PROCEEDINGS OP THE FARMERS' CLUB. 81 



preventive capable of a general and economical application, is a deln- 

 sion. There are precautionary methods, simple of comprehension, that are 

 of immense value. 



" There may be a difference in the qualities of the different varieties for 

 resisting the deleterious effects of what is to the potatoe the poison, if I 

 msLj so express it, of these little depredators. But the great practical 

 desideratum is to get just such a growth and no more, as will insure some- 

 thing like a fair crop, for the more luxuriant the g.owth the tenderer the 

 vine — the quality which attracts the bugs. Wet and warm seasons, or 

 too moist and rich land, or the presence of manures, cause rapid growth, 

 and invites the ravages of the bugs. The vines of some varieties, too, are 

 more palatable to the bugs. All this is to be adjusted by observing the 

 phenomenon under different circumstances. 



"I always use ashes and nothing else; dusting them, as much as conve- 

 nient, all over the vines in the hill, and I can succeed tolerably well on 

 rather rich soils, if light and dry, by applying the ashes occasionally, 

 when they have been washed off by rains. 



"After many years experimenting, I have adopted the habit of digging 

 as soon as the vines are mostly dead. Have the potatoes as dry and free 

 from dirt as possible. Place them in shallow bins, raised a little from the 

 ground; and don't neglect to hunt them over careful I3' a few weeks after 

 digging, that the affected ones may be removed. These may be fed to 

 cattle or swine and not lost. When thus sorted over, they may be put into 

 heaps, somewhat; some say sprinkle among them charcoal. It may be 

 good, as teiiding to neutralize the latent effects of the insect's saliva. 

 The ashes on the tops, or vines, may have this effect to some extent, or 

 thc}'^ may not. I apply ashes to drive the bugs from the vines, especially 

 in the earlier stages of their growth." 



Dr. Trimble. — I wish Mr. Hogeboom would send us some of his potato 

 bugs, and let us see which of the family it is that produces this disease, 

 as there are many different insects that live upon potatoes. Who can tell 

 which we are to regard as friends and which as enemies ? Look at the 

 variety that has already appeared on plants this spring. Mr. Carpenter 

 says that one of the potato bugs eats all the substance of the potato leaf, 

 and that affects its vitality. What has that to do in producing the rot. 

 The same thing occurred long before the rot was known. One man says 

 positively, that he knows that the curl disease of peach trees is occasioned 

 by a particular worm. Somebody ehse knows exactl}' the contrary. It is the 

 same with this potato bug theory. Mr. Hogeboom's theory may be correct, 

 but I doubt it. If he knows, he knows more than I do, who have been 

 trying to learn something about insects for the last twenty years, and 

 after all, I am free to acknowledge that I know but little. 



A long discussion followed upon the curculio question. The general 

 conclusion was, that all washes recommended as specifics are worthless; 

 that plum trees growing in lots where hogs run and root a good deal, are 

 more likely to produce fruit than in other places, and that the stiffest clay- 

 soil is the best for plums; and that the only sure remedy is to jar off tho 

 insects upon a sheet and kill them. 

 [Am. Ins.] F 



