52 
FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 
cabbage plants, in order to keep off flea-beetles {Hedtica,) lie had tried it, and thereby 
killed 200 plants. {New York Sem. Tribune , June 26, 1866.) On the other hand, G. 
Goodsill, of McHenry Co., in North Illinois, asserts that he applied coal oil with a 
feather to young melon-vines, to keep off the striped Cucumber-bug, {Diabrotica vittata, 
Fabr.) without any injurious effects. {Prairie Farmer, April 1, 1865, p. 234.) Again: 
“ W. T. W.,” of Belleview, Iowa, says that he “ lost one set of trees, some fifteen years 
since, by greasing them to keep off the rabbits, and would no more think of greasing 
fruit-trees than of chopping them down.” {Ibid. Jan 6, 1866, p. 5.) And Mr. J. C. 
Plumb, of Madison, Wisconsin, asserts that he “has seen thousands of trees, from the 
nursery graft to the bearing size, ruined by greasy applications that if the trees are 
greased in the winter, “the grease should be washed off by lye or soft soap in the 
spring ,” and that “ the worst possible time to apply grease is in the winter ; and the 
same amount which would cause death, if applied then, would be harmless if applied 
during the flow of sap in the growing season.” On the other hand, “Young Sprout,” 
of San Jose, says : “I have greased my trees for the last three winters with equal parts 
of lard and coal oil, and in the spring washed off with a strong lye, and I have good 
thrifty trees.” {Ibid, March 10, 1866, p. 151.) Lastly, which is the most important con¬ 
sideration of all, I find that there is a very general prejudice, both among practical and 
among theoretical men, against the application of oily substances to vegetable organ¬ 
isms. The subject is certainly a most difficult and important one, and the evidence 
rather contradictory ; and it will require a series of carefully conducted experiments, 
which I hope to complete during the ensuing year, in order to arrive at any conclusive 
and satisfactory results. Probably benzine, as it evaporates more quickly and com¬ 
pletely than kerosene (and, by the way, it is also much cheaper,) may be the least inju¬ 
rious of any of the oily applications ; and perhaps all these oily substances may bear to 
be considerably diluted without losing their efficacy. Nothing but actual experiments, 
however, on an extensive scale can solve satisfactorily these and similar problems. 
Statement 5th. — In June, 1867, I used an old'painter’s brush, which had been worn 
to a stump, to scrub off the young newly-hatched Bark-lice from the larger limbs of an 
infested tree ; and found it perfectly effectual. The lice fell before it as the grain falls 
before a reaping-machine. 
Statement 6th. — “ An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.” When 
young apple-trees are purchased from the nursery, it will always pay well, in the 
northern parts of Illinois, to look them carefully over, and scrape off with a knife any 
scales of the Oyster-shell species that may be found on them. In the extreme southern 
parts of the State, this need not be done ; for, as already shown, the Oyster-shell Bark- 
louse does not like the climate of that region and perishes if it is imported there. 
Recollect that every full-grown scale is a female full of eggs, and that the eggs average 
over 50 in number. There are absolutely no males in this crowd, to lessen the number 
of fruitful individuals. “Always plant a clean tree,” is Dr. Mygatt’s advice; and this 
advice of his is indisputably excellent. But unfortunately fruit-growers often wait till 
it is too late to fight the foe to advantage, and in the hurry and press of business the 
homely old adage-is apt to be forgotten, that “a stitch in time saves nine.” 
Dr. James Weecf, of Muscatine, Iowa, believes that this Birk-louse was almost entirely 
extirpated in his neighborhood by the intense cold—-27° below zero — of the winter of 
1855-6. From the fact already twice stated, that it is a northern species, intolerant of a 
high summer temperature, I strongly incline to believe' that there must be some mis¬ 
take here. In the Prairie Farmer for Oct. 29,1864, J. C. Plumb, of Madison, Wisconsin, 
