1879.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



179 



also meaning a wolPs foot, from Lykos, a 

 wolf and poifs, a foot, and is applied to a 

 fjentis of plants belonLriug to the family 

 Laiuat.k, wliicli iMLliiiii'S the Mints, Dit- 

 tany, IVniiyidyal, Ihiarliound, &c.- As these 

 plants are familiar to most readers, they will 

 see how much any of them resemble a wolf's 

 foot. 



Lycopsis : a Greek compound, meaning a 

 wolf's eye. Applied to a small genus of Bor- 

 ragewortij, (BnrrutjiaucKv) including tile 

 Heliotropes, Borra<;es, Buglosses, Comfreys, 

 &c. The name is suggested by the small blue 

 flowers of Lycopsis, which fancy has likened 

 to a wolfs eye. 



Tlie reader may be surprised that the wolf 

 is so signally symbolized in naming the sub- 

 jects of tlie vegetable kingdom, liut he will 

 remember that if it had not been for a wolf 

 we probably should never have had a Bomu- 

 Uis, nor a Konie. 



Queries and Answers. 



II. 



APHIS PERSICA. 

 R. F., Lanciistcr, Pa.— The peach 



branches sent us near the end of November, 

 infested by a very large number of small 

 brownish insects of different sizes wore duly 

 examined, and we think tlinl I he insects with- 

 out a doubt are the hist ImikmI (if tlic season of 

 the •'Peach-Louse" (Aphi.-: p. ,si.,(.) They ap- 

 peared to be male, f( iiuih^ ;uid young of 

 various sizes and ages. Of course by this 

 time they all have perished, but it i.s very 

 likely the females have ''bridged" the season 

 by the deposition of many eggs, which will 

 incubate and bring forth a numerous brood 

 next spring, as soon as the weather becomes 

 warm enough to hatcli them out. We never 

 saw so many aphids crowded together in the 

 .same space before at this season of the year, 

 which, we think is due to the extraordinary 

 warm weather we had during the past 

 autumn. It would be difficult to say positively 

 what would be good for them. So far as it 

 concerns the aphids themselves, they are 

 easily destroyed. White Hellebore, powdered, 

 diluted Paris-green, lime, ashes, road dust or 

 finely powdered tobacco, if applied after a 

 shower, or when the trees or plants are 

 covered with dew, or after an artificial 

 shower, will effectually destroy them if the 

 application reaches them. A tobacco decoc- 

 tion, common lye diluted, a solution of whale 

 oil soap, besides many other liquid substances 

 will have the same effect — indeed they are 

 such delicate little creatures that millions are 

 destroyed by a common shower of rain, espe- 

 cially if it be a cold rain. But from the fact 

 that the eggs on the naked branches will 

 endure the cold of the severest winter, even 

 when the branches are covered for weeks with 

 ice or frost, it must be api>arent that the ap- 

 plications can have but little effect upon thim. 

 Well, what then ? Why, so far as it can be 

 judiciously done, prune away the branches 

 that are known to have been infested and burn 

 them, and begin early in the spring with your 

 applications, or as soon as the young aphids 

 emerge from the eggs. A little patient and 

 persevering labor bestowed ou trees and 

 plants at that period will saAe a great deal of 

 trouble during the summer and autumn fol- 

 1 owing. 



APHIDS. 



LouELLA P. O. Delaware co.. Pa., 1 

 November 18, 1879. ) 



"S. S. Rathvon— i»f«r Sir: Enclosed I 

 send you some insecets gathered from carna- 

 tions in my green-house. The plants are 

 potted plants, and came from Schroyer's 

 green-house, Lancaster, about a week ago. 

 Other carnations from Schroyer's, taken from 

 the garden about the same time show no signs 

 of in.sects of any kind. Please enlighten me 

 on the subject. "— Fery truly yours, S. W. M. 



Your insects are also aphids or "plant- 

 lice," but are of a different species from the 

 above, and would yield to the same remedies. 



