THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



149 



the same insect from specimens of larvfc that 

 were depredating on the Tobacco plants, at 

 Spring Garden P. O., in thiscoimty; and pub- 

 lished an account of it in the Farmer under 

 the head of " Tobacco Pests." 



"We insert it here on account of the remedies 

 suggested, by the above writer. Our si)eci- 

 mens only went down two or three inches, and 

 the moth evolved from the pupa in August. 

 Tlierefore, there would doubtless have been 

 another brood, had tliey had an opportunity, 

 and that is probably the brood that hibernates 

 in the earth during the winter. 



THE ELM TREE WORM. 



I read in the Ploughman of July, .30 that a 

 small greenish worm has attacked the elm 

 trees at West Point, and well nigh ruined 

 them. 1 have an elm tree standing in front 

 of my house three feet in diameter, almost 

 denuded of leaves. I send j'ou a sample of 

 the twigs, the length of three, to one foot in 

 length. They commenced falling six weeks 

 ago, and now have ceased; the tree looks bad; 

 there are no worms about it, but it looks as 

 though the twigs were sawed oil", but I can- 

 not see the insect. Three years ago they per- 

 formed the same on the tree. Can you tell 

 what I can do about it? I value the tree at 

 $500. Yours truly, p. F. 



S<mthboro\ Aug. 1, 1831. 



The description given is not sufficient to 

 enable us to name it. From the appearance 

 of the twigs sent, we are inclined to think 

 that they were not cut oil" by the little green 

 worm, but that it was done by some other 

 insect, which appears to have eaten the bark 

 off in a ring around the twig. We have seen 

 the ends of the twigs of currant bushes 'cut 

 off in the same way, but never could detect 

 the enemy; for this reason we have always 

 suspected that the mischief was done by a 

 {jerfect insect tliat had wings. No doubt the 

 insects, whatever they may be, could be killed 

 with hellebore, or by syriugiug with whale 

 oil soap; it is true a tree so large could not 

 be easily reached, but its great value would 

 warrant the expenditure of considerable time 

 and money, to save it. 



The above tree must have been infested by 

 the ";Elm Tree Beetle." GalerucaXanthomal- 

 oena or the "Tree Girdlar, " Oncidere& singula- 

 tiis, or by both of them. 



The larva of tlie first named skeletonizes 

 the foliage and causes it to prematurely fall. 



The second named depusits its eggs in the 

 branches and then girdles them outside and 

 in time they break off and fall, but the leaves 

 are not touched by this insect, as the larva is 

 a borer. 



A third insect a "Pruner," Elaphideon pii- 

 tator, girdles the branch from the inside, with 

 similar results. 



The first of these were very destructive to 

 the Elm trees of Lancaster county. 



BUGGY PEAS. 



Please tell me how to keep peas for seed, 

 and not have them get buggy, and oblige a 

 subscriber.— B., Aug. 4, 1881. 



The pea weaval {Brachus pisi) is a very de- 

 structive enemy to the pea. As soon as the 

 pods are formed and the little peas begin to 

 grow, the female weavel punctures a hole in 

 the pod, opposite each pea, into which an egg 

 is deposited; as soon as hatched, the little 

 worm buries itself in the pea, there to eat and 

 grow; until cooked for the table, or if kept for 

 seed until winter, when it changes to a bug, 

 and eats its way out, and is ready when the 

 next crop of peas begins to grow, to lay its | 



eggs for another generation. As this enemy 

 has its seasons, to avoid it peas must be jilantcd 

 late, so they will blossom ajjer it has laid its 

 eggs and died. Peas planted as late as e 

 fifteenth of June will escape. If seed peas 

 that are buggy be kept two years before planted 

 there will be no danger of propagating the in- 

 sects. It is said that if peas when gathered 

 and shelled be spread in the hot sun, it will 

 the worms; not having tried this we cannot 

 vouch for its truth. — Massachusetts Plough- 



INSECTS ON FRUIT TREES. 



To extiriiate these in the way that used to 

 be practiced is a most tedious operation, as 

 the old orthodox mixture of soot, lime, soft 

 soap, tobacco water, etc., had to be put on 

 with a brush, daubing the trees and often the 

 walls to such an extent as to render both un- 

 sightly till covered with leaves, but now, 

 thanks to tiaraflSn, fir-tree oil, nicotine soap, 

 Gishurst, Fowler's and other patent com- 

 pounds, this painting and disfigurement, with 

 its attendant labor, are quite unnecessary, as 

 by diluting them to a certain regulated 

 strength that may be syringed or put on in 

 the form of spray, and the bark and insects 

 covered quicker and far better than could be 

 done in the way already adverted to. 



