MAY ID 
334 THE RURAL WEW-YORKER. 
the protection of all native insectivorous birds 
by law; 2, that farmers should fall-plow as 
much of their land as possible; 3, that all rub¬ 
bish heaps should be burned up in the spring, 
and that the fence lines should be kept cleared 
up. I have mostly used London-purple—one 
pound mixed with two bushels of plaster (gyp¬ 
sum). I have also used Hammond’s Slug 
Shot, but with no result. It was not got di¬ 
rectly from the maker, however, and I doubt 
whether it was genuine. There is no difficulty 
in growing the pyrethrum here; but I do not 
think it will be done with profit or to com¬ 
pete with London-purple, or Slug Shot. I 
have never heard of loss of life, either in hu¬ 
man beings or live stock, from insecticides. 
The general use of poisons would soon exter¬ 
minate, or at least greatly lessen the insects 
injurious to the crops; but unfortunately, 
poison also destroys the insects which benefit 
the crops by living upon the injurious ones. 
Few farmers here, and I believe none of the 
negroes, use any effort to destroy the insects 
except the tobacco worm, and this they do by 
expensive and laborious hand picking. I 
have never heard of their attempting to des¬ 
troy the tobacco moths, which, if done early 
in the season would greatly lessen the number 
of worms. All insects invariably attack the 
poorest part of the crop first, and well man¬ 
aged, luxuriant crops, rarely suffer much from 
them. DANIEL H. STUART. 
Edward Co., Va. 
VINEYARD EXPERIMENTS. 
A. W. PEARSON, 
Special Agent U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
A few years ago, in France, discovery was 
made of a remedy for or preventive of mil¬ 
dews of plants, and in 1887 our Commissioner 
of Agriculture made this discovery known to 
the farmers of the United States. Under di¬ 
rection of Professor F. L. Scribner, United 
States Mycologist, I tested this new remedy 
for mildew in the vineyard and made a de¬ 
tailed report of trials and results to the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture, by which it will 
soon be published. Five different combina¬ 
tions of the remedy—sulphate of copper— 
were tried, and for the information of readers 
of the Rural it may suffice to state here that 
the preferable one was found to be the 
BORDEAUX MIXTURE. 
Dissolve 16 pounds of copper sulphate in 22 
gallons of water. In another vessel slake 20 
pounds of lime in six gallons of water. When 
the latter mixture is cooled pour it slowly into 
the copper solution. Mix the two solutions 
by constant stirring. Have this compound 
ready some days before required for use. Stir 
the mixture well before applying, which may 
be best done with the Vermorel Spraying Ma¬ 
chine or with the Eureka Sprayer, invented 
by Adam Weaber, of Vineland, N. J. 
Possibly one half of the quantity of copper 
sulphate prescribed for the Bordeaux Mixture 
may be enough. This chemical may be best 
dissolved by first pulverizing it, and by hot 
water. 
Sundry experimenters last year carelessly 
misunderstood sulphate of copper to mean 
copperas. Sulphate .of copper is commonly 
known as blue vitriol. Copperas is sulphate 
of iron, or green vitriol. 
The Bordeaux Mixture should be applied to 
the plant in a spray, so soon as the leaves are 
formed and at intervals of, say, four weeks 
thereafter, until the fruit begins to ripen. 
Mildew is thus prevented from growing on 
the foliage, or the fungus growth, having 
begun, is aborted. As yet, I know of no 
chemical preventive of the black rot of the 
grape. The growth of this fungus is within 
the fruit, where no application can reach it. 
To keep the grape from rotting the infecting 
germ must be excluded, and this may be by 
inclosing the cluster in a paper bag—provided 
that the bag be applied before the fruit is in¬ 
fected. The earliness of this infection depends 
on the weather, lu Vineland, 'New Jersey, 
in 1887 the grape rot appeared so soon as the 
grapes were formed. Yet, when the season 
is adverse to fungus development grape rot 
may not become epidemic until the grape is 
nearly or quite full-grown. It is safest, how¬ 
ever, to put on the grape bags as soon as possi¬ 
ble. Many viticulturists report having bagged 
their grapes before blooming, and with satis¬ 
factory results. Others say they have tried 
this and the blossoms failed to fructify. .The 
testimony for and against this practice, in 
Vineland, is about equal. I shall try the 
experiment this season. Perhaps there may 
be a difference in the self-fructifying powers 
of different varieties. 
Another preventive of grape rot, and also 
of mildew, I have found in roofing the trellis, 
with boards or with cotton cloth. With the 
latter material this protection costs about $6 
per 100 yards of trellis. Expensive in the or¬ 
iginal outlay, this same shelter will last 
four years, and for the more delicate and 
valuable varieties of the grape it will pay. 
The mycologist of the Department of Agri¬ 
culture, Professor Scribner, is sanguine that 
if the copper solutions be applied to the vine¬ 
yard sufficiently early they may prove pre¬ 
ventives of black rot. We shall try it this 
season. 
