ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



293 



[This insect has been very injurious tlie pres- 

 ent year, and by request we give the above ac- 

 count of it. Mr. J. P. Jones, of KeytesviUe, 

 Chariton county, Mo., complained bitterly to us 

 this spring of its injuries to pear and apple trees 

 in his section ; and later in the season we found 

 our friend H. D. Emery, of Chicago, almost 

 baffled by its injurious punctures in liis efTorts to 

 raise late-planted cucumbers. Mr. D. B. Wier, 

 of Lacon, Ills., considers that it has damaged liis 

 crops to the amount of $1,000 ; and the ad interim 

 committee, which lately visited his orchards, re- 

 port but little fruit on the pear trees on account 

 of its having poisoned and killed the blossom 

 buds. No doubt the extreme dry weather has 

 liad much to do with the increase of these pests. 

 :Mr. Ayres tried many applications of ditfercnt 

 kinds this spring to ward them off, but even 

 some cresylic soap, which we sent him for that 

 express purpose, proved ineftectual, as the follow- 

 ing experience will show. Hewrites, April 12,70: 



I lirst tried it according to directions— one 

 pound of the soap to ten gallons of water — and 

 it was impossible to kill the bugs with it except 

 by drowning; and tlicy would swim in it an 

 unaccountably loiii;- time licfoic they would die. 

 I then doubled the strciigtli, using one pound of 

 the soap to live gallons of water. After immers- 

 ing one of them in tliis twice, he would get dry 

 and fly away; but by keeping him wet witli it 

 for teii minutes, it would Anally kill him. I am 

 inclined to believe tli;it it will ii il kill insects or 

 keep them otf tlic trees, unless niaiie strong 

 enough to kill t lie trees nlsd. I tliiirou^lily sat- 

 urated several rows of trees with it at the strength 

 above stated, and three hours afterward found 

 the bugs as thick as ever, and sucking awa\- iit 

 the buds and leaves iis if nothing had haiipeiied. 



Not discouraged by this want of success, Mr. 

 A. afterwards went over all his pear trees, about 

 2,(J00 in number, with a basin of soap-suds early 

 in the morning, and shaking each branch, caused 

 the bugs to fall into the water. It took about 

 three hours' time of three men, and by com- 

 mencing early they were enabled to get through 

 before it got warm enough for the bugs to be- 

 come active. After pursiung tliis course for three 

 successive mornings, during which time many 

 thousands were killed, he had the satisfaction 

 of seeing his trees unmolested, and thus saved. 

 From the fact that these bugs suck the sap from, 

 and do not masticate the plant, we have found 

 the poisonous applications which are so eftectual 

 in killing many other insects of no avail licre ; 

 and there is no better way of killing them at 

 ))rcsent known than by shaking them off early 

 in the morning. It will also be well to bear in 

 mind that, as they winter mostly in the woods, 

 they are at first found most mimerous on the 

 outside of our fields and orchards.] 



OSAGE ORANGE FOR THE MULBERRY SILK-WORM. 



Utah County, Utah. — Having been engaged 

 in silk culture for three years past, I take the 

 liberty of submitting to you a report of what I 

 have done. 



In 1867 the Hon. Albert K. Thurber, of this 

 place, on liis return fnnn a visit to London, Eng- 

 land, jirescnted nie witli a few silk-worm eggs 

 or fh.' ..1(1 Fivneli variet\-. Thev made sixteen 



e.M n^. iir.Mliirinutlnveienu.le ninths. The fol- 



liiwini; Near 1 laisid Jive hundred worms, but not 

 havtiig sniHcieiit mulberry leaves to feed them, 

 I ted part of them on Osage oi'ange; they ate 

 it with avidity, all did well, and made cocoons 

 of good size and color. Last season (1869) I fed 

 five thousand worms on Osage oi-ange, and they 

 made five thousand cocoons. This season I am 

 feeding ten thousand worms on Osage orange, 

 and they are doing well. I would here remark 

 that I have never found a diseased worm since I 

 commenced i-aising silk. 



I have fed a portion of my worms each season 

 on mulberry and a iiorlinn on Osage orange, and 

 those fed on the latter have thrived and done as 

 well as those fed on the former. I do not sup- 

 pose Osage orange is preferable to mulberiy to 

 feed silk-worms, but it may be of importance to 

 some to know that they will do well upon it. I 

 have fed worms on the two kinds of feed in close 

 proximity, and have known them to leave the 

 mulberry and go to the (_)sage (>rang(\ The dry- 

 ness of our climate anil the absence of thunder 

 storms during the feeding season render Utah 

 particularly adapted to the raising of silk, and 

 perhajjs may be more favorable for feeding Osage 

 orange than a moist climate. 



Not having snflieieiit kiKiwIedge of the (juality 

 of silk to test it, 1 sent some cocoons toMr. Mul- 

 ler, of Nevada Cilv, California, to be reeled and 

 lesliMl, ;in,l lie iciMirls (liaf the silk is. to all ap- 

 lieaninr.'s. s|r,,im aii.l nf exrrlleiit qualitv. I 

 iiileiul I., make a IjUMiies- of >ilk eullurc as fast 

 a.- eircumstances will permit. 



[Professor Glover, of this Department, four 

 years since fed the silk-worm (Bombyx mori) 

 Vidth the Osage orange with success correspond- 

 ing with the above experiment.]— J/ojt^/t?yifep. 

 Dept. Agriculture for May and June. 



[When facts of such vital importance as these 

 are pubhshed, they lose the greater part of their 

 significance by having no signature. No one 

 can rely on statements of this character when 

 given in such a mythical manner. Five thousand 

 cocoons from five thousand worms is sonietMug 

 so unusual and unprecedented, that, under the 

 circumstances, one is warranted in discrediting 

 the statement. Prof. Glo\-er, it seems to us, would 

 have given weight to the above item by attach- 

 ing the date and the writer's name. We thor- 

 oughly experimented with Osage orange this 

 summer, but could not succeed in making any 

 worms spin up on it, though some few were fed 

 into the last stage. — Ed.] 



!^= The Colorado Potato Beetle is said to be 

 doing more damage than ever in Minnesota. 



