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AN* ADDRESS 
 
 FARM PESTS, 
 
 INCLUDING 
 
 INSECTS, FUNGI, AND ANIMALCULES, 
 
 DELIVERED AT A MEETING OF THE 
 
 NEW HAMPSHIRE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 
 
 V 
 
 BY 
 
 HIRAM A. CUTTING, A. M., M. D., 
 
 STATE GEOLOGIST OF VERMONT. 
 
 i JUL 11 18t7 
 
 MANCHESTER, N. H.: 
 PRINTED BY JOHN B. CLARKE. 
 
 1879. 
 
e 
 
 
PESTS OF THE FARM, 
 
 INCLUDING INSECTS AND MICROSCOPIC FUNGI * 
 
 BY DR. HIRAM A. CUTTING, LUNENBURG, VT. 
 
 INSECT PESTS. 
 
 It seems proper, as an introduction to the study of farm pests, 
 that I should say something of the general nature of the objects 
 of which I speak. As I first speak of the visible pests called 
 insects, I will define them. Perhaps it would seem almost 
 superfluous to define the meaning of the word " insect," yet I 
 seldom find among the young a perfect understanding of the 
 classifications of life as found in the animal kingdom. This 
 kingdom is divided into four great classes : — 
 
 1. Animals of all kinds that have back-bones, or " Verte- 
 brata," and then again they are subdivided into four classes ; 
 viz., mammals, birds, reptiles, and fishes. 
 
 2. Animals made up of segments or joints, "Articulata." 
 These are again subdivided into — 
 
 " Insects," a term from the Latin that signifies " cut into," 
 which expresses that peculiar segmented form. They generally 
 have six legs when adult. 
 
 " Arachnida," as spiders, mites, etc., having eight legs. 
 
 * This lecture was illustrated by nearly two hundred colored drawings, two 
 by two and one-half feet in size, several of which have been engraved for 
 this work. 
 
" Crustacea," as crabs, lobsters, etc., with from ten to four- 
 teen legs. 
 
 " Myriapoda," as thousand-legged worms, or those having 
 more than fourteen legs. 
 
 " Annelida," or true worms without legs, as the earth-worm. 
 
 3. Animals with soft bodies, called " Mollusca." These are 
 without distinct joints, and have no internal or external skeleton. 
 
 4. Animals that radiate from a central point like stars, 
 called " Radiata." 
 
 But we will return to our special class. Insects are further 
 known by having their bodies divided into three distinct parts, 
 as follows : The head, containing the organs of sense ; the 
 thorax, which bears the organs of locomotion ; and the abdomen. 
 They also undergo a series of molts or changes, and usually 
 exist in four distinct stages, known as the egg ; next as the 
 " larva," or masked or hidden form, usually so unlike as not to 
 be known by its appearance, though an active stage of its life ; 
 then, as the " pupa " or "chrysalis," which is an inactive state ; 
 and lastly, as the " imago," or perfect and usually beautiful 
 insect. 
 
 T'o sum up, an insect is a thirteen-jointed, six-legged animal, 
 divided into three distinct parts, as above described, and may 
 be with or without wings ; with an external skeleton, and under- 
 going transformations, breathing through little breathing-holes 
 in its sides, known as " spiracles," which lead to air tubes, 
 answering to our lungs, and known as trachea. 
 
 This short explanation shows how we may best prepare our- 
 selves to fight this common enemy. If we can in any way stop 
 their breath, by dust or any viscid substance that stops the 
 spiracles by filling them, we drown them as we would drown in 
 water. With many, this method is very effective, as breath is 
 much more necessary than food. In fact, to the adult insect 
 food is not always necessary, while breath ever is. 
 
 But our insect is further classified : — 
 
 I. " Hymenoptera," meaning clear or membrane winged, as 
 flies, bees, etc. Some insects of this order have mouths fitted 
 for biting and sucking, with a complex structure, as the honey- 
 bee. 
 
2. " Coleoptera," meaning sheathed or covered wings. 
 These are known as beetles, and go through a complete trans- 
 formation. The " Colorado potato-bug " is a beetle of this 
 class. 
 
 3. " Lepidoptera," meaning scale wings, or wings with 
 microscopic plumage, as butterflies and moths ; transformations 
 also complete. 
 
 4. " Hemiptera," or half-winged. The insects of this order 
 are known as bugs. Some have no wings, or only rudimentary 
 ones, while others are winged and feed upon plants only. 
 
 5. " Diptera,'' meaning twice-winged or two-winged. This 
 order is very troublesome to man, and is found everywhere upon 
 the earth's surface where inhabitable ; the mosquito, gnat, 
 wheat-midge, cabbage-maggot, onion-maggot, etc., belonging to 
 this order. 
 
 6. " Orthoptera," or straight wings, meaning straight-winged 
 insects, including grasshoppers, locusts, etc. 
 
 7. " Neuroptera," or nerved-winged insects, their wings 
 resembling net-work, as the dragon-fly. 
 
 Many of this order are beneficial, and few really injurious, to 
 man. 
 
 The time was when any person that attempted the study of 
 the insect world was derided and laughed at ; the derisive term 
 of " bug-hunter " was applied to him, and every person suffposed 
 that to run after and catch bugs was the insane idea in his life. 
 
 More than a century ago, the Swedish authorities became 
 greatly alarmed at the fearful destruction of the timber in their 
 dock-yards by a minute boring-beetle. They at length applied 
 to that renowned " bug-hunter," Linnaeus. He told them that 
 the perfect beetle, that laid the eggs for the borer, only appeared 
 in the month of May, and if they would submerge their timber 
 that month, they would be free from its ravages. The govern- 
 ment did this, and by this simple and inexpensive method saved 
 their timber, and at the same time brought the " bug-hunter " 
 into respect as an entomologist, a term from the Greek, mean- 
 ing " one who discourses upon insects," or treats of them and 
 their habits. 
 
 In Prussia and Germany the rudiments of entomology are 
 
6 
 
 taught in their common schools, and I would ask if, in a country 
 where the damage from insects is variously estimated from one 
 hundred million to one billion of dollars per annum, and the 
 extermination of insect pests becomes almost imperative, it is 
 not worth while for us to look about us for the necessary 
 information to intelligently fight our foes ? 
 
