THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[June, 



RAVAGES OF THE INSECT ARMY. 



In the great war at;ainst weeds we are in 

 danger of forgetting that we have an enemy 

 about of far greater power, because working 

 often insidiously and unseen, which requires 

 to be as much guarded against, namely, the 

 insect enemy. We complain of weeds because 

 they rob the plant of food, and like the place 

 where a good plant ought to be; and we fight 

 with the feathered enemy because he takes 

 the fruit, which have struggled through all 

 other troubles; but the insect which we do 

 not see rarely troubles us very much, though 

 after it is too late to apply a remedy, we see 

 what terrible havoc has been done. Then, 

 overwhelmed with our great loss, we think 

 there Is no help for it. Yet we have tlie cvi- 

 • dence everywhere about us that much less 

 labor than is often expended by the exasperat- 

 ed farmer or fruit-grower in shooting birds 

 that are rather his friends than his enemies, 

 would be more than sufflcent to preserve a 

 fruit crop against the worst enemies that ever 

 existed. 



We are moved to these remarks by a com- 

 munication we recently read in a horticultu- 

 ral journal in regard to the celery-grub. All 

 who have had experience in the culture of 

 this vegetable know that they have much 

 trouble some seasons from the operations of a 

 very small worm, which gets underneath the 

 surface of the leaf and feeds on its green cel- 

 hdar matter. Celery, when attacked by this 

 insect, rarely does ^ny good. This correspon- 

 dent had tried lime, and ashes, and sulphur, 

 and all the easy remcdiesso often named, but 

 with no good at all. Finally he wrote to some 

 one whom he thought could tell him what to 

 do, and.was told to go over the leaves on the 

 first appearance of the insect and pinch them 

 ,"dead." He thought this very absurd ; but 

 he was tempted to try the advice, and found 

 to his surprise that it took no more time than 

 one or two good waterings or weedings, and 

 he therefore writes to thank his friend for his 

 advice, and to praise his own good sense in 

 having taken it. Yet, this is no more than 

 we, in this department and most other agri- 

 cultural laborers, are continually inculcating, 

 namely : the necessity of personal labor if we 

 would do anything iu this way with much 

 hope of success. 



Tbishas been exemplified in the case of the 

 cureulio on the plum. All sorts of easy scare- 

 weevils have been thought of. Some dust the 

 trees with lime, with sulphur, with ashes — 

 others stick tar in rags about the tree. Nu- 

 merous other nostrums have been popular, but 

 the first great blow at the Cureulio was to cut 

 off a bough close up to the trunk, place sheets 

 under;the trees, and with a mallet suddenly 

 strike the stump and thus shake the insects 

 off, wliich were then burnt. Do this every 

 morning for a couple of weeks, and you can 

 get plenty of plums and they will pay hand- 

 somely. Dr. Hall, of Illinois, improved this 

 idea. He invented a sort of wheelbarrow 

 with sheets spread on frames, whicli shook off 

 and collected the insects at once. He also has 

 plums in plenty and finds it pays. It is indeed 

 the experience of every one that the war 

 against insects, as agiiinst weeds, is one in 

 which, we must personally engage if we would 

 have success. People think that the climate | 

 is a fearful one and look with envious 



eyes on foreign countries from which fruit 

 flows so freely to our shores. But all who 

 have had personal experience in these coun- 

 tries tell us that personal effort to keep off 

 these animal pests is something enormous, 

 and they laugh at us because we sit down and 

 do nothing but cry over our hard fate. 



Of course, we can get some help from out- 

 side agencies, and of these birds are the best. 

 But even these we have to assist in order to 

 get the best results from their work. We re- 

 member once when the cut-worm question 

 was one of the most engrossing with the 

 press generally. Asking a farmer friend what 

 he regarded as the best remedy, and we sus- 

 pect that the great world of disputants would 

 have been surprised at his answer that he en- 

 couraged the blackbirds, as the purple grakle 

 is called in these parts. This, the wliite grub, 

 and similar root devourers, he thought he 

 kept completely down by encouraging them. 

 His neighbors shot at them whenever they 

 had a chance, and they flocked to his farm, 

 where they were protected ; and they fol- 

 lowed his plow and hoe harrow, to use his own 

 words, like a flock of ducks, and thus keiit 

 them closely checked. When he found his 

 corn or any of his hoed crop troubled in this 

 way he put tliecultivator at once to work, and 

 this gave the birds a chance. 



These little liints may be of service at this 

 season of the year. The war must be begun 

 early and with personal effort. The ways and 

 means,need not be specially referred to. Only 

 let be recognized that personal labor of some 

 kind must be at the bottom of success, and 

 how to do it will often suggest itself. — Ger- 

 inantown Telerjrapli. 



. SURE DEATH TO FLIES. 



