1.SS4.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



35 



those remedies, unless they are applied about 

 the time the young emerge from the eggs, 

 and hcatter over the trees and shrubs. Even 

 a dashing shower of rain, at that particular 

 period, vnll, and every j'ear daca, destroy 

 many millions of them ; for, if a perfect insect 

 was matured from every egg developed, they 

 would soon destroy all succulent vegetation, 

 or iiny plant that yielded sap. Mr. C men- 

 tions the " so-called San Jose scale," but does 

 not illustrate it. His description, however, 

 IS too meagre to afford much help towards a 

 specific identification. The insects you en- 

 closed, attached to the stem of "Tule," 

 seem to be a species of Aspidiotus ; (perhaps, 

 A. aurantii) the stem of the plant, however, 

 as well as the insects themselves, are pressed 

 down so flat, and have become so thoroughly 

 dried, that it is diflrcult to determine their 

 species. In this latitude, June and July are 

 the months in which the young scale insects 

 are excluded from the eggs, but in California 

 or Nevada this evolution would probably 

 occur at an earlier period. The visible scales 

 are the mother insects — the males of many 

 species do not survive the winter — and they 

 are usually impervious to any liquid remedy. 

 When they are lodged on any plant that is 

 worth preserving, or where they are accessi- 

 ble, rubbing them oil' with the finger, or a 

 stiff brush, is the surest remedy. Spiaying, 

 as a general rule, is of little value except it is 

 done at the proper time indicated above. We 

 have found oil very efficacious in removing 

 scales from young pear, apple, or cherry trees 

 —it closes the pores and kills the insect. 



The insects commonly called "scales," 

 "scabs," or "bark-lice," all belong to the 

 great Coccus family. {Coceklce) of which 

 coccus is the typical genus, and there are many 

 species of them — hundreds at least. When 

 found on trees in late winter, or in early 

 spring, in the form of a scale, there is usually 

 little or no vitality in them. We then have, 

 generally, only the shrivelled and shrunken, 

 or dead body of the female before us, iind her 

 main function then is merely a protecting 

 covering to the eggs which are concealed 

 beneath her body. If this shield or scale were 

 not impervious to fluids it would afford in- 

 sutticient protection to the eggs. Tliis impene- 

 trable quality resists all moisture, and would 

 also resist any liquid remedy, for no matter 

 how long, how cold, or how wet a winter is, 

 it has no injurious effect upon these scales. 

 When the young are excluded from the eggs 

 thuy are very minute objects, in many species 

 microscopical. Some of them are very nimble 

 pedestrians, but so very delicate in their or- 

 ganization that perhaps not two survives out 

 of every hundred, but they are very numerous. 

 On one occasion we counted 5G0 young that 

 issued from a single scale of a species of Ptd- 

 vinaria (the mai)le scale,) and over 1000 from 

 an oak scale. These tiny beings disperse, 

 and locate themselves on the young wood, 

 sink in their little beaks, and become station- 

 ary, subsisting on the sap. Nearly all that 

 thus locate themselves are females. The 

 males generally arc winged, and do not be- 

 come scales.- After fertilization they perish. 

 The females ultimately become degraded into 

 a mere scale, losing all their members but 

 their sucking tubes. 

 The case is, however, different with the 



" Red Scale of California," the male of which 

 also forms a scale, although much smaller 

 than that of the female, nor is that species so 

 prolific as .some of ours in Pennsylvania ; 

 from "20 to 2.5 being the number of eggs. The 

 different genera have different developmental 

 histories, in many of which, the males are not 

 yet known. The apple and pear bark-lice, or 

 Scales, are somewhat of this latter character, 

 especially so far as it relates to their prolifica- 

 tion. 



In mentioning oil, as a remedy for the de- 

 struction of scale insects, we by no means 

 would recommend it indiscriminately. Almost 

 any kind of oil would certainly kill the insects 

 if it came in fair contact with them, but some 

 kinds of oil would also be injurious to the 

 trees or plants, and among these are undiluted 

 coal oil, or kerosene ; and, we have been 

 credibly informed that linseed oil has an in- 

 jurious efl'ect upon the trees. After the vola- 

 tile portion of linseed oil evaporates a gummy 

 envelop invests the surface on which it is ap- 

 plied, closing up the pores and preventing 

 respiration, causes enervation and final death 

 of the i)lant, or at least the oiled portion of 

 it. Oil of turpentine, or spirits of turpentine, 

 no doubt, would kill every insect it came in 

 contact with, but we are informed that this is 

 also injurious to vegetation. If a smgle drop 

 were applied to each insect with a camel's 

 hair pencil, nothing would be surer, for we 

 experimented with turpentine successfully 

 many long years ago, merely for the fun of 

 the thing. But, as a remedy, it might be like 

 one said to have been disposed of by an enter- 

 prising itinerant vender at a militia training 

 many years ago. It was for the destruction 

 of fleas, and sold like "hot cakes." At the 

 end of the sale an inquisitive old gentleman, 

 who had invested fifty cents in the " flea 

 powder," inquired how it was to be applied. 