 In a letter before me, 1 am asked, " What is science good 
 for, if scientific men are baffled by one little insect which they 
 cannot devise means to exterminate ? " 
 
 Science is not baffled, but, like Hercules in the old fable of 
 the Wagoner, can help you and will help you, only when you 
 help yourselves. I may now hear you ask, How may we help 
 ourselves? or. How can New Hampshire alone help herself? 
 We may safely calculate that the insect ravages in New Hamp- 
 shire for one year will exceed three millions of dollars. Now is 
 it too much to say that a concerted action on the part of all 
 agriculturists would decrease this damage one-half ? Did 
 science have full control of our legislatures, law would require 
 and enforce the necessary concert of action ; and while agricul- 
 turists would groan under imaginary tyranny, they would reap 
 the reward. As agriculturists control the legislature, ought 
 they not to take their best interests under consideration, and 
 do something for themselves ? 
 
 Concerted action is the only way to combat insect foes, and 
 the law must protect this concerted action from the thriftless 
 ignoramus that don't care for himself or neighbors. The fact 
 is, that the ravages of hostile insects represent a condition of 
 war, and it is only by organization, and appropriate weapons, 
 that they can be conquered. The proper subjects for considera- 
 tion are the materials to be used, and the best time to make the 
 attack in force, and the weapons to be employed. It is entirely 
 useless for us to fold our arms and exclaim, " It is the will of 
 God ! " 
 
 It is to lead the farmer to realize his position, and to show 
 him how easy it is to study natural history for his personal 
 benefit, that I presume to stand before you to-night. I will first ' 
 introduce to you the ten-lined pctato-beetle. 
 
TEN-LINED POTATO-BEETLE,— COLORADO POTATO-BEETLE. 
 
 Doryphora Decemlineata. Say. 
 
 a, a, eggs ; b, b, b, larvae of different ages ; c, pupa ; d, perfect insect ; e, right wing-cover 
 enlarged ; J", leg enlarged. 
 
 This bug, SO called, is, strictly speaking, a beetle, and is 
 known to naturalists under the name of Doryphora decemlineata. 
 It was first described by Thomas Say, who was then with Long's 
 exploring expedition to the Rocky Mountains. The specimens 
 from which his description was written, were collected in the 
 region of the upper Missouri, and it was found there quite 
 common. Its food in its native place was the wild potato, so 
 common to this mountainous region. 
 
 As civilization advanced toward this far western section, 
 carrying the cultivated potato within its reach, this insect 
 acquired the habit of feeding upon it; it even seems to thrive 
 upon the cultivated potato better than upon the wild ones, and, 
 as a result, its numbers vastly increased. In 1859, it had spread 
 eastward to a point one hundred miles west of Omaha city, in 
 Nebraska. Prof. Riley says that in 186 1 it had invaded Iowa, 
 and during the next four years it had reached the Mississippi 
 River. In 1864 and 1865, it crossed that river, invading Illinois, 
 from which time it has gradually but surely spread over all the 
 Middle and Northern States. 
 
8 
 
 The first account of its destructive propensities waspublislied 
 in the Prairie Farmer for August 27, 1861. From this time un- 
 til the present, frequent reports and descriptions have been pub- 
 lished. 
 
 In 1874, it was found upon the sea-coast in New Jersey, but it 
 was in 1876 that the advance guard invaded New England. 
 
 Like other higher species of the Coleoptera, it passes through 
 a complete metamorphosis, but, unlike many other beetles, it 
 confines itself during its entire life to the same species of vege- 
 tation, and, unhappily, selects as its first choice the potato. 
 This beetle, however, is not, like many of our pests, an importa- 
 tion, but an original native, of the Far West. Its name would 
 indicate Colorado as its birthplace, but historical facts, as I 
 have before stated, would indicate upper Missouri. Yet Prof. 
 Riley thinks it also existed in Colorado. It, however, seems 
 true that this beetle committed severe depredations in Nebraska 
 and Kansas before it was ever seen by the farmers of Colorado, 
 and when it infested that section the people there considered it 
 of eastern origin ; but its exact birthplace does not matter. 
 
 That it is a great lover of the potato-plant is certain ; yet it 
 can exist upon other food when potatoes fail, but first selects 
 the tomato and other plants nearly allied in properties to the 
 potato-leaf ; but such plants are seldom attacked until the po- 
 tato-fields are fully devastated. The eggs of this beetle are 
 deposited, to the number of seven or eight hundred, by each 
 female, at intervals during from twenty-five to forty-seven days, 
 on the leaves of the potato, in regularly arranged clusters of 
 from twenty to sixty eggs each. They are of an orange color, 
 and always on the under side of the leaf. In a week after they 
 are deposited they hatch into larvae, which feed upon the foliage 
 about two weeks, though some fix the period at seventeen days. 
 When full grown they descend to the ground, where they change 
 into a pupa state near the surface. The perfect beetle appears 
 in a little less than two weeks, pairs when about one week old, and 
 a week later commences the deposit of eggs, as before described. 
 From two to four broods may be hatched in a season. The 
 statements of the time are, however, liable to vary, being longer 
 or shorter, according as the weather is more or less favorable to 
 their development. 
 
9 
 
 The mature beetle, as its name indicates, has ten lines of 
 black lengthwise of its wing-covers, five on each side, the 
 ground being a medium yellow. It has several black spots upon 
 its head and thorax, also six legs, and pink gauze wings under 
 the striped wing-covers. It passes the winter in the perfect 
 beetle state, burrowing in the ground beneath the frost, coming 
 out in the spring, just in season to lay its eggs on the young 
 potato-plant. 
 
 The statement is sometimes made that the mature beetle does 
 not feed, and that they infest the potatoes as soon as they break 
 through the ground to lay eggs only. This is untrue. The bee- 
 tles do feed, not as ravenously as the larvae, but coming upon 
 the young plant just as it breaks ground, it has little to eat to 
 spoil the crop, and if in abundance it will certainly do so, as the 
 crop of larvae from the eggs come on so soon that what they 
 leave is at once appropriated by them. It is at this stage of the 
 crop that the farmer needs to be on the alert ; though more 
 numerous later in the season, when the tops are mature, they 
 do very little damage. 
 