Being in the green-house you would be likely 

 to have them all winter, and could apply the 

 remedy or remedies at any time. We notice 

 that a few of them (two or three) are infested 

 by a parasite. If the temperature of the 

 green-hou.se was congenial to their develop- 

 ment these parasitcs(CiiALCiD.E) might even- 

 tually destroy the apliids. Of course if you 

 destroy the aphids you must involve the 

 chaleids in (.he same destruction. The history 

 of aphid life, habit and procreation is a very 

 singular and comi)licatcd one. The develop- 

 ment of the s;inie species would be different 

 in the open air from what it would be in the 

 greeu-house, at least it would differ in its 

 powers of continuation. The aphids tliat 

 infest perennials also differ in their economies 

 from those which infest annuals, or succulent 

 vegetation. Those that infest tress and shrub- 

 bery, we may suppose, deposit their eggs on 

 the branches, and are carried over from one 

 season to another in that manner, the eggs 

 hatching in the spring as soon iis the leaves, 

 the bloom and the young and tender scions 

 appear. 



It is not so easy to account for the appear- 

 ance of those that infest plants. For instance, 

 the seeds of plants of different kinds, may be 

 sown and no aphids seen until they are pretty 

 well advanced, or in bloom, as is often wit- 

 nessed in cabbages, about the time they begin 

 to " head," and in a very short time a whole 

 '•patch may be overrun with aphids, although 

 none had been seen before. Some years ago 

 the oat croii all over Lancaster county, and 

 otiui paiis cif Pennsylvania, (in some locali- 

 tii's also tin \ (iiing wheat, after the blooming 

 seasiiii) was MTiously infested by the "red- 

 aphis" or oat aphis, (Aphis anena). There were 

 millions upon millions of them, giving the fields 

 a brick-red color, and diminishing the size and 

 weight of the grain ; in many instances re- 

 ducing the crop to a merely straw value. We 

 passed through oat fields of from ten to twen- 

 ty acres in each, and found the aphids from 

 the centre to the circumference of the fields, 

 the stems and grains perfectly festooned with 

 them, all engaged in pumping the very life 

 out of the crop. It was during the war of 

 the rebellion, and an extensive purchaser of 

 supplies for the army informed us that much 

 of the oats of that season only weiglied from 

 fourteen to sixteen pounds to tlie bushel, 

 whereas the standard weight is from thirty- 

 three to thirty-five pounds. After the de- 

 pleted crop ripened, the aphids disappeared, 

 and except in a few isolated instances, and in 

 limited numbers, they have not since then re- 

 appeared. They were not noticed on the oats 

 until after the bloom, and the grains began to 

 fill. Now, the problem that needed solution, 

 and is still unsolved, is, where had they or 

 their eggs been secreted from the opening of 

 spring until their appearance on the wheat 

 and oats ¥ It is very certain that had the 

 aphids appeared in such vast numbers when 

 the oats and wheat were only a few inches 

 high, they would never have been able to put 

 forth heads and form grains. On that occa- 

 sion we noticed more "lady birds" and their 

 larvae,and also the larvae of more "lace-wings," 

 in one day, than we before or since have no- 

 ticed in a whole year. We also noticed that 

 the spaces between the fence rails on the 

 windward sides of the fields there were more 

 "cobwebs" than we ever before or since no- 

 ticed, and these were densely covered with 

 winged aphids, for both sexes of this species 

 were amply provided with wings, which is not 

 the case with all the species. Two years ago 

 the cherry trees of this county were seriously 

 infested by a dark brown or nearly black 

 aphis, (Aphis cerossi) commonly known as the 

 "black" or "cherry aphis," which were most 

 numerous about the time the cherries began 

 to ripen. On that occasion we found a young 

 cherry tree about six feet high in the very 

 centre of a twenty acre enclosure of a thickly 

 wooded forest land, and that small tree was 

 covered from the base to the apex of all its 

 branches with these black aphids, and there 

 was hardly a single sound leaf on it. About 

 one in a hundred of these had wings. Al- 



though the underwood was dense, and there 

 was much tall and succulent vegetation, yet 

 we saw no apliids in the enclosure save those 

 on the little cherry tree, and these were the 

 same species as those found elsewhere on the 

 cherry. This may illustrate that although 

 there are species that feed indiscriminately on 

 different sorts of vegetation, there are other 

 species that confine themselves to one kind. 

