The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-03-13
The War with Insects.

The familiar talk of DIR. Jabez Fisher,
of Fitchburg, before the Massachusetts,
State Board of Agriculture, at Hing
ham, was just such talk as farmers
need.
The first insect noticed by DR.. Fisher,
in his lecture. was the Colorado potato
beetle, Doryfhora decemlineata, or ten
lined beetle. Its habits are now too
we'll known to need description here.
The means of destroying him are at
present of the first Importance. The
doctor had tried many experiments, but
had found nothing so cheap or effectual
as Paris green mixed with plaster, and
sprinkled over the vines during the
growing season. One pound of green
may be mixed with two hundred pounds
of plaster, and be just as destructive as
if but half the plaster or less were used.
The main point is to get the insects to
eat of the poison, little being as sure
to kill as much. In mixing the plaster
with the green, he is careful to cover
the nose to prevent inhaling the poison;
then, by pouring a quantity upon a
sheet or other close-woven cloth, and
letting it roll over upon itself, raising
first one edge of the sheet and then the
other, he has been able to mix the ma
terials very evenly. Simply stirring
in dish is not a thorough method of
mixing. Hellebore and some other
poisons will destroy the insects, but the
expense is one hundred times greater,
while the danger from poisoning is no
less to the individual applying it. The
application need not be made more
than two or three times during the sea-
son under ordinary circumstances.
In the vineyard he had been some-
what troubled by a steel-blue beetle,
HalticG chalybeG or grapevine flea
beetle, an insect that appears early in
spring, and amrses himself by eating
out the center of the buds of the vine,
at the same time laying eggs for crop
of brown slugs, which, in turn, con-
sumo the foliage. As the beetles are
found in spring most on the outer
rows, hand picking, if well followed,
will check their ravages, but the work
must be done early in the morning
while the beetles are less active than at
midday. The tent caterpillar which
builds its house in our apple trees,
though often doing an immense amount
of damage when neglected, is one of
the most easily managed insects with
which the orchardist has to contend.
Go over the orchards when the young
caterpillars are just coming from the
eggs and beginning to spin webs from
their nests, and single stroke of the
finger drawn across the nest will roll
them out of existence. When they
first hatch, q whole colony of two or
three hundred may be crushed between
the thumb and finger, leaving hardly q
stain.
The eggs of the apple-tree borer are
laid in June and July, and the larv@
are easily destroyed during the first
summer, while their work is confined
to the bark. After they enter the wood
they may be reached by cutting or by
inserting q wire, but he had found q
piece of whalebOne ten inches long,
whitfield to q point, the best thing to
follow them in their crooked paths up
the trunk. The rose bug had been q
serious enemy to contend with on his
grape vines. They also swarm in clo-
yer and hay fields, but do most injury
to grapes while in bloom, eating the
blossoms clean from the future punches,
and thus entirely destroy, in a single
hour, the work of whole year. Here,
too, hand picking seems to be the only
practicable remedy. He is most success
full in destroying them by going
through the vineyard early in the
morning, and with dish of water held
beneath the punches, giving the bugs a
gentle tap. when they roll up their legs
and tumble into the water. OF course
it is constant vigilance that wins in
this as in most other endeavors in life.
The curculio, the doctor believes, is q
blessing, as his work is chiefly per-
formed while the fruit is young and
hanging too thickly on the trees. The
insect helps the farmer to thin his fruit,
but 1t allowed to become too numerous
they may also become our enemies.
The forest-tree caterpiller, or fall
web worm, which attacks the apple,
pear. and cherry trees, must be de-
stroyed by searching early and often
till their season is past. If taken as
soon as Matched. only few leaves will
be injured, but if left alone, whole
limbs with their fruit will be rendered
worthless, for their fruit cannot grow
and ripen without leaves. The oodling
moth. <twh}Ah aaSsunA - Sn~~h ~r.Ao~.aS