86 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



July 





The Colorado Potato Bug- 



We are sorry to say that tliis pest of the 

 potatoe field has re-appcarocl iu full force.— 

 The Colorado potatoe bug came from be- 

 yond the Itocky Mountains, and Is supposed 

 to have had its starting point in Colorado— 

 heuce its name. It was first noticed in this 

 part of Iowa about seven years ago — we 

 think, ill the spring of 1863. The Bugolo- 

 gists tell us that this Colorado traveler is 

 making from fifty to seventy miles eastward 

 yearly, and according to report has already 

 reached Ohio. A late number of the Miama 

 (Ohio) Union chronicles its first appearance 

 in that part of Ohio. Last season little or 

 nothing was seen of it about here. It seems 

 to be an established law in nature, that 

 when any kind of insect becomes inordi- 

 nately numerous and destructive, kind 

 Providence provides a cheek. And, like the 

 Chinch bug. Army worm. Grasshopper, etc.. 



LARVAE. BUG. 



each of which has had its periods of increase 

 and excess, and its sudden and mysterious 

 disappearance, within the last fifteen years, 

 we had reason to believe that the potatoe 

 bug had also fulfilled its mission iu this part 

 of the country. But not so as the sequel 

 shows. It seems to have disappeared for a 

 brief period, and only to gain new strength, 

 for it re-appears this season in larger num- 

 bers than .ever. We have yet to fight it, and 

 the question of means or remedies naturally 

 arises. 



To destroy this pest, or at least hold it in 

 check, nothing has proved so effectual in 

 times past, as gathering the bugs by hand 

 and crushing them. This is done by passing 

 along each row, from hill to hill, with a 

 stick in one hand and a broad tin pan in the 

 other. Place the pan close alongside the 



DDSTEK. 



vines, and with the stick carefully incline 

 them over it with a slight jar. If done 

 carefully but very few bugs and larvae will 

 escape the trap. Of late, however, a more 

 expeditious remedy seems to have been 

 found in the use of Paris Green. It is a "dead 



shot " on the buns, but rather a dangerous 

 agent in cat eless hands. Great care should 

 be taken against inhaling it into the lungs. 

 For use, the Green is incorporated with 

 flour, or some other dry powdered substance. 

 A correspondent of the Country Oentleman 

 used it with perfect success in the propor- 

 tion of 1 lb of the Green, 2 lbs of wheat 

 flour, and 16 lbs of finely sifted wood ashes, 

 well mixed. It is dusted upon the vines 

 a dredging-box or something similar 

 and which should be attached to a handle 

 five or six feet iu length. The operator 

 should keep to the windward, and a further 

 precaution by muffling the mouth and nos- 

 trils would be advisable. 



In this connection we present a simple 

 contrivance for a duster. It is made of tin, 

 and of any size desired, with a hollow shank 

 or handle about one and a fourth inches iu 

 diameter and four or five inches in length. — 

 Through this the duster is filled, and also 

 answers the purpose of a socket for the 

 handle, -which may be inserted and with- 

 drawn at pleasure. 



Progress of Fruit Culture 



Mr. P. Wilder, Brtsident of the American 

 Poraological Society, at its Philadelphia 

 session in October last, said : 



Mark the amazing increase of the small 

 fruits. Take, for instance, the strawberry. 

 Within the memory of many of this assem- 

 bly, we were dependent almost wholly upon 

 the wild species of the field, or the few which 

 had been transplanted to our gardens. It is 

 only about thirty years since the first attempt 

 we believe, was made ou this continent to 

 raise from seed a new and improved variet}' 

 — thanks to the enterprise of Mr. Hovey, 

 which gave us a fruit that has stood the test 

 for a whole generation of men. Compare 

 the small, dry, seedy, red, and white wood 

 strawberries of our youth with the numer- 

 ous larger luscious varieties which have come 

 to notice in our day. Not only have the 

 latter increased to hundreds of varieties 

 within this time, but the quantity proauced 

 is in still greater ratio. What would our 

 fathers have said at the dispatch from a 

 single railroad station in the Western States, 

 where fifty years ago the emigrant had 

 scarcely set his foot, of one thousand bushels 

 of strawberries daily to market, or from 

 another depot on the unoccupied lands of 

 New Jersey, taken up within fifteen years, a 

 similar quantity sent to the New York 

 market daily ; or, still more remarkable, from 

 Norfolk, in Virginia, where seventeen years 

 ago the cultivation of this fruit had not 

 commenced, and from whence, during the 

 present season, three millions of quarts have 

 been sent to the Northern markets ! 



