July 16, 1S90.] 



Garden and Forest. 



343 



braids, and in the construction of straw or Leghorn hats. The 

 fibre obtained from the base of the leaves of the Chusan Palm 

 is used by the Chinese for making hats and coarse clothing. 

 The sale of Palm leaves for decorative purposes in the towns 

 of Elche and Alicante, in Spain, produces a considerable in- 

 come to the towns. 



Kadjan mats, manufactured out of Nipa leaves, are indis- 

 pensable for traveling purposes; packed up in the smallest 

 compass when not required, each mat is capable of affording 

 sufficient cover at night for two or three persons, either in 

 boat or forest-journeys. They also form, almost exclusively, 

 the material for side-walls and divisions in houses. The 

 young leaf unfolded and dried, under the name of Roko, 

 forms the favorite covering for cigarettes in the Malayan 

 Peninsula in preference to paper. 



The large leaves of the Teak-tree are used for plates, for 

 packing, and for thatching. The leaves of Cordia myxa are 

 employed as plates in Pegu, and to cover Burmese cheroots. 

 In Bangalore the leaves of Canna Indica are used by the 

 natives in lieu of plates, to serve their Millet puddings and 

 other dishes on. 



The leaves of the Papaw-tree are employed by the negroes 

 in washing linen, as a substitute for soap. They have also the 

 property of rendering meat wrapped in them tender, owing to 

 the alkaloid papain which they contain, and which acts as a 

 solvent. 



For cordage and other textile purposes, numberless leaves 

 are used, and they serve very generally for packing and wrap- 

 ping up small parcels in India. 



In Guiana, Tibisiri fibre is obtained from the inner surface of 

 the spiral leaves of the Ita Palm {Mauritia flexttosa); it is used 

 by the Indians for making hammocks, etc. The leaves are cut 

 before they are open, and the midrib separated by drawing 

 each division of the leaf through the finger and thumb. After 

 drying, the fibre is ready for use without further preparation. 

 About a quarter of a pound may be procured from each leaf, 

 and if the central leaf is left uninjured, no evil effect is pro- 

 duced on the tree. Bags or matting could be cheaply and 

 easily made from this fibre, as well as hats similar to those 

 known as Panama. — Gardeners' Monthly. 



Cookina: Ouamash. 



WHILE camped at Deer Park, on the Lower Arrow Lake (an 

 expansion of the Columbia River), a week since, I had 

 an opportunity of witnessing the Indian mode of cooking 

 Camassia esatlenta. This species of Camassia is very abun- 

 dant along the Columbia River, between the Upper and Lower 

 Arrow Lakes, flowering there during the first weeks of May. 

 The bulbs were collected by the Indians before the seed was 

 fully matured, at which time they consider them at their best. 

 The party I speak of had between twenty and twenty-five 

 bushels of them at the lowest estimate. For two or three 

 days before cooking was begun, the women of the party were 

 engaged in cutting and carrying to camp branches of the Alder 

 and Maple {Alnus rubra and Acer glabrutri). Several bundles 

 of the broad leaves of Lysicliiton Kamtschatcensc (Skunk-cab- 

 bage), and two or three of Alectoria jubata, the black hair-like 

 lichen that grows in profusion on Larix occidentals, had been 

 brought with them. 



Everything being ready, the men of the party cut down a 

 huge Pine for no other object, apparently, than to obtain its 

 smaller branches, as no other portion of it was used. A hole 

 about ten feet square and two deep was then dug in a gravelly 

 bank near the lake-shore, which was filled with broken Pine 

 branches. Upon these were piled several cords of dry cedar 

 and pine, and this was covered over with small bowlders. 

 The pile was then lighted in several places, and left for some 

 hours to take care of itself. When the Indians returned to it 

 the stones lay glowing among a mass of embers. The few 

 unhurnt pieces of wood which remained near the edges were 

 raked away, and the women with wooden spades banked up 

 the sides of the pile with sand, throwing enough of it over the 

 stones to fill up every little crevice through which a tongue of 

 flame might be thrust up from the coals that still burned be- 

 neath the stones. Then the whole was covered with the Maple 

 and Alder boughs to the depth of a foot or more after they 

 had been well tramped down. Over these were placed the 

 wide leaves of the Skunk-cabbage until every cranny was 

 closed. Sheets of Tamarac-bark were then spread over the 

 steaming green mass, and upon these the bulbs were placed. 

