82 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITDTE. 



poitiun from a low dcplli in llio subsoil, which its stroiij^ nx/ts open ami 

 anic'liorati'. It is raivly injurrd by diuiilh or insects. It must not be .sown 

 in tlie SiJiinj; until the danger of frost is past. Tho seeds are used for 

 cattle food, but it cannot be recommended for that use in this country. 



Cherry Trees Infested with Aphides. 



Mr. James Bedford, Shefiield, Mass., writes : " Our cheiry trees for the 

 last two years have been grievously afllicled with an insect that is new \o 

 me. It is first seen on th(» under side of the leaf, a mere mass of black 

 Bpecks. It causes the leaf to euil, grinv sticky, and finally to fail from the 

 tree. This season, this insect has taken possession of the fruit, and is in 

 such masses that the bunches of half-grown cherries and the small twigs* 

 and limbs of the trees arc a mass of black stick}' matter, and alive- at that. 

 Under the microscope they present a disgusting appearance. I tried early 

 in the season a sprinkling of unleached ashes on the foliage, but without 

 effect. I send herewith a specin.en of the ' varniijit.' " 



Dr. Trimble said that the lice which overwhelmed Egypt are said to havtr 

 come out of the dust. That is not the .way these cojne. liy watching 

 them with a magnifying glass tlu; manner (jf reproduction can be seen, and 

 the rapidity of increase is enormous. There is no kind of vegetation exempt 

 from tiiese {)ests, and nothing but an increase of their natural destructors 

 can ever rid us of the nuisance. I have some spinach that is literally alive 

 with swarms of these aphides. On the same jjlants 1 have lately observed 

 a multitude of lady bugs. They have come to enjoy a feast of their natural 

 food, and they increase so fast that I am at a loss to kiunv how they are 

 to live when the lice are gone. These bugs arc our real friends. 



Manure — its Effect on Fruit Trees. 



Mr. J. riocker. Fort Sully, D. T., reiterates the slatemcnt heretofore 

 made, of the efi'ect produced by a manure pile upon one siile of an apjde 

 tree which greatly increased the grcnvth of branches upon that side, lie 

 now says : " I should have mentioned that the tree previous to deriving 

 any benefit from this manure pile, was growing together with others in a 

 small strip of timotliy meadow, and naturally Irom the continuation of this 

 cause (being a tree of some eight or ten years of age) was in a languish- 

 ing condition. It may very well be that some trees will send forth roots 

 of the nature of the tap root, seeking those conditions most favorable to the 

 growth of the roots, and the tree show no corrcspotuling- growth of branches 

 on tiie side of the tree thus favored, or again the roots may be entirely cut 

 away from «tne side of the tr<-e, and tin.' branches over these roots show but 

 slightly the ill efi'i-cts of such tjsage, because the spau^,- occupied by the 

 decaying roots will soon be occupied again by other thrifty growing roots ; 

 but both these circumstances do not destroy the idea that th(! branches on 

 one side of tin; tree may be accelerated in their growth by a particular 

 management of the roots. For instam*e, the forest trees near a clearing 

 will, under favorable circunislances, throw out the thriftiest branches on 

 the side of the clearing, and the plowman finds to his cost that the roots 

 follmv suit. In c<jnnectiou with this subject, a writt.'r in an iigricultural 



1 



