BOOKS AND BULLETINS. 



697 



offspring of a supposed accidental cross between a yel- 

 low flint and a black sweet corn. On some ears six or 

 seven kinds of corn were produced, ranging all the way 

 from white to red, yellow and black, and from flint to 

 sweet corn. The white and red colors did not exist in 

 the immediate parents, and Mr. Hays supposes them to 

 be reversions to some ancestor or to some previous cross. 

 The laws of plant variation are so little known that the 

 source of the characters can not be determined in this 

 case, but there is apparently no reason to invoke ata- 

 vism to account for them. Species and varieties often 

 " break " when their characters are disturbed by violent 

 crossing, and we do not know that the apparently new 

 characters which are obtained are apt to be ancestral. 



Bulletin No. 9, Nevada Experiment Station. A 

 Serious Rose Pest. By F. H. Hillman. Pp. 4. Illustrated. 

 "A serious insect pest is at present creating great havoc 

 among the rose bushes by burrowing into 

 Nevada the buds, and, in fact, frequently remov- 



Rose Pest. ing all of the flower, with the exception 

 of the enveloping calyx. In some of the 

 cases coming under my observation this injury is con- 

 fined to a part only of the buds ; but in many cases, all 

 of the buds are either seriously injured or entirely de- 

 stroyed." The insect is considered to be the same as 

 the apple and peach fruit-borer, Lithophane ante)inata . 

 Attracting the moths to lights at night and placing crude 

 carbolic acid near the bushes to repel them are the most 

 feasible preventives yet suggested. Thorough sprayings 

 of Paris green, London purple and white hellebore did 

 not dispatch the larvae. 



Bulletin No. ii, Nevada Experiment Station. 

 Plant-lice infesting the Apple. By F. H. Hilhnan. Pp. 

 7. Ilhistrated. Three species of plant-lice are discussed, 

 two infesting the twigs and leaves and one [Schizoneiira 

 lanigera) the roots. Their natural parasites are also 

 discussed. These species occur in the east 

 Apple Tree as well, and the remedies are applicable 

 Lice. everywhere. Kerosene emulsion, tobacco 



decoction and carbolic soap spray are rec- 

 ommended for the species infesting the twigs and leaves. 

 "These should be sprayed upon the infested surfaces, 

 thoroughly wetting them, in order that as few as possible 

 of the lice shall escape contact with the liquid * * * 

 In the case of the root lice, owing to their subterranean 

 position they are hard to combat. However, by digging 

 a shallow trench about the infested tree in autumn, and 

 pouring in either of the above remedies, allowing it to 

 soak down among the roots, wilt doubtless attain the 

 desired end. It must be borne in mind, however, that 

 kerosene can be used for this purpose with great care 

 only, possibly not at all." 



Bulletin No. 4, Vol. 3, Ohio Experiment Station. 

 This bulletin contains general directions for spraying 

 trees and plants for insect and fungous attacks, by Pro- 

 fessor Weed, and Miss Freda Detmers gives illustrated 

 " Directions for Collecting, Preserving and Studying 

 Plants." Professor Weed gives a good discussion of the 



bark-lice of the apple and pear. Two species occur to 

 a serious extent in Ohio, the oyster shell bark-louse of 

 the apple, and the scurfy bark-louse [CIiiouaspisfurfttriis'\ 

 which attacks both apples and pears. "During the 

 winter and early spring as many of the scales should be 

 scraped off the trunk and larger branches as possible. 

 On large trees this may be done by first scraping with 

 some instrument like a hoe, and then 



thoroughly scrubbing with a scrub- Apple and Pear 

 brush or broom dipped in a solution Bark-Lice, 

 made as follows ; Add one part of 

 crude carbolic acid to seven parts of a solution made by 

 dissolving one quart of soft soap, or one-fourth of a 

 pound of hard soap, in two quarts of boiling water. The 

 scraping is especially desirable for the oyster shell spe- 

 cies, and on large trees. The bark of young trees is so 

 tender that they must be scraped carefully, if at all. A 

 scrub-brush is the best thing to use for applying the 

 soap mixture, as the bristles remove many scales which 

 a cloth would slide over. Then in May or June, soon 

 after the young lice have hatched, the trees should be 

 sprayed with kerosene emulsion. The emulsion must 

 be thoroughly mixed, with none of the kerosene floating 

 separately, or it is liable to injure the foliage. When the 

 lice are young they are very readily destroyed by the 

 emulsion. " 



The buffalo tree-hopper Ceresa l>uhalus),a. small green- 

 ish or yellowish bug about the shape of a beechnut (but 

 only '3 inch long), is very injurious to apple twigs in 

 some places. It punctures the twigs late in summer or 

 early in the fall in the process of egg- 

 laying. "It seems to me that the in- Buffalo 

 sects might be successfully fought just Tree-Hopper, 

 after hatching from the eggs, by spray- 

 ing with kerosene emulsion. With this end in view, the 

 infested trees should be carefully watched during May, 

 and as soon as most of the eggs are hatched, the trees 

 should be sprayed with kerosene emulsion. In those 

 cases where the trees are infested by bark-lice, as well 

 as the present pest, the same spraying may be made to 

 kill both. By destroying the progeny of the eggs in this 

 way, the crop of egg-laying specimens will be reduced, 

 but it will not necessarily prevent the hoppers which 

 develop in neighboring localities from invading the or- 

 chard to deposit eggs." 



Bulletin No. 87, California Experiment Station. 

 The Conservation of Wines. By E. W. Hilgard. Pp. 4. 

 There is an effort on the part of certain persons to dis- 

 courage the use of physical means for the conservation 

 of wines. The chief physical treatment 

 is " pasteurizing, " or the application of Preservation 

 heat for the purpose of killing the germs of Wines, 

 of ' ' wine sickness. " Those who oppose 

 this and related means, employ " operations involving 

 much deeper changes in the wine, such as fining, sul- 

 phuring, addition of tannin, spirits, addition or removal 

 of acids, etc." Professor Hilgard upholds the proper use 

 of physical agencies as more satisfactory and less injur- 



