THE AMEEIOAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



145 



BEST'S LVVIGORATOR ONCE AGAIN. 



In No. :> of tlie Asikkican En'tomolooist, 

 luigo 07, wc offered some criticisms on the liigh- 

 llowii pretensions of Mr. Bcnj. Best's wonder- 

 ful panacea for all the ills of frnitdom, stating 

 that we had received from Mr. J. Cochrane, 

 luu•^eryman, of Havana, Ills., a copy of a circu- 

 lar strongly recommending this patent humbug. 

 We observe that some of our agricultural con- 

 temporaries have inferred, from what we then 

 and there said, that the Invigorator was recom- 

 mended and endorsed by the gentleman who 

 sent us the eircular. This is an entire mistake. 

 :Mr. t'ochranc, in a letter which accompanied 

 the circular, compared the influence of the In- 

 vigorator upon the hundred and one noxious 

 insects, which it is warranted to destroy, to the 

 impotent attempt of an angry bull to stop a 

 railroad train in full career; and otherwise 

 spoke of it in as disparaging a manner as we 

 ourselves have done. In justice to Mr. Cochrane 

 in particular, and in justice to the nurserymen 

 of Ib.c United States in general, we feel bound 

 to make this correction. Men belonging to so 

 intelligent a profession cannot easily be fooled 

 by such transparent ciuackery, as that with which 

 :Mr. Benj. Best is now flooding the whole coun- 

 try through the mail, by thousands of tons at a 

 single stroke, to the great discomfort of all the 

 Post-oflice clerks and the intense delight of all 

 the mauuracturers of Bailroad iron. 



We are informed by Mr. Thos. Britainham, one 

 of the most respectable citizens of Rock Island, 

 Ills., that he was supplied gratis by a traveling 

 agent with a quantity of the Invlgomto)- in the 

 summer of l.si'.s, on the condition that he should 

 try it upon his fruit trees, and if he thought fa- 

 vorably of it, -'blow" for it all ]!c could at the 

 ensuing County Fair in the autumn. Having, 

 he says, two or three very choice grape-vines, 

 he poured a quantity of the hell-broth over Die 

 buts of them, thinking to "invigorate"' them 

 thoroughly, and also over the buts of two or 

 three grape-vines that he set no great store by. 

 The former were killed dead by the application ; 

 the latter still survive. Under tlie circumstan- 

 ces, he thought he was not justiiicd in doing 

 any "blowing" at the Fair; although, if the 

 preparation had killed the worthless vines and 

 '•invigorated"' the valuable ones, ho might 

 perhaps have acted ditt'erentlv. 



U^ We repeat once more that the symbol S 

 means " male,"' and the symbol $ " female." 

 By the use of these symbols we economize space ; 

 and there is no reason why they should not bo- 

 come as familiar to the popular, as they already 

 are to the scientific eye. 



::#" Wc recently disinterred from the columns 

 of an old volume of the Prairie Farmer* the 

 following curious specimen of entomological 

 poetry: 



A cruel man a iK'etle took, 



And to tlie wall liim pinueil, oli ! 

 Then said the beetle to the crowd, 

 '• Tliough I'm duck vp, I am not proud ! " ' 

 And his soul flew out of the window. 

 Whether or not M. Provanclier has, within the 

 last few weeks, been "stuck up" like this beetle 

 by some cruel assassin, we cannot say, but we 

 sincerely hope not. At all events he most cer- 

 tainly is not "proud;"" for he never thinks it 

 beneath the dignity, cither of his cloth or of his 

 scientific standing, to enliven the monotony of 

 scientific details by an occasional touch of genial 

 humor, such as would have delighted the heart 

 of Addison, and thrown William Makepeace 

 Thackeray into convulsions of laughter. May 

 it be many, many years before his soul takes 

 flight out of the windov.s of that earthly tene- 

 ment, which it now inhabits with so much 

 credit to the writer himself and so much plea- 

 sure and benefit to the Canadian imblicl 



' Vi 



23,1 



E'^' We present our readers, (his month, with 

 an additional eight pages of reading matter, 

 which enables us to publish entire, the article 

 on "AVasps and their Habits." This article is 

 necessarily somewhat lengthy, as it covers afield 

 hitherto but little explored in America. The in- 

 crease of matter has necessitated a slight delay 

 in the issuing of the number. 



:jf" Several of our subscribers having lately 

 requested information about the Chinch-bug, 

 we shall shortly publish an article on this in- 

 sect. It last year proved very destructixo in 

 many parts of the West, and especially in South- 

 west Missouri. 



IW Wc cheerfully acknowledge the receipt of 

 a package of choice seeds from Wm. II. Lyman, 

 of LoA-erett, Mass., whose advertisement appears 

 in another column, and shall take great pleasure 

 in testing their merits in the vicinity of Saint 

 Loiris during the coming summer. 



ES^^AVe also acknowledge the receipt of a 

 package of the •• Farmers' Club Sweet Corn "' 

 from Jas. B. Olcutt of Buckland, Conn. This 

 corn is very highly recommended, and we shall 

 likewise give it a fair trial. 



'.W We intended to have briefly noticed some 

 of those of our exchanges which wc most highly 

 prize, but want of space obliges us to defer sucli 

 notices till the next issue. 