 Bad as these beetles are, they are not as bad as popular opin- 
 ion makes them. Their first onset is the most severe, and farm- 
 ers accustomed to give up to imaginary evils will talk about the 
 extermination of the potato. Of that there is no danger from 
 this cause. In Iowa, in 1870, the beetles were very abundant, 
 so much so that they swarmed over barns and outhouses, and 
 also entered dwellings so that you could hardly sit down or walk 
 without crushing them ; yet the crop of potatoes was the largest 
 ever known, and they were retailed in the streets for twenty-five 
 cents per bushel. This abundant crop w^as raised by every one 
 planting in anticipation of high prices, thus bringing the opposite 
 result. 
 
 By some this beetle is considered poisonous, but from no just 
 cause, as it can be picked from the potatoes day after day, by 
 whole families, with no bad results. Large quantities of them 
 in a state of putrefaction, like all other animal matter, are disa- 
 greeable, and doubtless unhealthy, and they should never be 
 left to putrefy, but be burned or destroyed with boiling water 
 and then buried. As they are voracious feeders, they may be 
 
10 
 
 killed with poison like Paris green, mixed with flour, and dusted 
 on the potato-leaves. A much better way is to brush them off 
 into a tin "catcher," made on purpose, to encircle half the hill. 
 We have much in New England to favor us in our persecution 
 of this pest, by way of its natural enemies. 
 
 F'B- 5- 
 
 Fig. 6. 
 ENEMIES OF THE POTATO-BEETLE. 
 
 The lady-birds, — Coccinella (^-notata and pupa (Fig. 2), Hip- 
 podamia lypunciata, larva and pupa (Fig. 3), — destroy multi- 
 tudes. 
 
 The eggs of the lady-birds are very much like those of the 
 potato-beetle in color, but are smaller, and not so many in a 
 cluster, but always laid in close proximity to those of some other 
 insect. As soon as they hatch they commence their war of 
 extermination, and, as they are voracious feeders, they follow 
 it up almost unceasingly. This lady-bird is about two-thirds 
 the size of the potato-beetle when fully grown, of a yellowish 
 red color, with two or more black markings on each wing-cover, 
 
11 
 
 being shorter and more thick-set than the potato-beetle. In fine, 
 they are about the size and the shape of a half pea. (See Figs. 
 2 and 3.) There are several varieties, but all are the friends of 
 the farmer, and should have special protection. 
 
 So of the many-banded robber, Harpactor cindus (Fabr.) 
 (Fig. 4). It is ever actively on the lookout for food, and woe 
 to the potato-beetle that falls into its sharp claws. 
 
 So of the spined soldier-bug, Anfia spinosa (Dallas) (Fig. 5 ; 
 a, its beak) ; c, the beak of the Enschistus ptmdipes (Say), which 
 closely resembles the Arma. Doubtless, both species do a 
 great work, as they are wholesale depredators, not alone upon 
 the potato-beetles, but upon many farm pests. 
 
 There is also a parasitic fly (Fig. 6), Tachia^ that not only de- 
 stroys myriads of the larvae of the potato-beetle, but also those 
 of many other pests. The marks at the bottom of the cut denote 
 its actual size. 
 
 There is also another deadly foe in the Fhilotithus, which 
 Dr. Packard found to creep even into his hatching-cases and 
 kill not only enough for food, but all ; just as the weasel or mink 
 will kill more chickens than they need for food. This beetle is 
 black, with short wing-cases, and is, perhaps, the most terrible 
 enemy of the Colorado beetle. It is a member of the family 
 StaphylinidcB. 
 
 There are, perhaps, no natural enemies that will entirely kill 
 them out, and so, like the farmers at the West, we are inclined 
 to Paris green. It is, however, much more dangerous here than 
 there. All know it is a deadly poison, and not rendered inert 
 by being eaten by the beetles. Showers wash it from our hill- 
 sides, together with the dead beetles, into our streams, where it 
 kills the fish and doubtless poisons the water, so that cattle are 
 more or less injured by it. On level land it can be used with 
 much greater safety. If used at all it should be dusted on the 
 leaves when wet with dew, while the beetles are in their larval 
 state, or mixed with water at the rate of one tablespoonful of the 
 green to a pailful of water. When applied dry it is better to mix 
 with ten parts of flour, by weight ; and great care should be taken 
 not to inhale the dust, as it is very poisonous. When in solu- 
 tion it must be almost continually stirred, or the green will sink 
 
12 
 
 in the bottom of the sprinkler, as it is not soluble in the 
 water. 
 
 Prof. Riley, of Missouri, says that quite as good results may 
 be obtained in using the ingredients from which green is made 
 as from the finished article. The Paris green costs, say thirty- 
 seven and one-half cents per pound, and the demand is often so 
 great that it cannot be obtained just when wanted, especially in 
 back towns. The following directions for making green, from 
 Brande's Chemistry, are practical : Dissolve two pounds of sul- 
 phate of copper (blue vitriol, costing fifteen cents per pound, or 
 thirty cents) in a gallon of hot water, keeping it in a stone jar. 
 Dissolve in another large jar, one pound of common white arsenic 
 (costing about six cents) and two pounds of saleratus or pearl- 
 ash (costing sixteen cents) in forty-four pounds of hot water, 
 stirring well till thoroughly dissolved. These articles, costing 
 fifty-two cents, will make about five pounds of Paris green, which 
 would cost $1.88. 
 
 This can be kept in solution and mixed in proportion of one 
 part of the first and five of the last solution, as they are needed. 
 The green immediately begins to precipitate in a fine powder, 
 and is much more convenient for use in solution than the dry 
 article. Prof. Riley says that Paris green can be in this way 
 used without danger ; and all agree that in solution, or mixed 
 with flour when dry and dusted on, it is the unfailing remedy. 
 
 Dr. Leconte advises the use of large atomizers, for not only 
 the destruction of the potato-beetle, but of all insects that can be 
 killed by a solution. This idea is worthy of consideration, and 
 it may doubtless prove invaluable. 
 
