184 
THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY. 
June, 
this pass higher mountains rise, and further 
off the Alpine summit of the Sugar-loaf termi¬ 
nates the distant view. In front of us, in the wide 
opening of this lateral valley, a ridge of low 
grassy hillocks seems to separate it from the main 
Clear Creek valley. These are the moraines, 
the products and the witnesses of the old glaciers 
which, in earlier geological periods, filled these 
valleys with their ice masses. Such moraines 
are found at the mouths of all these lateral val¬ 
leys of higher mountains, and they would have 
shut off the valleys and made them lakes or 
swamps, if the mountain torrents had not broken 
through them at one place or another, cutting a 
deep gap for the issue of their waters. 
The moraines are generally covered with grass 
and low herbs, and between these we are sur¬ 
prised to meet with an abundance of globose or 
ball shaped cacti, from the size of a hickory nut 
to that of a large apple—plants which we would 
much rather have looked for in the more temper¬ 
ate Mexican countries than in these high moun¬ 
tains, probably the highest and most northern of 
any such cacti. It has another interest for us, 
as it is the same pretty species which was first 
discovered in Utah by Captain (now General) 
Simpson’s exploring expedition, in 1858 and 
1859, and which has been named and described 
by me, years ago, as Echinocactus Simpsoni. 
Let us now follow the main valley westward, 
open at first, were some fields well irrigated pro¬ 
duce a good crop of potatoes and turnips, and 
some oats, which never mature—such is the 
climate in these mountains. Near a saw mill, 
where the well named Mad Creek rushes down’ 
leaping and tumbling from the snow fields on 
the flanks of Parry’s Peak, several pines, we 
have not yet seen, make their appearance. The 
^4 Z 7 / >place of the valley spruce, which is no more seen 
396 7 Jp^here, is now occupied by the much handsomer 
mountain spruce, a kind of balsam fir, closely 
related to the Eastern fir, but larger in all its 
dimensions, often accompanies it; the straight 
pine, and here and there the squirrel pine, com¬ 
plete the list of conifers seen in the Upper Clear 
I rfti/r CT(iek V alle y- Only one mountain pine, for which 
I would propose the name of the hickory pine, 
the toughest and hardest of all, don’t seem to 
care to leave its high rocky slopes for the more 
'Sheltered and more fertile valley. 
The others also have their homes higher up on 
the mountains, but they send down with the 
streams their outposts into the valley below. 
(To be concluded in next number .) 
INSECTS IN KANSAS. 
\ BY H. E. YANDEMAN. i < 
Y6u perhaps remember that I said when lack * 
Frostmad locked the last devouring jaw, I would * 
write tou somewhat of our experience with in- 1 
sects the past year. It is now almost time for 
the jaw^of some of them to be opened again. 
I shall sly nothing in detail of the chinch bug, * 
which has-been far more destructive to Kansas ^ 
crops thanlhe locust, for it does not attack hor- c 
ticultural c^>ps but the cereals only. % * c 
I expect to\nake a sort of random sketch, for 1 * 
I am not an entomologist strictly so called but 8 
only an insect fiMiter. The first ofthese enemies ^ 
to visit us was t?he rose-chafer. For four years * 
this insect has be&n so numerous as to be very a 8 
destructive. For three years i^ gained in num* I r 
bers very rapidly, eWn so muqh so as to almost 8 
devour the entire crcm of graces and blackberries 
in the bloom if not persistently fought. In some 8 
cases no means were fo|.nd to be effectual because * 
of the numbers to be \a|ght. But last year^i^j 
there was a slight decrel^se, and we hope they^ ^ 
may pass to another regi$L I should say that k 
this insect up to this time hsls confined its depre- x a 
dations to the half dozep. counties in the South 
East corner of the Stale, bulk is moving north- ^ 
ward and westward. Ifut thos^ who were plucky ^ 
enough to diligently us| a basin ^ith a little water ^ 
in it caught enough/of the bu^ to save their a 
grapes and blackberries, but the rd|es they almost n 
destroyed under the| most diligeht hands. In Ci 
large vineyards the^ were not proportionately ai 
numerous. It is strange to say, onlydie who had ^ 
a few grapes or blackberries was the one to,., ^ 
suffer. I 
Next came the fPlum curculio. wi had an ai 
abundant crop of fhe native Chicasa plum, but fc 
woe to all the othjrs and to nectarines and apri- ^ 
cots also. Well iiw I must take that back/or in * 
one case I did sej several trees loaded wi% the 
best of plums an| another in which a few nec¬ 
tarines were leff. But so long as we continue 
to improve the hicasas we may look to be a)ble 
to yet outgeneral the little turk. The gre^t, 
the dreadful, the much-talked of grasshoppfr 
or locust was tip third on the programme. V 
Now I wantfto say just here, that there has., 
been much safd that is calculated to mislead, and \ 
that is reallyialse about the ravages of that in- I 
sect in theseJjarts last year. In the Nothern and 1 
Western portions of the State it did much more 
damage thap in the Southeastern. The great rea¬ 
son of this Is that it did not reach here until { 
Botan ical 
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