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BOOKS AND BULLETINS. 



soda (77 per ct.), 40 pounds of resin and water to make 

 50 gallons of the mixture. To this, water may be added 

 at the rate of 9 gallons to i, making 500 gallons of the 

 dilute compound, sufficient for 100 large vines, at a cost 

 of only 84 cents, or less than one cent per vine. 



In the account of the mtroduction of parasites and 

 predaceous species, the striking success of the experi- 

 ment with Vedalia cardinalis is referred to, and excellent 

 advice is given as to the care necessary in making a sim- 

 ple experiment with a view of success. Here again Pro- 

 fessor Riley uses some plain lan- 

 Incompetent guage in referring to the employ- 



Experimenters, ment of incompetent persons in 

 working this character. He alludes 

 more particularly to the much-advertised efforts of one 

 who was commissioned last summer to visit the east, 

 and who took back with him certain ladybirds which he 

 found right under the windows of the Department of 

 Agriculture, and with which he intended to experiment 

 upon the woolly aphis. The species referred to not only 

 occurs in California, but feeds over nearly the whole 

 extent of the United States; and "all such efforts as 

 this, carried on by persons unfit, from want of any spec- 

 ial knowledge, for the mission, must invariably do harm, 

 not only because of the negative results which follow, 

 but because of the lack of confidence in such work which 

 they will engender in the minds of our legislators." 



Under the heading of "Fertilizers as Insecticides," 

 J. B. Smith strongly recommends the use of potash salts 

 for fertilizers on ground infested with cut-worms or 

 wire-worms, and they are also effective for root-lice and 

 other insects. He has found the plum curculio infesting 

 the half-grown fruit of the June or Service-berry. In 

 his experiments he has reached the conclusion that the 

 curculio rarely matures in apples. Mr. Smith also re- 

 counts an experience with rose-beetles. The season of 

 1890 in New Jersey witnessed the total destruction by 

 these beetles of nearly everything green. Larkspur 

 only seemed exempt. All sorts of insecticides were tried 

 except the arsenites, and without avail. Mr. Smith has 

 found the clover leaf beetle injurious in New Jersey the 

 past season. The larvae had appeared in great numbers, 

 but what promised to be a serious invasion was happily 

 stamped out by a disease [Eiipiisa splucrosperind), which 

 exterminated the larvae. 



A. J. Cook urges the importance in the experiment 

 stations of practical work ; of not attempting too much, 

 but by careful labor bringing out 

 Importance of valuable results ; and lastly, the im- 

 practical Work. portance of a wise use of the funds 

 which have been appropriated for 

 promoting the welfare of the state. The farmer should 

 be kept informed of new or injurious insects occurring 

 in his state. That life-histories should be studied does 

 not need to be stated. Direct experimentations should 

 be made with all kinds of chemicals for insecticides, 

 generalizations must be drawn, the work must be prac- 

 tical, and mutual aid and suggestions can be obtained 

 from workers in other stations. C. P. Gillette records 



observations made on the plum curculio and gouger. A 

 pair of beetles of the latter, during the period of ovi- 

 position, being supplied with fresh plums, made 1,266 

 punctures in which were deposited 450 eggs, leaving the 

 balance as punctures made for food. 

 The period was 20 days — June 2d to Plum Curculio 

 22d. About as many eggs were laid and Gouger. 

 at night as during the day. A single 

 female of the plum curculio that had doubtless already 

 deposited many eggs, was captured June 7th, and up to 

 the 17th, laid 167 eggs and made 426 punctures. In ex- 

 periments made on plum trees with London purple, the 

 latter was found to be of very slight benefit in combat- 

 ting the beetles. Mr. Bruner presented a list of 64 spe- 

 cies of insects that he has already found to injure the 

 sugar beet industry in Nebraska. Mr. Fletcher spoke 

 on the injurious insects of the year in Canada. Cut- 

 worms and cabbage worms had been locally abundant. 

 Besides the Hessian fly, the wheat bulb-worm and the 

 wheat oscinis had infested the wheat crop. 



A. S. Forbes gives a summary history of the corn-root 

 aphis. The eggs of this aphis are assiduously gathered 

 and harbored over winter by a small brown ant {Lasitts 

 britnncus, var. a/icnns), the louse therefore hibernating 

 in the egg state, and so far as known, only in the nests 

 of this ant, which is host and constant 

 companion throughout the year not only Corn-Root 

 to this louse, but equally to the grass-root Aphis, 

 louse (^Scliizonetiia Conn). The nests of 

 this ant are most frequently to be found in old corn 

 hills. The eggs of the lice hatch in spring, about a 

 week before corn planting, and the young subsist on the 

 roots of the smart weed or other plants until the corn 

 roots are large enough to support them. Professor 

 Forbes brought out, by abont the first of June, five gen- 

 erations of the louse, but its subsequent history was not 

 followed through the season in detail. The roots of al- 

 most any plant seems to support these lice, at least tem- 

 porarily. The last viviparous generation and the ovi- 

 parous female following, have been found in autumn on 

 dock, fleabane, mustard, sorrel and plantain. The bi- 

 sexual generation makes its appearance in corn fields as 

 early as October, and pairs and deposits eggs throughout 

 the month. The oviparous female has been found only 

 in the burrows of the ants, and it is doubtless there that 

 the eggs are laid. The ants extend their burrows about 

 the roots of any plant within their reach, so as to allow 

 the support of the lice. It has been attempted to con- 

 nect the serial corn louse with the root form, but positive 

 results have not yet been reached. It would pay to 

 thoroughly stir the soil so as to destroy any weeds which 

 appear before the corn is up, in order to starve the new- 

 ly hatched root-lice in the spring, as experiments show 

 that they will perish in five days if deprived of food. 

 The louse takes its start in spring only in fields infested 

 the year before. Rotation of crops, however, would 

 hardly afford relief, since the early evolution of a partly 

 winged brood provides for a general dispersal in the 

 early part of the season. The most promising exped- 



