Conducted bv L. O. Howard, 
Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
The English Sparrow Question. 
The general sentiment among practical 
men seems to be on the right side in this 
matter of English Sparrow as was indicated 
at the December meeting of the New Jersey 
Horticultural Society when Mr. Hulst in the 
course of an address upon insects took occa- 
sion to say a good word in favor of the bird 
and found that he had “stepped on a hornet’s 
nest.” The whole matter is treated in a 
bulletin entitled “The English Sparrow in 
America” which is published by the Division 
of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy 
of the Department of Agriculture and will 
be issued from the press in a short time. 
The chapter on the “Insectivorous Habits 
of the English Sparrow” is written by Prof. 
C. V. Riley and is based upon the examina- 
tion of the stomach contents of a very large 
number of birds. Of 522 stomachs only 92 
were found to contain insect remains or 
17.6 per cent of the whole number. As a 
general rule the amount of animal food was 
small as compared with the vegetable food 
and gravel. All of the different orders of 
insects were represented and also some 
spiders. The insects represented most num- 
erously were species which do no particu- 
lar harm to agriculture and directly but 
little good. On the whole the Hymenop- 
tera predominated and the insects of this 
order are nearly all indirectly beneficial. 
Even among the beetles the innoxious out- 
numbered the in jurious ones and Prof Riley 
concludes that the goad done by the birds 
in destroy ing a few grasshoppers and cat- 
erpillars is about counterbalanced by the 
number of species which are directly or in- 
directly beneficial to the farmer. The curi- 
ous fact is brought out that during the very 
year in which most of these I irds w< re shot, 
the shade trees in the vicinity were suffer- 
ing severely from the attacks of enormous 
numbers of Web- worms, Bag worms, Tus- 
sock Moth Caterpillars and the Elms from 
the Elm Leaf Beetle; yet in all of these 
stomachs only two specimens of the Web- 
worm moth and not a single one of any of 
the other species were found. In Prof. 
Riley's words, “there can be no more elo- 
quent comment on the birds, uselessness in 
protecting vegetation from insect injury.” 
The data brought together with such care 
show with force that the Sparrow is an un- 
mitigated pest. The recommendation which 
the Ornithologists make in the way of a pois- 
on for this bird is as follows: “Dissolve 
arseniate of soda in warm water at the rate 
of one ounce to one pound, pour this upon 
as much wheat as it v\ ill rover (in a vessel 
which can be closed so as to prevent evapo- 
ration) and allow it to soak at least 24 hours. 
Dry the wheat so prepared and it is ready 
for use.” Winter is the best time to use 
this poisoned wheat as most other birds are 
then absent and the Sparrows arp then 
hungry. 
A bug which has received the name of 
the Box Elder Bug ( Leptocoris triviflatus) 
has recently been written up by Prol. E. A. 
Popenoe of the Kansas State University. 
He finds that it swarms enormously upon 
the Box Elder shade trees grown in western 
cities but that it has the haoit of assembling 
in numbers upon the sides of buildings and 
upon the tree trunks which renders its des- 
truction a matter of comparative ease, eith- 
er by spraying them with kerosene or by 
brushing them off with a stiff broom. The 
bug is not confined to the Box Elder but al- 
so feeds with a smaller appetite upon vari- 
ous flowering plants. Out in Utah, accord- 
ing to Mr. A. L. Siler, it damaged the ap- 
ple crop considerably in 1885, eating the 
fruit as fast as it ripened, migrating into 
the apple trees from the Box Elder shade 
trees. 
The recommendation is often made in the 
horticultural journals in the spring of the 
year that this is the time of the year to look 
carefully for eggs of in- 
sects on fruit trees and re- 
move them. A recommen- 
dation of this kind in fact 
appeared in the March 
number of Orchard and 
Garden under the head of 
“Orchard Notes.” The re- 
commendation is however 
too general a one, for a 
number of different kinds 
of eggs will be found upon 
fruit trees which it is far 
better not to de s t r o y. 
Among these we may call 
special attention to the 
eggs of the Rearhorse or 
Preying Mantis ( Phasmo- 
mantis Carolina). We have 
shown two bunches of 
these eggs at figure 1583 
and the illustration repre- 
sents them so well that 
further description will 
be unnecessary. After 
Fig 1581. hatching from the egg this 
insect is predaceous in all of its stages and a 
single individual in the course of its lifetime 
must destroy a very large number of injur- 
ious insects. It does not occur so far as I 
know in New York State but is found from 
southern New Jersey southward and in 
southern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. 
The eggs of the Wheel-bug ( Prionidius 
crist at us) are also found upon fruit trees 
throughout some sections of the country 
and this insect is quite as actively benefi- 
cial as the Rearhorse. The eggs of the 
Wheel-t ug are laid in moderately large clus- 
ters and are bottle-shaped, stinding close 
together side by s i < i e in a mass which is of- 
ten three-fourths of an inch in diameter. 
There are several species of the Soldier 
Bugs, (family Efduviidae,) winch have the 
same habits and whose eggs are found in 
similar places. Their eggs resemble in gener- 
al appearance those of the Wheel-bug but 
are smaller and are laid in smaller masses. 
Mr. F. O. Caldwell of Washington. Kan- 
sas, writes: “My grape-vines and Raspber- 
ry vines are full of the eggs of the Tree 
cricket. Is there any effectual remedy ? I 
could cut the vines out every spring and 
burn them, but would get no fruit. Could 
they be suppressed with Paris green? When 
does it deposit the eggs'? If I cannot • on- 
trol the Tree Cricket my fruit business is 
ruined.” 
No remedy has ever been proposed 
except pruning the canes in winter and 
burning them. We can see no objection to 
this course as the cane is neailv always kill- 
ed by the punctures and should be ] rui ed 
in any event. The use of arsenicals will 
not avail here as in the early part of its life 
the insect is carnivorous and feeds upon 
plant-lice and other small insects. Later in 
the season it gnaws ripe berries and other 
succulent vegetation, but at that time it is 
dangerous to use London pimple or Paris 
green. If the adults are seen to be collect- 
ed in considerable numbersupon the bushes 
in the fall (which is the time of oviposition) 
a spraying with kerosene emulsion would 
destroy every insect which it touched and 
prevent a portion at least of the damage. 
All however could not be reached in this 
way and whether it will pay or not depends 
upon the numbers of the insects and the 
amount of damage done. 

Peculiar Work of Certain mites. 
Of great interest to florists are the recent 
experimentsof Prof. Peyritschof Innsbruck, 
Tyrol, as recorded in the Transactions of the 
Imperial Academy of Vienna, Vol. XCVII, 
page 597, announcing the fact that certain 
mites in which he was particularly inter- 
ested were always more abundant in certain 
flowers and less so in others, led him to 
the conclusion that there are certain mites 
which produce double flowers in certain 
plants. He experimented extensively upon 
plants of the families Valerianacese, Crucif- 
er®, Soropliulariaceae and Commelynaceae 
and discovered that while the results were 
better in the first family, various kinds of 
doubling were produced in certain species of 
all of the families. Among the modification 
werepetalody of the stamens and pistil, pro- 
lification and duplification of the corolla as 
well as torsions and fasciations of the shoot. 
The leaves were also affected and abnormal 
leaves were produced in several species. 
The plants which proved to be the best food- 
plants for mites were entirely crippled and 
the most satisfactory results were produced 
with those plants which were not as attrac- 
tive to the mites. This is a new field in ex- 
perimental floriculture and a wide range of 
important experiments is opened up in the 
way of ascertaining how far such artificial 
malformation may be reproduced without 
the agency of mites. 