If the timely and thorough application of 
the copper sulphate prove a preventive of both 
black rot and mildew there is but little doubt 
that it will be found to be equally so of the 
other fungus maladies of the vine. 
I will mention here that I have found the 
Bordeaux Mixture to ne a preventive of the 
mildew—Peronospora infestans—peculiar to 
the potato and to the tomato. There is reason 
to expect that the copper sulphate will be 
valuable as an antidote to the whole tribe of 
plant mildews. In this view the Department 
Experiments will be continued. 
Of insect pests in the vineyard the worst 
are the Grape-leaf-hopper (Erythroneura vitis) 
generally but mistakenly known as “thrips; 
the “rosebug” (Macrodactylus subsinosus), 
and the “grape-louse” (Phylloxera vastatrix). 
The only safety against the latter is to plant 
vines resistant to it. It is interesting that our 
Riparias seem to be the natural habitat of this 
devastator of vineyards. I have vines of this 
species which have been the home of Phyllox¬ 
era for many years, and are uninjured. 
The leaf-hoppers are epidemic only occasion¬ 
ally, and in very dry seasons. In one of these, 
some years since in my vineyards, they were 
disastrous; for several years afterwards they 
were absent. 
They may be best dealt with by catching 
them. For this use a piece of thick pasteboard, 
say two by three feet square, provided with a 
handle to carry it. Smear this pasteboard on 
both sides with a mixture of linseed oil and 
resin heated together, and tempered to the 
proper stickiness for use. This tempering will 
depend on the tempei ature of the weather. If 
hot, more resin will be needed. 
With the “thrip-catcher” anointed with the 
sticker, pass along the trellis; hold the board 
opposite the vine; disturb the hoppers with 
any brushy implement; they will dash against 
the catcher, and when this is full of the in¬ 
sects they may be scraped off into a bucket. 
Then you know you have “got ’em.” Reanoint 
the pasteboard and continue. I find that the 
side of the pasteboard farthest from the hop¬ 
pers catches most of them. Hence the coun¬ 
sel to smear both sides of the board. 
When there were thousands of millions of 
hoppers on my vines I thus caught them, and 
by a few days’ work had them all in limbo. I 
have tried many applications recommended 
to prevent or destroy these insects, and pre¬ 
fer to manage them as above stated. When 
an epidemic of “thrips” seems imminent begin 
timely to suppress it thus, and it will be soon 
ended. 
To successfully combat the rosebug is a 
problem yet unsolved. This insect is increas¬ 
ing in numbers, and on the fruit farms of 
Vineland, in 1887, did serious damage. The 
rose bugs first invaded a vineyard on the west 
side of my farm in 1886. In 1887 they reap¬ 
peared in the same place in immensely increas¬ 
ed numbers. They gradually moved east¬ 
ward, devouring all the grape blossoms as they 
progressed. Contending against them, I spared 
neither cost nor labor, yet in spite of me they 
swept all the fruit from more than 3,000 of 
my grape vines. Fortunately they did not 
reach my experiment vineyard on the east 
side of the farm. While engaged with experi¬ 
ments with solutions of copper sulphate, I made 
an accidental observation whicti may prove 
useful. When I made the first application of 
the copper sulphate to my “experiment vine¬ 
yard,” rosebugs were swarming upon the vines 
on the west side of the farm. As the material 
of the mixture was not all expended in treat¬ 
ment of the experiment vineyard, I resolved 
to utilize the residue on the rest of my vines; 
so I directed my spraying machine operator 
to go on and spray also the grape vines on the 
west side of the farm, then infested with rose- 
bugs. He did so, and the next day I inspected 
the vines. I noticed that from them the rose- 
bugs were all gone. I then inspected other 
vines not sprayed with the solutions of copper, 
and found the rosebugs yet upon them. The 
inference was that the copper had driven the 
bugs from the vines where it was used. I had 
no opportunity to verify this inference by re¬ 
peated experiments, and merely mention it as 
something which may bo tried again. I shall 
certainly prepare a few casks of the Bordeaux 
Mixture, and hold them in reserve for the 
rosebugs. Sulphate of copper seems to be of¬ 
fensive to most insects. I hope that it may 
prove sufficiently disgusting to the rosebug to 
at least drive him away from my vines. If it 
does this it will be indeed valuable. 
Those purposing to use copper sulphate this 
year will find it to their advantage to have 
the crystals pulverized at chemical works. 
Its solution is thereby greatly aided. 
I may mention another insect which is fast 
increasing in our vineyards. This is the 
Grape Vine Flea Beetle (Haltica chalybea). It 
eats out the heart of the bud early in the 
spring. Like the rosebug, it hibernates be¬ 
neath the vine which it infests, reappears each 
year with increase of family, and spreads to 
adjacent vines. These may be protected by 
washing or spraying in March with a mixture 
of limewash, made with brine and medicated 
with London-purple. There are also the 
“Grape Berry Moth,” and the “Grape Curcu- 
lio;” but these minor pests of the vineyard 
are so dominated by the greater ones which 
we have been discussing that they attract but 
little attention. It will be time to consider 
these when we have vanquished the others. 
