STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 75 



and there hibernated through the winter. On the 12th of January— thermom- 

 eter 16° below freezing, ground covered with snow — at sunrise, I took some 

 limbs from those trees, and in the house examined the interior of these warts 

 with the microscope. The insects were dormant, their legs and antennte curled 

 up, having the appearance of a cluster of eggs. I left them before the fire and 

 the influence of the sun, during my breakfast. On returning in half an hour 

 the warmth had re-animated the insects. The next spring they transformed, 

 left the warts, and constructed a new ring of warts with eggs in them. 



Yours very respectfully, 



Lyman Reed." 



Insect Enemies. 



Of predaceous insects injurious to the cherry, I know but two 

 whose operations are observ^able to the unaided vision. The com- 

 mon green aphis, which infests alike the rapid growing, succulent 

 shoots of the apple and cherry tree, covering the leaves in great 

 numbers, causes a discoloration of the foliage and a sort of blight 

 and arrest of growth. I have observed that late in the season the 

 extremities of the young branches sometimes appear to be dried 

 up and dead, and a portion of the same branches fail to put out 

 new leaves the following year. I think the operations of the 

 aphides are detrimental to the health and growth of the tree. It 

 is evident that they extract a considerable portion of the sap which 

 the vital forces cause to flow abundantly to the extremities of the 

 branches, and which also attracts the black ant. I once supposed 

 the ant was the enemy of the aphides, but have not discovered any 

 facts to verify this supposition ; and I think the ant is as great a 

 lover of the juice obtained from the soft shoots as the aphides. 



Cole says the aphides " are of different colors, as green, brown, 

 blue, black, red, crimson ; of various sizes, from that of a mite to 

 the bigness of a pear-bug ; naked, or clothed in a woolly or furzy 

 covering. As they multiply with astonishing rapidity, they should 

 be destroyed as they make their appearance." Whale oil soap, 

 soap suds, or tobacco water, are recommended for destroying the 

 aphis. The usual proportion of whale oil soap is 1 pound to about 

 7 gallons of water. A noted French horticulturist is reported to 

 have recently made the discovery that the yellowish, strong smell- 

 ing excretion of tomato leaves is poisonous to plant aphides, and 

 quite as effectual in destroying them as tobacco water. The leaves 

 are macerated in water, and the water used for sprinkling or im- 

 mersion of the infested plants. It would be very convenient to 

 bend the tip of a cherry or apple tree limb downward and immerse 



