d8S 



back, two similar Hues along each side, and a 

 white band lower down close to the under 

 surface. One of them was reared through all 

 its stages, and produced a neat and rather 

 pretty moth. 



That destructive pest, the wheat midge, 

 which has entailed so much loss on our farmers 

 in years gone by, has prevailed during the 

 past season to a considerable extent through- 

 out the western part of the Province. Alarm- 

 ing reports were sent to the speaker from 

 various districts, and on the Hith of July a 

 tour of inspection was undertaken for the 

 purpose of ascertaining the extent of the in- 

 jury. During a drive of over 100 miles the 

 wheat fields were examined and midge was 

 found generally distributed but nowhere in 

 in any very great numbers. Some varieties of 

 wheat were much more injured than others. 

 That known as Michigan Amber and Egyp- 

 tian seemed to suffer much. Among the va- 

 rieties almost free from this trouble was the 

 Democrat wheat. The selection of some of 

 the best of the co-called midge-proof varieties 

 for seed, the kernels of which harden so early 

 in the season that the larvse is unable to feed 

 on them, is assuredly one of the most practi- 

 cable methods of lessening the depredations 

 of this troublesome insect. 



The Colorado potato beetle is still further 

 extending its ravages. Having reached the 

 Atlantic seaboard in the East, its further 

 progress in that direction has been arrested. 

 It is now extending its domain over the fer- 

 tile fields of the Northwest. Specimens had 

 been sent to him from Portage la Prairie, 

 where they are said to be confined to the 

 neighborhood of the town, and having been 

 vigorously assailed with Paris green, it is 

 hoped they have been pretty well extermin- 

 ated. Through the kindness of Acton Bur- 

 rows, the efficient deputy Minister of Agri- 

 culture in Manitoba, he had received informa- 

 tion of the appearance of the pest in the 

 counties of Manchester and Dufferin, in the 

 same province, but in none of these localities 

 has the insect yet made much headway. 



Grape growers in some sections of Ontario 

 suffered much early in the season from in- 

 jiaies caused by the grapevine flea, beetle, 

 ''Graptodera Chalybea.''^ This insect, which 

 is about three-twentieths of an inch long, and 

 varies in color from a steel blue to green, 

 passes the winter in the perfect state, hyber- 

 nating under dead leaves and other rubbish, 

 and awakening from its long slumber in early 

 spring, proceeds to satisfy its vigorous appe- 

 tite by consuming the tender buds of the 

 grapevine. Just as they are swelling. These 

 insects have been so plentiful in some vine- 

 yards that the crop has been almost de- 

 stroyed. Where they prove troublesome they 

 may be collected by spreading sheets on the 

 ground under the vines and jarring the canes 

 early in the morning, when the beetles are in 

 a torpid condition, or they may be poisoned 

 by syringing the swelling buds with Paris 

 green and water. 



The plum curculio, Conolrachelm nenuphar, 

 continues its mischievous work in most parts 

 of the Province where plums are grov,-n, and 

 the labor attending the jarring of the trees for 

 the purpose of capturing and killing the insect 

 prevents many from undertaking the cultiva- 

 tion of this useful fruit. Prom the evidence 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[December, 



thus far'obtained it would appear that the rem- 

 edy which has been found so efficacious in sub- 

 duing the Colding moth of the apple, namely, 

 Paris green and water, in the proportion of a 

 teaspoonf ul of the poison to a pailful of water, 

 will also protect the plum crop from the rav- 

 ages of the curculio. This remedy should be 

 extensively tried by thoroughly syringing the 

 trees with it as soon as the fruit has set, and 

 repeating the application in a few days should 

 rain occur to wash it off. Should this remedy 

 prove uniformly successful a great stimulus 

 will be given lo plum culture. " During the 

 past season the plum crop on my own 

 grounds," said Mr. Saunders, "was a failure, 

 the trees having had but very few blossoms. 

 In the absence of plums the curculios deposit- 

 ed their eggs freely on the pears, manifestiug 

 a special fondness for Clapp's Favorite. Al- 

 though I watched them carefully, I failed to 

 find a single example where the insect ma- 

 tured on this fruit. The only effect observed 

 was a slight disfigurement in the form of the 

 fruit and the production of a hard spot where 

 the incision was made. While collecting 

 moths at sugar early in the season I observed 

 one evening about 9 o'clock among the insects 

 which came to sip the sweets two specimens 

 of the plum curculio. I captured one of them, 

 the other fell to the ground before I could se- 

 cure it. Experiments made by me some 

 years ago proved that this insect is active at 

 night as well as in daylight, but this ss the 

 only instance I have known of its being at- 

 tracted to sugar at night. 