 When this beetle first came among the farmers, all birds, like 
 themselves, were suspicious of it, and it has often been reported 
 that no bird would touch them. Such is not true. Ducks will de- 
 vour them greedily. Turkeys and all fowls soon learn to like 
 them for food, and chickens frequently take them in preference to 
 any other insects. The crow not only takes the beetles and 
 larvae from the vines in great numbers, but late in the season 
 digs for the beetles in the ground, and captures thousands of- 
 them. The rose-breasted grosbeak and many other birds have 
 also a great liking for them. Skunks, toads, and snakes, even, 
 
10 
 O 
 
 prey upon them ; then our winters are more severe than the 
 winters West. Jack Frost creeps deeper into the ground, and 
 must overtake many of the ten-liners that supposed themselves 
 safe from cold. 
 
 Fig. 7. 
 
 Fig. 8. 
 
 Fig. 10. 
 
 Fig. 9. 
 THE BLISTERING BEETLES. CantharidcB. 
 
 These beetles are also great eaters of the potato-plant. 
 For several years they have done great damage in New England, 
 but only in special localities. They have not become general. 
 Those most injurious are the striped Cantharis, Lytta vittata 
 (Fabr.) (Fig. 7), the margined Cantharis, Cantharis marginata 
 (Olivier) (Fig. 8), the ash-colored Cantharis, Zy/Z^z ««(?r(?rt; (Fabr.) 
 (Fig. 9, a, male), and the black Cantharis, Lytta marina (Leconte) 
 (Fig. (), b) ; c and d show the magnified antennae of the male and 
 female, rendering it easy to distinguish them. These beetles, 
 while they will make short work of the potato-leaves, when 
 abundant, are not very fastidious about their food. They will 
 eat beets as soon as potatoes, and also pig-weed, or almost any 
 kind of green leaves when the potatoes and beets fail. 
 
 There is another species, being a species of oil-beetle, Meloe 
 
14 
 
 angusticoHis (Fig. lo), which when plenty are a great foe to po- 
 tatoes, tomatoes, beets, and various other vegetables ; but they 
 are vulnerable to insect enemies, and so are only now and then 
 abundant. They may be killed by Paris green as the potato- 
 beetle, but cannot be picked off, as they are too spry for the 
 fingers. 
 
 I 
 
 Fig. II. 
 
 Fig. 12. 
 
 STRIPED SQUASH-BEETLE. Diabrothica Vittata. Fahr. 
 
 I. Back view of the grub that eats the root and stalk. 2. Side view ; both magnified. The 
 marks show the actual length. Beetle natural size. 
 
 This beetle appears on cucumber and squash vines as soon as 
 they are through the ground, and frequently they penetrate 
 through the cracks made in the ground by the swelling and 
 sprouting of the seeds of melons, cucumbers, or squashes, and, 
 biting off the young sprout, destroy the plant before it is out of 
 the ground. These beetles need little description. The cut 
 shows the beetle in outline, and he is well known by the yellow- 
 ish stripes upon his wing-covers. Their subsequent work, also, 
 when the leaves appear above the ground, is well understood, 
 but the biting off the young sprout, thus preventing the devel- 
 opment of leaves, is frequently not known, and the seeds are 
 thought to be poor, or other causes are assigned for their non- 
 appearance above ground. 
 
 The gardener watches his plants until he thinks them beyond 
 danger from this beetle, and then is surprised to see them wilt 
 
15 
 
 and die without apparent cause. No wound or injury is found 
 above ground, and so the destruction is looked for in the root. 
 Here we soon discover the true cause of death, for the roots are 
 found to be pierced here and there with small holes. In fact so 
 many are found, that the root presents a corroded appearance. 
 Upon closer examination the authors of the mischief are easily 
 detected, either in the root or lurking in the corroded furrows. 
 They are little whitish worms, about the length of the lines beside 
 the enlarged view of the worms in this figure. 
 
 They are, as found, about the thickness of a good-sized pin. 
 The head is blackish, brown and horny, and there is a plate of 
 the same color on the last segment of the worm. These are the 
 young of the beetle, or " striped bug," which was so troublesome 
 on the leaves earlier in the season, and the eggs from which 
 they hatched were laid low down on the stalk at that time. In 
 this masked stage of worm life they do more damage than when 
 in the beetle form on the leaves. When the worms are full 
 grown, which is about a month from the time they hatch, they 
 forsake the root, and retiring to the earth, by continually turn- 
 ing around they form for themselves a little cavity, or minute 
 cave, with solid earthy walls, in which they throw off their skin 
 and become a pupa. This pupa is much shorter and thicker than 
 the worm ; they remain inactive for about two weeks, takino- no 
 food. At the end of this time they throw off their skin again 
 and the perfect beetle is seen, still however in a soft condition 
 incapable of movement. Remaining in its cell till these soft 
 parts have acquired solidity and strength, it breaks through the 
 walls of its little house, and working itself slowly through the 
 soil, appears in the light of day a perfect beetle. We have two 
 generations each year, the second remaining in its dormant or 
 pupa state through the winter. This generation, doing little 
 damage, is not often noticed. Many vines not killed by the 
 worm are so much injured that their value is nearly destroyed. 
 
 Covering the vines, with a box covered on top with muslin, has 
 been considered the only sure remedy, though powdered char- 
 coal, lime, and sometimes ashes can be used with benefit. In 
 many cases, however, the material sprinkled on the leaf is as bad 
 as the beetle. If a handful of shavings be burned near the hills 
 
16 
 
 in the evening, many of them will fly into the flames. After 
 various experiments I have become satisfied that covering the 
 hills with common newspapers is much the best means to be 
 used ; besides, you get an accelerated growth of the plants. 
 Just as soon as the seeds are planted, or, at any event, a day or 
 two before the plants appear, open a newspaper to its full size, 
 and spread it over the hill, letting it lie close on the ground, and 
 fasten it in place by hoeing the dirt on the edges, so that no gust 
 of wind can disturb it. The plants thus covered will grow at least a 
 third faster than those not covered, are safe from the beetle^ and, 
 what is more, safe from the egg that produces the worm, or 
 masked stage of the pest. The plants kept covered until the 
 danger is past are more healthy in every way, producing blos- 
 soms several days sooner than those not covered. It is seldom 
 that once covering will not answer all purposes, but should one 
 be torn of? from any cause, it can easily be replaced. I have 
 tried different colors of paper, and find white or blue paper best 
 adapted to the purpose. Other colors seem to give a pale green 
 or sickly appearance to the plants. Newspapers are easily ob- 
 tained, and are just as good as clear white paper. It will be 
 seen, also, that this is a protection against late frosts, and I be- 
 lieve that every person who tries this method of protection will 
 ever use it with entire satisfaction. 
 
