AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 179 



before been accused of cutting corn in the hill after the manner of 

 a cut worm. Our attention has been directed the past season to a 

 species of mite which is common on house plants in Orono, and 

 also in the forcing house at the College. This is the same species 

 that has done so much damage at Cornell University and elsewhere 

 in green houses. It seems to be wide spread and a serious pest- 

 It is very closely related to the red spider, being a species of 

 Tetranychus. There were some newspaper reports of the appear- 

 ance of the Gypsey Moth in the western part of the State, but we 

 arc not able to find any authentic evidence that it is found in the 

 State. The Fall Canker-worm has been gradually increasing in 

 the Penobscot valley for the past four years. Last season it did 

 considerable damage to the foliage of fruit and shade trees in this 

 vicinity., and numerous eggs w-erc laid last fall. It may be 

 expected to give some trouble the coming season. Spraying with 

 Paris green wdiile the worms are young, is the remedy. The Apple 

 Scab seems to be the most injurious fungus the orchardists have to 

 contend with, but the use of copper compounds will no doubt 

 prove an efficient remedy. 



It may be well to state that the new Tachinid referred to in the 

 Expt. Station Report, 1890, p. 139, as parasitic upon the Forest- 

 tent Caterpillar and named Phorocera promiscua, Townsend, has 

 since been referred by the same author to the genus Meigenia, and 

 should now be called Meigenia promiscua, Townsend. See 

 Psyche, Nov., 1891, p. 177. 



BOTANY. 



Jamestown Weed — Thorn Aptle. 

 Datura Stramonium, L. 

 Specimens of the above species have been handed to us for 

 determination several times during the past five. years. "We have 

 observed the plant several times as a weed in gardens about 

 Orono, and it may be co union throughout the State. "Whether 

 introduced in garden or grass seed we do not know r . Though it 

 appears from year to year in this region, yet being a tropical plant 

 it would probably not spread. It is a native of Asia introduced 

 in America. In the South it grows several feet high and is a rank 

 weed found about barns and out houses where the soil is rich, or 

 in fields and along road sides. The seeds arc officinal and consti- 

 tute the Stramonium of the druggist. In the South the seeds are 



