1853. 
THE CULTIVATOK. 
187 
Destructive Insects on the Grape* 
I have been much troubled for several years by 
a worm upon my grape vines, and desire to know 
if there is any way to prevent them from destroy¬ 
ing the vines. The egg appears to be deposited 
by a large yellow bug, striped with black, some¬ 
thing larger than what is called a tumble-bug, 
but of different color. It deposits its eggs upon 
the underside of the leaf; they soon hatch, not 
more than one-eights of an inch in length, and ar¬ 
range themselves along the edge of the leaf, from 
fifty to one hundred in a place, where they com¬ 
mence eating, and destroy all before them. They 
increase in size rapidly until about an inch in 
lengh, when they disappear. I have destroyed 
hundreds of bugs and thousands of worms by 
crushing the leaf. They commence as soon as the 
leaf puts forth in the spring, and continue to feed 
upon them and the blossom until the latter part 
of sixth month. My vines have been almost 
stripped, and I have almost despaired of having 
grapes, although I have been laboring with them 
for six years. Please inform, though your jour¬ 
nal, a remedy if there is any. A Subscriber. 
Quakertown, Pa., 8 mo. 18, 1853. 
twenty-two legs. The head and the tip of the 
tail are black; the body, above, is light green, 
paler before and behind, with two tranverse rows 
of minute black points across each ring; and the 
lower side of the body is yellowish. After their 
last moulting they become almost entirely yellow 
and then leave the vine, burrow in the ground' 
and form for themselves small oval cells of earth, 
which they line with a slight silken film. In about 
a fortnight after going into the ground, having in 
the mean time passed through the chrysalis state, 
they come out of their earthen cells, take wing, 
pair, and lay their eggs for a second brood. The 
young of the second brood are not transformed to 
flies until the following spring, but remain at rest 
in their cocoons in the ground through the win¬ 
ter.” 
The best remedies for these larvae, are, dusting 
them with air-slaked lime, washing or syringing 
them with a solution of one pound of common hard 
soap in five or six gallons of rain water, or the 
similar use of a solution of one pound of whale oil 
soap in seven gallons of water. 
Transplanter. 
The insertion of the above has been unintention¬ 
ally delayed, but we hope it may not yet be too 
late. , We have had no experience with the insects 
mentioned—those of a similar character in habits 
and destructiveness are described in Harris’ Trea¬ 
tise on New-England Insects, from which we may, 
perhaps, furnish some useful suggestions. We 
incline to the opinion that the “ worm” caterpil¬ 
lar is not the progeny of the large beetle, but en¬ 
tirely distinct, and that the two only happened to 
occur together on the vine. 
There is a large beetle (Pelidnota punctata ) 
belonging to Lumens’ large genus of Scaraboeus, 
that often proves quite destructive to the grape. 
It is about an inch long, oblong-oval, the wing- 
covers a dull brownish yellow, with three distant 
black dots on each; thorax darker, slightly 
bronzed, with a black dot on each side; body and 
legs, a deep bronzed green. The leaves of the 
grape are their only food and they are often very 
injurious. Their larvae live in rotten wood. If 
this is not the beetle described by our correspon¬ 
dent, it must be quite similar in character and 
habits, and the same remedy applies to both, 
namely, picking off and crushing. 
The other insect, nearly resembling the one 
above described, is the larva of the Selandria vi- 
tis, a saw-fly or Hymenopterous insect. The fol¬ 
lowing is Harris’ description :•— 
“ These flies rise from the ground in the spring, 
not all at one time, but at irregular intervals, 
and lay their eggs on the lower side of the termi¬ 
nal leaves of the vine. In the month of July the 
false caterpillars, hatched from these eggs, may be 
seen on the leaves in little swarms, of various ages, 
some very small ,and others fully grown. They feed 
in company, side by side, beneath the leaves, each 
swarm or fraternity consisting of a dozen or more 
individuals, and they preserve their ranks with a 
surprising degree of regularity. Beginning at the 
edge they eat the whole of the leaf to the stalk, 
and then go to another, which in like manner 
they devour, and thus proceed from leaf to leaf, 
down the branch, till they have grown to their 
full size. They then average five eights of an inch 
in length, are somewhat slender and tapering be¬ 
hind, and thickest before the middle. They have 
Permit me to introduce to your favorable no¬ 
tice, an invention of T. D. Stetozon, of Middle- 
borough, Mass., called “ Stetozon’s Transplanter.” 
The instruument re¬ 
presented in the annex¬ 
ed figure, consists of a 
sort of spade, .with side 
cutters, to be pressed 
into the earth, near the 
plant to be raised; when 
ma ie to. fit ti e wings, 
(or side cutters) is forced down on the side op¬ 
posite the spade, when the plant, with the ad¬ 
joining earth unbroken, may be raised, removed, 
and planted in another cavity previously made by 
the same instrument. D. T. Brown 
To Protect Vines from Bugs. —Make boxes 
from 15 to 18 inches'square, and 6 inches high, 
without top or bottom of course, and place them 
on the hills before the plants are up, and a striped 
bug will never touch them. D. M/YV. Sxvanton, 
Vt. -- 
Culture of Melons.* — I plant my Melons and Cu¬ 
cumbers by digging a hole 16 or 18 inches deep, and as 
far over, and till with composition and good soil, and 
they keep green until the frost comes, rain or shine, and 
bear five times the quantity, being five times as large, 
and the melons are far superior in flavor, while those 
planted in the common way, die by drouth or heavy 
rain, and the melon is unripe, unhealthy and wrorthless, 
if flooded at the roots. Phineas Pratt. Deep River , 
CL, 1853. - 
Vegetation. —Notwithstanding the inauspicious 
nature of the weather, which for a time past has 
greatly retarded the progressive development of 
vegetation, it may at length be considered but 
little, if at all, behind the period of former years. 
The cherry, the plum, and in warm, sunny situa¬ 
tions, the peach, have each profusely put forth 
their blossoms, affording a richly formed bower 
to the joyous revelling of the chipping sparrow, 
the yellow bird, and some other of the early vi¬ 
sitors of spring. 
the blade, fig. 2, which 's 
