128 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[August, 1883 



for about a month upon the tender grape leaves, and 

 then, fastening themselves by the hind legs to the 

 under side of leaves, etc., they change into the in- 

 active or pupa state. A second brood is not known, 

 but if there is one, it can do but little injury. 



The method of treatment is hand-picking. The 

 part attacked should usually be removed in the sum- 

 mer pruning or pinching, and therefore the Plume is 

 not very destructive. Sometimes the third cluster of 

 grapes is included in the fold of leaves and silken 

 threads, and if this is to be preserved, care must be 

 taken in removing the unsightly twisted tips of the 

 infested branches. — American Agriculturwt. 



The Sheep Grub. 

 During the hot days of mid-summer, sheep often 

 huddle together with their noses upon the ground, 

 or in some other constrained position. This is done 

 partly, at least, to secure them from the attacks of 

 the pestering Gad-liy {Oestrus uvU), whKh is the 

 parent of the annoying Grub-in-the-head. This in- 

 sect is closely related to the bot-fly, that deposits its 

 eggs upon the neck, shoulders and fore-legs of hors- 

 es, from which they are removed by the teeth of the 

 animal, to allay the itching, and are taken into the 

 stomach, and develop into the troublesome hots. 

 The female sheep gad-fly aims to deposit her eggs in 

 the nostrils of the sheep, and the animals apparently 

 aware of the effects to follow, try to prevent it. If 

 the eggs are laid, the young soon hatch, and the 

 grubs ascenl the nostrils, greatly to the distress of 

 the affected sheep. The "worms" attach themselves 

 to the sinews of the nose, by means of hooks like 

 those of the horse-bot, and live upon the mucus se- 

 cretions of the irritated surface to which they cling. 

 When fully grown, the grubs work their way down 

 through the narrow openings by which they entered, 

 when first hatched, and again cause the sheep much 

 pain. The grubs fall to the ground and burrowing 

 for a few inches, become chrysalids, which develop 

 into perfect flies in about two months. The grubs 

 pass from the sheep in early summer, and the flies 

 come out of the ground from July to September. A 

 daub of tar upon the nose is the best preventative, 

 and should be frequently applied during the summer 

 montlis. This may be done by sprinkling meal or salt 

 over the tar in a trough, when the sheep will apply 

 it themselves as they eat the meal. Some farmers 

 plow furrows in the pasture, to furnish the sheep a 

 good place to bury their noses. The sheep grub is 

 not fatal, but very disagreeable, and doubtless has a 

 bad effect on the general health of infected sheep. 

 If any one desires to study the grubs, he may find 

 them in many of the heads of the sheep killed at the 

 s\i&ra\i\es.— American AgricuUuriat. 



Tomato and Tobacco Worms. 



The great, green, ugly tomato worm loses a large 

 amount of its repulsiveness when we have seen and 

 known it in its perfect state. How many people have 

 watched with joy and pleasure its hovering at twi 

 light over their flowers, extracting the honey there 

 from, and from its movements have called it the 

 " evening humming bird," little dreaming that this 

 lively little creature and the slow-moving tomato 

 worm were the same thing presented in a different 

 form. 



The tomato and tobacco worms belong to a division 

 of the scale winged insects called Sphinges. By scale 

 winged insects we mean such as the butterfly, from 

 whose wings the scales (frequently called "feath- 

 ers") may be easily rubbed. To the naked eye these 

 scales appear as fine duet, but under the microscope 

 the butterfly's wing resembles a fancy shingled roof. 

 The Sphinges in their perfect state usually fly in the 

 twilight. A great many species in the larva or worm 

 state have the habit when disturbed of drawing the 

 head Into the first segment, raising the forepark of 

 the body, and striking it violently from right to left. 

 Some species also remain quiet for hours in this 

 raised posture, and Linnieus, the great naturalist, 

 imagined they then resemblyd the Sphinx of Egypt, 

 60 he gave name of Sphinges to them. 



