22 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[February, 



Entomological. 



SEVENTEEN YEAR LOCUSTS. 

 Prof. Eiley, the entomologist, says the 

 year locust will abound next June 



in Marquette and Green Lake counties, AVls- 

 consin, ip the neighborhood of Wheeling, 

 West Virginia, and probably in Marylaiid, 

 Virginia and District of Columbia. They 

 may also appear, he says, in the west part o'f 

 North Carolina, in northeastern Ohio, Lan- 

 caster county, Pa., and Westchester county, 

 N. Y. There are two broods of these period- 

 ical locusts, one appearing once in seventeen 

 years, and the other once in thirteen. Both 

 broods will appear this year, but not in the 

 same localities. The professor says that the 

 thirteen-year brood will probably be seen in 

 Southern Illinois, in all of Missouri except 

 the northwest corner, in Louisiana, Arkan- 

 sas, Indian territory, Kentucky, Tennessee, 

 Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Caro- 

 lina and South Carolina. Tlie two kinds of 

 locusts differ very little in appearance. The 

 earliest appearance of the seventeen-year 

 locusts in this country, so far as the records 

 go, was in 1643 in Plymouth, Mass., and they 

 have not failed to a^jpear once in seventeen 

 years ever since. " 



Prof. Kiley is aufait on the subject of the 

 " Seventeen year Locust," but we are inclin- 

 ed to believe that his prophecies will not be 

 realized so far as Lancaster county. Pa., is 

 concerned, as a general advent. We have wit- 

 nessed four appearances of the seventeen year 

 locusts, namely in 1817, in 1834, in 1851 and 

 in 1868, and we expect them to visit us again 

 in 1885. If any appear here before that time, 

 they must be an irregular brood, or the thir- 

 teen year variety, although the latter should 

 have appeared in 1880. In parts of York, 

 Adams and Franklin counties a brood ap- 

 years at an irregular period, according to the 

 reports of those who have said they saw them, 

 and in the oil regions a brood appears two' 

 years before the regular period. A sort of 

 dread has been attached to the appearance of 

 these insects that probably will never die out; 

 because, between their appearances a new 

 generation usually rises up, and these do not 

 seem to be much beuelited by the experiences 

 of the generation that precedes them. We 

 were just five years old when we first saw 

 them (1S17), and between that time and the 

 next appearance (1834), we passed through 

 our school days, worked five years on a farm, 

 served five years as an apprentice, grew to 

 manhood, passed through our journeyman- 

 ship, commenced business, and got married. 



THE CORN-CUT-WORM. 



"We noticed briefly in a late number the 

 discussion at the Eliuira Farmers' Club on 

 this insect, which is so often destructive to 

 the corn crop. In a late number of the 

 Husbandman we observe the following direc- 

 tions tor destroying it, given by Secretary 

 Armstrong, whicli may be useful to some of 

 our readers, and which we have successfully 

 adopted for many years : 



"There is really but one way to save the 

 crop after the plants are once attacked by 

 cut-worms— that is to dig the worms out and 

 kill them. It is not a difficult ta.sk, nor is it 

 rery costly. I presume that a fourth part of 

 the loss sustained would be the full equivalent 

 of all the labor it would cost to dig up the 

 cut-worms and kill them. The worm does the 

 mischief at ni^lit, and before morning bur- 

 rows in the ground near the spot where its 

 depredations have been committed. A prac- 

 ticed eye will readily discern the entrance to 

 the hiding place, a small round hole into 

 which the worm has passed and lies concealed. 

 The way to bring the pest up is to thrust a 

 pointed knife down near the hole and lift out 

 the eartli to the depth of two or three inches, 

 when the malefactor will lie exposed to view 

 and can be instantly destroyed. I have 

 known of large fields being cleared by this 

 process at a cost of labor so slight as to bear 

 no comparison with the loss that would other- 

 wise have resulted." 