Thirty years ago we possessed only two 

 good varieties of the raspberry, the red and 

 white Antwerp ; now we have numerous fine 

 kinds; and where a man thought liimself 

 fortunate to gatlier a saucerful, it is raised, as 

 by our friehd 'W illiam Parry, of New Jersey, 

 by hundreds or thousands of bushels for the 

 market. So of the currant and blaekl)erry. 

 Of the latter, not a single variety had then 

 been introduced into our gardens or cata- 

 1 igues ; now we liave many new kinds, and 

 the product is equally great. 



The ingenious methods of gathering, pre- 

 serving, aud packing of fruits, and the im- 

 proved means of safe transmission to distant 

 markets, are among the most important 

 advances in this new era. To such perfec- 



tion have these been brought that not only 

 our small, tender fruits come to us a hundred 

 or a thousand miles in good ord. r, but the 

 grape and the peai- travi.1 from the Pi:eificto 

 the Atlantic coast. While penning this 

 address, pears and other fruits liave come to 

 our own liands from California, in perfect 

 condition ; aud, to add to our surprise, the 

 pears of that State are finding a market in 

 .Japan. Our cheap and convenient postal 

 facilities for tlie tninsmissicni of seeds, scions, 

 and plants, promoting the introduction of 

 new fruits into the remotest parts of the 

 land, are such as no other nation has ever 

 enjoyed, yet not more than commensurate 

 wi*li the demands of our extensive territory ; 

 and we trust the day is not distant when we 

 shall have equal facilities for such reciprocal 

 advantages with tlie whole world. 



How they withstood the "Winter. 



Mr. D. B. Wier, of Lacon, III., in a com- 

 munication to the Western Bural, on the 

 eftects of last fall and winter on fruit trees, 

 says : 



" Could I have worked out my ' own 

 sweet will ' last summer in cultivation, we 

 would have losa thousands, where, as it is, 

 we will lose but little. The rains came too 

 fast for me iu July ; the weeds got too great 

 a start, aud the trees were .saved. I will 

 now give a list of the varieties that were 

 injured and uninjured here, that may have 

 a vaue for future reference. I will com- 

 mence with evergreens, namir.g them in 

 rotation as damaged, — the worst first: — 

 American Arbor Vitic, Red Cedar, Balsam 

 Fir, Hemlock, White Pine, Norway Spruce. 

 Uninjured — Scotch Pine, Austrian Pine, 

 Norway Pine, Siberian Arbor Vita3, Varie- 

 gated Arbor Vilae ( Amerlean.) 



None of the evergreens in this neiglibor- 

 liood are entirely dead ; some only lose the 

 header; others, the upper growths of the 

 last two or three years ; some all killed liut 

 the lower tiers of branches. All are starting 

 vigorously below where they were injured. 



All the hardiest cherries, such as common 

 Morello, tarlj' Richmond, English Morello, 

 Late Kentish, etc., on light as well as heavy 

 soils, were, many of them, iijjured ; some few 

 killed outright.,— i. e., ycuug trees that were 

 growing thrifty. Like the evergreens, they 

 were killed iu the tops, and with many 

 specimens all tlie twigs of last season's 

 growth failed to grow. Utliers are dead half 

 way down the trunk: others down to just 

 above bud ; some all dead with the Mahakb 

 stock shooting vigurously beneath them. 

 Yet " Rural " says it is tender ! Young 

 thrifty trees of the Duke varieties were 

 mostly spoiled, and, strange to say, young 

 tiees of the Sweet varieties (Hearts and 

 Bigardeaus) did not suft'er nearly as bad as 

 the other classes. We had Gov. Wood that 

 grew nine aud one-half feet freim the bud 

 last season that came out all right. 



Ajjple trees in the Nxireery. — Some varieties 

 were injured iu the twigs, same as ihe cher- 

 ries and evergreens, but the greatest amount 

 of injury resulted fi-om the bark's bursting 

 near the ground. I find on examination tliat 

 many of our hardy forest trees were aflected 

 in the same way, such as Acer Ncgundo, 

 Sassafras, Silver Leaf Maple, Sycamore, etc. 

 A curious fact about these trees which were 

 killed in the tops i.s, that tliey looked all 

 right and perfect until the time for growth 

 to commence in the Spring, when they sud- 

 denly slirivelled and died. So we nursery- 

 men" had the exquisite pleasure of selliag 

 dead trees without knowing it. 



—Lord Brougham estimates that a bee can fly 

 over ninety miles an hour, or one and a half miles 

 a minute. 