 He was informed that the application was 

 very simple and sure as simple. All he had 

 to do was to seize the flea back of the neck, 

 choke him, and when he opened his 

 mouth he was to throw into it a small quan- 

 tity of the powder. "Well, but," he in- 

 quired, " mightn't I just as well kill him 

 while I have him in my power ?" " You can 

 do as you please about that," was the 

 vender's cool reply. If we can get near 

 enough to a scale insect to apply a drop of 

 turpentine on the end of a camel's hair pencil 

 it would be just as efficacious and mnch 

 cheaper to rub off the insect with the finger 

 nail, being all a matter of choice. 



The Agricultural Department at Washing- 

 ton has for some time been experimenting 

 with an emulsion of kerosene oil with satis- 

 factory results. One gallon of kerosene and 

 half a gallon of cow's milk, thoroughly agi- 

 tated until it has the appearance of soft but- 

 ter. One pint of this mixture, with one and 

 a half gallons of water, adding the water 

 gradually and stirring vigorously until all is 

 added. Applied throtf^h a garden syringe or 

 pump this emulsion is claimed to be better 

 than any alkalious solution. 



EXCERPTS. 



Our stock of knowledge of the animal 



kingdom is increasing very rapidly. The 



number of mammals is now estimated at 



about 1,200, of birds, 7,500, of reptiles, 2,000, 

 and of fishes, 10,000, making a total of about 

 20,000 species belonging to the higher classes. 

 Near the close of the seventeenth century 

 these groups of animals — now known as ver- 

 tebrates—were thought to include a total of 

 about 1,000 species. As naturalists have be- 

 come familiar with the invertebrates their list 

 of these creatures has become enormous. Of 

 beetles alone the museums of the world con- 

 tain over 100,000 species, while the best esti- 

 mates place the total number of distinct 

 forms of insects at more than .500,000. The 

 whole animal kingdom is believed to embrace 

 about 1,050,C00 species. 



Blending of Colors. — The following 

 table is vouched for Dy the best authorities as 

 the best for producing compound colors. The 

 first named color and the others follow in the 

 order of their importance. The exact pro- 

 portion of each can only be determined by 

 experiment. 



Buff— Mix white, yellow ochre and red. 



Chestnut— Red, black and yellow. 



Chocolate — Raw umber, red and black. 



Claret — Red, umber and black. 



Clopper— Red, yellow and black. 



Dove— White, vermilion, blue and yellow. 



Drab — White, yellow ochre, red and black. 



Fawn- White, yellow and red. 



Flesh — White, yellow ochre, red vermilion. 



Freestone— Red, black, yellow ochre and 

 white. 



French Gray— White, Prussian blue and 

 lake. 



Gray— White lead and black. 



Gold— White, stone ochre and red. 



Green Bronze— Chrome green, black and 

 yellow. 



Green Pea— White and chrome green. 



Lemon— White and chrome yellow. 



Limestone— White, yellow ochre, black and 

 red. 



Olive— Yellow, blue, black and white. 



Orange — Yellow and red. 



Peach— White and vermilion. 



Pearl— White, black and blue. 



Pink— White, vermilion and lake. 



Purple— "Violet, with more red, and white. 



Rose— White and madder lake. 



Sandstone— White, yellow ochre, black and 

 red. 



Snufl— Yellow and Vandyke brown. 



Violet— Red, blue and white. — Ex. 



During the year 18S3, .^-50 head of polled 

 Aberdeen-Angus cattle were imported from 

 Scotland. 



It is estimated that the dairy region of 

 which Elgin, 111., is the centre, produces 

 20,000,000 gallons of milk a year. 



A FARM of 100 acres of good arable land 

 should keep at least six work horses, twenty 

 milch cows and twenty hogs. 



The sales of thoroughbred A'lerdeen-Angus 

 and Shorthorn cattle in Scotland last year 

 footed up Sl9 head, for which $143,000 was 

 paid. 



The average price of Shorthorns in 1881 was 

 $15S ; in 18S2 it was 8182.10, and in 1883 it 

 was !|;205.5(), with prospects for it being still 

 higher for 1884. 



Less grain and more grazing tend to a 

 better development of frame and muscle than 



