34 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[March, 



periods of development they must have been 

 enth-ely overlooked. On one occasion a lady 

 called our attention to a rose bush, which she 

 alleged became suddenly infested by the 

 " Rose-slug " (Salandra rosm) ' only the night 

 before,' as she said, when in fact they were 

 there ten days before, only they were too 

 small to be readily detected. We have heard 

 people make the same assertion in reference 

 to the " sudden appearance " of the larva of 

 the "White Cabbage Butterfly," {Pierisrapce), 

 which had evaded their observation on account 

 of its small size and green color. The fact is, 

 young and sharp-sighted should interest the 

 themselves in looking up these insect pests ; 

 " threescore and tens " and " octogenerians " 

 are very liable to overlook them when small. 



Perhaps there is not a more pernicious per- 

 sistent, and prolific pest to the currant and 

 gooseberry, than the larva of the "currant 

 and gooseberry Saw-fly," (Wcmatus ventricosis) 

 which was imported into this country years 

 ago from England, or the continent of Europe; 

 and we "guess" this is the one to which our 

 correspondent specifically alludes. Now, this 

 insect produces two broods at least, during 

 the season. They hibernate in the larva or 

 pupa state— or both— during the winter, and 

 the fly appears early in the spring, or as soon 

 as the currants and gooseberries are in foilage. 

 The males are black and yellow, the females a 

 honey yellow and twice as large as the males, 

 and all have four transparent wings. Early 

 in the morning, or during cool days they are 

 somewhat sluggish, and may be easily cap- 

 tured, but they must be looked for — we have 

 captured hundreds of them. 



That is remedy No. 1, and is largely pre- 

 ventive. If this has not been attended to, the 

 females will deposit their eggs on the under 

 sides of the leaves, and there will bo plenty of 

 worms, but so small at first as to evade de- 

 tection, but their presence is usually indicated 

 by the small round holes cut in the leaves. It 

 is true there are several parasites that prey 

 upon the larva, but it is still necessary to use 

 an artificial remedy, and the most common, 

 and perhaps so far the best is " White Hele- 

 bore." An ounce of helebore to a common 

 pail of water, and the bushes freely sprinkled 

 with it. This will give them (that is, the 

 worms) their quietus within an hour or two. 

 They can also be hand-picked, but the opera- 

 tion is not a pleasant one. If none of these 

 things have been attended to, then when the 

 larvse mature they will come down from the 

 bushes and spin an oval shaped coccoon 

 among the leaves, grass or other rubbish under 

 the bushes, where they may be gathered and 

 burned. This usually occurs in June. If 

 these cocoons are not destroyed, from them 

 will evolve an increased and more destructive 

 brood in July and August : and these when 

 matured, if permitted, will go into the ground- 

 and remain there all winter and produce the 

 first brood the following spring. There it is 

 in a "nut-shell." It is altogether useless 

 to indulge in complaints ; we must become 

 aggressive : We must meet the enemy, if we 

 expect him to be "ours." 



We have also a native species of saw-fly, 

 that infests the currants and gooseberries, 

 but it is not so common, so numerous, nor de- 

 structive as the foreign species, nor is it so 

 large, and is darker in color. Its larva is 



plain green, and is without the black dots 

 which characterize the larva of the foreign 

 species. 



As to the grape vine we have noticed two 

 or three insects that have been markedly de- 

 structive to the foliage. The most numerous 

 was the "Grape-leaf Flea-beetle," {Grapto- 

 dera chalybea) of a steel blue or greenish 

 color. It hibernates in the soil during the 

 winter, and comes forth iu early spring, and 

 then destroys the leaf-buds. Later in the 

 season the larvae appear and destroy the 

 foliage. There are several broods during the 

 season, for we have seen the mature beetle 

 and the larva in different stages of growth 

 on the grape vines at the same time. When 

 the larva is matured it leaves the vines, goes 

 into the ground, is transformed and comes 

 forth again a full-fledged beetle, and repeats 

 its history. But as there is then an abund- 

 ance of foliage, they are not nearly so de- 

 structive as the first orood. The larva is a 

 small six-footed brownish worm, sparely cov- 

 ered with tubercles and bristles. 



The re.uedy for these insects in the beetle 

 state is strewing the ground beneath the in- 

 fested vines with air-slaked lime in autumn, 

 or hand picking them in the spring, and in 

 cool mornings the latter is not difficult to ac- 

 complish, but iu the heat of the day, like the 

 Irishman's flea, " When you put your finger 

 on him he is not there," being a very nimble 

 leaper. 



Both the larva and the beetle may be de- 

 stroyed by sprinkling the vines with a tea- 

 spoonful of Paris Green stirred into a gallon 

 of water— those proportions in any quantity. 

