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therefore generally invaded from the edges, newly-arriving hordes ever 

 advancing farther. They are not at all dainty in food habits, but do 

 show some preferences. Sumach is readily eaten ; apples and cherries 

 are tidbitsj sour gum attracts them by the million 5 hollyhocks are 

 eaten, stems and all j roses are high favorites, while the peach is not 

 so much liked. In fact, there is scarcely a plant they will not eat, 

 though flowers and some fruits are always preferred. A field of black- 

 berries at Colonel Pearson's place was swarming with them, and the 

 Colonel told me that last year his strawberry patch looked yellow where 

 red ought to have been seen. 



Pyrethrum has been higbly recommended for these insects. I tried 

 it first at the rate of 1 ounce to 1 gallon of water. It acted in about 

 ten minutes, the majority of beetles tumbling from the blackberry- 

 bushes to the ground. Only a few, however, were really stupefied, 

 and most of them began crawling back upon the plants immediately, 

 where, as soon as the sun dried them, they fed as freely as before. Then 

 I increased the dose to one-fourth of a pound to a gallon of water. The 

 effect was more prompt, the resulting stupor more lasting, but half an 

 hour later all were again feeding on blossoms that were yellow with 

 pyrethrum. The insects will live for an hour or two in pure powder, 

 and recover when removed from it. Tobacco seems to give an added 

 relish to the plants upon which it is applied. Sprayed on at the rate of 

 a pound to the gallon, the powder being added to the decoction, the 

 beetles never stopped eating. London purple, applied as strong as the 

 grape would bear, did not prevent the destruction of the blossoms, but 

 left a sprinkling of dead beetles on the ground. Powdered naphtha- 

 line, pure, and mixed with carbonate of lime, was dusted over a row of 

 vines with the most approved appliance, so as to leave the vines white. 

 This had not the slightest effect, so far as the blossoms are concerned, 

 and the leaves were eaten from below instead of from above. Car- 

 bolated lime was equally ineffective, as was also the pure hydrate of 

 lime, which is better than air-slaked lime as a rule. Hellebore applied 

 pure is utterly ineff'ective. Mrs. Treat showed me some foxgloves in 

 her garden, each plant surrounded by dead rose-bugs. Colonel Pearson 

 thereupon made an infusion of leaves, which was ineffective, while I 

 fed a lot of the beetles for a week upon roses which were soaked in a 

 saturated solution of digitaline. Quassia is useless, and so were all the 

 copper compounds, the saturated solution of lime, the iron solutions, 

 the kerosene emulsion 5 and, in fact, everything else that was applied. 

 All this goes to show what a tough subject we have to deal with. Cor- 

 rosive sublimate will kill him readily, but unfortunately kills the plants 

 as well. A sludge-oil soap, obtained too late to test thoroughly, kills 

 the beetles without injuring plants. It is probable that in this we have 

 a good remedy for the Macrodactylus if it can be made cheaply enough. 



Of the mechanical means tried, an umbrella, with a sack attached, into 

 which the beetles were jarred, proved satisfactory, and this can be used 