The Piirethrum roseum, or "Persian cham- 

 omile," is the powdered leaf of a harmless 

 flower growing in Caucasian Asia in great 

 profusion, where for centuries it has been 

 used to rid the natives of unwelcome guests 

 from the insect world. It can be purchased 

 of almost any reliable druggist at about one 

 dollar per pound, all ready prepared for use. 



With a finely i>owdered dust made from 

 these flowers, the mosquito, the house fly, the 

 flea, and the disgusting Cimexlectylarius may 

 all be put to flight or murdered. It is only 

 necessary to heap up into a little cone one 

 teaspoonful of the drug pyrethrum, touch it 

 with a lighted match and watch the thin blue 

 hne of smoke as it ri.ses to the ceiling and is 

 wafted through the air, changing the busy 

 drone of insect life into a weak wail of insect 

 woe. Pretty soon down they come plump on 

 to the table and over your paper, spin on their 

 backs, and then sheath their lancets, curl up 

 their hairlike legs, and are no more. 



Smoke from the Persian chamomile, or its 

 dusty powder, is most efficacious, but the 

 purity of the drug must be assured. It must 

 have a bright buff color, be light, readily 

 burned, and give a pleasant tea-like fragrance; 

 one pinch should kill a dozen flies, confined in 

 a bottle, at once ; where it fails of these pro- 

 perties, it has been adulterated. 



In common use in large' or breezy rooms, 

 where from great dilution it fails to kill, it 

 nevertheless produces on insect life, through 

 its volatilized essential oil or rosin, undoubted 

 nausea, vertigo, respiratory spasm, and para- 



lysis. It acts upon them through the minute 

 spiracles, the breathing tubes, that stud the 

 surfaces of their little bodies, and form the 

 delicate network of veins in their tiny wings. 

 To human beings it is entirely innoxious and 

 not disagreeable. 

 Cut this out. 



MOTHS' RAVAGES. 



How to Save Furs, Rugs and Robes. 



In the matter of moths the traditional 

 ounce of prevention is worth many pounds of 

 cure, the best way to prevent their ravages 

 being to lay away furs and woolens just as 

 soon as the season for wearing tliem is over. 

 The worst month for moths is said to be June, 

 and before that time all articles likely to be 

 molested by them should be securely packed 

 away. In our furnace-heated city houses, 

 however, where the temperature is kept at 

 summer heat throughout the winter, what- 

 ever it may be outside, the clothes moth ex- 

 ists the year round, and is aggressively active 

 as early as the first warm days of May, which 

 in our uncertain climate, is too early to dis- 

 pense altogether with winter clothing. For- 

 tuately furs, which are the most dificult thing 

 to protect from the moth, are also the first 

 which may be laid aside for the season. Be- 

 fore this is done have them beaten thoroughly, 

 i. e., whipped well with a small rattan, which 

 is what furriers use for the same purpose 

 Then examine the felt carefully, and Jwhere 

 you find the hairs matted tightly together 

 part them and wet tlie spot thoroughly, yet , 

 daintily, so as not to touch the adjacent hair, 

 with spirits of ammonia. After this fold the 

 garment.Jwith layers of newspapers between 

 each fold, and gum camphor sprinkled on the 

 fur, and, finally, either sew the bundle in an 

 old sheet or wrap it in newspapers, pasting 

 the edges. If this is done carefully and speed- 

 ily you may rely with comparative certainty 

 that your goods are beyond reach of the small 

 destroyer. 



The best moth-proof chests were those made 

 of red cedar, to the odor of which the insect 

 had an unconquerable aversion, and the 

 camphor-wood chests which seamen bring 

 from the East Indies. The genuine cedar 

 chest is a massive and costly affair, made of 

 inch cedar plank, with walnut moldings and 

 iron clamps. Fortunately for people of mod- 

 erate means, Yankee ingenuity has contrived 

 cedar packing-trunks, which answer all pur- 

 poses of utility and which are far less expen- 

 sive. These are the ordinary packing trunk, 

 lined with a thin veneering of cedar, which, 

 though less than the eighth of an inch thick, 

 fits closely in every crack and corner and 

 renders the triink at once moth-proof and air- 

 tight. No camphor is needed in such a chest, 

 only be careful to see that no traces of moths 

 are in the garments before packing, and lay 

 it away smoothly with newspaper layers be- 

 tween each strata of clothes as an additional 

 precaution. A wealthy lady, whose stock of 

 furs in rugs and robes and wraps is something 

 wonderful, has for their safe keeping in sum- 

 mer two large, old-fashioned cedar , chests. 

 The furs are well beaten and then stored in 

 these chests, with pounds of camphor sprink- 

 led among them. It is needless to say that 

 they are never molested. Paper barrels with 

 close-fitting heads form another eft'ectually 



