A most efficient remedy remaining is found in suffocation, which may be accomplished by the use of oils, tobacco smoke, or irritants like pyrethrum powder. Like other insects these breathe through numerous small openings or spiracles, generally situated along the sides of their bodies, and it is by closing or irritating their breathing organs, and thus practically causing suffocation, that kerosene emulsion, whale oil soap, and other allied insecticides prove effective. It must be remembered, however, that these remedies are often of little use against the more active, stronger insects, and are most effectual when applied against those which are weak, sluggish, or soft.

The young terminal shoots of many shrubs and young trees are often stunted and made to grow in unnatural, bushy forms, by little greenish bugs or hoppers of various species, which puncture and suck the sap from the leaves and tender stems and cause these distortions. The annual growth of young maples, lindens, locusts and other trees are often thus checked from several inches to a foot or two, and the lateral buds are crowded in large numbers near together around the twigs, resulting in injury to the appearance, value, and development of the tree.

Little green and red banded hoppers, commonly but erroneously called "Thrips", suck the sap from grape leaves, causing them to become spotted and dry; a small green species is sometimes so plentiful on rose bushes as to cause the leaves to dry and fall on account of the constant piercing and loss of sap.

The disease of chrysanthemums which causes the young growths to become bunched and impairs the flowering value of the plant causing it to become "blind" as some cultivators express itis probably mostly due to injuries of the same nature.

In their winged state, many of the little bugs which cause this mischief take alarm and fly away so quickly that they are scarcely seen; if the young are on the plants they conceal themselves if possible.

Frequent and thorough spraying with a strong decoction of tobacco and soap, or the use of kerosene emulsion, and the dipping of infested branches into the emulsion, will be found valuable in lessening the injuries on small trees, shrubs, and other plants. Covering small plants and fumigating with tobacco is effective. Good results will also be obtained by dusting with fresh pyrethrum powder, or tobacco dust; these remedies are clean and easily applied. But, as many of these insects feed upon grass and other

herbage, fresh supplies of the pests may be constantly on hand, unless such plants as the chrysanthemums are well isolated.

A large net made of fine mesh mosquito netting, drawn quickly around and among the plants, will capture great numbers of the winged insects. If chrysanthemums were protected by gauze covered frames, there should be no trouble from the pests.

Scale Insects and Mealy Bugs obtain their food by sucking the sap of plants through beaks, in the same manner as the Aphides and the true bugs. The different species vary so much in habit that no rule is applicable to many of them together. From delicate plants, and when the scales are mature, it is often necessary to remove the pest by hand. On strong plants, especially woody species, the stems and branches may be washed with whale oil soap or kerosene emulsion with good effect. In this work a knowledge of the habits of the species to be combatted will prove of the greatest advantage. For instance, we find that the Oyster-shell Bark-louse (Mytilaspis pomorum), of the apple and other fruit trees, hatches from the egg and begins life as a little, active, light-colored louse, in the latter part of May or in June, and this is by far the best time to attack it. At this time sprayings of ordinary kerosene emulsion would destroy every louse with which it came in contact. Later, the insects become fixed on the bark, from which they never afterwards move, and as the season advances they become protected by the well-known scaly covering, which offers a considerable resistance to insecticides.

Nuthatches, chickadees, woodpeckers of several species, and some other birds, do a vast amount of little appreciated benefit by clearing off the scale insects which infest the trunks and branches of trees and shrubs. I have often watched winter birds at this work.

An inconspicuous insect, but one which often gives a great deal of trouble to gardeners, is Fuller's Rose Beetle (Aramigus Fulleri), a small beetle of the curculio family. The principal damage is done in its larval stages, when the little white grubs live in the soil and feed upon the roots of many kinds of plants. Cultivators in Boston and vicinity have frequently called my attention to this troublesome pest. Sometimes the roots have been eaten from whole beds of primroses in the open air; in winter the enemy may be damaging the roots of roses in the greenhouse. The beetle is so much like the average soil in color, that it generally escapes

notice. It may often be found eating the foliage of plants in the greenhouse, and it should be destroyed whenever seen. Sometimes the damage is done by another and larger curculio (Otiorhynchus sulcatus) while in its stage of a small white grub. The beetles of both species are active only at night; in the daytime they are usually quiet and may be found on the ground or clinging to twigs or the under side of leaves.

Every summer, in many parts of New England, we hear complaints of the destruction of the grass of lawns by the white grubs or larvæ, of the May Beetles or June Bugs (Lachnosterna fuscu), which live in the soil and eat the roots. Often the grass gets brown in patches, and is found to have all its roots cut away. Few of the remedies usually recommended can be called convenient or practicable.

Experiments conducted at Washington some years ago showed that white grubs of another species (Allorhina nitida), having a habit of feeding nearer the surface of the soil, can be destroyed by the use of kerosene emulsion, and the question naturally arises as to whether we cannot use it successfully against our local white grubs in small areas, and also against the grubs of Fuller's Rose Beetle.