The above is the most practical and the 

 most certain remedy for diminishing the 

 number of cut-worms that has ever been dis- 

 covered, as it is also the oldest and most 

 laborious. Other remedies of prevention, or 

 circumvention, there have been published 

 many of, at various times, but their effects 

 are not so certain as the above, if they have 

 not been, in most cases, entirely useless. The 

 cutworm is still amongst us, and especially 

 since the mtroduction of tobacco culture. 

 The "worm" stems to be exceedingly fond of 

 tobacco, and tobacco-growers "go tor him" 

 accoi-dingly. Whether he cuts the corn or 

 the tobacco, it is the "same old coon." These 

 plants, with beans, pPiis, cabbages, radishes, 

 &c., are all the same to him; he is not par- 

 ticular which, and the remedy foi: one is the 

 same for all. 



ENEMIES OF SPIDERS. 



" The well-known naturalist, the Rev. H. E. 

 McCook, of Philadelphia, has been talking to 

 the Academy of that city on spiders, which 

 he designated as the most benevolent of in- 

 sects. Among the principal enemies of the 

 spider he enumerated many of those hymen- 

 opterous or four winged flies, the bees, wasps, 

 etc., which produce flesh-eating grubs. Large 

 numbers of spiders are used by this species as 

 food. The nest of one- of these forms was 

 exhibited, built of clay in such a manner as 

 to resemble the pipes of Pan. When opened, 

 these nests were found filled with spiders of 

 different species. They were all paralyzed by 

 the fly, but not killed, and in this .state of 

 suspended animation they remain until the 

 hatching out of the grubs, which eagerly de- 

 vour them one after the other. The unfortu- 

 nate captives lie limp in the jaws of the grubs, 

 showing no sign of sensation and making no 

 resistance. Other flies, and amoiig these may 

 be included the common black house fly, prey 

 upon spiders by destroying the cocoons or by 

 sucking the contents of their eggs when they 

 happen to be uncovered or only slightly pro- 

 tected. The eggs are also devoured in large 

 numbers by birds. Some species of birds as- 

 sist in preventing the spread of spiders by 

 making use of their webs, especially the thick- 

 er portion used in the construction of co- 

 coons, to build their nests. A bird's nest was 

 exhibited composed of this material in such 

 .quantity as to indicate the destruction of a 

 great many webs. Those hymenopterous in- 

 sects which deposit their eggs in tlie cocoons 

 of the spiders, are, however, their most de- 

 structive enemies. When the grubs are 

 hatched, they attack the eggs and young of 

 their hosts and consume them as food, until 

 sufficiently developed to obtain their own 

 nourishment." 



Many a time, when we were a boy, hnve 

 we watched the Blue wasp (Spinx ' cerulen) 

 building his mud nest and llien sloi in- it \\\U\ 

 spiders; and many a time tnu )i:ive n-e i>.-eii 

 bothered to know his object iu thus JTiipriBon- 

 ing the spider, and tlien closing up the aper- 

 ture of ingress with mud ; never for a mo- 

 ment suspecting that he provided them as 

 food for his young. 



We have also followed him to the place 

 where he procured his mnd, sometimes carry- 

 ing off a pellet of it lieavy enough to weigh 

 down the front part of his body. House- 

 keepers had no particular love for the wasp, 

 but their aversion to spiders amounted to a 

 dread ; and, had they known the habits of 

 the wasp, they woidd liave loved him more. 



AN ANT STORY. 

 Frank Buckland, the naturalist, is responsi- 

 ble for the following story : "One day a lit- 

 tle boy of mine, about four years old, being 

 tired of play, threw liimsclf on a grassy 

 mound to rest. Shortly after I was startled 

 by a sudden scream. My instant thought 

 was, some serpent had stung him. I flew in 

 horror to the child but was at once reassured 

 on seeing him covered with soldier ants, oji 

 whose nest he had laid himself down. Num- 

 bers of the iints were still clinging to him 

 with their forceps, and continuing to sting 



the boy. My maid at once assisted me in 

 killing them. At length, about twenty were 

 thrown dead on the ground. We then car- 

 ried the boy indoors. In about half an 

 hour afterward I returned to the same spot, 

 when I saw a large number of ants surround- . 

