STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
453 
BOP-APHIS. BIRDS DESTROYING IT. OTHER REMEDIES. , 
great surprise, and even alarm, of the inhabitants, who were ignorant that 
their little visitors were emigrants from the neighboring hop-grounds, 
where each had slain his thousands and tens of thousands of the aphis. 
These several kinds of destroyers of the plant lice were everywhere com¬ 
mon upon the hop vines the past summer. I believe that in every instance 
in which leaves with the lice upon them were sent me by correspondents, 
I found one or more of these destoyers also upon the leaves; and in one 
box that came to me, not one of the lice was remaining, all having been 
devoured by several of these enemies which had happened to be inclosed 
in the box. These destroyers having been so common, it is quite probable 
that they have now subdued these lice to such an extent that the coming 
season the crop will be much less if at all damaged by them. 
One of our most intelligent'and successful hop growers, F. W. Collins, 
Esq., Morris, Otsego Co., informs me that he has five acres planted to hops. 
In 1863 the aphis appeared in his vicinity in such prodigious numbers and 
with such disastrous effect, that some of the yards around him were not 
picked and the best yards were much injured. But he had an excellent 
crop. And last summer, although the severe drouth diminished the yield 
of his vines, the quality of his crop was excellent whilst that of neighbor¬ 
ing yards was poor. His success these two disastrous years, he is per¬ 
fectly assured was due to birds. A large flock of barn swallows, to the 
number of several hundreds, have their residence near his hop yard. These 
swallows were flying about the vines continually. It could have been 
nothing but these insects that attracted them there. And by feeding freely 
upon them, as he is sure they did, they kept them so thinned and limited 
in number, that his crop has escaped injury. 
It is of great importance that we should have some remedy, whereby, 
when these insects do fall upon the hop vines in such myriads as they 
have done the past two years, we may be able to promptly destroy them. 
As the lice remain stationary upon the undersides of the leaves and are 
so very tender and delicate that the slightest pressure suffices to crush and 
kill them, Mr. Kirby recommends to take the leaf between the thumb and 
finger, and move the finger so as to gently rub over the under surface of 
the leaf, whereby every aphis upon it will be destroyed. He thinks women 
and children can be employed for a small compensation to do this work, 
taking every leaf in succession between the thumb and finger, and thus 
wholly ridding the vines from these vermin. But we all know it will be an 
immense labor to thus take hold of every infested leaf upon the vines occupy¬ 
ing whole acres of ground. Many of the leaves, too, are quite large, being 
five or six inches broad, and the finger is but three inches long. It will there¬ 
fore require one hand to hold the leaf steady, whilst the thumb and finger 
of the other are drawn several times along it, mowing down the vermin 
hy successive swaths. Moreover, the veins on the underside of these large 
■loaves are studded with prickles, whereby I doubt if a dozen leaves can 
thus be rubbed over before the skin of the finger will be cut through to the 
quick. I need not specify other obstacles which occur to my mind, all con¬ 
curring to convince me that this proposed remedy, of the success of which 
Mr. Kirby is quite sanguine, is wholly impracticable. 
