HOR TICL 'L TURA L MEE TLXGS. 



421 



NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS. THE R. N,-Y.'s 



VICTORY OVER THE ROSE-CHAFER. 



On June 15, during the hottest part of the day, when 

 the mercury stood at 95 in the shade, the writer noticed 

 that the rose-bugs on grape vines and rose bushes sought 

 shelter. Comparatively few were to be found upon the 

 flowers, and those were sheltered from the sun. Acting 

 upon this, a number of the beetles (25 perhaps) were 

 caught and placed in a white paper box. The cover 

 was placed loosely upon it so as to admit air, and the 

 box was exposed to the sun. An hour or so afterward 

 the beetles were dead — every one. A thermometer 

 placed in the box showed the temperature to be 110 de- 

 grees. Our next step was to gather beetles from their 

 shady quarters and drop them upon the soil which was 

 exposed to the direct rays of the sun. To our surprise 

 they were apparently dead in 30 seconds ! A tin 

 thermometer placed on the soil showed a temperature 

 of 129 degrees. Some of these beetles were then care- 

 fully placed in an ice box to see if they would recover. 

 But they were quite dead. 



Twenty or more beetles were then placed in the white 

 pasteboard box and a tablespoonful of water of the tem- 

 perature of 129° was poured into the box and immedi- 

 ately poured out. The beetles were instantly killed. 

 Water at the temperature of 122° was then tried. Most 

 of them were dead in half a minute. The rest died in 

 ten minutes. Water at 119° was then tried The 

 beetles were not seriously harmed and soon recovered. 



Thus far, it would appear, water at a temperature of 

 over 122° is a sure and speedy death to the rose-chafer. 

 The next step was to ascertain if this method of des- 

 truction could be put to an easy, practicable use. Water 

 was heated to 170° and poured into a pail. A small 

 hand force-pump with eight feet of hose and a half-inch 

 iron tube of five feet (13 feet in all) terminating with a 

 cyclone nozzle, was then used to force the water upon 

 the rose-chafers of magnolia flowers ^Magnolia ntacro- 



phvlla), in one of which there were not less than 150. 

 The first spray upon the beetles was shown by the ther- 

 mometer to be 120°. The rose-bugs receiving the di- 

 rect spray were dead in about one minute. The others 

 recovered. The temperature of the water was then 

 raised so that the mercury rose to 140, when the ther- 

 mometer was placed within Ituo iinlics of the nozzle. 

 This was sprayed into a partly-open magnolia flower 

 containing 50 or more beetles. All were almost instant- 

 ly killed. Neither foliage nor flowers were injured. It 

 appears, therefore, that this terrible pest, which can 

 neither be killed nor repelled by any of the insecticides 

 which may be used in a practical way, cannot endure a 

 heat of 125°, and that it may, therefore, be extermina- 

 ted by the simple, cheap remedy of water of that tem- 

 perature sprayed upon them. 



LATER. 



Temperature of the air, 85°. Water in the pail, 170°. 

 Forced through 13 feet of hose, the temperature six 

 inches from nozzle is 128 to 130°. 



Temperature of the air, 60°. Temperature of water 

 in the pail, 188°. At six inches the spray was 122° ; at 

 one foot, 1 10°. 



It should be stated that the cyclone nozzle is not 

 suited for spraying hot water, in that it divides the 

 water, as soon as it leaves the nozzle, into an unneces- 

 sarily fine spray — a vapor, in fact — that gives up its 

 heat so soon that the rose-bugs must receive the spray 

 not over twelve inches from the nozzle, or the heat will 

 not be high enough to kill them. It is plain that a 

 coarser, more concentrated, or less vapory spray would 

 be far more effective at a greater distance. For grape 

 vines or other low-growing plants a shorter hose would 

 obviously be more effective. 



It was found that water of 130° temperature would 

 not kill potato beetles or their larva?, or cherry aphides. 

 A temperature of 150° was found to kill both the beetle 

 and grub. It was not tried upon the cherry aphis. 



HORTICULTURAL MEETINGS. 



HAVE thought it fitting that upon 

 this thirtieth anniversary of this 

 feociety, where are gathered repre- 

 sentatives from nearly all of the 

 local societies throughout our state, 

 to allow the subject of " Our Horti- 



cultural Meetings " to claim our 

 attention for a few moments. 



And first, what do we understand a horticultural 

 meeting to be ? What is the object for which it is 

 held ? What are the essentials to a successful horticul- 

 tural meeting ? And are our meetings as full of life 

 and interest as we can make them ? 



In assembling with this society two ye:;\rs ago I was 

 astonished to see so small an attendance of ladies. 

 During the different sessions I queried, why i.s this so ? 



And I have not yet reached a solution. 1 will not admit 

 that the wives and daughters of horticulturists are not 

 an intelligent, wide-awake, interested body, who would 

 thoroughly understand the proceedings of this meeting, 

 and who could discuss any paper here presented, with 

 the best of you. Neither will I admit that the horti- 

 culturists themselves are selfish enough to participate 

 in this general feast of intellectual and social good 

 things, without at least inviting the women of their 

 households to share it with them. Nor will I concede 

 that they are ashamed of their wives and daughters. 

 What, then, is the reason for their non-attendance ? 

 for cause there must he ! 



If I rightly understand the object of these meetings, 

 it is to increase our knowledge and broaden our inter- 

 ests in this great science of horticulture which we are 

 desirous to forward ; and by thus meeting with our com- 



