132 



THE LANCASTER FARMER, 



[September, 



to notice the ravages of an insect which he 

 proposes to name in future Betta altica, of 

 which he gives a magnified illustration. We 

 hardly think it necessary to erect the genus 

 Betta for its reception, for it evidently belongs 

 to the typical genus upon which is founded 

 the family Halticid^, and possibly may be 

 Haltica nemoricm, of Linnaeus, which, in 

 Stepliens' Manual of British Beetles, is 

 thus described: "oblong-ovate, flattish, black, 

 thickly punctured; elytra greenish-black, 

 with a broad uninterupted longitudinal sul- 

 phur-yellow streak, not touching the apex; 

 antennae, knees, tibia, tarsi^and base of an- 

 tenniB, testaceous. On cruciferous plants; too 

 generally distributed," p. 291. 



It is true that the Halticans seem to be par- 

 tial to the Cruciferte, but then it is not any 

 more remarkable that this species should be 

 found on the Beet, which is a Chenopodiaceous 

 plant, than that its cogener HalUca. piibesceus 

 should have become the confirmed pest of the 

 tobacco, which is a Solanacous plant. If this 

 insect is not a foreign species introduced into 

 this country, or has not been described as an 

 indigenous species, and must have a specific 

 name, then it would be for simpler and bet- 

 ter to call it Haltica beta. 



Tlie name of this genus is by some au- 

 thors written Altica, both names having refe- 

 rence to the leaping powers of the differ- 

 ent species included in the genus, of which 

 there were over one hundred and fifty, which 

 are now referred to new genera, but which 

 are best known under the name of Haltica. 

 The specific name relates to woods and groves 

 which once was its normal hahitat. The eggs 

 of H. neniorum, or "Turnip-flea," are deposit- 

 ed one by one on the lower sides of the leaves 

 by the parent female, hence the larva which 

 feed on the perinchyma, tunnel them in 

 serpentine channels. They are smooth, oval, 

 and partake of the color of the leaf : and the 

 larva is a small six-footed worm, with black 

 head, a black dorsal patch on the pro-thorax, 

 and a bLack spot on the dorsal surface of the 

 candai segment. The color is whitish or pale 

 yellow, and the body is punctured with small 

 black dots, and it only takes them about a 

 week to mature, when they desert the plant, 

 and burrow in the ground to pupate and 

 evolve. 



They seem to be hard to manage ; too small 

 to be hand-picked, and even if this were not 

 the case, as soon as any attempt is made to put 

 your finger on them, "they are not there." 

 Turning sheep and cattle into fields intended 

 to be planted in beets, will destroy many of 

 them, as they do not go very deep into the 

 ground, and for the same reason they may be 

 plowed down too deeply to come up again. 



KoHLEB long ago recommended plants, 

 infested by beetles, to be sprinkled with an in- 

 fusion of wormwood, as a very effective reme- 

 dy to prevent them from attacking plants, if 

 it does not destroy them. Limewater applied 

 in the same way has also been recommended. 

 In transpUxnting, the tops should be immersed 

 in these liquids as a future prevention— espe- 

 cially in the wormwood. i 



EXQERPTS. 



During the campaign of 1880-81 1,319- 

 221,000 kilogrammes of sugar-beets were 

 worked in Germany. The average number of 



working days of all the factories was 140. 

 The average amount of sugar made by each 

 factory is 1,912,000 kilogrammes. The total 

 production was about 460,000,000 kilo- 

 grammes. This is 40,000,000 more than the 

 previous year. — Sugar-Beet. 



According to Licht, the total production 

 of beet-sugar in 1881 for Germany, France, 

 Hungary- Austria, Russia, Belgium and Hol- 

 land will be 1,580,000 tons, an excess in the 

 total production of 175,000 over preceding 

 years. — Sityar-Beet. 



Florida will send fifty millions of oranges 

 to maket the present year. 



Over 60,000 quarts of huckleberries have 

 been shipped from Brown's Mills, N. J., this 

 seeson, representing a cash value to the 

 pickers of over $5,000. 



During the nine months from August 1st, 

 1880, to May 1st, 1881, 1,348,806 barrels of 

 American apples have been shipped to the 

 different piirts of the United Kingdom of 

 Great Britain. 



Orange county, New York, produces 

 more apple whisky than any other county in 

 the Union. Her annual distillation is 60,000 

 gallons, yielding an internal revenue of 

 .150,000. 



The peach crop is large this year in the 

 State of Indiana. Dean's orchard, Clark 

 county, will market 20,000 bushels, all of 

 which have been monopolized by the city of 

 Cincinnati, at $6.00 per barrel. 



Last year New Zealand produced 5,461,000 

 bushels of wheat; 7,776,275 of oats; 1,124,- 

 281 of barley ; and 37,466 tons of potatoes. 

 One hundred years ago there were 29 sheep 

 on the island, now there are 12,000,000. 