The tomato and tobacco worms are so nearly alike 



as to be easily mistaken one for the other. They both 

 grow to he the same length, from three to four inch- 

 es, and are provided alike with a spine or horn 

 near the posterior part of the body. Neither are at 

 all poisonous though held in fear by many persons. 

 They feed alike promiscuously on tobacco, tomatoes, 

 potatoes, etc. The tomato worm is rather light green, 

 with yellow oblique stripes on the sides, while the 

 tobacco worm is dark green, wrinkled somewhat in 

 appearance, and with whitish dots and oblique lines- 

 We have seen specimens of the tobacco worm so 

 dark in color as to be almost black. 



When full grown the worms descend into the 

 ground a few inches, and form oval, earthen cells. 

 In these cells they change into chestnut brown 

 chrysalids or pupoe, about two inches long. The tube 

 that contains the tongue of the inclosed torpid moth 

 is bent around so that it forms a good sized handle. 

 Goodly numbers of th^se pupie are dug up during 

 the spring months in vegetable gardens, when we 

 have often heard them called by children, " the little 

 brown jugs we find in the garden." 



When about to appear in its last and perfect form, 

 the pvipa works its way to the surface of the ground, 

 where it breaks open and the imprisoned moth es- 

 capes. At first it is very weak, with its heavy body 

 and shriveled wings. So It crawls up a few inches 

 from the ground on whatever it can until its wings 

 have expanded and become hardened. There it 

 rests quietly until twilight when it files away. The 

 moths of both the tomato and tobacco worms are 

 gray The wings expand from four to five inches, 

 and are long, narrow, and pointed. In fact the 

 wings of all the sphinges are long, narrow and 

 pointed, their bodies long and heavy. The bodies of 

 both tomato and tobacco moths are decorated on 

 each side with a row of five large yellow spots. The 

 tongue of these moths is peculiar on account of its 

 length. We have seen tomato moths having a tongue 

 six inches long. Their food is the honey of flowers, 

 over which they hover, and while feeding supporting 

 themselves by the very rapid movement of their 

 strong wings. A cross section of the tongue slightly 

 magnified shows it to be a double tube. When not 

 in use it is coiled up tightly like a watch-spring be- 

 neath the head. Now for the distinguishing features. 

 The tobacco moth is a shade darker than th* tomato 

 moth, with not so many distinct, black, wavy mark- 

 ings on the wing, and with the body more slender. 



The tobacco moth has a white spot on each fore 

 wing next the body ; that is wanting in the tomato 

 moth. If you take a tomato moth and hold it with 

 the head toward you, to our eyes a dog's face is 

 plainly traceable on the back of the thorax or middle 

 part of the body ; that you can not see on the to- 

 bacco moth. There are two broods of these moths a 

 year, the first coming in June and the other in the 

 latter part of August or early in September. They 

 pass the winter in the pupa state. Handpicking is 

 the only practical remedy. — Alice B. Walton, in Iowa 

 nutate Reijiiiter. 



Literary and personal. 



DiKiGO RuKAL. — An eight-page imperial quarto, 

 published every Saturday morning, by D. M. Hall, 

 editor and proprietor, No. 11 Central street, Bangor, 

 Maine, at ^I. .50 a year, and no reduction to clubs. 

 Devoted to agriculture, domestic economy, industries 

 and general literature. Able, iuteresting and worthy 

 of patronage. 



Houghton Fakm. — Experiment department. Dis- 

 eases of plants, noimal condition ot cellular struc- 

 ture and peach yellows, by D. P. Penhallow, B. S. 

 New York, 1883. 14 pp. imperial octavo, with four 

 full page finely executed plates, in colors.' IlomjIUon 

 Farm is located near Mountainville, Orange county, 

 N. Y., and this pamphlet includes Nos. 1 and 3, 

 series 3, and includes Uio treatises — No. 1, on " The 

 Normal Condition of Vegetable Structure with Refer- 

 ence to Cell Contents," and No. 2, on " Peach Yel- 

 I lows," both by Mr. Penhallow, giving the details of 



experiments made during the year 1882, from which 

 we shall make extracts in a future number of the 

 Fakmer, having received this excellently executed 

 work too late for anything but this brief notice in 

 our present number. 



