284 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 334. 



A fall, handsome Golden-rod, with some of its stems still in 

 flower, grows abundantly along the river. Flowering individuals 

 of Bidens chrysanthemoides are still more frequently to be 

 seen. It is the most common Texas species pf its genus. 

 Near one of the large springs I collected flowering specimens 

 of a rather pretty small-leaved Eupatorium. 



Andropogon glomeratus, with its panicles browned and red- 

 dened by the wind and sun, fringes the bank of the river 

 wherever it can gain a foothold in the soil. Sometimes it 

 shares its space with our handsome southern Maiden-hair, 

 Adiantum Capillus-Veneris. A species of Agrostis, and one of 

 Letaria, are also common near the water, and still growing 

 vigorously. In a damp, warm spot close to San Felipe, aSon- 

 chus was displaying its large yellow head of flowers to the 

 Christmas sun and looked a Merry Christmas to everybody. 



Eagle Pass, Texas. £■ N. Plank. 



Entomological. 



A Scale Insect on Plums. 



A SCALE insect which has hitherto been considered a 

 comparatively rare species has recently attracted at- 

 tention by its attacks on Plum-trees in New York state. 

 One man from Niagara County reports that some of 

 his Plum-trees have been killed by it, but no instances of 

 this kind have yet come under my observation. When it 

 occurs m such numbers as to nearly cover the bark, as 

 shown in the accompanying illustration on this page, 

 there can be no doubt that it is capable of injuring the 

 trees. This illustration is from a photograph of an in- 

 fested branch of the Bradshaw Plum. On the twig at the 

 right are seen scars showing where some of the scales 

 have been removed. The actual length and width of a 

 full-grown scale is indicated by the cross lines in the illus- 

 tration. The dimensions are usually about five millimeters 

 by four — that is to say, about seven thirty-seconds by five 

 thirty-seconds of an inch. 



At the present writing, June 20th, the scales are filled 

 with a whitish powder, which, examined with a lens, 

 proves to be composed of eggs. The young lice which 

 are produced from the eggs in the spring had already is- 

 sued from the old scales this season about May loth, when 

 my attention was first called to the insect. The branches 

 were then covered with a sticky substance like honey- 

 dew, evidently secreted by the young insects. On leaving 

 the old scale they crawl over the branches till, finding a 

 convenient location, they attach themselves to the bark. 

 They seem to prefer a location on the under side of the 

 limbs. At first they are whitish, or nearly transparent, but 

 gradually assume the dark reddish brown color of the ma- 

 ture insect. 



Mr. L. O. Howard, the United States Entomologist, to 

 whom specimens were submitted for identification, states 

 that it is a somewhat rare species known as Lecanium 

 cerasifex. He advocates spraying with dilute kerosene 

 emulsion when the young insects first appear in the spring. 

 The scales are soft and easily loosened from their attach- 

 ment, and might readily be brushed or scraped from the 

 larger branches. 



Thus far I have seen the insect in Niagara, Monroe and 

 Ontario Counties, indicating that it is quite widely dis- 

 tributed in western New York. So far as I have observed, 

 Plums are most seriously attacked, though the insect has 

 also been found on Apple, Pear, Maple and Cissus, show- 

 ing that it has a wide range of host plants. 



Geneva, N. Y. S. A. Bedfll. 



New or Little-known Plants. 



Deutzia discolor, var. purpurascens. 



THIS plant was discovered in the Chinese province of 

 Yun-nan by the French missionary Delavay, who, 

 in 1888, sent seed of it to the Museum in Paris. Last year 

 flowers were shown in Paris by Monsieur Cornu, at an 

 exhibition of the French Horticultural Society, from a plant 

 growing in the garden of the Museum, and early in June 



a plant flowered in the Arnold Arboretum, and again 

 during the present season. 



Deutzia discolor, var. purpurascens (seep. 287), is a shrub 

 of neat, compact habit, two to three feet tall, with slender 

 stems, thin ovate leaves scabrous on the upper surface and 

 compact panicles of pale pink flowers. From Deutzia discolor, 

 a species of central China hot yet in our gardens, it differs 

 in its shorter, thicker and rougher leaves, in its thicker 

 pedicels, much broader calyx-lobes and colored petals ; like 

 that plant it has unusually broad petaloid filaments. 



The hardiness of the Yun nan plant in our northern states 

 cannot be assured yet, as the plant in the Arboretum has 

 been wintered, as a measure of precaution, in a cold frame ; 

 but the climate of Yun-nan is of such a semi-tropical char- 

 acter that only plants from its high mountains can be ex- 



Fig. 47. — Branch of Plum infested witli scale, Lecanium cerasifex. 



pected to flourish here. From Philadelphia southward, 

 however, this Deutzia, peculiar in the color of its abundant 

 flowers, may be expected to become a valuable and favorite 

 garden-plant. 



Plant Notes. 



Morina longifolia. — Just now this is one of the most 

 interesting hardy plants in flower, and is at the same 

 time one of the rarest. Mr. Orpet writes that it has 

 proved perfectly hardy in eastern Massachusetts, having 

 survived three winters there without protection, and it has 

 been grown on from the seedling stage in the position it now 

 occupies. This is the second season of its flowering there, 

 and it is much more striking than it was last year, and the 

 flower-spikes are stronger. When not in bloom the plant 