 TENT-CATERPILLAR OF APPLE-TREES. Clisiocampa Americana. 
 
 Harris. 
 
 What farmer in New Hampshire is not familiar with the web 
 nests of this caterpillar, glistening in the rays of the spring sun, 
 before the trees are in blossom ? Yes, before the leaves are 
 one-half grown, these little white web nests speak volumes. 
 They tell of a negligent, slovenly farmer, whose spare hours are 
 got rid of as useless time, and the pests of his orchard revel in 
 his neglected trees, among which the caterpillar holds conspicu- 
 ous place. This small white glistening web, if unmolested, soon 
 spreads over several branches, and the caterpillars strip the 
 tree of its leaves, to the great damage of it, if not entailing 
 death, which is ever liable to occur from this cause alone. 
 
 This caterpillar is well known to all, yet all do not understand 
 
17 
 
 5wa 
 
 Fig. 14. 
 
 Fig. 13- 
 
 All natural size ; a, larva full grown, side view ; b, larva full grown, back view ; c, cluster 
 of eggs on a twig ; d, cocoon. 
 
 its habits. The eggs are laid by a night-flying moth (Fig. 14). 
 Its color is a dull, yellowish brown, or something inclined to the 
 reddish tint ; it is unusually thick-bodied and hairy. Its wings 
 are characterized chiefly by the front wings being divided into 
 three nearly equal parts, by two transverse whitish or pale 
 yellowish lines, and by the middle space being paler than the 
 rest of the wing, in the male, while it is often the same color as 
 the rest, or even darker, in the female. 
 
 Riley says the color is very variable in the Western States. 
 Dr. Fitch notices great variations, but in this section I do not 
 find the variations very great, and think all will readily recog- 
 nize the moth from the foregoing description. 
 
 The moth here described lays her eggs in the night, when she 
 may be found hovering about the tree, in August, or, in the 
 
18 
 
 southern part of the State, doubtless in the last part of July. 
 She lays her eggs in oval rings, round the smaller twigs, as seen 
 in Fig. 13, c. These rings contain some three hundred eggs 
 each, and are covered over with a mucilaginous coating which 
 answers the double purpose of keeping out the water, and 
 serving as food for the young when they hatch, to give them 
 sufficient strength to crawl down the limb to the first fork, where, 
 by crawling back and forth, they weave from a spinneret in 
 their mouths the tent in which they live. From this tent they 
 sally forth twice a day for food, eating voraciously. On an 
 average, each caterpillar will eat two apple-leaves a day, and no 
 tree can long live under such a vital drain. As the weather 
 gets warm, when they return from a meal, instead of going into 
 their tent, they go to rest upon the outside, as a and b. Those 
 coming in later and finding no room, will crawl over the sleepers, 
 spinning all the time, until they are covered, and another story 
 is added to their tent. 
 
 Thus from time to time it is increased with their growth, 
 until their food gives out, or their caterpillar life is spent, when 
 they lose their social habits, and wander off to find other food, 
 which they are seldom able to do, or find suitable places in 
 which to spin their cocoons. These are light-colored, with a 
 tinge of yellow, and may generally be found attached horizontally 
 to the under side of fence-rails, or other protected places. They 
 remain in these about three weeks, when such as have not fallen 
 a prey to the ichneumon-fly, as many do, come forth to lay their 
 eggs, as before described. The question so often asked is. How 
 to destroy them } I will first tell you how you ought not. Some 
 flash gunpowder on their nests ; others burn them with a torch ; 
 while some put on kerosene and burn ; and others saturate with 
 oil to kill them. All these methods are destructive to the trees, 
 and should never be employed. Upon a moment's reflection it 
 will be seen that the easiest and quickest way is to cut off the 
 twig containing the eggs. 
 
 As they are laid in July or August, there is a long period in 
 which the farmer may destroy them ; and as they are found upon 
 small twigs, near the end of a branch, they can be found with a 
 little careful looking, and cut off. After the leaves have fallen, 
 
19 
 
 on a frosty morning the eggs may be readily seen as a dark 
 band on the twigs, as the frost does not so readily adhere ,to 
 them. When you cut them off always burn them. If this ■ 
 method is neglected, watch your trees when they first hatch, and 
 with a stick remove the entire nest early in the morning, or just 
 at night, — as they feed, and are consequently scattered over 
 the branches, both in the middle of the afternoon and the middle 
 of the forenoon, and some stragglers are absent all day. If they 
 are still neglected, as they should not be, there is no sure way 
 to rid your trees of them but to put on gloves and clean them 
 off with your hands. You can kill by crushing, or have an 
 attendant with a pail of hot water, and put in such branches as 
 you can cut away, or do not crush. Every tent found, whether 
 on orchard or forest tree, should be destroyed. 
 
 The black cherry (Cerasus serotina), so common throughout 
 the State, is a favorite tree with this caterpillar. If I could 
 have my way in the matter, as they are a useless tree, I would 
 cut them all down, or else pass a law fining the owner of 
 premises where the caterpillars' nests were not destroyed. Con- 
 certed action would soon put an end to its ravages ; and the 
 thousands of bushels of apples annually destroyed, together 
 with damage to trees for the ensuing crop, would well repay the 
 amount of time and labor necessary for their extermination. 
 
 Where apple-trees are overrun, it will feed upon the plum, 
 thorn, rose, willow, common red-cherry, poplar and white-oak, 
 and even sometimes upon witch-hazel and beech trees. But it 
 will ever be found in the greatest numbers upon the black- 
 cherry and apple trees. 
 
 FOREST TENT-CATERPILLAR. Clisiocampa Sylvatua. Harris. 
 
 This caterpillar (Fig. 15), the representation of which is a 
 back view, is often erroneously called the "army-worm," and 
 may sometimes be seen in vast numbers, marching along a 
 hard road in the hot sun, or crawling in great numbers along 
 the railroad track. When closely examined it will be found to 
 resemble the apple-tree tent-caterpillar, and is often confounded 
 with that also. The following difference, however, will be 
 apparent : — 
 
20 
 
 Fig i6. 
 
