1S83.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



19 



vegetation, and hence are also called ''Garden 



Ik'as.'" 



In till! spiiiig of ISSO they were particu- 

 larly destructive to the youni; toi)aeco plants 

 in the forciui? beds, and who knows but tliat 

 these may be an advance brigade, come to 

 reconnoitre the tobacco fields. Insects that 

 ap|)car in such vast numbers in midwinter — 

 when the groinxl is covered witli snovtf — are 

 not likely to be much iucominoded by cold 

 weather, and, therefore, it might be well for 

 tobacco growers to be on the lookout for 

 them. 



J'or the baneht of whom it may concern, I 

 here leproduco from page s:j, volume 12 of 

 the t'.vitMiiu, a portion of an article on " To- 

 bacco Pests," relating to the depredations ol 

 these little insects, and the remedies that 

 have been suggested for their extinction : 



" On one occasion Mr. G. W. M., of Mari- 

 etta, Pa., sent me half a gill of this species of 

 snow-liea which he fmuidj in his garden walk, 

 and of wliich he stated he could have gather- 

 ed a quart or more. Mr. M. informed me 

 that he had used "Persian Insect Powder' 

 against the depredations of the ' snow (leas ' 

 ill his garden sueeessfully, and that his tenant 

 used a mixture of sulobur and asaftetida with 

 satisfactory results on his tobacco beds. 



"For the past two seasons our tobacco 

 growers have been complaining about these 

 little pests UQder the names of 'hlack-Hy,' 

 ' Black Spider,' etc. They may prove greater 

 enemies to the tobacco plant than either the 

 ' F lee-beetle,' the 'Tree-cricket,' or the 

 ' Horn worms,' inasmuch as they appear ear- 

 lier in'the season, can stand more cold, and 

 puncture the seed-leaves, and, moreover, are 

 too small to be readily detected, and from 

 their leaping abilities are able to escape or to 

 secrete themselves. These minute insects for 

 many years have been alternately depredating 

 upon different species of vegetation, but there 

 are some people who allege that they are en- 

 tirely liarmle.ss. They appear usually in gar- 

 dens and tobacco-beds during tlie months of 

 May and June, and by the 1st or middle of 

 July they all disappear, and nothing is seen 

 of them again until the following winter or 

 spring. They remain, however, long enough 

 to damage the young tobacco plants and other 

 vegetation. In addition to the remedies 

 above referred to, it is stated that flour of 

 sulphur has been used with good effects. They 

 are very delicate in their structure, and can- 

 not be taken between the Angers without 

 crushing them, therefore, any remedy that 

 would destroy plant-lice, would also destroy 

 snow-fleas. Tobacco seed-beds are usually 

 limited in extent, therefore, for two or three 

 days before the seed is sown, if the beds were 

 saturated with scalding water, it might not 

 only destroy these insects, but also small 

 species of centipedes that infest the young 

 plants." 



STATE AGRICULTURAL AND HORTI- 

 CULTURAL SOCIETIES. 

 Except the two papers read before the State 

 Horticultural .Society, published in the Janu- 

 ary number of the Faumeii (of which, of 

 course we possessed advance copies) very little 

 has come before us in relation to the proceed- 

 ings of either of those Societies. Things were 

 quite different when the latter society met at 



Heading last year. On tliat occasion the 

 Heading Ihnesand Dispatch, i)ublished a full 

 report, not only of its regular proceedings, 

 but also all the addresses, essays and otlier 

 papers read bjfore it. The following slips from 

 the Examiucr of this city, and the d'crnian- 

 toum Telegraph, are all that we have yet seen 

 upon the subject, and we give these for the 

 general interest they pos.=ess. Had these gath- 

 erings been political conventions, no doubt our 

 local papers would liavit had full reports of 

 them, liut being only Agricultural and Ilorti- 

 cultiu'al Societies, they were matters of little 

 comparative consequence. If full reports have 

 been published, they have not yet come under 

 our observation. 



State Agricultural Society. 



The Pennsylvania State Agricultural Soci- 

 ety, met January IS. It is thought the next 

 State Fair will be held at Fairmomit Park, 

 Philadelphia, at least efforts are being made 

 in that direction. There is a balance in the 

 treasury of $10,000, which sliows pretty good 

 housekeeping. The following well-known 

 "tillers of the soil " were elected officers for 

 the ensuing year : 



President — James Miles. 



Vice Presidents— D. L. Twaddell, George 

 Blight, John Hunter, Wm. Singerly, Burnet 

 Landredth, David H. Branson, Wm. H. IIol- 

 stein, Tobias Barto, S. S. Spencer, Daniel H. 

 Neiman, D. H. Waller, Ira Tripp, J. S. Kel- 

 ler, Gabriel Hiester, Josejih Piolett, Kobert 

 P. Allen, John A. Lemon, John S. Miller, 

 Daniel G. Gehr, L. A. Mackey, George Rhey, 

 F. Y. Clopper, W. W. Speer, John McDowell, 

 Moses Chess, J. D. Kirkpatrick. 