In England it costs about SI. 25 to produce 

 a bushel of wheat. Dalrymple, of Dekota, 

 who has 75,000 acres "under the plow," 

 alleges that under ordinary circumstances, he 

 can deliver wheat in New York at 66 cents 

 per bushel, and in Liverpool, England, at 70 

 cents. With these odds against them, what 

 chance have English wheat growers, or even 

 Pennsylvania farmers, in the competitive race 

 of wheat culture ? 



A GOOD means of destroying field mice is to 

 place empty pickle bottles in the ground of 

 farms infested by these animals, into which 

 they fall, and from which they cannot escape. 

 The mouth of the bottle must just be level 

 with the ground, and in the line of the runs 

 of the mice. These traps should be set in tbe 

 autumn before the frost sets in.-/oMr. Forestry. 



Soluble Firtree Oil Insecticide. — 

 This is said to be a sovereign remedy for all 

 kinds of insects in England where it has been 

 thoroughly tried. It mixes freely with water, 

 and any one can use it with a watering can, 

 or a garden syringe. It is not offensive in 

 smell, and not injurious to the plants. Man- 

 ufactured and sold by E. G. Hughs, Victoria 

 street, Manchester, England.— Jbwr. Forestry. 



An Improtu Fly-Trrap.— During the 

 present summer we had a 3 oz. bottle with a 

 neck about half an inch in diameter, stand- 

 ing on a shelf near our place of daily occupa- 

 tion. A small quantity of alcohol, to the 

 depth of about half an inch, was in the bot- 

 tom, and in this we had immersed one or two 

 insects that had been given us by some boys. 



No stopper of any kind was kept in the bot- 

 tle, and, being very busy, Jittle attendance 

 was paid to it. But every day we observed 

 it contained an increased number of flies, 

 dead, and in the "agonies of death." Never, 

 while we were looking at it did we see a fly 

 approach it, but there they were, and at this 

 writing, the bottle is nearly half full. Our 

 theory is, that the flies are attracted by the al- 

 cohol, alight on the mouth of the bottle, be- 

 come stupiflod, or intoxicated, by the alcoholic 

 enhalations from the mouth of the bottle, and 

 helplessly fall in. Those within, attract oth- 

 ers from without, and the accessions become 

 continuous. This circumstance is suggestive. 

 Some people and some houses are excessively 

 infested by flies, and various kinds of traps 

 are employed to catch them, which are more 

 or less offensive, or repulsive, and therefore 

 objectionable. Now, one or more such bot- 

 tles, set in places about the house where flies 

 most do congregate, would prove a diminislj- 

 er, if not an extinguisher, of them. If the 

 mouth of the bottle was wider, it perhaps 

 would be more effective. The alcohol pre- 

 serves them, and the traps therefore do not 

 become offensive in smell. Perhaps whiskey, 

 brandy, or any kind of liquor that retains its 

 intoxicating qualities longest would answer 

 as well as alcohol. We were surprised at the 

 result, because we were not particularly an- 

 noyed by flies : hence, we record this experi- 

 ence for what it may be worth. 



To Protect Trees from Rabbits.— 

 Some years ago a notion prevailed in Eng- 

 land that the blood of the rabbit smeared on 

 trees would prevent other rabbits from " bark- 

 ing " them, but now when her nurserymen 

 wish to protect their trees they paint them 

 with bullocks' blood. The rabbit being 

 granniverous, has an aversion to blood, and 

 hence is repelled by its presence on trees. 

 This is a simple remedy at all events, and 

 also a very cheap one, and there would be no 

 harm in trying it at least.— Jowr. Forestry. 



In 1880 England increased her forest area 

 to the amount of 222,194 acres over the acre- 

 age of 1879. The idea seems to be that tim- 

 ber will ultimately pay better than the late 

 unprofitable use of soil for other purposes.— 

 Jour. Forestry 



To show the interest manifested by Ne- 

 braska in forestry, during the year 1888, we 

 give the following from the statistics of work 

 done that year : Numljer of forest trees 

 planted, 53,092,046; truit trees, 2,445,288; 

 grapevines, 464,000. 



Last year Chicago alone consumed and 

 disposed of 2,000,000 baskets of peaches ; 20,- 

 000,000 quarts of strawberries ; 1,000,000 bas- 

 kets of apples, end other fruits in proportion. 

 What kind of an exhibit will she be able to 

 make this year? 



Mr. a. Kelley, in Fruit Becorder, ex- 

 plains that he has had forty years' experience 

 with pears, and has had many trees killed by 

 blight, but he has been uniformly successful in 

 combating the disease with copperas wash 

 since he began it. He uses a pound or two 

 of copperas to a gallon of water, and thickens 

 it with powdered lime or sulphur, so it will 

 show when applied ; he puts it on near the 

 1st of June, after first removing every sign of 

 blight. When a branch is cut oflE, he saturates 