 Fig. 15. 
 a, eggs; 6, female moth, natural size ; c, enlarged view of egg from top ; d, enlarged view of 
 
 eggs from side. 
 
 The eggs, as may be seen from the above cut, are distin- 
 guished from, the common tent-caterpillar by being of uniform 
 diameter in the entire mass, which is docked off squarely at the 
 ends. They are usually composed of about four hundred eggs, 
 the mass being of a creamy white color. These eggs are de- 
 posited in circles around the twig, and with each egg is deposited 
 a brown varnish ; the second circle is closely fitted into the first, 
 so the eggs stand like rows of cells in honey-comb. In this 
 section, the eggs are deposited in July, or the first of August, 
 the larvje are quite fully formed by the time winter commences,, 
 and the warm days of spring bring them into being, even before 
 there are any leaves on the trees ; and it is a singular fact in 
 their nature, that they may not only be frozen, but they actually 
 exist for two or three weeks without food, standing any amount 
 of inclement weather, waiting for the leaf-buds to develop into 
 leaves, which they then eat with hearty relish. As soon as they 
 are born they commence spinning a thread wherever they go, 
 yet as the web is beneath them, close to the bark of the tree, it 
 is often overlooked. They live more or less in company, like 
 the common tent-caterpillar, but go through four successive 
 molts before they arrive at maturity, and at such times huddle 
 in bunches, remaining for a day or two inactive. At their fourth 
 
21 
 
 molt, they quite unwittingly court destruction by collecting in 
 masses upon the trunks of trees, often within a few feet of the 
 ground. After this molt, it may be seen (as before mentioned,) 
 wandering about to find a suitable place to form its cocoon. 
 Why it wanders in such places, and then takes up with a leaf 
 that it can draw together, or several leaves all combined to 
 cover it, we can hardly tell. It, however, frequently spins its 
 cocoons under fence-rails, boards, or any sheltered protection. 
 
 The cocoon is much like that of the common tent-caterpillar. 
 Three days after its completion, the caterpillar again casts its 
 skin, and becomes a chrysalis, of a pale reddish brown color, 
 dusted all over with a pale powder, and densely clothed with 
 short and yellowish hairs. In a couple of weeks more, or 
 usually in this State from the first to the tenth of July, the moth 
 issues, being of a brownish yellow, and having two oblique 
 transverse lines across the front wings. It is quite like the 
 moth of the common tent-caterpillar. The most marked differ- 
 ence is, that the transverse bands upon the front wings are 
 darker in this, and lighter in the other species. 
 
 There is one noticeable fact about this pest ; that is, that for 
 several years we see few, if any, of them, and then there is a 
 year or two of great plenty. The reason of this is, that our 
 insect friends, and we fortunately have many that live upon this 
 caterpillar, gain ground upon it, and come near exterminating 
 it ; but, with a dearth of food, they die out also, and the cater- 
 pillar then gains again, to become a prey to his persecutors. 
 
 By their aid we get along nicely, only now and then a year, 
 when we have to kill them to save our trees. If you jar the 
 tree or branch upon which they are feeding, they will spin down 
 a few inches, and may then be picked off. At their fourth molt, 
 they may be killed as they congregate upon the leeward side of 
 trees, as before noticed ; but, as they have already eaten up the 
 foliage, it is not so necessary to kill them as it was earlier, yet 
 always kill them when you can. If you search your trees for 
 ■eggs in the winter, and destroy them, you will never have much 
 trouble. 
 
 When one tree is denuded of foliage the caterpillar travels to 
 another and ascends it. This can be prevented by putting tar 
 
00 
 
 or printers' ink upon a band about the trees not infested, 
 cocoons may also be sought for and many killed. 
 
 The 
 
 Fig. 17. 
 
 WEB-WORM. Hyphonirid Textor. HARRIS. 
 
 All natural size. <2, caterpillar; b, chrysalis; c, moth. 
 
 One of the most common and destructive of our insect pests 
 is the little caterpillar known by the name of the " fall web- 
 worm," or perhaps more commonly as the " web-worm." The 
 web of this, which at first look seems an insignificant caterpil- 
 lar, frequently, in the months of July and August, covers the 
 limbs of many trees — a web enclosing leaves seared and dead,, 
 from the ravages of this pest. They are more often seen upon 
 elm and apple trees, but other trees are not exempt ; and often, 
 towards the end of summer, most of our fruit and shade trees 
 show the ominous web enclosing dried leaves. The eggs from 
 which these caterpillars proceed, are laid by the parent moth in 
 a cluster upon the end leaf of a branch. When these eggs 
 hatch, they are generally on the third or fourth leaf from the end 
 of the twig, as since the eggs were laid the limbs have usually 
 extended their growth to that extent. 
 
 As soon as they hatch they begin to spin. To provide a shel- 
 ter for themselves, they cover the top of the leaf with a close 
 web, which is the result of their united labors. They feed in 
 company beneath this covering, devouring only the upper skin 
 and pulpy portions of the leaf, leaving the veins and lower side 
 untouched. The leaf withers, and they enlarge their web, tak- 
 ing in other leaves, first to the end and then downward on the 
 branch, and taking in other branches, — frequently destroying 
 the entire amount of foliage on the tree. 
 
23 
 
 When fully grown, this caterpillar nneasures a little more than 
 one inch in length, having a body rather more slender than other 
 similar feeders, very sparsely covered with hairs of a grayish 
 color, intermingled with a few that are black. The general color of 
 the body is greenish yellow, dotted with black. There is a brown- 
 blackish stripe along the tdp of the back, and a bright yellow 
 stripe on each side. The warts from which the hairs proceed 
 are black on the back and rusty yellow on the sides. The head 
 and feet are black. Of course their age has much to do with 
 the distinctness of the markings, and the adult worm only will 
 be found perfectly marked. 
 
 In the last of August, or more generally in the month of 
 September, they leave the trees and disperse, wandering about, 
 eating a little of almost all plants they happen to find in 
 their way, until they find a suitable place for concealment, where 
 they make their thin, almost transparent cocoons, composed of 
 a slight web of silk intermingled with the cast-off hairs from 
 their bodies. If this place is not found they bury themselves 
 just beneath the surface of the ground, where they spin as be- 
 fore, and remain in all cases through the winter in this latitude ; 
 but farther south they are said to be two-brooded. 
 