 The peculiarities of the history, habit and 

 transformations of some species are not diffi- 

 cult to trace and observe if we have time and 

 patience, but others are more or less enig- 

 matical. For instance, out of the eggs de- 

 posited on the branches of the trees in the 

 iall, a brood of fertile females will he pro- 

 duced the following spring. These will differ 

 entirely from the parent that deposited the 

 eggs from which they were developed; in short 

 tiiey are not oviporoiui but ricij)orous. and ac- 

 cordingly bring forth their young alive, and 

 one at a time, just as a cow brings forth her 

 calves ; and this process will be continued 

 "all summer," or, as some say, to the "four- 

 teenth generation;" but we think, as 

 long as the weather continues warm and 

 genial, as we have observed them so bringing 

 forth their young during warm "spells," as 

 late as the middle of November. 



But usually when the cool autumn weather 

 approaches and the leaves begin to I'all, and 

 vegetation in general loses its succulency, a 

 brood of males and females are produced, the 

 former fertilizing the latter, which then 

 become oviporous and dei)osit their eggs and 

 then die Tliese eggs perpetuate the species, 

 carrying tliem through the most rigid winter 

 unharmed, and from these eggs the next 

 season's crop is propogated. Now it has been 

 demonstrated that if infested plants, trees and 

 shrubbery are removed to a hot or green- 

 house the aphids will continue in their vivip- 

 orous condition, and in that manner continue 

 reproducing, just as if no winter had inter- 

 vened, especially in those species infesting per- 

 ennials. Although there are distinct species of 

 aphid that infect distinct species of plants, or 

 more than one species found on the same 

 vegetation, yet there is reason to believe that 

 there are some species that are perfectly at 

 home ou various kinds of vegetation, especi- 

 ally if it be of the same family. For instance, 

 the Aphis brassica or cabbage aphis would in 

 the absence of cabbage be likely to infest the 

 cauliflower, kale, broccoli, turnip, radish, 

 mustard, or any other of the CRiTciFER.iE. 

 Plants potted and left out in tlie garden with 

 a view of subsequently removing them to a 

 greeu-house, may become inoculated or in- 

 fested from others in pro,\imity to them 

 before their removal, and by this means be 

 carried into the greeu-house, where finding 

 the temperature congenial they would rapidly 

 increase, much more than they would outside, 

 where they might be subjected to hindering 

 casualties. It is not at all remarkable that 

 plauts in a green-house, where they receive a 

 more careful and constant supervision, should 

 be entirely cleiin, whilst those on the outside, 

 subjected to contingent incursions, snould be 

 more or less infested. 



There is perhaps not a tree, a shrub or a 

 succulent plant that is not liable to aphideous 

 infestation during some period of its develop- 

 ment, either its, leaves its flowers, its tender 

 branches or its roots, but there are many 

 instances of their seemingly sudden appear- 

 ance in immense numbers, in which it might 

 be difflcult to demonstrate where they came 

 from or what became of them. Moreover, 

 the eggs of all the species of ajMs are exceed- 

 ingly minute, not visible to the ordinary 

 naked eye, and those that are deposited on 

 the branches of trees, at least, are covered 

 with a protecting mucilage, insoluble by 

 water. We may infer therefore that the eggs 

 of other species are similarly protected 

 wherever they may have been deposited. 

 For many years it had been supposed that the 

 Ailanthus was entirely exempt from in.sect 

 enemies of any kind, yet a few years ago we 

 found them infested by millions of a large 

 species of Aphidid^, and it is well known 



