acre. If it is not asking too much, 

 please give me his name and address, and oblige a 

 subscriber. — Respectfully yours, Einannel Toomey. 



Address, Newport, Perry county, Pa. 



We regret to state to our correspondent 

 that when we attempted to "look up" the 

 manuscript of the anicle to which he refers, 

 it was not findable, having been transferred to 

 the "waste-basket," aiid from thence (so far 

 as we know to the contrary) perhaps to limlio. 

 We have done what we thought the next best 

 thing, by placing his communication before 

 our readers, which, no doubt, will bring the 

 interested parties in rapport, although it may 

 occasion some delay. — Ed. 



Mr. D. R. H., Ephrata, P((.— The small, 

 oblong, black insects which you found in the 

 bloom of the plum, are not curculios in any of 

 their varieties or forms. Among the fiowers 

 sent us we w(^re only able to detect two speci- 

 mens, and only one of these was in a condi- 

 tion at all recognizable. We do not think, 

 however, tluit you need have any apprehen- 

 sions in regard to them, for they evidently are 

 present in the flowers for the purpose of feed- 



ing on the pollen or nectar that they afford. 

 We have noticed these and other allied in- 

 sects in various kinds of flowers these twenty 

 years, and we have never known them to be 

 of any positive injury. Perliaps if they oc- 

 curred iu numbers sntlicient to devour all the 

 pollen they might diminish the quantity and 

 quality of the crop. It is those insects tliat 

 feed on vegetation during their larval period 

 that are most injurious to vegetation. Our 

 first impression was that they were a species 

 of Conurus, a minute "rove-beetle," but a 

 sub-sequent examination led to the conclusion 

 that tliey were species of Conotelus, (of an 

 allied family) perhaps C. obxcurvs; that they 

 breed in decayed animal or vegetable matter, 

 and that their presence in the flowers, in the 

 mature form, is only temporary. Later in 

 the season you will probably find them in 

 various flower cups, especially in those of the 

 "Morning-glories" and "Pumpkin vines." 



Compound Grape Gall. 

 Two or three persons, at different times, 

 have sent us large green and pinkish galls, 

 which they found on their grapevines, near 

 the ends of the tender branches. On ojiening 

 these they contained a number of cavities, in 

 each of which was a small orange-colored 

 larva. This is, doubtless, Osten Sacken's 

 Lasioptera vitis, or "Grape Gall Gnat." 

 Remedy — cut them oif immediately and boil 

 them. 



Entomological. 



FLIES. 



"The Society for Promoting the Condition 

 of Flies has issued another address to the 

 country, through the Boston Advertiser. It 

 reminds us that in the warm days at this season 

 heavy and unhappy, flies crawl out from their 

 hiding places and walk sluggishly about on 

 the window panes. According to the calcula- 

 tions of Professor Uhlborn, each of these is 

 now about to lay 2,000 eggs. If each of these 

 eggs produces a fly which lays 2,000 e<jgs be- 

 fore the first of June, and from each ot these 

 2,000 young ones are hatched which are ready 

 to lay before the first of July, to furnish each 

 a brood before the first of August, the number 

 of descendants from this single ancestor by 

 the first of September is sixteen trilhon. It 

 is, therefore, wo may conclude, the duty of 

 every one who sees a fly in these days to in- 

 continently demolish it, with all the energy 

 and sweet satisfaction which can be inspired 

 by the knowledge that he is annihilating, at 

 one fell swoop, 16,000,000,000 of these con- 

 centrated Gehennas on wings." 