 The pupae are transformed to moths in the ensuing June or 
 July. These moths are white and without spots in New Hamp- 
 shire, but at the South are said to possess rudimentary spots 
 upon the first pair of wings. The fore legs are tawny yellow, 
 and their feet blackish. Their wings expand about one and 
 one-fourth inches. The antennae and feelers do not differ from 
 those of other moths ; but the females have two rows of minute 
 teeth beneath the antennae, which is a distinguishing feature. 
 
 From the foregoing description of its habits and transforma- 
 tions, it is evident that the time to exterminate these destructive 
 insects is when they are first hatched from the egg, or while but 
 few leaves are involved. This can be done at any time of the 
 day, as they do not go about the tree for food, like the tent-cat- 
 erpillars, but are always on the leaves covered with the web. If 
 you carefully pick the leaves, it is sufficient ; or you can cut off 
 the branch affected, if you choose. In any event they must be 
 destroyed, and the surest and best method is to burn them. 
 
24 
 
 Take a basket into your orchard, gather in it all the leaves on 
 which the web is found, take them to your stove and burn them. 
 Close attention to your premises for a few years will almost en- 
 tirely rid you of this pest. On no account delay, as, if you do, 
 they will slip through your fingers and very much increase your 
 labors the next season. If they are neglected until they cover 
 more than you desire to prune away, kill as you do the tent-cat- 
 erpillar. 
 
 Some consider this the second brood of the tent-caterpillar, 
 but from the foregoing account it will at once be seen how wide- 
 ly they differ. It hibernates in the pupa state, they in the egg 
 state ; it appears in midsummer and fall, they in the spring ; its 
 moth is pure white, theirs reddish brown ; its eggs are deposited 
 on the leaf and are hatched in a few days, theirs are deposited 
 on the twig, so as to pass the winter on the tree ; this feeds 
 solely upon the soft part of the leaf under its web, they devour 
 the whole leaf always on the outside of their tent. It will thus 
 be seen that the only time and best manner of extermination 
 must be as above given. 
 
 CODLING-MOTH. Carpocapsa Pomonella. Linn, 
 
 o, apple eaten by larva ; b, spot where egg is laid and the young worm enters ; c, cavity 
 made by larva ; d, chrysalis; t, larva full grown ; /, moth with wings folded ; g, moth with 
 wings expanded: h, head and first joint of larva (enlarged); /, cocoon. 
 
25 
 
 This insect is, doubtless, found everywhere, where apples are 
 raised. In the month of June, in this State, the night-flying 
 moth comes from his silken cocoon, which was hid under some 
 bit of bark, or sliver, on the fence near by. After pairing, the 
 female may be seen in the dusk of night flitting around the 
 apple-tree, laying her eggs in the blossom-end of the little 
 apples. 
 
 There are two broods each season. The first brood is very 
 small, but the second is fifty to one of the first, or even more. 
 
 The worm when young is whitish, with usually an entirely 
 black head, and a black shield on the top of the first segment. 
 When fully grown it acquires a flesh-colored or pinkish tint, espe- 
 cially on the back, and the head and top of first segment, as at 
 h, become more brown. It is sparsely covered with very minute 
 hairs, which take their rise from little elevated points, of which 
 there are eight on each segment. The cocoon is invariably of 
 a pure color on the inside, but is disguised on the outside by 
 being covered with minute fragments of whatever substance the 
 worm happens to spin to. The chrysalis is yellowish brown, 
 with rows of minute spines upon its back, by the aid of which 
 it is enabled to partly push itself out of its cocoon, when its 
 time to issue as a moth arrives. 
 
 The moth is a beautiful object, yet from its habits not being 
 known it is seldom seen in this State ; and the apple-grower, as 
 a general thing, knows no more of the insect that gives him so 
 many wormy apples than he does of men in the moon. Its fore 
 wings are marked with alternate, irregular, transverse, wavy 
 streaks of ash-gray and brown, and have, on the inner hind an- 
 gle, a large, tawny-brown spot, with streaks of bright bronze or 
 gold. As apples are raised in almost all sections of our coun- 
 try, and wherever apples are raised this insect is a dreadful pest, 
 it becomes us to be well acquainted with its habits, and I shall 
 therefore speak more at length of it than of most other insects. 
 
 Riley says, that in Missouri, as well as elsewhere, it is mostly 
 two-brooded ; the second brood of worms hibernating in the 
 larval state, inclosed in their snug little silken home, under 
 some fragment of bark or other protection. The spring weather 
 that causes our apple-trees to burst into blossom, releases this 
 
26 
 
 imago from its pupal tomb, and though its wings are at first 
 clamp, they soon dry under the rays of the sun that waked them 
 into their full existence, and they seek their companions. They 
 soon pair, when the male dies, and the female deposits, as be- 
 fore stated, thousands of tiny yellow eggs. As the fruit begins 
 to form, the egg hatches, and the worm develops in the little 
 apple. In from one month to si.\ weeks it has become full 
 grown. Eating its way out, as may be seen in the plate, it 
 leaves the apple, and, spinning its cocoon in some crevice, 
 changes in about three days to a chrysalis, and issues in about 
 two weeks as a moth, same as before, only this time they do not 
 always lay their eggs at the calyx, as they are often found now 
 to enter at the side of the apple. This brood causes the wormy 
 apples in the fall of the year. This second brood always passes 
 the winter in a larval state, either as a worm in the apple, or as 
 a cocoon, and it makes no difference with the time of its matur- 
 ity whether it goes into its cocoon in September or any time in 
 the fall, or not until spring. Neither does it matter whether it 
 is in a warm room, or frozen, as in proper time, — that is, when 
 the trees are in blossom, — it comes forth to propagate its kind. 
 
 Riley says that when in a warm room they are active enough 
 in winter, and will always fasten up any cuts made in their co- 
 coons, though the cuts may be often repeated. These active 
 worms perfect themselves at the proper season, just as well as 
 those that have had a dormant stage, so we may conclude that 
 the dormant stage is not a necessity with this insect. 
 
