1852 
101 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
digiously increased in number, have attacked at random 
various kinds of plants in swarms, and have be¬ 
come notorious for their extensive and deplorable rava¬ 
ges. The grape-vine in particular, the cherry, plum, and 
apple trees, have annually suffered by their depreda¬ 
tions; many other fruit trees and shrubs, garden vegeta¬ 
bles and corn, and even the trees of the forest and the 
grass of the fields, have been laid under contribution by 
these indiscriminate feeders, by whom leaves, flowers, 
and fruits are alike consumed. The unexpected arrival 
of these insects in swarms, at their first coming, and their 
sudden disappearance, at the close of their career, are 
remarkable facts in their history. They come forth from 
the ground during the second week in June, oraboutthe 
time of the blossoming of the damask rose, and remain 
from thirty to forty days. At the end of this period the 
males become exhausted, fall to the ground, and perish, 
while the females enter the earth, lay their eggs, return 
to the surface, and, after lingering a few days, die also. 
The eggs laid by each female are about thirty in number, 
and are deposited from one to four inches beneath the 
surface of the soil; they are nearly globular, whitish, 
and about one thirtieth of an inch in diameter, and are 
hatched twenty days after they are laid. The young 
larvae begin to feed on such tender roots as are within 
their reach. Like other grubs of the Scarabaeians, when 
not eating, they lie upon the side, with the body curved 
so that the head and tail are nearly in contact; they move 
with difficulty on a level surface, and are continually fall¬ 
ing over on one side or the other. They attain their full 
size in the autumn, being then nearly three quarters of 
an inch long, and about an eighth of an inch in diameter. 
They are of a yellowish white color, with a tinge of blue 
towards the hinder extremity, which is thick and obtuse 
or rounded; a few short hairs are scattered on the sur¬ 
face of the body; there are six short legs, namely a pair 
to each of the first three rings behind the head; and the 
latter is covered with a horny shell of a pale rust color. 
In October they descend below the reach of frost, and 
pass the winter in a torpid state. In the spring they ap¬ 
proach towards the surface, and each one forms for itself 
a little cell of an oval shape, by ‘turning round a great 
many times, so as to compress the earth and render the 
inside of the cavity hard and smooth. Within this cell 
the grub is transformed to pupa, during the month of 
May, by casting off its skin, which is pushed downwards 
in folds from the head to the tail. The pupa has some¬ 
what the form of the perfected beetle; but it is of a yel¬ 
lowish white color, and its short stump-like wings, its 
antennae, and its legs are folded upon the breast, and its 
whole body is enclosed in a thin film, that wraps each 
part separately. During the month of June this filmy 
skin is rent, the included beetle withdraws from it its 
body and its limbs,, bursts open its earthern cell, and digs 
its way to the surface of the ground. Thus the various 
changes, from the egg to the full development of the 
perfected beetle, are completed within the space of one 
year. 
Such being the metamorphoses and habits of these in¬ 
sects, it is evident that we cannot attack them in the 
egg, the grub, or the pupa state; the enemy, in these 
stages, is beyond our reach, and is subject to the control 
of the natural but unknown means appointed by the 
Author of Nature to keep the insect tribes in check. 
When they have issued from their subterranean re¬ 
treats, and have congregated upon our vines, trees, 
and other vegetable productions, in the complete enjoy¬ 
ment of their propensities, we must unite our efforts to 
seize and crush the invaders. They must indeed be 
crushed, scalded, or burned, to deprive them of life, for 
they are not affected by any of the applications usually 
found destructive to other insects. Experience has proved 
the utility of gathering them by hand, or of shaking 
them or brushing them from the plants into tin vessels 
containing a little water. They should be collected daily 
during the period of their visitation, and should be com¬ 
mitted to the flames, or killed by scalding water. The 
late John Lowell, Esq., states,* that in 1823, he dis¬ 
covered, on a solitary apple-tree, the rose-bugs “ in vast 
* Massachusetts Agricultural Repository, vol. IX, p. 115. 
numbers, such as could not be described, and. would not 
be believed if they were described, or, at least, none but 
an occular witness could conceive of their numbers. De¬ 
struction by hand was out of the question,” in this case. 
He put sheets under the tree, and shook them down, and 
burned them. Dr. Green, of Mansfield, whose investi¬ 
gations have thrown much light on the history of this in¬ 
sect, proposes protecting plants with millinet, and says 
that in this way only did he succeed in securing his grape¬ 
vines from depredation. His remarks also show the 
utility of gathering them. ‘ Eighty-six of these spoilers,’ 
he says, ‘ were known to infest a single rose-bud, and were 
crushed with one grasp of the hand.’ Suppose, as was 
probably the case, that one half of them were females; 
by this destruction, eight hundred eggs, at least, were 
prevented from becoming matured.” 
The insect known as the rose-bug has lately become 
almost overwhelming in its numbers throughout considera¬ 
ble portions of the western states, and where, as some¬ 
times happens, whole forests appear to be swarming with 
them, it is somewhat puzzling to say what we shall do 
with them. Whether the insect spoken of by our cor¬ 
respondent be same as the preceding, we are unable to 
say, in the absence of a specimen, or a full description. 
Dr. Harris describes the rose-bug of the eastern states 
as seven-twentieths of an inch long, slender, tapering be¬ 
fore and behind, the thorax long and narrow, widened to 
a point on each side; legs slender, pale red; joints of the 
feet tipped with black, and very long, which caused 
Latreille to call the genus Macrodactylus, that is, long 
footed. The body is covered with very short and close 
ashen-yellow down. 
Deep Plowing 
“ How does deep plowing improve tne soil?” asks an 
inquiring farmer. The simple answer is. by increasing 
its depth. “ But,” says the inquirer, “ if I plow deep 
I shall turn up the clay and inert earth that contain no 
nourishment for plants.” Well, if clay and inert earth, 
containing no nourishment for plants, lie so near the sun 
face as to be within reach of your deepest working plow, 
they ought to be turned up and exposed to the influence 
of sun, air. frost, rain, snow, and manure and cultiva¬ 
tion, that they may become rich. “ But,” says inquirer, 
(it is strange how many “ buts” such people can find 
for use on such occasions,) 11 it would require too much 
hard work and too long a time to do this, would it not?” 
That depends upon whether you would prefer five dol¬ 
lars profit per acre now, and forever hereafter, to two 
or three dollars now, this year and next, and ten or 
twenty dollars per acre hereafter. Yerb. Sap. 
Agricultural Economy. 
The ecomical farmer will be careful to select such 
tools and implements, as will require the least labor to 
perform the greatest amount of work. Two plows for 
example, of the same size, working the same depth, and 
turning the same width of furrow, may require very un¬ 
equal forces to work them, the one requiring but 400 
lbs. traction, the other 600 lbs., and this would be equiva¬ 
lent to two horses for the one, and three for the other. 
Most farmers understand this perfectly, and some at¬ 
tend to it in selecting their plow's; but any one can 
easily see on looking at the plows generally used, that 
many neglect it altogether. 
