November 18, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



543 



which helps to hold the warmth, to serve as a mulch, to 

 alleviate extremes of drought and dampness, to smother weeds, 

 to keep the plants from being lifted out by frost in winter, and 

 to check a rampant growth and consequent unproductive- 

 ness of the plants. The next year the whole area is covered 

 with a net-work of trailing plants and leaves, and the third 

 year, and for no one knows how long thereafter, the whole 

 field will be covered thickly with short upright fruit-bearing 

 branches so full of berries in autumn that one can hardly run 

 his fingers under them anywhere without pulling out a handful. 

 Very beautiful in summer is this lawn-like expanse of glossy 

 green, and it is still more beautiful as the green or white or 

 red or dark purple fruit appears among the thick leaves. Stand- 

 ing on the high bank which usually borders one of these 

 bogs, and looking across it, the level foreground, with its 

 winding brook, stretches away for ten or a hundred rods, accord- 

 ing to the width of the bottom, while the further boundary is 

 usually another steep bluff, at whose base Viburnums and 

 Wild Roses, Bayberries and Sweet Ferns are rioting, and 

 above them are Dwarf Oaks, with a forest of Pitch Pine and 

 Oak on the summit to form a waving sky-line as a fitting 

 finish to the prospect. From some points, looking down- 

 ward through the valley, glimpses of the sea are caught; again 

 a gray road is seen winding up the opposite slope and fi- 

 nally lost in the woods, and every detail of the picture is 

 charming. 



At the harvest-time a new element of interest is added by 

 the pickers, who camp on the bluffs and have a picnic for a 

 month or so. For the actual work of picking, white cords 

 are stretched across the bog about a yard apart at right an- 

 gles to the straight line of the ditch, where the gathering 

 begins. Each picker gets down on his or her knees and 

 takes the fruit clean between two of the cords, so that the 

 entire force of harvesters move forward, side by side, like 

 an advancing line of battle ; and as they are men, women, 

 and children of all nationalities and various costumes, the 

 bright colors of their head-gear and other apparel form a 

 picturesque addition to the scene. A small harvesting party 

 is portrayed in the picture on page 545. Pickers are usually 

 employed in groups of a hundred or more, and as fast as a 

 measure, which holds six quarts, is filled by one, he turns it 

 in and receives a dime for it. It is not an uncommon 

 thing for a superintendent of a bog to receive from Boston 

 by express several thousand dollars in ten-cent pieces to be 

 distributed among the pickers for a day's work. Expert pickers 

 sometimes make five dollars a day, and when they use ma- 

 chines, with which the fruit is stripped off by handfuls, they 

 earn considerably more. 



The Cranberry Bogs of Cape Cod furnish a striking example 

 of what may be accomplished by specialization in economic 

 horticulture. It has taken long years of experiment and prac- 

 tice to determine what the Cranberry-plant needed in order to 

 reach its highest possible productiveness, and now, with in- 

 telligent preparation and enrichment of the soil, close atten- 

 tion to every cultural detail, constant watchfulness against 

 weeds and insects, frosts and fungi, a yield of 150 barrels of 

 solid, evenly colored berries to the acre is not surprising. 

 How thickly the fruit must hang on the vines which yield 

 such a crop may be imagined, if it is remembered that this 

 means a barrel of berries on every sixteen feet square. 



Entomological. 



A New Herbarium Pest. 



IN the year 1890 a number of small Geometrid larvas, re- 

 calling somewhat in appearance those of the genus Aplo- 

 des, were found by the botanist of the Department of Agri- 

 culture infesting certain dried plants in the department 

 herbarium, and especially those which had been received 

 from Mexico and lower California from Dr. Edward Palmer. 

