248 TRANSACTIONS OP THE AMEIIICAN INSTITUTE. 



tivate them to the best of my ability, and will ever hold you and the kind 

 donor in o'vatel'iil remembrance." 



Mr. Dodge moved to have the wholeof the letters referred to a committee 

 of five, for the purpose of discovering- other fragrant flowers, like thoso 

 which Mr. Robinson has just presented. 



Mr. Dodge, Mr. Carpenter, Mr. Bergen, Mr. Bull, and Miss Allen, of Ycr- 

 raont, with the Chairman,, were appointed said committee, 



SWEETBRIER SeEDS. 

 One of our lady correspondents " wants to kno^T how to grow t!ie seeds 

 of sweetbrier, in which she has not been successfyl." Mr. Cavenach re- 

 plies: The buds must be gathei'ed as soon as ripe, and the seed washed and 

 placed in moist sand and frozen until the next spring, and then it will grow 

 without difficult}'. 



Habits of the Chinch-Bug. 



Mr. B. E. Flethcrty, North Prairie, Knox Co., Ill , gives the following 

 reason why the plan of sowing spring wheat upon unplowed corn-stubbles 

 tends to prevent the ravages of that terrible pest of wheat-growers in Illi- 

 nois, the chinch bug. The bugs that lay eggs in the spring do not deposit 

 them until after the wheat is up. Then they work their way deeply down 

 in loose ground and fasten their eggs upon all the fibrous roots. He says: 

 " Last spring I carefully ^extracted some wheat that was iu some very 

 loose ground, and it was astonishing beyond anything I ever saw of the 

 kind; the little roots were literally loaded with eggs". Where this took 

 place, the ground was broken in the spring, and the wheat was not worth 

 cutting. That which was harrowed in when the ground was thawed about 

 two inches deep yielded me about twenty bushels per acre. These little 

 pests can't work in the hard ground to deposit their eggs on the roots, sO 

 there are no young bugs. Now let every farmer make all the inquiry he 

 can, and see if this theory does not hold good. One thing should be remem- 

 bered: the bugs do not choose to lay their eggs in wet ground. D. K. Em- 

 erson, of Dane Co., Wisconsin, says the bugs generally commence on some 

 small, dryish patches, because' there the ground is more loose and generally 

 deeper than other places, and the}' can penetrate to the roots to lay their 

 eggs," 



Corn Worms. 



Mr. James V. Thompson, Richland Co., Ohio, says : " I discovered, last 

 summer, on James River, Va., that nearly all the corn, when in the milk, 

 was infected with worms, feeding upon the succulent kernels at the end of 

 the cob. These worms, in size, color and general appearance, were much 

 like the cut-worm; and so far as I could see, every ear in the field was at- 

 tacked by this eneiny. Can the Club give us the benefit of their remarks 

 on this subject ?" 



Dr. Trimble. — Th's worm is from the angoumois moth ; it has long been 

 a pest of Southern corn-growers. It is not much known at the North. The 

 early corn grown for market iu New Jersey is infested to some extent. We 

 nave frequently seen ears upon which one-quarter of the grains were dc- 



