BEAN APHIS. B 
would be very little corn,—scarcely worth threshing,—and all the sap 
(and leaves) would have left the stem. So I thought it best to cut 
them at once and make them into hay, which I did, and I think I have 
secured some very good horse provender, which I intend having 
chopped during the winter. I will also try the milking cows, and see 
if it will produce milk. 
“ There was not a Sparrow to be seen in the Beans." 
Mr. Ralph Lowe, of Sleaford, Lincolnshire, reported, on August 
10th:—-“We have suffered greatly in Beans and Peas from the 
ravages of the Aphis. Fields that promised two quarters to the acre 
are reduced to one quarter. The air has for days been full of the 
winged green Aphis.” 
The Rev. T. H. White, writing from the Vicarage, Weybread, a 
locality lying just at the northern border of Suffolk, reported that— 
“ Peas (field) were generally a failure ; the bulk promised great things, 
but the drought was too much for them, and the myriads of Green Fly 
sucked all the goodness out of them. 
“ Spring Beans failed, owing to the Fly and the drought, but 
Winter Beans were a capital crop.” 
On Aug. 12tli a portion of Bean-stalk covered with Aphides (locally 
known as “ Siffother Flies”), many of which were grown over with 
mould, was forwarded to me by Lady Knightley, from Fawsley, 
Daventry, as an example of the attack which was then doing great 
harm to the Bean crops. 
The following note by Mr. Thomas H. Hart, of Park Farm, Kings- 
north, Ashford, Kent, an excellently qualified observer, confirms the 
views given in previous seasons of cold winds, drought, or circum¬ 
stances which tend to cause either stunted growth or unhealthy flow of 
sap, being favourable to multiplication of plant-lice :— 
“ Black Dolphin, Vollier .—A general and terrible pest in spring- 
sown Beans. Jt was first noticed just after the Beans began flower, 
and rapidly spread over the fields. The cold winds in the first place, 
and the want of rain in the second, prevented hoeing and cultivating 
having any beneficial effect. The blossoms dropped off, the leaves 
yellowed and finally shrivelled up and dropped, and the plant ripened 
prematurely. I cannot recollect any attack of this pest so generally 
disastrous as this year. Acres upon acres will barely pay the cost, to 
say nothing of other expenses. I sowed five acres, and I may get five 
quarters of Beans from it; but a neighbour, who had about ten acres, 
was advised by a friend to plough them up with a broadsliare, harrow 
off, and carry into the yards, it being thought that the first sacrifice 
would be the least.” 
Mr. Hart further noted, on Sept. 9th:—“ The drought came to an 
end on Monday, having lasted just twelve weeks. I registered 1-09 in 