From one locality complaints reached me 

 about the middle of June last of the abund- 

 ance of a spiny caterpillar feeding on cuirant 

 bushes which my correspondent supposed to 

 be a new currant worm. Specimens were for- 

 warded and proved to be the caterpillar of 

 the gray comma butterfly Grapta progne. 

 This insect may be found almost any season 

 in limited numbers on the wild gooseberry 

 and currant bushes in open woods and occa- 

 sionally on the cultivated varieties, but this is 

 the first instance to my knowledge where the 

 insect has appeared in sufficient numbers to 

 cause injury. They are so very subject to 

 parasites that it is not at all likely they will 

 ever prove generally destructive, syringing the 

 bushes with Paris green and water or dusting 

 the foliage with powdered hellebore will soon 

 make an end of them. 



In the neighborhood of Drummondville, 

 several acres of red raspberries were stripped 

 of their foilage by the larva of the raspberry 

 savv'-fly Selamlria rubi. Reports of injury 

 from this pest have also been received from 

 several other localities. It is a green worm 

 which is so exactly of the color of the young 

 foilage it feeds on that it frequently escapes 

 detection. When examined this larva is 

 found to much resemble that well-known pest 

 the currant worm, but it has no black dots. 

 If allowed to pursue their course they soon 

 riddle the leaves, leaving little more than a 

 net-w;ork of the coaser veins. An application 

 of the hellebore mixed with water in the pro- 

 portion of an ounce of the powder to a pailful 

 of water speedily destroys them. 



A new clover insect has recently invaded 

 our Province which promises to be trouble- 

 some. It is a small curculio known to Ento- 

 mologists iis punctured clover leaf weevil 



Phi/tonomxis punctatus. It is said to have 

 been introduced from Europe within the past 

 few years. The late Dr. LeConte in a work 

 published in 1876 reports having received one 

 specimen from Canada, but at that time 

 nothing seemed to have been known of its 

 habits. In 1881 Prof. Riley published in the 

 American Naturalist an account of the injury 

 done to clover fields in Yates county. New 

 York, by this insect ; in one instance in a 

 patch of two acres scarcely a whole leaf re- 

 mained. The beetle is about 2-5 of an 

 long of a dark brown color, marked with dull 

 yellow and has its wing cases thickly punc- 

 tured. Each female is said to deposit from 

 200 to 300 eggs, which are sometimes laid on 

 the surface of the leaf stem but more frequent- 

 ly thrust into the interior of the older stems. 

 The young larvse may be found as early as in 

 May, but being small they do not usually at- 

 track notice until almost a month later. At 

 first they feed among the folded young leaves 

 or attached to the under side of a leaf. When 

 approaching full growth they feed chiefly on 

 the margins of the leaves, into which they eat 

 irregular holes. At this period they are not 

 easily seen, as they relax their hold and drop 

 suddenly to the ground when approached ; 

 m,oreover they feed chiefly during the night 

 and hide in the day time among the roots 

 and stalks of the plants. When full grown 

 the larvie spins a small coccoon, which is 

 usually placed a little below the surface of the 

 ground, in which it changes to a chrysalis ; 

 about three weeks later the beetle escapes. 

 From observations which have been made on 

 this insect at the Department of Agriculture, 

 in Washington, the average period required 

 from the time of the depositing of the egg to 

 the escape of the mature beetle is three and 

 one-third months, hence, in most localities, 

 there will be two breeds during the summer, 

 ^r. A. H. Kilman, one of our members re- 

 siding in Ridgeway, was the first to report 

 the occurrence of this pest in Ontario which, 

 he says, was wafted to our shores by prevail- 

 ing east winds about the 10th of August last. 

 On this date the beetles appeared on the op- 

 posite side of Lake Erie, in Buffalo, in such 

 m;Ultitudes that thousands of them were 

 crushed on the pavements by the feet of pass- 

 es by. Mr. Kilman says : "I picked them 

 from the fences and sidewalks, and found 

 them in the grass in my lawn ; I am of opin- 

 ion that they will go into winter quarters 

 here and open up a lively campaign in the 

 spring. Whatever the saquel may show I 

 fear that these invaders will prove of better 

 staying qualities than those who crossed the 

 border in '66 and turned to the right about at 

 Ridgeway because Canada was not the ' clover 

 patch ' they were looking for." 



As the larvce will be found most numerous 

 in, the latter part of May or early in June, it 

 is recommended that the clover be heavily 

 rolled at that time for the purpose of destroy- 

 ing them. If badly infested fields were 

 ploughed about this period the destruction of 

 the insects would be still more certain. 



Early in the summer alarming accounts 

 were received of another Insect injuring the 

 maple trees, especially the shade trees on 

 streets and avenues. This was a species of 

 coccus or bark house, Pulomariainnunierabilis, 

 which forms brown scales on the branches 



