56 



A NEW STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



The legislative assembly of the State of Oregon passed last February 

 an act to create a State board of horticulture and to appropriate money 

 therefor. The board has been appointed and consists of one commis- 

 sioner from each of five districts and one from the State at large. It 

 has published two bulletins in circular form — No. 1, dated April 10, and 

 No. 2, dated June 1 — which deal with entomological matters. "We no- 

 tice from these circulars that the arsenical mixtures must be used in 

 greater dilution than in the East. This point had already been brought 

 out by California experiments. The Oregon people have found that one 

 pound of London purple to 150 gallons of water will burn the foliage of 

 apple. 



THE ARMY WORM IN INDIANA. 



The Army Worm has appeared this spring in several localities in the 

 State of Indiana, and an account recently received, the latter part of 

 June, from Mr. A. E. Mogle, of Kewanna, indicated that so much damage 

 was being done in Fulton and other counties that our Mr. Webster was 

 directed to visit the spot. He reached Kewanna July 3 and found 

 that the worms had entirely disappeared. He visited the principal 

 field infested, which was a 25-acre rye field, and found the crop a total 

 loss. The field was on boggy land and was growing very rank, and there 

 seemed no doubt but that this was where the insect originated. No at- 

 tempt was made to save this field, but all energy was spent to prevent 

 the worm from migrating to others by ditching and flooding the ditches. 

 Cattle were also driven back and forth to trample upon the worms. 

 Very few healthy pupae were found, but many Tachinid puparia. 



DOINGS OF AGROTIS CUPIDISS1MA. 



In the early spring of this year and just as the buds upon grape-vines 

 bad expanded there appeared numerous examples of half grown larvae 

 of what afterwards yielded the Noctua (Agroiis) cvpidissima Grote. 

 These larvae were in immense numbers, causing the loss of the first vint- 

 age in some vines, while in others the vines were kept alive only by 

 the breaking forth of latent buds. This condition of things occurred 

 over wide-spread areas indifferent parts of the State as far apart as 

 Napa Yalley and Tulare. 



Visitations of this kind of caterpillar had not been observed before 

 and it was chronicled as a new pest of the grape-vine. I visited the 

 afflicted district of Napa County and found some few larva? of Plusia 

 calif ornica and also some Mamestra-like larvae likewise feeding upon the 

 vines. I received many letters and consignments of worms; the per- 

 sons sending always asked for remedies. As Agrotis, Plusia, and 

 Mamestra larvae do not ordinarily select the grape-vine as food, I con- 

 cluded there must be an unusual cause. I think the cause to be this: 

 The rain fall of this season was much prolonged; the weeds grew rank, 



