Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1882-09-08
Our FOREIGN Cabhare Pest.

/
cious imported insects, much more de-
structive in this country than in its abo-
riginal home. Our own native Ameri-
cam cabbage butterflies-the Northern
| (Pieris OLerdceGJ and the Southern
(PieriS Protodice)-though sometimes
quite troublesome, are harmlessness
itself compared with the destructive for
eign variety.
The male imported butterfly is white,
with the tips of the fore wings black,
busted with white. On each OF the fore
wings there is black spot. The female
butterfly has two spots on these wings,
about two-thirds of the distance from
the base TO the outer edge of the wing.
The eggs of this insect are laid singly
on the under side of leaves. The cater
pillar is green, with a yellowish stripe
down the back, and another along each
side, the belly being paler, brighter
green. The body is so densely covered
with minute hairs as to have a velvety
appearance. The worm is often more
than an inch long, and about the thick
ness of large crow-quill.
Wherever it has made its appearance,
the ravages of this pest have been very
| great, amounting in money value to
hundreds of thousands of dollars annual
ly, in localities where the cabbage is
largely cultivated.
A number of ways of thwarting the
destructive designs of the PierTs rapae
have been suggested, one of the most
effective of which is said to be hand
picking when the caterpillar can be
seen, and the capture of the butterflies
by means of light gauZe net mounted
on wire ring foot in diameter, at
tached to short pole. Where the cab
bage-head is badly infested, however,
1T is best to root it up and burn it on a
hot IRE, so as to make sure that none
OF the worms escape. busting the cab
bage early in the morning and evening
with lime Stacked in water in which
carbolic acid has been dissolved is also
highly recommended as O means of
driving the worm away The lime
should be in the form of a fine dry pow
der. Mr. Quinn has found carbolic
powder (so-called), superphosphate and
lime mixed together an effective appli-
cation. The american EntOmOloqiSt re-
| CARDS pyrethrum as the most satisfacto-
ny remedy SO far discovered. 1t has
the further and important advantage OF
being n perfectly harmless application
for all cabbage consumers except in
| sects. Bran and buckwheat flour dust.
ed over the infested plants as soon rs
the worms make their appearance have
been found eilcctual in some eases.
These laSt-named remedies must be ap-
| p led when the worms are young. A
second application is sometimes neces-
sary. Prot. Riley recommends q Judi
cious application of hot water from a
watering-pOt. But Only careful hands
should attempt this hydropathic cure.
or the remedy NAV prove at least as bad
! as the disease. The Professor also adj
vises repeated applications of whale-oil
soap and water, III the proportion OF
one pound of soap to six gallons of wa
ter 1t has also been suggested that a
trap may be laid for the chrysalis by
| placing boards. raised two inches above
the surface of the ground, among the
plants, TO attract the caterpillars when
about TO change to chrysaiids. Bv de.
stroying these. and all that NAV be
found under chips, stones, ETC.. MUCH
future toll and loss may be avoided.
But all these offensive and defensive
measures combined would probably be
OF little avail-so impotent is man to
cope with these inferior forces!-were
it not for the diminutive allies which
come TO the gardeners aid in the shape
OF minute ichneumoD flies. These lit
tie creatures lay their eggs either in
those of the butterflies or on the out
side of the chrysalis, and the resulting
maggots feed luXuriously on their help
less victims, and do immense execution
In reducing the numbers of their in.
voluntary entertainers. One observer
thinks that at least two-thirds of the
chrysalids which had suspended them.
selves by hundreds in the early autumn
about his house and fences, had been
attacked by these useful allies. Mr..
! Charles ID. Zimmerman. of Ohio, sug-
gests that these chrysalids should be
! gathered into box and covered with
wire gauze. SO that if they contain para
sites the latter may escape, and the
butterflies be DESTROYED. The box con.
tanning such chrysalids, he says, should
be protected from rain but not from
cold. n
The male of this parasite-the Ptero-
nldtUS pUparHm of Linnaus-is beauti
/ full pale-green fly, with the BODY finely
! punctured and emitting metallic tints.
The antehne are honey-yellow, with
narrow black wings. The legs are pale
| honeyyellow. 1t is from one-twelfth
to one-tenth of an inch in length. The
body of the female fly is much stouter
and broader. with an oval abdomen
ending in 4 very short ovipositor 1t is
much duller green than the male. and
the body is more coarsely punctured.
The antenne and LEGS are brown. The
J larva is alittle white maggot about an
eighth of an inch in length. AS many
I rs thirty-two of them, in various STAGES
of growth, have been found in the
body of a Single chrysalid. 1t is sin
cerelY TO be hope that these invaluable
/ . friends of man" may be able, with
1 the less efficient aid OF their human CO.
laborers. TO subdue and annihilate the
/ foreign interloper whose depredalions
/ have caused so much alarm and loss &c
I cabbage-growers.--N \, ETdminUr.
J Mosquitoes are an excellent pre-
ventive of sleep-walking. Ii YOU can
not procure any mosquitoes mako shift
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