 ing the dead ones. I determined to watch 

 their proceedings closely. I followed four or 

 five that started from the rest toward the 

 hillock, a short distance off, in which was an 

 ant's nest. This they entered, and in about 

 five minutes they reappeared, followed by 

 others. All fell into rank, walking regularly 

 and slowly, two by two, mitil they arrived at 

 the spot where lay the dead bodies of the 

 soldier ants. In a few minutes two of the ants 

 advanced and took up the dead body of one 

 of their comrades ; and then two others, and 

 so on, until all were ready to march. First 

 walked two ants bearing a body, and then 

 two others with another dead ant ; and so on, 

 until the line extended to about forty pairs. 

 And the procession moved slowly onward, 

 followed by an irregular body of about twQ 

 hundred ants. 



Occasionally the two laden ants stopped, 

 and laying down the dead ant, it was taken up 

 by two walking unburdened behind them, and 

 thus, by occasionally relieving each other, 

 they arrived at a sandy spot near the sea. 

 The body of ants now commenced digging 

 with their jaws holes in the ground into each 

 of which a dead ant was laid, while they 

 now labored on until they had filled up the 

 ant's grave. This did not quite finish the re- 

 markable circumstances attending this 

 funeral of the ants. Some six or seven of 

 the ants had attempted to run off without 

 performing their share of the tai-k of dig- 

 ging ; these were caught and brought back, 

 whenthey were at once "killed upon" the spot. 

 A single grave was quickly dug, and they 

 were all dropped into it. 



Queries and Answers. 



CABBAGE WORMS. 



Salem, III., January 31st, 18S1. 

 ' Prof. S.S. Rathvon— -Dear Sir: I have, as one 

 of the members of the .Jo Daviess County Horticultu- 

 ral Society, been requested to discover if there was 

 any remedy for the "Cabbage Worm" which has 

 proved so destructive to tlie cabbage, in this part of 

 the Slate. Through the columns of the ia«(;ns(er 

 lutellUiencer , I see your name as still Interested in 

 the societies there, and although many years have 

 j,assed since I knew you, I filt us though you were 

 yet willins- to funiisli iiifi'i .n:ili< iii to the Lancaste- 

 rians of former times. I.U inu in tlie city, the infor- 

 mation is of no persiiual iuuirst lo me, but would 

 be of real service to my friends. One person reports 

 that a (ierman woman here owed the freedom of her 

 plants, from the worm, to raisimr a bed of flax all 

 around, like a boi-der, to her cabbage bed, and the 

 "White Millers " never got on the plants to deposit 

 th'irnva. Another said, eoveriniif the small plants 

 V, it!i hi;iu, or saw dust, had proved of service, others 

 Said a number of toads round the bed destroyed the 

 woriii.'s. All seem to claim that none of these were 

 forcible enough to satisfy those who were directly 

 interested. Will you be kind enough to write and 

 inform me if there is any remedy for this destroyer 

 of a vegetable that is of such service to us during 

 our long cold winter. During the last week the 

 thermometer has been 27° below zero, and we have 

 line sleighing and our atmosphere is a dry cold, and 

 of a very bracing nature. Hoping to hear from you, 

 lam R. P.S. 



We cannot answer our correspondents 

 through the mail. When their communica- 

 tions contain anything it would be useful to 

 the public to know, we publish them, and 

 answer them, to the best of our ability, 

 through the columns of oui' journal. There 

 are several insects that are destructive to the 

 cabbage crep, but we infer that our corres- 

 pondent alludes to the " White Cabbage But- 

 terfly " {Pieris rapce) since this insect has 

 been the bane of the cabbage plant through- 

 out a large part of the country for the last 

 seven years'. In its larvoe state it is generally 

 known as the "Green AVorm," because, in 

 color it approximates nearly to the color of 

 the plant upon which it feeds, and hence it 

 may be on the plant some time before its pres- 

 ence is discovered. In regard to the remedies 



