332 [Assembly 



the diligent and able entomologists of Britain, in a great measure 

 to a single insect. Tlie application of entomology to agriculture, 

 at which Andouin, BatzSovirg, and others in France, have labored, 

 promises very valuable results. One of these learned, useful and 

 diligent authors, sums up by saying: "Exact calendars of the 

 epochs in the lives of the noxious insects, cannot fail to be useful 

 to farmers, and every man who has the use of his eyes, and pen 

 and ink, can assist in the preparation of these calendars. Proba- 

 bly they will ultimately have to be combined with meteorological 

 and botanical observations, before they can enable man to gain 

 the victory in the battle he wages with insects for the bread of 

 life." We Americans will have ere long to wage a similar con- 

 test, and we fear unless we conduct it with more vigor and 

 unanimity, and less incredulity as regards the power of the enemy, 

 we shall not succeed even in diminishing his numbers to such an 

 extent, as to make the mischief he does much less felt. 



Prof. Mapes remarked that the practical facts in relation to in- 

 sects was all he could speak to. Soils full of undecomposed root- 

 like fibres were annoyed by insects as well as those containing too 

 large a proportion of decomposable matter; but after the addition 

 of the necessary inorganic constituents, and after proper diJnte- 

 gration, a majority of the insects would disappear. He also spoke 

 of the use of common salt, and its application to the surface of 

 soils as a means of removing a large class of insects. Lime and 

 other alkalies were referred to, as were also the use of tobacco 

 dust and some of the noxious mixtures. Ihe application of a 

 solution of caustic soda to the surfaces of trees v.-ould decompose 

 the ova and the cocoons of insects. He described the insect lamp 

 and the preventive principles of the melon box, which he tliought 

 arose from the peculiar method of flight of the coleoptera insects 

 rather than the glass cover of the box, which might as well be 

 dispensed with when the box is properly constructed. He also 

 mentioned the use of clay placid on the ground under plum trees, 

 to prevent the deposits of the ova of curculios in the earth, for 

 rain caused the particles of clay to close up the pores of the soil 

 and render it impenetrable to them. 