Lawns or spots badly infested with white grubs may be liberally sprayed with the prepared kerosene emulsion diluted in the proportion of one gallon of the emulsion to from fifteen to twenty gallons of water. After applying the insecticide the ground should be well soaked with water several times, so that some part of the emulsion may be carried farther into the soil. The grubs will be driven from the roots of the grass and will finally die; the grass will sustain no injury from kerosene in these proportions. Where the grubs of Fuller's Rose Beetle give much trouble, I would recommend that the soil about the roots of the plants be sprayed with the kerosene emulsion, in the proportions given for the White Grub, and that the ground be well soaked with water two or three times. A stirring of the soil before the application would increase its effectiveness.

In considering means for the control of the White Grub, we ought to pay more attention to the encouragement and protection of animals which help to destroy it. The much-abused skunk is a most valuable ally in lessening the numbers of the pests. Go over a field or pasture where White Grubs are plentiful, and if skunks live in the vicinity, we are sure to find innumerable little

holes made by the long claws of the skunk in digging out grubs. The flocks of crows which stalk over pastures and meadows, are often mostly employed in grub hunting. It is a difficult matter to obtain legislation for the protection of such an animal as the skunk, because of indifference, prejudice, lack of attractiveness, or from the fact that it may commit some offence. Its few evil deeds are likely to receive quicker recognition than its many good ones. In many hop growing regions the skunk now gets its full share of protection as a valuable grub hunter.

I have heard the story of a New England town, where the skunks had become so numerous that war was declared against them, a bounty being offered for each one killed, and they were almost exterminated. In the years immediately following, the grass was greatly destroyed by grubs. The people then, realizing their folly, ordered the protection of the skunk, and soon afterwards there was a marked improvement in the condition of the grass.

As a formula for making kerosene emulsion is not known by many persons, I will here present the one which has given most general satisfaction and is recommended by the Department of Agriculture.

Kerosene, two gallons; common or whale oil soap, one-half pound; water, one gallon. Dissolve the soap in the water and heat the solution, adding it, when boiling hot, to the kerosene. Churn the mixture by means of a force pump and spray nozzle for five or ten minutes. The emulsion, if perfect, forms a cream which thickens on cooling, and should adhere without oiliness to the surface of glass. Dilute before using, taking one part of the emulsion with nine parts of cold water. The three gallons of emulsion will thus give thirty gallons of insecticide, which may be sprayed upon most plants with no injury to the foliage, but will prove fatal to many kinds of insects, especially those with soft bodies, or which obtain their food by sucking. Of course if a force pump is not available the emulsion may be stirred by any convenient means. A bundle of switches will answer, if the mixture is whipped long enough.

In using Pyrethrum powder, or Buhach, care should be taken to obtain it as fresh as possible, and it should be kept in air tight vessels until it is to be used. It may be used dry, either pure or mixed with five or six parts of flour; or it may be applied in

water, in the proportion of a large tablespoonful to a gallon of water and sprayed.

Hellebore is well known as fatal to the common Gooseberry and Red Currant Worms and to the larvæ of Sawflies, on roses and other plants. Besides being mixed in water in the proportion of about an ounce to two gallons, it is very often used as a pure powder, but it may be more economically applied by first mixing it with several times its own bulk of flour, in which case it will still prove very effective.

These two poisons are well adapted to common use in a small way as they are much less dangerous to man than the arsenical mixtures, the latter being also more likely to injure foliage than is the kerosene emulsion, which is a safe insecticide to handle. Of course a great many of the patented insecticides are effective and valuable. But they are usually very expensive when compared with the actual cost of the arsenical poisons, the kerosene, or other materials upon which they are largely based. Where large quantities of the poisons are to be used it is generally much more economical to prepare one's own insecticides.

DISCUSSION.

Benjamin P. Ware said he was surprised that the borer infested locust trees to such an extent as the lecturer had so clearly shown, and that these pests accomplished so much damage in so short a time. The Apple Tree Borer requires three years to complete its round of life, yet does no more, and perhaps not as much damage, individually, in all that time, as the Locust Borer does in its less than one year of existence.

Mr. Jack said that one borer might kill a tree. Such a result would be brought about by one or more borers working in the sapwood until it was practically girdled. Borers in the heart of a tree are usually less dangerous to its life than those near the bark. He then referred to the use of kerosene emulsion on grass land, to destroy the grub of the May-beetle, and said that one part of the emulsion in ten was entirely safe, but that one part in fifteen would be strong enough for the purpose. He added that in no case was the grass injured in the least by the use of the emulsion. He believed it should be tried in greenhouses, to rid the soil of small, white grubs and other insect life that is sometimes more or less injurious to the roots of the plants.

Professor George F. H. Markoe said that clear kerosene did not seem to be injurious to grass or to tree trunks, especially if, soon