FOOD-PLANTS: THOSE PREFERRED. 253 



grasses always do. ^' Young corn is eaten down so often and so deeply 

 into the ground that it is frequently destroyed. Potatoes are not killed 

 by being eaten down, and generally make a crop after the insects leave, 

 without replanting. This is especially the case when they are planted 

 deep, and where the vines as they grow are at first kept covered with 

 earth, which they can be with impunity. The blossoms and stems of 

 peas are left after the leaves are stripped, and parsnips sometimes 

 remain untouched.-' 



Next to vegetables and cereals, they relish the leaves of fruit-trees; 

 they strip apple and sweet cherry trees, leaving nothing but the fruit 

 hanging on the bare twigs. The leaves of the peach are generally left 

 untouched, but the flesh of the unripe fruit is eaten to the stone. Pear 

 trees, according to Professor Gale, suffered less in 1874 than any other 

 kind of orchard tree at the experimental farm of the Agricultural Col- 

 lege at Manhattan, Kans. The tender bark of twig and branch and 

 trunk of all these trees is gnawed and girdled, and these girdled trees 

 present a sad picture as one passes through the ravaged country during 

 the subsequent winter. Sour cherry, apricot, and plum trees are less 

 affected by them, while ripe fruit is seldom touched. Mr. Donaldson, 

 of Headsville, Tex., gives as a singular fact, that with him the insects 

 did not eat the young peaches on his trees that were on branches lean- 

 ing below the horizontal. Grape vines generally suffer more from the 

 girdling of the fruit-stem than from defoliation. 



Of berries, raspberries seem to be the most exempt, and this is inter- 

 esting when we reflect that wild raspberries are common in the north- 

 west country. Strawberries and blackberries suffer more, strawberry 

 beds being frequently ruined. Flowering shrubs generally suffer, espec- 

 ially Eose and Lilac. 



" Forest and shade trees suffer in different degrees, and some, when 

 young, are not infrequently killed outright. In 1874, Honey-locust, Red- 

 cedar, Box-elder, Osage-orange, Elm, and Oak, were either untouched or 

 but little injured, while the following trees were preferred in the order of 

 their naming: iVsh, Willow, Cottonwood, Balm of Gilead, Silver-leaved 

 and Lombardy poplars. Black-ash, Black-locust, Black-walnut, Hickory, 

 Ailanthus, Maple, Sumach, and evergreens." In 1876 it was observed 

 that the Coffee-bean, Beech, and Soft-maple were more particularly un- 

 touched. It is generally supposed that evergreens are avoided, but they 

 suffer all the more that they are so much more sensitive to defoliation 

 than deciduous trees. Hemlock, Arbor-vitse, the pines, and especially 

 the Norway spruce, are often stripped. The Eed-cedar more often es- 

 capes, and is, for that reason, called the iron-clad evergreen by some of 

 our Western nurserymen. The Austrian and Scotch are also less affected 

 than other pines. Our experience in 1877 would indicate that of all 

 trees the blue-ash is most liked, for we found it everywhere badly eaten, 

 even where other trees were untouched. 



Of wild, herbaceous jflants. Mayweed or Dog-fennel {Maruta) is a 



