86 



THE LANCASTER FARMER- 



[June, 



metliod of destruction. We give a list of 

 some of the best known inseotides and the 

 manner of applying them in order that our 

 readers may get them ready for use the pres- 

 ent season. 



For the Colorado potato beetle nothing 

 more efficient or cheaper than Paris green has 

 been discovered. One pound of the green to 

 fifteen of any cheap kind of flour is the best 

 mixture, and this should be scattered over 

 the leaves of the potato vine as soon as the 

 larvje or grubs appear, and the application 

 repeated as often as necessary during the 

 summer. Two or three applications are us- 

 ually sufficient. Tm dusters, made for the 

 purpose, can usually be had of any tinsmith ; 

 if not, one can be made out of an ordinary tin 

 can, which must be fasted to a handle four or 

 five feet long. This same mixture may be 

 used to destroy canker worms on apple trees, 

 but is rather more difficult of application, 

 although with a long handle to the duster the 

 leaves and twigs of ordinary sized trees can 

 be readily reached. 



The asparagus beetle, which usually comes 

 from its winter quavters about the time the 

 first shoots of the plants appear, is not readily 

 destroyed by insectides, as it will not answer 

 to apply poisons at this time, or any offensive 

 substance ; but as the beetles do little injury 

 now, all attempts to destroy them may be 

 deferred a few weeks, or until the cutting 

 season is over, at which time the beetles will 

 have laid their eggs on the stems, whence 

 will presently come the little black slug-like 

 larvse. These have soft, rather sticky skin, to 

 which almost any dry dust-like application 

 will readily adlicre. Dry caustic lime is a 

 cheap and efficient poison for this pest, and a 

 few applications during the summer will clean 

 an asparagus plautation of the pest. We have 

 used lime on our asparagus bed to destroy 

 these grubs for more than twenty years and 

 never knew it to fail to destroy this pest. 

 Lime will also destroy the rose and cherry 

 tree slug — in fact, all kinds of slug-like larvse 

 which have a sticky, slimy skin. 



To destroy squash and melon bugs tar 

 water is of great value. An old tar barrel, 

 with a quart or two of tar left in the bottom, 

 and filled up with water, will in a few days 

 furnisli a moderate supply of a very efficient 

 insectide for various kinds of bugs and flea 

 beetles wliich frequently attack cabbage and 

 tomato plants early in the spiing or summer. 

 Pine tar is best, but coal tar will answer very 

 well. Carbolic acid, one part of the acid to 

 sixty or seventy of water, is as strong as can 

 be safely applied to delicate kinds of plants. 

 Flowers of sulphur are sometimes used upon 

 melon vines with good results ; a teaspoonf ul 

 scattered over the young plants or thrown on 

 the ground under the leaves will usually drive 

 away insect enemies, especially during hot 

 weather, when the fumes of the sulphur are 

 dispelled by the heat. 



Saltpeter has been found an excellent in- 

 sectide in some instances, and this salt is 

 also a good fertilizer, and therefore answers 

 a double purpose. One tablespoonful of salt- 

 peter dissolved in a pail of warm water is a 

 most valuable solution with which to sprinkle 

 cabbage plants infested with the caterpillars 

 of the cabbage butterfly. Several applica- 

 tions will usually be necessary, for the butter- 



flies remain a long time, and the females visit 

 the cabbages daily to deposite their eggs, 

 from which tlie caterpillars are hatched in 

 succession durhig the early summer as well as 

 autumn mouths. 



Alum is also a flrst-rate insectide, espec- 

 ially for ants, cockroaches and various insects 

 inhabiting houses and upholstered furniture. 

 The alum should be put in hot water and the 

 water kept boiling until it is dissolved ; then 

 inject the solution with a syringe or brush 

 into all cracks and holes where the pests live 

 or hide. This solution may be used freely, as 

 it is not poisonous nor injurious to furniture, 

 unless applied to varnished surfaces and in a 

 condensed form. 



For the different species of caterpillars in- 

 festing entrant and gooseberry plants pow- 

 dered white hellebore has been found the 

 most efficacious after Paris green ; the latter, 

 Jiowever, is the most dangerous, as it is a 

 more virulent poison than the hellebore, 

 although the latter is a strong vegetable 

 poison, and no fruit from the plant dusted 

 with it shauld be used during the season of 

 its application. We would advised trying 

 solutions of alumu or saltpeter for this pest 

 by those who have it to contend with. — JV. Y. 

 Sun. 



SHORTAGE OF THE WHEAT CROP. 



S. H. Seamans, of Milwaukee, Wis., Secre- 

 tary of the Millers' Association, some weeks 

 ago sent out over 3,000 inquiries to millers in 

 the twenty-one leading wheat States, asking 

 them for the best information to be had con- 

 cerning the outlook for the wheat crop. 



