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shows that where introduced with manure or compost they may injure 
certain crops. We quote a portion of his letter: 
* * * “ I am a trucker, and I find these maggots are becoming more 
numerous every year. The first that I ever saw was four years ago, 
when they got into my cold frames and destroyed some of my plants. 
Since then they have been on a rapid increase; at the same time I 
never was very much alarmed on account of them until last fall, when 
1 plowed my ground (which I always do in the fall, preparatory for 
spring) I found them to be very numerous. They inhabit the earth not 
singly, but in masses. * * # I tried to count a batch of them and 
found that the number would not end in hundreds, but lead to thou- 
sands. When I find them in my cold frames the only remedy I have is 
to lift all the ground, together with the plants, and cast them out. The 
area which they occupy is from 10 to 24 inches. They are found very 
close to the surface, just so that they have a very slight protection. 
When I plowed my ground in the fall I found them under old cabbage 
leaves and under anything that would shield them from the light. 
# * * The only soil that I have as yet found them in is such as has 
been heavily manured for several years in succession. In fact it seems 
to me that they breed in the manure; at least I have found them in old 
manure that I had purchased from parties who had kept it over a year, 
and consequently it was very fine and seemed to suit them. Cold and 
freezing seem to have no effect upon them. Just as soon as there is the 
least thaw, if there are any plants suitable to their taste, they will at- 
tack them.” * * * [C. F. Walters, Northumberland, Pa., March 23, 
1885. 
We advised as a remedy the plentiful sprinkling of the infested earth 
with a kerosene emulsion, well diluted where plants are liable to be 
damaged, but strong where used on earth iu the spring before plants 
have been set out. 
An Enemy to Silk worms. — The common Spined Soldier-bug (Po- 
disus spinosus Dali.) is a well-known predaceous insect, and is often men- 
tioned iu treatises on injurious insects as one of the beneficial enemies 
of the destructive species. It has turned up the present season, how- 
ever, in the role of a noxious insect itself. Mr. E. J. McAuley, of Oak- 
dale, 111., who fed his silk worms on leaves of the Osage Orange, found 
that certain specimens of the bug, brought in by accident upon the 
leaves, played havoc among his worms, sucking their juices and de 
stroying them. This naturally suggests that the leaves of both Osage 
and Mulberry should be carefully examined’ for predaceous insects be 
fore giving them to the worms. 
Great Damage to Beans by Blister Beetles.— Nuttall’s Blister 
Beetle ( Cantharis nuttalli , Say), one of the largest and most beautiful 
species of its family, has often been reported as damaging field crops. 
In the Annual Report of the Department for 1879 it was recorded as 
doing damage to beaus at Fargo, Dak., and the present season it has 
