AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
23 
ceedingly tenacious of life; and that often, 
the most pungent odors, and offensive perfu¬ 
mery, and sharp penetrating liquids, applied 
externally 3 appear totally ineffectual for 
there immediate destruction; and that me¬ 
chanical violence in the majority of instan¬ 
ces, is the only efficient, and often the only 
feasible mode of destruction. If the locust 
borer worked downwards, we might hope 
with some assurance that fluids applied to a 
tree, as a wash, might reach it by setting in 
its holes ; but the reverse of this is the re¬ 
sult ; and, furthermore, the bark being very 
porous and spongy, readily absorbs such 
liquids. 
The locust borer made its first appearance 
on my farm, in the spring of 1853. I have 
a number of fine trees in my yard ; and when 
I first discovered them at work, they were 
most of them in the wood, or about entering 
the wood of the trees. Determined on their 
destruction, I immediately applied the blade 
of my knife, harness awls, crooked and 
straight wires, and in many instances, cut 
holes into the trees an inch deep, and two 
inches in diameter—following the course of 
the borer—before it could be found. But not¬ 
withstanding all my most persevering efforts, 
many escaped. lathe spring of 1854, after 
we had had a few warm days, every locust 
tree was wet with sap. Immediately, with 
the drawing knife to cut off the rough bark, 
and a wagon maker’s spoke-shave to smooth 
it, and to work on trees where the epidermis 
was very thin, and with firming chissels and 
gouges to cut out the epidermis from the 
depressions of the trees near the ground, 
every tree was completely denuded of the 
outer bark, and the parenchyma laid com¬ 
pletely bare, for eight or ten feet high. This 
was covered with dark spots, where the 
borer had hatched, as thickly as the spots on 
the face of a man who has had the small 
pox. Thousands and thousands of the little 
victims scarcely perceptible to the naked 
eye, were destroyed in the operation. 
After the trees had been treated in this 
manner, they were all smeared with a lorica- 
tion, consisting of about one part of linsed 
oil, and two or three of pitch, (resin, or 
“ rosum,” is as good, but more costly) well 
mingled together, in an iron or tin kettle, 
over a moderate fire, and applied to the tree 
boiling hot, with a painter’s brush. If one 
has a small portable furnace to carry from 
tree to tree, to keep this composition 
constantly boiling hot, it would facilitate 
the operation very much. It is very 
important that it be kept hot; because it 
works much better—adheres better—and can 
be put on more evenly. The operator, in 
applying it, must work very lively, holding 
the vessel which contains it, close to the 
tree ; and dip the brush often, and spread it 
as quickly as possible. If it is applied when 
cold, in order to get any of it to adhere it 
must be applied three times as thickly as is 
necessary ; and when it is very thick, it is 
more liable to cleave off. A thin film—say 
one twentieth 'of an inch thick—is better 
than if it were one eight of an inch thick. 
It is not necessary to be very exact in the 
proportions of pitch and oil. It needs to be 
hard enough so that it will not be melted by 
the sun. When applying it if it does not be¬ 
come hard in twenty or thirty minutes, and 
settles down the tree in ridges, more pitch 
must be added. If it hardens before it can be 
spread, more oil must be poured in. Raw 
oil is better than boiled. Care must be ex¬ 
ercised not to let it ignite, when over the 
fire—as it is very inflammable. The pitch 
should be broken up in fine pieces before the 
oil is mixed with it. In heating, it should 
not be allowed to boil very highly. 
The main object of this lorication or coat¬ 
ing is, to furnish the tree with an artificial 
epidermis, which will protect it from the in¬ 
fluence of the sun and weather; and which 
will prevent the beetle from depositing its 
eggs in the bark. That which was applied 
to my trees prevented a smooth unbroken 
surface, until late in August—when the day 
of the beetle was over—when by the en¬ 
largement of the trees, of course it became 
full of cracks, up and down the bodies. But 
it adheres as firmly now as when it was 
first applied. A very smooth epidermis 
was formed beneath ; and when the warm 
weather comes on, I intend to smear them 
again. 
It may appear to many like a hazardous 
operation, to shave off the epidermis of a 
living tree, and apply this boiling-hot liquid 
to the tender bark; but every one of my 
trees, treated in this manner, grew luxuriant¬ 
ly the past season ; and I have no apprehen¬ 
sions of seeing a vestige of the borer the 
coming season. 
The doubting and incredulous may test 
its efficiency ; for it is exceedingly feasible. 
Ten or fifteen minutes to one tree, is all that 
is necessary to perform the work thorough¬ 
ly. After a few warm days, the borer will 
commence its work. Let the yellow locusts 
be saved now. S. Edwards Todd. 
Lake-Ridge, Tompkins Co., N. Y. 
OH THE ORIGIN OF APHIDES- 
BY MR. PETER MAKENZIE, WEST PLEAN. 
We are informed by some philosophers, 
that a mind without immediate employment 
naturally recurs to the past or future. The 
reflector finds that he was happy, and knows 
that he cannot be so now. He sees that he 
may yet be happy, and wishes the hour was 
come. Thus every period of his continuance 
is miserable, except that very short one of 
immediate gratification. We would tell 
such persons to engage in some department 
of gardening, and there will be no fear but 
they will get an abundance of employment 
all the year round, which will increase their 
happiness, and banish misery from their 
minds. 