Department of Agriculture, Special Report, 

 No. 00, on the acreage of spring grain and cotton, 

 the condition of winter wheat, and European grain 

 prospects, with freight rates and transportation com- 

 panies, for June, 1883. 56 pages octavo, condensed 

 extracts from which will be found elsewhere in this 

 number of the Farmer. Of course there is much 

 in these reports that are only of local value to read- 

 ers, except as consumers. 



The Sprat. — Published weekly by the Cape May 

 Improvement Company, Cape May Point, N. J., de- 

 voted to the improvement and advancement of the 

 interests of Cape May Point and vicinity. Price 

 5 cents a number. A demi-folio of 8 pages, profuse- 

 ly illustrated, on excellent paper and admirably exe- 

 cuted. Interesting to those who can afford to visit 

 Cape May, or sojourn there for the season, and es- 

 pecially those who hold, or desire to hold property 

 there . 



Dr. Foote's Health Monthly. — A demi-quarto 

 of 10 pages, at .50 cents a year, and devoted to moral 

 and physical health. No. 7, vol. 8, for July, 1883, 

 contains a synopsis of the proceedings of the Third 

 Annual Convention of the Institute of Heredity, 

 held in Wesleyan Hall, Boston, Mass., May, 1883, in 

 which there was some plain speaking or what is gen- 

 erally regarded " Avoided Subjects." 

 Western Plowman, for July, 1883. 

 Circular, and list of officers and committees of 

 the American Pumological Society, 1883. 



Good Cheer. — A monthly journal for the people. 

 Published at Greenfield, Mass., by Henry D. Watson. 

 Edited by Mrs. Kale Upson Clark. Subscription, 50 

 cents a year. Single copies, 5 cents. Devoted to the 

 interests of the home and family, "The strength of a 

 nation is in the homes of its people." A 16 paged, 

 4 columned, quarto, typographically well executed, 

 and replete with romantic, sentimental, domestic 

 and practical literature, liberally interspersed with 

 choice poetry. The vii;nette of the title is embel- 

 lished with a "coddy" looking bird ('pears to have 

 been on a "lark"), but, nevertheless, a jolly good- 

 looking bird, whose "song brings good cheer." On 

 the whole Ooml Cheer is a capital family paper, con- 

 ducted with ability and adapted to the wants of the 

 young, the middle aged and the old. 



There is one feature of this journal that speaks 

 well for the intellectual status of the community 

 from which it hails, and must prove a chief element 

 of success. Niueteen contributions are certainly fur- 

 nished by female writers, ten by male writers and ten 

 anonymous ; in addition to these the editress herself 

 is by no means idle in that respect. Could we elicit 

 such literary support, it would eminently be to us 

 "good cheer." 



Texas State Farmer.— A 20 pp. quarto, pub- 

 lished monthly at Fort Worth, Texas, by the State 

 Farmer Printing Co., at $1.00 a year, in advance. 

 W. J. Saunders, business manager. Office, South- 

 west corner Second and Houston streets, next door 

 to Traders National Bank. This is a remarkably 

 neat and well gotten up journal, and the material 

 and the typographical execution are entirely faultless. 

 Its literary contents would be a credit to the most 

 advanced region of our Union, and it be regarded as 

 a true reflex of oui agricultural civilization, Texas 

 must be counted in the front rank. No. 3, vol I, for 

 June, 18S3, has reached our table, and it indicates 

 that Fort Worth is a place where people live, have 

 something to sell and know how to produce it and 

 use it. Fort Worth, that only a few years ago— with- 

 in our own lifetime — had neither a local habitation 

 nor a name. It is doubtless named after General 

 Worth, a name that became only prominent in the 

 annals of our country, during our war with Mexico. 

 With such journals as the Texas State farmer, and 

 the Texas Farm and Ranch, Texas is bound to be- 

 come an agricultural success. 



