34 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



" But," it will be said, " these are mere vague 

 generalities." "Well, then, let us come to close 

 quarters with A. 8. Quackenbosh, Esq. You 

 assert roundlj', friend Quackenbosh, that your 

 Patent Nostrum is " sure death and extermina- 

 tion" to all descriptions of insect life. Of 

 course, then, you have experimented with the 

 different noxious insects that afflict the Farmer, 

 the Fruit-grower and the Gardenei-, and are tol- 

 erably familiar with the natural history of each 

 of them. Of course you are well acquainted 

 with the twelve very distinct bugs that attack 

 the Potato, as long ago catalogued in this Maga- 

 zine, and the two different worms that infest 

 the Cotton Plant, namely, the Cotton Caterpil- 

 lar and the Boll AVorm. Of course you are 

 thoroughly aware that the Tobacco Worm, 

 which troubles the Connecticut Tobacco-farmer, 

 is a very distinct species from that other Tobacco 

 Worm, which is found in Kentucky and Mary- 

 land and Virginia. Of course you are completely 

 posted as to the well-ascertained fact, that the 

 Cotton Caterpillar of the South, the true Army 

 Worm of the jSTorthern States, and in the North 

 West corner of New York the Tent Caterpillar 

 of the Forest, are all three of them, in certain 

 localities, popularly designated by the same 

 name of " Army Worm." Of course you your- 

 self perfectly understand what j^ou mean bj' the 

 term "Currant Bug;" but, for our own part, 

 we must candidly confess that we never heard 

 aiiy particular insect called by this name, though 

 we have in our time listened to a great deal of 

 talk about "Currant Borers," and "Currant 

 Worms," and " Currant Plant-lice." Since, 

 then, Mr. Secretary Quackenbosh, you know 

 so much on all these different entomological 

 points— which after all are the mere A, B, C of 

 the science — how in heaven's name docs it come 

 about that, on the very Title-page of your Great 

 Braggadocio Circular, you warrant j^our Patent 

 "Fertilizer" to be sure death and extermina- 

 tion to " THE Potato Bug, THE Cotton Worm, 

 THE Tobacco Worm, THE Army Worm, and 

 THE Currant Bug?" Are you actually green 

 enough to suppose, that there is only one kind 

 of Potato Bug, when in reality there are twelve ? 

 That there is only one Worm that infests the 

 cotton plant, when in point of fact there are 

 TWO? That there is but one Tobacco AVorm, 

 and ONE so-called Army Worm, wheu every 

 entomologist knows that there are tavo insects 

 which pass by the former, and theee which 

 pass by the latter name? And lastly do you 

 expect us poor iguorant countryfolks to under- 

 stand, at the verj' lirst glance, what you mean 

 by your recondite and learned disquisition 



about " THE Currant Bug?" Quackenbosh! 

 we are really sorry for you ! We fear greatly 

 that, instead of being a decently good -entomo- 

 logist, tolerably well acquainted with the Nox- 

 ious Insects of the United States, you are a mere 

 entomological Quack; and that, instead of talk- 

 ing good common horse-sense to us, you are 

 uttering all the time nothing but Bosh ! 



In sober serious earnest, what Stock-grower 

 would trust a sick horse or a sick cow to a vet- 

 erinary surgeon, who actually did not know the 

 difference between a horse and a cow? And 

 yet thousands of farmers are trusting every day 

 to the delusive humbug, which is broached by 

 this New York Company, about the hundreds 

 of different liiuds of Noxious Insects that swarm 

 among us in the country, when it is demon- 

 strable from the very circulars, which this pre- 

 cious Company puts forth with such brazen 

 effrontery, that it cannot tell the difference be- 

 tween a Bee and a Beetle; and that the only 

 insects with which it is practically familiar are 

 the insects of city life, namely, Cockroaches, 

 House-flies, Mosquitoes, Fleas and Bedbugs, 

 with perhaps a small infusion of Head-lice and 

 Body-lice. Farmers of the United States! how 

 many more times are you going to be fooled bj' 

 a set of men, who live in a wilderness of brick 

 walls and brown-stone palaces ; and know no 

 more about you and j^our thousand and one 

 insect enemies, than a Scotch Highlander does 

 about knee-breeches? 



In one word, we would earnestly advise our 

 readers, whenever they meet with a preparation 

 which is warranted to destroy all bugs without 

 exception — no matter whether it be labeled as 

 " Best's Invigorator " or as the " Insect Exter- 

 minator" of some Eastern Company — to set 

 down the authors of that preparation as quacks, 

 charlatans and humbugs. Different insects dif- 

 fer far more widely from each other, than does 

 a Horse from a Hog or a Sheep from a Rabbit; 

 and as we know that food that would poison a 

 horse may often be eaten with impunity by a 

 hog, and that a sheep can thrive upon a great 

 variety of weeds which would be deadly poison 

 to almost any other plant-feeding quadruped, 

 we may reasonably infer a 2'>i'io7'i — even if wo 

 have no special experience on the subject — that 

 a particular chemical preparation may some- 

 times be destructive to one particular form of 

 insect life, and yet prove to be entirely innocu- 

 ous or even salutary when emplo,j'ed against 

 every other species of insects. Nothing is more 

 certain than that there is no Royal Road to the 

 destruction of the Bad Bugs ; and that the only 

 way in which we can fight them satisfactorily, 



