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and other plants, puncturing them with its beak, and drawing off 
th e 8 ap The parts attacked withered shortly afterward, turned black, 
and in a few days dried up, or curled, and remained permanently 
stunted in their growth. 
Concerning the injuries of this species to the potato, Prof. Riley 
remarks • “I have passed through potato fields along the roa 
Mountain Railroad in May, and found almost every stalk blighted 
and black from the thrusts of its poisonous beak, and it is 1 ot al 
nil surprising that this bug was some years ago actually accused of 
heins the cause of the dreaded potato-rot.” He also reports that a 
aentfeman living near Chicago was almost baffled by its injurious 
punctures in Ins efforts to raise late-planted cucumbers. It is not 
a al likely that this account exhausts the species of garden vege- 
tables liable to its attacks, but doubtless almost anything affording 
it attractive food in the season of its necessities would suffer 
similarly. 
In the Orchard. 
The best account extant of its work in the orchard and nursery 
is that given by Mr. Wier, in the “Prairie banner article already 
cited He writes from a full heart, having, m one year, suffere a 
loss from this insect of about a thousand dollars worth ot young 
trees He says: “What the chinch-bug is to the spring wheat 
grower this bug is to the nurseryman and fruit grower m regions 
adapted to its multiplication; and, like the chinch-bug, there seems 
to be no means of combating it with much chance ot success. I 
have lost, within the last three years, by its ravages ^XhokS 
and orchard, enough to pay the salary of our State Entomolog st, 
I have closely studied it during that time and to-day I fedJhat 
shall have to stand by next spring utterly impotent to combat it 
successfully and see it blast my winter s work of giaftmg, in a 
great measure, and destroy every germ of plum and P e “' , on 
grounds, making my rows of young pear and plum trees look as 
they had been singed with fire during four long weeks. 
As soon in the spring as the first buds on our pear, mountain M 
and quince begin to burst, and the days are bright and warm theM 
bugs commence to feed on them and every bud that they pew 
with their poisonous beaks is utterly destroyed. As the teimma 
bud is the first to push, it goes first, and then each su °°®f 
down the branch ; so if the tree is small and there aie bugs , e "°“ g „ 
every free bud on the tree is killed, and it has to push lta d °irnm 
buds. These are destroyed in the same way, and the tree stand 
for a long time after this rough treatment, apparently consideim 
whether life is worth the immense effort of arranging cells foi j 
points of growth, to be destroyed m their incipiency. it goe 
work, and doubtingly, timidly and weakly sends ou; itsi best, thou 
spindling, effort. If the Capsus captures this last effort and t 
tree is weak in its store of food, it throws up the sponge , f not, : 
makes a weak, unsightly growth, for the reason that the new shoot 
do not start from proper axes. . 
The buds of root grafts cannot stand many stoppings; so wn 
these bugs are plenty, the rows show this, indeed. A t ® ^ 
and destroying in this way for about a month, the female lay 
