74 Tlie Western Pomologist and Gardener. 1872 



TUe Grape Vine FIdla. 



By The Entomolo(;ical Editor. 



For a number of years this Beetle has been known to Entomologists, and belongs to a 

 largo group of Beetles — the (Ihrymmlia family — but remained unnoticed until the year 

 1867, when it was described for the first time by the late Dr. Benjamin D. Walsh, of Rock 

 Island, Illinois, in the Practical Entomologist, volume two, page 87, and by him given the 

 classical title of Fidia Viticida. 



This coleopterous insect, of which the cut in the margin of this 

 article will serve to give the readers of the Pomologist and Gar- 

 dener an idea of its appearance, the hair line representing its natu- 

 ral length ; is colored chestnut-brown and covered with whitish hairs, 

 which gives it a hoary appearance. Its legs are all the same size, not 

 enlarged in the thighs, as is the case with the steel-blue Beetle — the 

 Grape Vine Flea Beetle — Ealtica Chalybea. Like all other mem- 

 bers of the Chrysomda family it has four joints in its feet, (tarsi) and by their Zaruce almost 

 universally feeding on the leaves of plants. It makes its appearance in May and June> 

 and by the end of July is gone. Its mode of propagation is not understood further than 

 analogy to allied insects suggests. 



As a foe to the grape vine it stands number one — doing its meanness by eating holes in 

 the leaves, which it reduces to mere shreds if the insects are numerous. It is found on 

 the native grape vines of the woods and on the Cercis Canadensis, and is exceedingly fond 

 of the Concord of the vineyard, as well as several other varieties. By persons unac- 

 quainted with them they are often taken for the Rose Bug, an entirely different being. 



Like the Colorado Potato Beetle — Doryphora dicem, and the Curculio family, when dis- 

 turbed it feigns death and falls to the ground ; this habit is a fortunate one for the grape 

 grower, for by this means it is easily captured and destroyed. Chickens and ducks devour 

 them ravenously when thus shaken to the ground. 



Ashes for the Borer. — Perhaps my mode of getting rid of borers in trees would be 

 of interest to some of the readers of the Pomologist : If near the ground, I cone up fresh 

 dry ashes, so as to cover the location of the depredator, and if high up, wet the ashes and 

 put on a good layer, and bind it there with a piece of cloth, and the intruder is done for. 

 Once in Illinois I had over two hundred peach trees badly assailed by them, the borer. I 

 went to a steam mill and got a large amount of good dry ashes, and put from a peck to a 

 bushel to the tree, and I had no further trouble with borers. Some of the trees at the 

 time were pronounced, by those who professed to know, to be badly affected by the yel- 

 lows ; but whatever the disease was, it quickly disappeared after the application of the 

 ashes. — Peter M. Gideon, Excelsior, Minnesota. 



Peaches. — Wm. Parry furnished the following select list of peaches for profit in New 

 Jersey, at the meeting of the Pennsylvania Fruit-Growers' Society, giving a succession 

 from earliest to latest : Hale's Earlj', Troth's Eatlj-, Mountain Rose, Large Early York, 

 Crawford's Early, Oldmixon Free, Stump the World, Ward's Late Free, Barker's Seedling 

 Late Rareripe, Crawford's Late, Beer's Smock, Heath Cling and Salway. The latest of 

 these would not ripen well as far north as New York State. 



Cranberries on Upland. — A writer in the Journal of Agriculture claims that the 

 cranberry may be successfully grown on sandy loam. His mode is to dig trenches two 

 feet wide and twenty inches deep, and fill up with swamp muck, and set the plants thereon. 

 We have no faith in this plan. The cranberry plant will grow and flourish on sandj' loam 

 without the muck for a time, as we have seen, but as for fruit it amounts to little or noth- 

 ing, and the plant itself will soon dwindle away. We have seen the cranberry growing on 

 poor upland in New England and fruiting well among alders, where the plants were par- 

 tially shaded from the sun. 