 The two other insects alluded to are the 

 " American Procris" (Proeris Americana) 

 and the "grape-leaf saw fly," (Selandria 

 vitis) and they both may be destroyed by the 

 same remedy as the foregoing. As the first 

 spins its cocoon on the leaf, its destruction 

 may be aft'ected much easier than the last 

 named, as it enters the ground, and emerges 

 iu spring. The speculative and philosophical 

 portion of our correspondent's letter, we can- 

 not reply to at this time. The worm that at- 

 tacked the wheat was probably the " White- 

 bud army worm," {Lucania alMlniea.) 



SAN JOSE SCALE. 



Virginia, Nev., Feb. 13th, 1884. 

 Prof. S. S. Rathvon, Lancaster city, Pa. 



Bear Sir: Our mutual friend, Mr. J. S. 

 Stackhouse, requests me to write you these 

 few lines and send you the enclosed insect, 

 called the "San Jose Scale," as described in 

 the book called " Injurious Insects of the 

 Orchard, Vineyard." &c., by Matthew Cook, 

 dedicated to Mary E. Gregory, of Sacramento 

 City, California. 



This louse or scale bug infests nearly all the 

 fruit trees, shrubs, fruit and vegetables in 

 Santa Clara and some other counties of Cali- 

 fornia to an alarming extent, and Mr. Stack- 

 house as well as myself would like your opin- 

 ion as to some mode of exterminating the 

 same. The enclosed insect, as you find, is 

 attached to a stem or stalk of tule. 



If it is not asking too much please drop Mr. 

 Stackhouse or me a line. 



Respectfully yours, 



John Gillig. 



Your favor and inclosed insects were duly 



received. Although we are acquainted with 

 quite a number of scale insects infesting 

 plants, trees and shrubbery In this region of 

 country we know little— except inferentially — 

 about those infesting vegetation in Nevada or 

 California, and your specimens are the first 

 that have been sent us from beyond the 

 boundaries of Pennsylvania for some years. 

 We have never seen the work on " Injurious 

 Insects," written or published by Mr. Cook, 

 but we have before us at this writing a copy 

 of the Sacramento Weekly Union, iu wliich 

 Mr. Cook publishes a lengthy illustrated paper 

 on " Our Insect Enemies," but its usefulness 

 to anybody outside of those States is sadly 

 marred by the almost total absence of scien- 

 tific names. 



The entomological fauna of the Pacific 

 States differs so much from that of the 

 Atlantic States — both generically and speci- 

 fically — that the ignoring of their scientific 

 names, and substituting only the common 

 local names, throws very little clear light 

 upon the subject, unless they are very skill- 

 fully illustrated with colored figures, perhaps 

 more than can be said of the illustrations 

 before us. 



Mr. Cook seems to be very confident that 

 the farmers of California are fully competent 

 to exterminate all the noxious insects of Cali- 

 fornia, and not only can do so, but have done 

 so. Hear him. "It can be said, without 

 fear of contradiction, that the fruit-growers 

 of California have by patient investigation 

 and thorough work practically demonstrated 

 that they are masters of the situation." 



But that is not all, he still more emphati- 

 cally says : "It can be further stated, that 

 the enterprising fruit-growers of this State 

 have done more intelligent successful work in 

 their warfare against all kinds of insects since 

 the first of January, 1881, than has been done 

 in any other portion of the United States, or 

 any other part of the world in the last fifteen 

 years." 



This may be so, and, for the sake of 

 humanity, we wish it were so if it is not so. 

 But we are apprehensive that ten years here- 

 after Mr. Cook will not be so sanguine as he 

 seems to be now. We agree with him, how- 

 ever, in this, that if ever such an end is ac- 

 complished it must be through means similar 

 to those he mentions, namely : Intelligent, en- 

 ergetic, persevering and simultaneous manipu- 

 lation. 



Either the insects of California must be 

 very unsophisticated, or her fruit-growers a 

 very "sharp" kind of people ; and our fruit- 

 growers very dull or indolent, and our insects 

 ' sharp;" for the warfare between the latter 

 has now existed for more than thirty years, 

 and still the insects have not been subdued, 

 notwithstanding the literature on the subject 

 has been profusely and widely diffused. 



Mr. Cook's main remedy is, " Washing or 

 spraying the infested trees, *where dormant, 

 with a solution containing one pound of con- 

 centrated lye to each gallon water, and spray- 

 ing in summer with whale-oil soap and sul- 

 phur mixture." Under certain circumstances 

 " Paris green" is recommended. We find it 

 difficult to exterminate scale insects here with 



*AVe are doubtful here, whether the term "dormant," 

 relates to the plant or tiie insect — perhaps to both, as 

 both are usually in that condition during the winter 