 About half of them were in bark baskets closed at the mouth, 

 and each holding about a bushel and a half. These were car- 

 ried to the centre of the pile. The lichen ot which I have 

 spoken was then laid over the unoccupied bark, having been 



well washed first, and over it were strewn the bulbs that re- 

 mained. The whole was then covered with boughs and leaves 

 as before and roofed with sheets of bark. Upon this three or 

 four inches of sand was thrown, and over all was heaped the 

 material for another fire, larger even than the first one. When 

 this was lighted the sun was just setting, and it continued to 

 burn all night. 



The next morning our camp was moved away, and I was 

 unable to see the results of the day's labor. I was told, how- 

 ever, by one of the Indians who could speak a little English, 

 that their oven would be allowed a day in which to cool, and 

 that when opened the bulbs in the baskets would have " dis- 

 solved to flour," from which bread could be made, while those 

 mixed with the lichen would have united with it to form a 

 solid substance resembling black plug tobacco in color and 

 consistency, which could be broken up and kept sweet for a 

 long time. ^ ., .. 



Sproat, B. c. James M. Ma conn. 



An Experience with Rosebugs. 



'THE Rosebug, or, more correctly, Rose-chafer, was 

 -*■ known as a difficult subject to Harris and Fitch and the 

 entomologists of their day. They gave us a fair life history of 

 the insect, to which Dr. Riley has quite recently added a good 

 description of the larva, with figures, as well as some further 

 biological notes. Each of these authors seems to have been 

 fully aware of the difficulty of dealing with the insect, and the 

 recommendations as to remedies are vague and unsatisfac- 

 tory. Fitch gives an excellent description of the way in which 

 the invading swarms cover everything, apples and other fruits 

 becoming so covered that a mere mass of yellow sprawling 

 beetles indicates that here probably is a fruit ! 



Southern New Jersey has been invaded for several years 

 past by swarms of this pest, which cleared out the grape crops 

 so completely year after year, that many vineyards have been 

 taken out and others will be abandoned unless some practical 

 remedy is found. With the view of testing the value of the 

 published methods I spent some days in the invaded districts. 

 I found that, as a rule, the insects did not breed in cultivated 

 land, but that on the other hand the entire sand region is a vast 

 breeding ground, pupae being found even at the very sea- 

 shore. From these breeding places the insects emerge and 

 fly about, searching for food, the winds apparently influencing 

 their direction to some extent. Vineyards are therefore gen- 

 erally invaded from the edges, newly arriving hordes ever ad- 

 vancing further. They are not at all dainty in food habits, but 

 do show some preferences. Sumach is readily eaten; Apples 

 and Cherries are tidbits ; Sour Gum attracts them by the mil- 

 lion ; Hollyhocks are eaten, stems and all ; Roses are high fa- 

 vorites, while the Peach is not so much liked. In fact, there is 

 scarcely a plant they will not eat, though flowers and some 

 fruits are always preferred. A field of Blackberries at Colonel 

 Pearson's place was swarming with them, and the Colonel told 

 me that last year his Strawberry patch looked yellow where 

 red ought to have been seen. 



Pyrethrum has been highly recommended for these insects. 

 I tried it first at the rate of one ounce to one gallon of water. 

 It acted in about ten minutes, the majority of beetles tumbling 

 from the Blackberry-bushes to the ground. Only a few, how- 

 ever, were really stupefied, and most of them began crawling 

 back upon the plants immediately, where, as soon as the sun 

 dried them, they fed as freely as before. Then I increased the 

 dose to one-fourth of a pound to a gallon of water. The effect 

 was more prompt, the resulting stupor more lasting, but half 

 an hour later all were again feeding on blossoms that were 

 yellow with pyrethrum ! The insects will live for an hour or 

 two in the pure powder, and recover when removed from it. 

 Tobacco seems to give an added relish to the plants upon 

 which it is applied. Sprayed on at the rate of a pound to the 

 gallon, the powder being added to the decoction, the beetles 

 never stopped eating. London Purple applied as strong as the 

 grape would bear did not prevent the destruction of the blos- 

 soms, but left a sprinkling of dead beetles on the ground. 

 Powdered naphthaline, pure, and mixed with carbonate of lime, 

 was dusted over a row of vines with the most approved ap- 

 pliance, so as to leave the vines white. This had not the 

 slightest effect, so far as the blossoms are concerned, and the 

 leaves were eaten from below instead of from above. Car- 

 bolated lime was equally ineffective, as was also the pure 

 hydrate of lime, which is better than air-slaked lime, as a rule. 

 Hellebore applied pure is utterly ineffective. Mrs. Treat 

 showed me some Foxgloves in her garden, each plant sur- 

 rounded by dead Rosebugs. Colonel Pearson thereupon 

 made an infusion of leaves, which was ineffective, while I 

 fed a lot of the beetles for a week upon Roses which were 