At this season they may have an opportu¬ 
nity of knowing much about the small yet 
powerful enemies that injure many of our 
cultivated plants, we mean the aphides, or 
plant-lice. In their destructiveness to grow¬ 
ing crops, they are placed by some next to 
the locusts of warm climates, and farmers 
and gardeners annually suffer considerable 
losses by their depredations. Yet we are in¬ 
formed that a knowledge of their history is 
but very imperfectly diffused among those 
who suffer most from those minute enemies. 
We may have many things to say about 
them, but the following account of their fe¬ 
cundity and rapid increase may be new to 
some of your readers. 
The double mode of reproduction in the 
plant-lice, suppesed by Dr. Darwin to resem¬ 
ble the buds and seeds of trees, will serve to 
account for the very astonishing increase of 
these insects. Dr. Richardson, in the plant- 
louse of the rose, reckons in one season ten 
generations, each generation averaging fifty 
individuals ; so that, by multiplying 50 nine 
times by itself, one egg will give origin to 
the almost incredible number of 25,065,093,- 
750,000,000,000. To this must be added the 
number of eggs laid by the tenth generation 
before winter, for the renewal of their prog¬ 
eny the following season. M. Reaumer, 
however, on the observations of M. Bonnet, 
reckons 90 for the first generation from a 
single mother; and reckoning that each of 
these produces 90 more, the second genera¬ 
tion will be 8,100, and the third will be 729,- 
000, the fourth will be 65,610,000, and the 
fifth will be 5,904,900,000; the ninth genera¬ 
tion in this case would be 350,970,489,000,- 
000,000. That this calculation is founded on 
the best ascertained facts, appears from the 
experiments of M. Bonnet, to which we 
have above referred ; and he has been so 
particular as to record the day and hour of 
each individual insect. In one of his jour¬ 
nals we find 95 plant-lice produced from one 
mother between the 1st and 21st of June ; 
in another, 90 plant-lice from the 30th of May 
to the 15th of June. M. Latreille, a high 
authority, states the increase at 25 young a 
day from the same mother ; though, on look¬ 
ing over M. Bonnet’s tables, we find the num¬ 
bers never exceed 'ten, and are usual¬ 
ly from four to six young a day; so that, 
supposingthe facts relate to the same species, 
there must be some mistake in M. Latreille’s 
statement. 
Even, however, at the lowest estimate, the 
rate of increase is almost inconceivable, and 
hence, we need not wonder that these in¬ 
sects sometimes appear in such numbers as 
to obscure the air. 
“ On the 1st of August,” says White of 
Selborne, “ about half an hour after three in 
the afternoon, the people of Selborne were 
surprised by a shower of Aphides, which fell 
in these parts. They who were walking the 
streets at that time found themselves cov¬ 
ered with these insects, which settled also 
on the tres and gardens, and blackened all 
the vegetables where they alighted. These 
armies, no doubt, were then in a state of 
emigration, and shifting their quarters, and 
might, perhaps, come from the great hop 
plantations of Kent and Sussex, the wind 
being that day at north. They were ob¬ 
served at the same time at Farnham, and all 
along the vale at Alton. 
To a gardener this must appear frightful. 
It, however, teaches one useful lesson ; at 
the sight of one insect in a house or frame of 
plants, strongly fumigate with tobacco, or 
dip the plant overhead in a strong solution 
of tobacco-water. The genuiue liquid may 
be bought at the tobacco manufacturers, at 
but a few pence per gallon.— Floricultural 
Cabinet. 
MANUFACTURE OF PORT WINE. 
A London paper gives the following ac¬ 
count of the manner in which port wine is 
manufactured : 
- When port is required to be manufactured, 
two separate processes are deliberately and 
systematically gone through; first, the wine 
itself is made, and then the bottles are pre¬ 
pared into which the liquor is to be transfer¬ 
red. When the mixture itself is deficient in 
the fragrancy peculiar to the grape, a bou¬ 
quet is contributed by means of sweet scented 
herbs, by orris-root, elder flowers, or laurel 
water. A vinous odor is sometimes im¬ 
parted by small quant ities of the liquid known 
as “ the oil of wine.” The pleasant juice of 
the sloe imparts a port-like roughness to 
the compound, and sawdust or oak bark ef¬ 
fect the same purpose. A fruity taste is 
given by a tincture of raisins, and the rich 
ruby color has probably once flowed in the 
vessels of the sandal-wood tree. 
But the bottles have to be crusted. This 
is done by tincture of catechu and sulphate 
of lime. The corks are steeped in a decoc¬ 
tion of Brazil wood, and the very casks are 
prepared with a layer of cream of tartar, 
which is formed at the bottom in glittering 
crystals. Thus a pipe of port which was 
young in the morning is made to fall into ex¬ 
treme old age in the course of the afternoon. 
These are no exaggerations, and the follow¬ 
ing has been given as the chemical analysis 
of a bottle of cheap port wine, though for 
obvious reasons we suppress the quantities : 
Spirits of wine, cider, sugar, alum, tartaric 
acid, and a decoction of logwood. In most 
instances, when the wine is not manufac¬ 
tured in this country, the consumer is vic¬ 
timized by a three-fold adulteration. The 
exporter adulterates, the importer adulter¬ 
ates, and finally the retail dealer adulterates 
