March, 1889. 
59 
v •, • 
ORCHRRDl»ai 
Conducted by L. 0. Howard, 
Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
I enjoyed fighting the rose slugs (larvue 
of Selandria rosce) in my own garden last 
summer, particularly as they were so easy 
to kill. It was an old garden with many 
varieties of roses. During the early sum- 
mer there was abundant rain and I did not 
bother myself one way or the other about 
the plants, as they blossomed plentifully 
and looked green. As soon as a dry spell 
came on however the leaves turned brown 
at once and an examination showed them 
to be covered with the slugs in all stages of 
growth. I sprayed them with a tobacco 
soap solution which killed them at once, 
but stained all the petals brown at tips. 
I puffed on Pyrethrum mixed with spoiled 
flour which also killed them, but Pyrethrum 
is rather expensive. I dusted them with 
sifted coal ashes, which also killed them, 
but it made the bushes look nasty. As the 
drought continued, I brought out my hose 
and discovered to my delight that a 
strong stream of water directed upon the 
foliage each evening was the most effica- 
cious and the neatest remedy I had yet 
found. During the remainder of the sea- 
son the bushes were green and beautiful 
and free from slugs. 
This strong stream of water I found was 
a most admirable thing. It blew the plant- 
lice off my currant bushes, it thoroughly 
discouraged the web- worms on my shade 
trees, it made the ants which built their 
little mounds on my lawn and in the cracks 
of the brick walk tired of life, and, best of 
all, it broke up the nests and completely 
disheartened the English sparrows which 
built in the ivy and over the windows of 
the house. Where it is available therefore 
pure water “ without trimmings,” when 
thrown with sufficient force, is a good 
insecticide. 

The New Experiment Station Entomol- 
ogist. 
The farmers and fruit-growers of New 
Jersey are to be congratulated on the ap- 
pointment of Mr. Jno. B. Smith as entomol- 
ogist to the State Experiment Station at 
New Brunswick. Mr. Smith is one of our 
most prominent workers in systematic 
entomology and was for some time engaged 
in economic work (1882-4) as a field agent 
of Pr_ff. Riley, the U. S. Entomologist. 
His principal field work was upon cranberry 
and hop insects and upon the onion cut- 
worm. In descriptive entomology he is 
best known as a student of the Lepidoptera, 
although he has written also largely upon 
the Coleoptera and his opportunities as as- 
sistant curator (under Prof. Riley) of the very 
large collection of insects in the U. S. Nat- 
ional Museum, cannot fail to have given 
him a most valuable general training. Mr. 
Smith will unquestionably accomplish val- 
uable results. The station authorities could 
not have made a better appointment, and 
should now see that he is not hampered for 
lack of books, apparatus and laboratory 
facilities. 
Some Plum Curculio Notes. 
In a recent number of the American 
Naturalist and in Bulletin No. 3 of the Cor- 
nell University Experiment Station, Prof. 
J. H. Comstock has shown that the circular 
pits gnawed into ripening apples in August 
and September are made by adult curculios 
feeding. Prof. Comstock pointed this in- 
jury out to me at Ithaca last September and 
it was so extensive as to seriously reduce 
the value of the crop in an orchard on the 
University Grounds. The fact that this 
particular work is done by the curculio has, 
I believe, not been published before, al- 
though doubtless known to other observers; 
indeed, Prof. Riley tells me that he has 
been familiar with it for many years. 
Unfortunately the damage occurs at an 
awkward time for the application of the 
arsenical poisons as most of the fruit in- 
jured is so near ripening, and the old jar- 
ring remedy will be the only safe one to 
use. 
The arsenical spray remedy has come into 
great prominence within the past year or 
so, and the experiments so far recorded 
show that where the apparatus is at hand it 
will pay to spray both plums and cherries 
just after the blossoming tune. It is not a 
specific however and we are not yet sure 
that it will come into general use. Both 
the suggestion as to the advisability of this 
remedy and its actual practice are much 
older than is generally supposed. In a 
general article by Prof. Riley and the 
writer, now being printed in the Annual 
Report of the U. S. Department of Agri- 
culture for 1888, we have shown that it 
was suggested as early as 1871 and that it 
was in practical use over eight years ago, It 
may be interesting to note that we have 
also shown in this article that the jarring 
remedy probably originated prior to 1807 
from the observation by Col. T. Forest of 
Germantown, Pa., of the fact that on a tree 
continually jarred accidentally by the action 
of an old-fashioned well-sweep the fruit 
was nearly always perfect. 
A Novel Injury to Frnlt Trees. 
One of the most interesting changes of 
habit in a well-known pest which has oc- 
curr r d of late years is editorially recorded 
in Insect Life for August 1888, and has not 
yet received the attention it deserves. A 
young orchard of plums, peaches, cherries, 
apples and apricots on the farm of J. L. 
Bowers at Herndon, Va., and consisting 
in all of about 2500 trees, adjoined a melon 
patch during 1887. In 1888 the melons 
were dispensed with and the Twelve-spotted 
Diabrctica (the little spotted melon beetle) 
which must have hibernated in enormous 
numbers in the immediate neighborhood, 
developed a great appetite for the leaves 
of the young fruit trees, particularly the 
plums and apricots, in the absence of 
its more normal food. A second and third 
growth of foliage was almost entirely de- 
voured by them and many of the trees were 
killed. The total loss amounted to several 
hundred dollars. The exceptional circum- 
stances of the case sufficiently account for 
the possibility of this injury and it is not 
likely that it will recur in 1889. It is none 
the less remarkable and entirely unprece- 
dented in the history of this insect and 
carries with it a warning to the owners of 
nurseries who at the same time grow melons, 
squashes or cucumbers. 
The present winter, however it may 
affect fruit-growers in other ways, will 
unquestionably reduce in some slight de- 
gree the number of injurious insects. A 
steady cold favors hibernation. During 
the long - continued warm spell lasting 
through late December and January, many 
insects hatched from pupae and emerged 
from winter quarters only to be destroyed 
by the cold of February. 
Catarrh Cured. 
A clergyman, after years of suffering from that loath- 
some disease. Catarrh, and vainly trying every known 
remedy, at last found a recipe which completely cured 
and saved him from death. Any sufferer from this dread 
ful disease sending a self addressed stamped envelope 
to Prof. J. A. Lawrence, 88 Warren St., New York City, 
will receive the recipe free of charge .— A dv. 
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