J^iNTH Report of the State J^ntomologist 431 



1892, has written of tins weevil, Anthonomus miesculus, which works 

 in the buds and blossoms of the perfect flowering varieties, its larvse 

 penetrating the center of the blossom (the ovary or the rudimentary 

 berry) and thereby blasting the berry. Kerosene emulsion and 

 powdered hellebore in water are recommended for use against it.* 



A JVeio Strcmberry Slug. — Prof. Herbert Osborn, of the Iowa Experi- 

 ment Station, reports successful experiments in killing the green straw- 

 berry-slug, Monostegia irjnota (Norton), which in the early part of 

 June had extensively eaten the leaves of a strawberry patch on the 

 Station grounds. They were thoroughly sprayed with one pound of 

 London purple to 200 gallons of water. The fruit w^as partly grov^^n 

 at the time. Further injury ceased within two or three days, and 

 the slugs were killed, as shown by the presence of their dead bodies. 

 Two and one-half gallons of the spray, containing about forty 

 grains of arsenic, had been applied to a patch of nearly one square rod. 

 Estimating that the fruit — about six quarts — had received one-tenth of 

 the spra}^ distributed (four grains) and that one-half of the amount 

 of the spray w^ould have been equally effectual, and accepting two grains 

 of arsenic as a dangerous dose, it appears from these data that upwards 

 of twelve quarts of the ripe fruit would have to be eaten to give a 

 fatal dose of the arsenic (Bulletin No. 18, Iowa Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station, August, 1892). 



Protection from the Cabbage Maggot. — In the Eighth Annual 

 Report of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station for the year 

 1891, Professor E. S. Goff has presented very successful results in pro- 

 tecting cabbage and cauliflower plants from the attack of the cabbage- 

 fly, Anthomyia brassicce Bouche, by surrounding the stalk of the 

 plants at their setting, with small hexagonal discs of tarred paper, 

 rapidly cut from sheets by means of a tool devised for the purpose. It 

 seems to be the most successful method yet discovered for protection 

 against this most annoying pest of truck-farmers and gardeners, which 

 often destroys entire crops of early cabbages and cauliflowers. For 

 details of the method, the report cited may be referred to, or an article 

 contributed by me to , the issue of Gardening for February 1, 1893. 



Kerosene for the Aphis. — Professor Goff has also experimented 

 with kerosene emulsions for destroying the eggs of the aphis infesting 

 apple and plum (Aj^his niali Fabr.) during the winter while there were 

 no leaves to interfere with the distribution of the insecticide. The 

 experiments were not successful, for although emulsions of the 

 strength of twenty, twenty-five, and thirty per cent were used, it was 



* This insect has recently been shown to be the Anthonomus signatus of Say. See Insect Life 

 V, January, 1893, pp. 167-186, for an extended account of it, with illustrations, by Mr. F. H. 

 Chittenden. 



