. PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 129! 



How TO Preserve Scions. 



Mr. C. C. Hatch, Ischua, N. Y., who has followed grafting over forty 

 years, says ; 



" I cut lay scions in February. I then take resin with a little oil or tal- 

 low to reduce it, as clear resin is apt to crumble off. Melt it, and when 

 boiling hot dip the end cut from the tree of each scion. This seals the pores 

 of the wood, and then stand tlie buts of the scions on the damp gronnd on 

 tlie bott«>in of my cellar, and turn an empty cask over them. In this way 

 they keep fresh the year round. I have scions of apples and pears in my 

 cellar to-day that are as fresh as when cut last February • and one year, 

 for an experiment, I kept some over the next winter, and set them in April 

 after being cut H months, and they grew. And grape cuttings prepared 

 in this way, and then rolled up in oiled cloth or oiled paper, might be 

 brought from Chili to New York in safety." 



Wheat Weevil. — Where it Breeds. 



Mr. Geo. W. Putnam copies the following article from The Detroit Adver- 

 tiser of Sept. 22, and forwards it for the consideration of the Club. It is 

 furnished by Dr. Isaac Smith, Grosse Point, Michigan. He commences 

 with the question, '"Does the weevil breed in the muUen ?" and then says: 



"I have not seen it stated any where tliat the weevil is in the mullen. 

 It was by accident that I discovered this to be the fact. I believe that if 

 the mullen was exterminated the weevil would go with it. It is a fact that 

 no domestic animal will eat this plant, and that this is a safe retreat through 

 the winter for the weevil. This insect works more on the edge of a wheat 

 field than in the middle. When the ground is summer-fallowed there are 

 often very many mullens left around by the fences. At the proper time the 

 weevil leaves the mullen and attacks the wheat, and then returns to the 

 mullen in the fall. I cannot find it in any other plant. They are located 

 in the mullen about the seed pods, and are thickest near where the wheat 

 stubble is. This matter ought to be investigated by those who have a 

 better opportunity than I have." 



So weT think ; and therefore bring it before the club and through this 

 report, before a great many thousand farmers, who have the means of 

 investigating the subject. But, and here is the trouble; does Dr. Smith 

 mean the weevil, or the wheat midge ? It is the latter that destroys the 

 wheat when the kernels are in milk. It is the former that destroys it 

 after it is stacked or housed, and often after it is threshed and stored for 

 winter. This is the Calandra granaria. The other pest is the Cecidomyia 

 Tritici, sometimes called midge, and sometimes red weevil. It is a. fiy and 

 not a beetle, and therefore not properly called weevil, but we suppose it is 

 the insect spoken of in this communication. 



Diggers versus Plows. 



A California correspondent, having read the letter of M. L. Sullivant, of 

 Illinois, about Comstock's rotary digger, writes to say how much pleased 

 he is with tlie information. He thinks that diggers will supersede plows 

 upon the plains of California, as it would produce a great saving of expensive 

 manual labor. 



[Am. I.nst.] I 