TWO CURRANT ENEMIES. 
_ % 
There are two enemies of the currant bush 
that promise sure destruction to the currant 
crop wherever their ravages are not kept in 
check by the timely efforts of the gardener. 
So large a number of the readers of the Rural 
are familiar with both these insects and the 
remedies that it seems almost foolish to occupy 
space in speaking of them. It is my opinion, 
however, that not one-half of the readers of 
the Rural are protecting their bushes from 
the attacks of the Currant Saw-fly or the Cur¬ 
rant Borer. It really is distressing to one to 
look into a farmer’s garden in mid-summer, 
and see his currant and gooseberry bushes as 
destitute of foliage as they were in December, 
all as a result of the attack of the Saw-fly. In 
such cases it seems sure that the farmer is 
either ignorant of the remedy or too slack to 
apply it. 
White hellebore in the proportion of one 
ounce to two gallons of water, sprayed or 
sprinkled freely upon the bushes, is sure and 
speedy death to the worms. This is not a 
new remedy; it is one that has been thorough¬ 
ly tried and known to be a most efficient one, 
so good and cheap, in fact, that I think it is 
not advisable to mention any other. The flies 
appear in Central Michigan about the middle 
of April, and as soon as the leaves begin to 
put forth they are ready to begin laying their 
eggs. Two weeks later the worms begin to ap¬ 
pear and then the bushes should be sprayed 
with the hellebore water. As all the flies do 
not appear at once, and as some worms may 
escape the first treatment, a second treatment 
is usually needed about ten days or two weeks 
after the first. The second begin to appear 
about the middle of July. These also need 
one treatment of the hellebore. Watch the 
bushes and apply the poison whenever neces¬ 
sary to get rid of the worms is the best rule to 
go by. 
The other enemy is the Currant Borer. This 
cannot be managed by the use of insecticides. 
The little larva works its way up and down at 
the center of the stem, where it is fully pro¬ 
tected from any external application. The 
best remedy for this insect is to cut out infect 
ed stems and burn them. This will do no im¬ 
mediate good, but will lessen very materially 
the extent of the attack the following year. 
This pruning may be done from the middle of 
November to the middle of May. 
The infected stems may be discovered by 
their breaking down, by the little holes the 
larvae make, through which to escape when 
changed to a moth, or by the sickly foliage 
that such stems usually bear. Gardeners 
should either protect their bushes from the at¬ 
tacks of these insects, or else cut their bushes 
down, so as not to raise injurious insects to 
molest their neighbors. c. p. Gillette. 
CURCULIO TRAP. 
This is cheap, easily made and readily 
handled. It is now coming to the time of year 
in this latitude for our insect enemies to make 
their appearance, and it is also time for us to 
prepare for their advent. The curculio is 
well-known by the crescent mark it makes on 
the plum, peach, cherry and other stone fruits 
and) is familiarly known as the “Little Turk.” 
Insects, like the larger creations, have certain 
characteristics or habits, which we must under¬ 
stand in order to fight them successfully. As 
soon as the weather becomes warm and the 
trees begin to bud out, they prepare for their 
work; and now before the foliage comes out, 
and shades the branches and ground is the 
time to set our traps. After the trees are in 
full leaf, the insects will remain mostly among 
the branches where they are well-shaded. 
Before this time they will seek any hiding 
place among the clods, grass, weeds or any 
refuse material about the trunks of the trees. 
First clear away all refuse from the base or 
crown of the tree for the space of two to three 
feet in diameter, smooth and compact the 
soil. Then place two, three, or more small 
chips, or clean white corn-cobs, cut from one 
to two inches in length, around the base of the 
tree. During the warm part of the day, the 
insects will take shelter under these traps, and 
can then be collected at leisure. Now offer 
the little ones so much a 100 or 1,000 for col¬ 
lecting them once a day. The pests can be 
put into glass jars or bottled for safe keeping if 
desired. After the trees are in full leaf the 
trap becomes useless and the jarring process 
can be used to finish up. A white sheet under 
the tree, and a sudden jar, any time in the 
cool of a calm day will bring them down. If 
this is done during the heat of the day, they 
are apt to fly away before you get them. 
W. A. SMITH. 
APPLE-ROOT LOUSE. 
(Schlzoneura lanlgeia.—Nausm.) 
At the last meeting of the New Jersey 
Horticultural Society, Mrs. Mary Treat, of 
Vineland, read a paper on the above named 
insect. She says the root-lice are more de¬ 
structive to vegetation than those which in¬ 
habit the stems and leaves. She found in 
some places fully 90 per cent, of the trees badly 
infested with this pernicious creature. Over 
the territory which she examined, it was an 
exception rather than the rule to find an 
apple tree free from the pest. 
WORK OF THE APPLE-ROOT LOUSE. From Nature. Fig. 144. 