The most troublesome pests to deal with are 

 scale, of which there are several kinds, the 

 most difficult of these to kill being the white, 

 the appearance of which is sometljing like a 

 speck of lime wash, and although without 

 means of locomotion, it is surprising how 

 soon it spreads itself over the branches of a 

 tree; and the same with the pear scale, which 

 is a minute kidney-shaped insect, having a 

 hard brown skin. To make either of these 

 kinds of scales leave their hold requires strong 

 measures, which are best taken in the winter, 

 as then any insecticide that is used may be 

 applied stronger, than would be safe at any 

 other period of the year. 



An insect even more difficult to destroy than 

 scale, is the louse that affects apple tress and 

 causes knotty excrescences to foitn on the 

 bark. This blight spreads at a rapid rate, and 

 if not dealt with soon injures the health of the 

 tress on which it has effected a lodgment. 

 Various remedies have been recommended, but 

 I have found none more efficacious than paraf- 

 fin-oil, put into the crevices where the insects 

 are, with a brush, as then it at once saturates 

 them and appears to dissolve them. 



Another way is to make a thick liquid with 

 clay, paraflin and water, and dab the mix- 

 ture over the injured parts and so stifle the 

 lice in their beds and stop others occupying 

 the same positions again. The worst pest, 

 however, that gardeners have to contend with 

 during the season just opening is the aphis, 

 the black form of which is very tenacious of 

 life. These chiefly affect cherries, but may 

 sometimes be found on peaches and nectarines, 

 and if trees are to be saved from being crip- 

 pled, these flies must be allowed no quarter, 

 but battled with as soon as they put in an ap- 

 pearance. 



The most economical way of dealing with 

 them when on the young shoots of cherries 

 is to steep some tobacco in water, using about 

 half a pound to the gallon, and after strain- 

 ing the liquid the ends of the shoots can then 



be dipped in by simply bending them down 

 and a tree may thus be cleansed at a rapid 

 and very cheap rate, as there is but little loss 

 of the juice. Before using it, however, the 

 trees should be gone over and have all super- 

 rtuous growth removed, and that on the spurs 

 stopped back, whicli, by taking away the ten- 

 der tops, will get rid of many of the inflects, 

 as they do not attack the older and more fully 

 developed leaves. 



Nicotine soap is also fatal to black fly, as it 

 contains the active properties of tobacco, and 

 docs not hurt the delicate tissues of the foli- 

 age, which, when applied at such an early 

 stage, most of the other insecticides do. To- 

 bacco powder, pufled on by means of a distri- 

 butor sold for the purpose, may likewise be 

 used with great success against these trouble- 

 some aphis, as well as green fly, which latter 

 it renders most uncomfortable at once, and 

 sets him struggling from the intoxicating and 

 paralyzing effect it has on them. 



For peaches and nectarines at the time of 

 the fruit setting, and till the skin gets some- 

 what hardened, nothing is better, as to apply 

 liquid insecticides so early is unsafe, and after 

 disbudding it often happens that only a few 

 shoots are infested, and a puff of the dust on 

 them prevents further spread. Later on, when 

 the weather gets warm, the garden engine is 

 the best eradicator, as by well-directed streams 

 of water they may be wjished ofl' by its power- 

 ful force, and trees, by its aid, kept in most 

 luxuriant health. 



In cases, where aphis may have got a hold 

 previously, it is a good plan to apply a 

 syringing of tobacco liquid or some of the in- 

 secticides first, and after being on a few hours, 

 to follow up with the water, which will dis- 

 lodge all stragglers, and then the work of 

 keeping clean for the rest of the summer will 

 be easy enough. In many gardens where 

 there are old walls, red sjiider gives much 

 trouble, and to cope with this pest at starting 

 sulphur is the best remedy; and if this is 

 mixed up as a paste, and then put into water 

 and kept stirred, it may be syringed on and 

 driven into any nail holes, mortar joints or 

 other crevices in which the red spider lurks. 

 By adding a half-pint of paraffin to every 

 eight gallons of sulphur and water, the mix- 

 ture will stick better and be far more effec- 

 tual.— Garckiier's Chronicle. 



REMEDIES AGAINST INJURIOUS IN- 

 SECTS. 



The relation of climatic influences on insect 

 development— an absolutely necessary prere- 

 quisite to the adoption of adequate preven- 

 tive measures— is yet an almost unbroken 

 field. A knowledge of this relation to a given 

 species must be obtained before entomologists 

 can predict in advance the coming of that 

 species. If by a careful study of this relation 

 entomologists can predict with reasonable 

 certainty, a year in advance, the appearance 

 of one of the species notably injurious to 

 field crops, farmers will then be enabled to 

 plant such crops as will be likely to suffer 

 least injury from this si)ecips. For example, 

 if it is a species that appears late in the sea- 

 son, crops tliat mature early will be tlie ones 

 to plant, as oats, for instance, in the place of 

 corn. If the coming of the army-worn can 

 be predicted in time, the farmer can then 

 plow up a portion, at least, of his meadow and 

 sow it in oats, or plant it in corn, or some 

 other crop. It may, I think, be safely as- 

 sumed that a long and careful study of this 