The estimates in the foregoing extract are 

 merely theoretical possibilities, but not at all 

 probabilities. It has also been estimated that 

 from the days of Adam down to the present 

 time, a single herring could have produced a 

 progeny the aggregate mass of which would 

 be larger than the planet we inhabit ; but 

 how many contingencies are there between 

 the spawn of the herring and the adult fish, 

 by which it becomes the food of some other 

 animal, or is subject to destruction tlirough 

 environing casualties? The case is similar 

 with flies, but still a suflicient number of 

 them survive to perform the functions in the 

 general economy of nature, for wliich they 

 arc permitted to exist. If we could find a 

 local habitation where there were no flics, 

 unless we were sure there were surrounding 

 compensations, we do not think we would 

 pitch our tent in such a place. If there were 

 perishing animals, decaying vegetation, or 

 animal excretions there, we would suspect its 

 sanitary status. A redundancy of flies is 

 doubtless a serious annoyance, but nothing to 

 be compared with the continued putrefactions, 

 stenches and miasmatic atmospheres that 

 would exist if there were no flies to devom- 

 their cause, and transform them to a more 

 healthy condition. If flies refuse to alight 

 on a human body and devour its oleaginous 

 oozings, it would be a sure sign that the ex- 

 halations from that body were vitiated, and 



hence that it could not be in a healthy condi- 

 tion. The substances which flies consume or 

 damage in their imar/n states are not at all 

 comparable with the iilth they deodorize and 

 displace in their lurcrr or maggot states. Even 

 the much-dreaded and much-hated mosquito 

 performs a purifying function which it never 

 receives any credit for ; and, for one that in 

 its lifetime gets a taste of human blood, -there 

 are millions tliat j)eri.sh without ever having 

 had a taste of anytliing unless they prey upon 

 each other. In tlieir larvaj forms they purify 

 ponds and swamps that otherwise might be- 

 come dangerous for human beings to approach 

 on account of their reimlsive and unhealthy 

 stenches. To sura up tlie whole, insects are 

 most wonderful in their uses ; and it must be 

 that for that purposes they are permitted a 

 place in the great natural plan of the Creator 

 in his government of the physical world, in 

 which flies form no inconspicuous part. " They 

 fertilize the soil by scattering decomposing 

 matters, and prevent them from vitiating the 

 atmosphere. A plant grows luxuriantly and 

 increases too rapidly ; Jie caterpillars arrest 

 its growth and propagation ; the caterpillars 

 after a while become too destructive, and the 

 ichneumons kill them by myriads. The vege- 

 tarian insects which lead a luxurious and 

 quiet life, tend to increase ureatly in number, 

 and yet the carnivorous kinds are ever at 

 hand to keep this prolific race within bounds. 

 Century after century this curious equilibrium 

 is maintained in nature, and although occa- 

 sionally locusts increase to such an extent as 

 to ruin great districts, still, as a rule, the in- 

 terference of man produces the ravages of the 

 flies that injure his crops, for he is constantly 

 derangmg the balance of insect power. It 

 would appear that nature requires the multi- 

 plication of the Artind'ita to be carried to the 

 greatest excess, and that they should often 

 lead different lives during the successive 

 stages of their growth and development ; that 

 they should be able to live under most oppo- 

 site" conditions of existence, being clothed in 

 the most varied garbs, and that they should 

 undergo transformations." 



Human progress and human enterprise 

 being the prime cause of the derangement in 

 nature's plan, human genius and human in- 

 vention must develop the means to restore 

 the balance or provide for the deficit. Where 

 insects are not absolutely hurtful or destruc- 

 tive to human products or human values, it 

 would be best to let them have their own way, 

 especially when their presence is known to be 

 ultimately beneficial. Mere annoi/ance is not 

 a suflicient ground for their destruction. 



GRAIN SILVANUS. 

 (Silvanuv surinamPit^sis.) 



This very small brown beetle seems to be 

 plentiful in some of the grain bins of Lan- 

 caster county at the present time, as we also 

 know it to have been in the past. Complaints 

 of its presence, and also specimens of the in- 

 sect itself have been sent to us from different 

 parts of the county ; and, unless there is 

 something done to check its increase, our mil- 

 lers and farmers may suffer a diminution in 

 the quantity and quality of their stored wheat 

 and other grains. The "giain silvanus," or 

 "corn .silvanus," as it is called in England, 

 is hardly one-eighth of an inch in length; 

 very long and flat, and of a rusty brown color, 

 thickly and coarsely punctured, and sparsely 

 covered with yellowish, depressed hairs. The 

 head is proportionally large, and approximat- 

 ing a triangular form. The antennm are stout 

 and slightly clubbed at their ends. It has small, 

 short, horny jaws, «&c., which are concealed 

 under the front part of the head. The thorax, 

 or middle section of the body, is oval and a 

 little broader than the head, and has three 

 latitudinal ridges down the back, forming two 

 broad channels, and on each thoracic margin 

 there are six little spines. The elytrons are 

 broader than the thorax, long, elliptical, and 

 have four slightly elevated latitudinal lines 

 down each of them. The larva is a little 

 yellowish-white worm, with six feet, and is a 

 "little longer than the mature beetle. It is 



