THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 139 



fruits of his labor. liesides, this insect is clannish. If you have a 

 tree infested separated from otliers by a great distance, it seems to 

 remain there until it has completely destroyed this. If you cut this 

 one down, and have not previously destroyed the insects before they 

 hatched, out, they will fly until they find other trees; and the year 

 after you have cut down the infected one all the other trees will be 

 more or less stung. I found the insect to be very much like the 

 curculio, but instead of having black ashy "wings, they were biown, 

 and of a hard shelly texture. 



Note by the Editor. — Will Mr. Hendrickz favor the readers of 

 the Horticulturist with the name of this insect which he believes 

 to be the cause of the black knot, or give a careful description so. that 

 it can be identified. 



NOTES ON THE POTATO BEETLE. 



BY PROF. E. N. CLAYrOLE, YELLOW SPRINGS, OHIO. 



The present season has been one of unusual extremes here, sur- 

 passing all that " the oldest inhabitant" can recall. The thermometer, 

 a better authority than " the oldest inhabitant," confirms the state- 

 ment. In November it marked 24 deg. below zero ; for three succes- 

 sive nights in the Christmas week (Dec. 20, 30, 31,) it reached 18 deg. 

 below zero, and the highest point reached at noon on the 29th was 7. 

 Tliese may not be unu.sual figures for Canada, yet for southern Ohio 

 they are unexampled. On July 8th the thermometer reached 101, 

 9th 102, 10th 102, 11th 101, 12th 103 degrees. At 1 p.m. on Aug, 

 6th it marked 92 ; at 1.30 68 — a fall of 26 degrees in 30 minutes. 

 The rainfall or want of rainfall has been of the same phenomenal 

 nature. A long hot drought in May, another in July, during the hot 

 spell, and another at the beginning of August, which still continues. 

 Eew crops can possibly reach an average here this year. Potatoes 

 have been dried up. On my own land the most exposed parts have 

 about one root in three or four, parts less exposed to the sun have all 

 the roots, but tlie growth is suspended in the late kinds, while the 

 early kinds (Early Ohio especially) liave been stimulated by the heat 

 and moisture into a second growth after the rain. The yield is from 

 one-third to one-half what it should be. 