 Dr. J. N. Rose first observed it in January, 1890, on plants from 

 La Paz, but it was still more abundant in a collection from the 

 State of Colonna, Mexico, made in the beginning of the pres- 

 ent year. Being referred to me for identification, I became 

 much interested in the matter, as it was the first case that 

 had come under my notice of a Geometrid larva feeding 

 upon dried plants. The matter acquired additional interest 

 also because the species was evidently new and there was 

 danger of its being spread through distribution into other 

 parts of the world. I therefore took steps to watch the course 

 of the insect and rear it to the imago state. This was done 

 some time ago, and I have had drawings of the different 

 stages finished for some time, and call attention to the mat- 

 ter now because the trouble has grown in the department 



herbarium and it is of sufficient importance to put on record. 

 The first moth emerged October 22, 1890, and others were 

 subsequently reared from material received from time to 

 time from the department herbarium. While the larva was 

 first discovered, as stated, on Mexican plants, it has not con- 

 fined its work to such plants, but has spread to others and is 

 by far the most destructive herbarium pest which the botan- 

 ists in charge have to deal with. Plants of the genus Coul- 

 terella, for example, which were sent by Dr. Rose to Dr. O. 

 Hoffman in Berlin, have been so injured that but one perfect 

 flower remained ; yet, according to the observations of Mr. 

 L. H. Dewey, in overhauling the herbarium, the insect's work 

 is still mostly confined to south-western plants. Next to these 

 from Mexico those from California suffer most. In some 

 cases eastern plants have not been attacked, even when asso- 

 ciated with western, but in one case, at least, that of Rhus Tox- 

 icodendron, eastern plants have been extensively infested. 



The larvae feed on the flowers and also to some extent on 

 the leaves. More rarely they feed on the hard fruits and 

 seeds. The following list, prepared by Mr. Dewey, of the 

 plants upon which the larvae had been found prior to its work 

 on R. toxicodendron, will be of interest in this connection : 



SPECIES. LOCALITY. 



Ptelea aptera Southern California. 



Ceanothus sorediatus . . , Southern California. 



Dalea Seemanii Southern California. 



Lupinus coccinius .... * Arizona. 



Purshia tridentata Arizona. 



Prunus demissa Southern California. 



Ribes viburnifolia Southern California. 



*Epilobium angiistifolium Eastern Massachusetts. 



Arctostaphyllos oppositifolium Southern California. 



Eriodictyon glutinosa Southern California. 



Cilia Rusbyi Arizona. 



Pentstemon secundiflorus Arizona. 



Audibertia Clevelandii Southern California. 



Dracocephalum parviflorum Arizona. 



Salvia ballotceflora Arizona. 



The eggs are laid upon the plants or on any surrounding 

 object. They are but slightly attached, bluntly ovoid, 0.3mm. 

 wide and 0.4mm. long. They are steel-gray in color, the shell 

 white with faint iridescence when empty, and faintly and 

 irregularly reticulate. The duration of the larval period 

 has not been determined. Growth, however, is very slow, 

 and the period from the egg to the full larval development 

 is variable. The larval life extends in some cases certainly 

 over a period of three months. When full-grown the larvae 

 attain a length, extended, of 8mm.; contracted when disturbed 

 or at rest of 5 to 6mm. Whenever disturbed they contract 



Fig. 84. — CarphoJH**: ptelearia, n. sp. 



a, larva, side view ; b, same, dorsal view — enlarged ; c, side view of a single seg- 

 ment still more enlarged ; d, a single tubercle of same — still more enlarged; 

 e, pupa ; f, cremaster of pupa — enlarged. 



considerably and become rigid and motionless. The larva is 

 shown in characteristic positions in the accompanying illus- 

 tration (Fig. 84 a). It is dull grayish in color, varying consider- 

 ably in different specimens. On reaching full growth the 

 larva constructs a cocoon of loose white silk, forming an ir- 

 regular open net-work, as shown in Fig. 84 b. The cocoon is 

 usually placed in a fold of the leaf or is otherwise protected 

 by the plant, and is occasionally partly covered with bits of 



* E. angiistifolium grows in the west, but mostly in northern California and 

 Oregon. 