Mr. Seaman issued a private circular on 

 Friday to the members of the association, in 

 which he gives the estimate of the crop based 

 ou the report, placing the shortage for the 

 year at 93,000,000 bushels in the twenty-one 

 States. This not being the kind of report 

 desired, particular pains were taken to keep 

 it from the papers. From a stray proof, 

 however, the following estimate of the yield 

 by States is taken : California, 4,500,000 ; 

 Nebraska, 1,500,00!^ ; Texas, ■2;100,000; Kan- 

 sas, 23,000,000 ; Missouri, 21,400,000 ; Iowa, 

 1.5,300,000 ; Minnesota, 3,700,000 ; Wisconsin, 

 1S,.500,000 ; Illinois, 2.^,000,000 ; Kentucky, 

 12,400,000 ; Tennessee, 6,800,000 ; Georgia, 

 3,S00,000 ; Virginia, 8,300,000 ; Maryland, 

 9,000,000 ; Delaware, 1,000,000 ; New York, 

 10,^00,000; Pennsylvania, 22,300,000; Ohio, 

 20,000,000 ; Indiana, 29,000,000 ; Michigan, 

 73,300,000. The total yield of these States in 

 1882 was 406,297,900 bushels. It will be 

 noted that the estimates in some of the 

 States, notably California and Minnesota, 

 differ materially from thos; made by several 

 statisticians. Mr. Tallmage, Milwaukee, 

 whose estimates have been so generally quoted, 

 was shown the miller's estimates last night. 

 He said: " The California and Minnesota 

 estimates are ridiculous. In my estimation 

 of the aggregate yield of the country I have 

 given the figures of these two States as fur- 

 nished me by the official authorities." The 

 Secretary of the California State Agricultural 

 Department said: "Our crop can't exceed 

 30,000,000 this year." H. H. Smith, the 

 United States statistician, .states that the offi- 

 cial report of the Minnesota acreage shows 

 739,500 acres. The average yield per acre of 



that State for three years is 79.12 bushels, 

 80.13 bushels, 81.90 bushels. Estimate this 

 year's crop at 12 bushels per acre, and we 

 have but 2,810,000 bushels. 



Mr. Seaman, in closing his report, says: 

 "In preseuting this report to our members 

 for their information, I have only to say that 

 it is based entirely upon replies to my inquiries, 

 which have been carefully taken, thoroughly 

 analyzed, and the averages closely figured ; 

 in short, the conclusion was arrived at by the 

 mos*; careful investigation of the replies, and 

 is given to you with the confident assurance 

 that, so far as it is possible to arrive at the 

 prcrljabilities of the growing crop, we are ap- 

 proximately correct." 



HOW TO KILL CABBAGE WORMS. 



Tlie ravages of the caterpillars of the' cab- 

 bage butterfly caused a great deal of trouble 

 last summer at the State Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station, Geneva, N. Y., particularly 

 those of tlie" second or August brood. In 

 order to test the efticacy of various reputed 

 remedies for the cabbage worms, the director 

 applied them to special collections for worms, 

 and noted the eflects. One specimen couHned 

 for three hours in a bottle partly filled with 

 black pepper crawled away discolored by the 

 powder, but apparently unharmed. The sec- 

 ond, repeatedly immersed in a solution of 

 salti)etre, and a third in one of boracic acid, 

 exhibited little indications of inconvenience. 

 Bisulphide of carbon produced instant death 

 when applied to the worm, though its fumes 

 were not effectual. The fumes of benzine as 

 well as the liquid caused almost instant death, 

 but when applied to the cabbages small 

 whitish excresceuces appeared on the leaves. 

 Hot water applied to the cabbage destroyed a 

 portion of the worms, causing also the leaves 

 to turn yellow. One ounce of saltpeter and 

 two pounds common salt dissolved in three 

 gallons of water formed an application which 

 was partly eflicient. The most satisfactory 

 remedy tested, however, consisted of a mix- 

 ture of one-half iiound each of hard .soap and 

 kerosene oil in three gallons of water. This 

 wa.s applied August 26 ; an examination the 

 following day showed many, if not all, the 

 worms destroyed. 



The growing cabbage presents such a mass 

 of leaves in which the caterpillars may be 

 concealed that it is hardly possible to reach 

 all the worms at one application. It is of im- 

 portance, therefore, to repeat the use of any 

 remedy at frequent intervals. — Seicntijfc 



American. 



^ 



BEES AND HORTICULTURE. 



If some of our fruit-growers were to write 

 upon this subject, they would place as the 

 title : Bees versus Horticulture. Some of our 

 ablest entomologists are persuaded that bees 

 do not always play the role of friends to the 

 pomologist. 



What I am to say of bees would apply 

 equally well, in some cases, to many other 

 sweet-loving insects, as the wild bees, the 

 wasps, and many of the dipterous, or two- 

 winged flies ; only as early in the season other 

 insects are rare, while the honey bees, though 

 less numerous than they are later in the sea- 

 son, are comparatively abundant, even early 

 in the spring months. 