Additional Memliers Executive Committee 

 —A. Wilhelm, Al)ner Hutherford, Wm. Tay- 

 Inr, John H. Zeigler, W. B. Culver. 



Ex-Presidents Members of the Board- 

 Frederick Watts, D. Taggart, .lacob S. Halde- 

 man, J. B. Eby, W. S. Bi.ssell. 



Corresponding Secretary— Elbridge McCon- 

 key. 



Recording Secretary — D. W. Seller. 



Treasurer — John B. Rutherford. 



Chemist and Geologist — A. L. Kennedy. 



Ijibrarian — Wm. II. Egle. 



Corresponding Secretary— W. P. Brinton, 

 Christiana. 



Treasurer — George B. Thomas, West Ches- 

 ter. 



Professor of IJotany — Thomas Meehan, 

 Germantown. 



Professor of Entomology— S. S. Rathvon, 

 Lancaster. 



Professor of Horticultural Chemistry — S. 

 B. Ileiges, Shippensburg. 



The Horticulturists. 



The State Horticultural Association of 

 Pennsylvania began its session Thursday, Jan. 

 ISth, in the apartment of the State Board of 

 Agriculture, Hon. George D. Stitzel, of Read- 

 ing, in the chair. There was an unusual 

 large attendance'of members,and many ladies 

 were present. The afternoon session was 

 devoted mainly to the reading and considera- 

 tion of the reports of committees. There was 

 a line display of apples, pears, and preserved 

 fruits. Mr. Thomas .7. Edge, the careful and 

 eflicient Secretary of the State Board of Agri- 

 culture, informs me that there was only 21 per 

 cent, of an average crop of apples in Pennsyl- 

 vauiaduring the past season. In the display of 

 to-day .50 per cent, of the apples were from the 

 west. The following officers were elected for 

 the ensuing j'ear : 



President — Hon. George D. Stitzel, Reading. 



Vice Presidents— II. M. Engle, Marietta ; 

 Josiah Hoopes, West Chester ; W. S. Bissell, 

 Pittsburgh. 



Recording Secretary — E. B. Engle, Cham- 

 bersburg. 



The Slate Horticultural Society. 

 At the recent aimiial meeting of the Penn- 

 sylvania State Horticultural Society at Har- 

 risburg, the chairman of the general fruit 

 committee, Mr. Edwin Sattertliwait, read an 

 interesting report on the fruit crop of this 

 State, of which the following is a synopsis : 



Notwithstanding that there was an abun- 

 dance of blos.soms last year, the yield of apples 

 was unusually small. Tlie folliage of the 

 trees presented an uidicaltliy appearance, and 

 with the exce|)tion of the Cider au<l Hidge 

 Pippin varieties, the fruit generally failed to 

 mature. Reports from different jjortions of 

 the State say that pears were almost as gene- 

 ral a failure as apples, although the crop of 

 Mr. Sattertliwait, comju'ising many varieties, 

 was exceptionally prolirtc. Mr. S. says he 

 loses thousands of bushels of Bartletts and 

 other pears annually by bees, and the loss 

 thus occasioned him he considers greater than 

 the value of all the bees in his county. 



Last year's peach cro)) was very variable ; 

 in some instances a total failure is recorded, 

 in others there was a bountiful yield. Tlie 

 "yellows" still affect many orchards and 

 greatly reduce the crop. The cherry and plum 

 crops were generally reported poor. They did 

 not suffer as much from the curculio as from 

 the rot. (Quinces of late years have done 

 better, being less injured by worms than 

 formerly. Small fruits produced an average 

 yield. Currants and gooseberries were much 

 injured by the currant worm. The use of 

 hellebore ou the first appearance of the insect, 

 by dusting over the bushes is pronounced 

 an effective remedy. GrapeF generally yield- 

 ed well. In regard to the Kieffer pear Mr. S. 

 says that he had last year over one bushel 

 from trees only two and three years grafted. 

 Saplings only one and a half inches in dia- 

 ineter, grafted over two years, produced over 

 a bushel each of perfect fruit. He considers 

 it the most valuable pear he has ever grown. 

 Certain destructive insects are reported to 

 be on the increase, while others, the curculio 

 for instance, is less numerous than formerly. 

 The tent caterpillar is apparently more 

 numerous, and another variety which makes 

 no web but gathers in clusters on the branches 

 of apple and (juince trees, did considerable 

 damage last year. Removal by hand seems 

 to be the most effective means of destroying 

 pesls of this kind. The potato beetle and 

 pear slug have almost entirely disappeared. 

 The codling moth is about as numerous and 

 destructive as ever. The injury inflicted by 

 bees is very serious in certain localities, and 

 the only means of reducing their depredations 

 is the troublesome remedy of suspending bot- 

 tles of sweetened water to the branches of the 

 trees. 



Apple-Orchards— Where to Plant One. 

 There has been considerable discussion o 