 As this pest destroys millions of dollars' worth of fruit every 
 year, of course it is worth our while to do all in our power to 
 rid ourselves of it. This is a somewhat difficult thing to do, 
 but a great deal can be done to mitigate the evil. 
 
 Various authors recommend catching the moth with plates of 
 sweetened vinegar or sweetened water, to be left standing about 
 the trees in spring-time. A few may thus be caught, but at 
 least twenty of our friends may be caught, and usually are, to 
 one of our enemies, so that method is useless. 
 
 The first crop of worms, as I have before said, is much the 
 smaller, and as the development within the little apple prevents 
 the full development of the apple, it withers and at length drops 
 
27 
 
 off, usually before the worm leaves it. If this apple could al- 
 ways be destroyed, of course the worm would reap the same 
 destruction. Hogs in orchards in sufficient numbers would do 
 this, by eating all the little windfalls, but hogs are not always at 
 hand. A much better way is to spread a large cloth, prepared 
 for the purpose, beneath the tree, just as the first apples begin 
 to fall, and then by jarring the tree most can be jarred off, and 
 then boil them. This operation, repeated once in three or four 
 days, for, say three times each season, will destroy almost all the 
 first brood, and prevent further trouble that year. 
 
 No definite date can be given for this treatment, as some years 
 the season varies many days ; watching the fruit, and gath- 
 ering as directed, as soon as the first signs of exit of the worm 
 can be found, or as soon as they begin to fall, will be sufficient 
 direction. 
 
 Another method, as given in the Country Gentleman, June 15, 
 187 1, is also valuable. The writer recommends knocking them 
 off with a pole. He says : " Two men with poles usually knock 
 off the wormy specimens about as fast as one boy can gather in 
 a basket." I suspect that this would usually be done too late, 
 as after the worm has eaten its way out of the apple, thus show- 
 ing the wormy ones, they might as well remain, for the worm is 
 what we want to destroy, not its home. The exudations re- 
 ferred to are not indications of the presence of the worm, but, 
 on the contrary, are sure indications that it is not there. I will 
 observe that the gathering of the withered fruit in New Hamp- 
 shire would probably always' need to be in the month of July, 
 and, to do good, must always be before the exit of the worm. If 
 this is not done, cloths laid in the crotches of the branches to 
 shelter the worms and entice them to build their cocoons, wisps 
 of hay or straw wound round the tfees, folded or twisted paper 
 bands put around the trees, or any attachment that will afford 
 shelter to the worm and entice it to spin its cocoon, in such a 
 way that it can be destroyed, is beneficial. These bands or 
 cloths, after the cocoons are formed, should be burned, so as to 
 make the destruction sure. They should first be placed about 
 the trees about one month after the tree is in full blossom, and 
 from this time to the time the apples are picked they should 
 
28 
 
 be kept in order, being examined every week, and if cocoons 
 are found they should be at once destroyed, and new bands put 
 in their places, or if but a few they may be crushed, and the old 
 protectors remain. 
 
 In a letter received this season, I am asked the philosophy of 
 the hay or straw bands. I can only say, with Prof. Riley, that 
 the straw or hay bands simply afford an enticing shelter for the 
 worm when seeking for a place to build its spun-up house. The 
 hay band is just the thing wanted, as it affords the requisite 
 shelter, and in ninety-nine cases in a hundred will be accepted. 
 There are many patent traps for the same thing, but I am at 
 least safe in saying that none of them are any better than the 
 straw band ; many not half as good. 
 
 Of the second crop of wormy apples, which are found so 
 often in the barrels that find their way to market, I can only say 
 that a careful examination in early spring of the barrels and the 
 cellar in which they are kept, and the careful killing of all the 
 cocoons that are found, will do much towards preventing the 
 early brood. Though they have a few natural enemies, they are 
 not in such abundance as to allow the orchardist to depend upon 
 them in the least, and so I need make no mention of them. 
 
 O/ g o 
 
 Fig. 19. 
 ROUND-HEADED APPLE-TREE BORER. Saperda Bivittata. Say. 
 Figures all natural size, a, larva full grown ; b, pupa ; c, perfect beetle. 
 
 This is a native American, born and bred in the mountains, 
 feeding upon the wild crab, mountain ash, and various other trees. 
 It comes out of the trunk, usually in June, and always by night, 
 
29 
 
 in its perfect state. Resting by day, in the night-time it flies 
 from tree to tree for food and companions. Though they feed 
 upon the bark of branches where it is tender and succulent, they 
 lay their eggs on the bark at the foot of the tree, where the 
 young, as soon as hatched, commence to burrow in the bark. 
 For the first year, they live mostly in the bark, but, towards the 
 last of the season, advance into the sap-wood. Frequently, in 
 young trees, the bark over them will crack and allow their cast- 
 ings to fall out, and thus they may be detected. They remain 
 in the trees three years. As the time comes for their exit, they 
 eat their way to the bark, thin that somewhat, and go into the 
 pupa state, to emerge perfected in about four weeks. Fifty years 
 ago, large, thrifty, long-lived apple-trees were exceedingly com- 
 mon, and were grown with comparatively little effort on the part 
 of our ancestors. This borer in the apple-tree was then entirely 
 unknown to the farmer, and the first specimen ever seen was 
 found and described by Thomas Say, in 1824; and it was not 
 till some time after, that its destructive powers became evi- 
 dent in the apple-tree. Yet it is to this borer, almost entirely,, 
 that the short and precarious life of the apple-tree is due. 
 
 All understand this borer to be a dreadful pest, but how to- 
 deal with it is the question ; and to show more fully its habits, 
 and how it may be exterminated, I will briefly review its history. 
 The eggs when laid, as before mentioned, soon hatch, and the 
 tiny worm, differing from the adult in no essential point but 
 size, eats into the bark, and then follows between the bark and 
 wood, sometimes entering the sap-wood low down towards the 
 root the first season. While eating its way in lengthy furrows 
 beneath the bark, the bark sometimes cracks, and the castings- 
 of the worm tumble out, revealing its presence. When such is 
 the case, they may be killed with a sharp wire, or carefully cut 
 out with the point of a knife. If left alone they will remain in- 
 active through the winter, to commence their work again early 
 in the spring. The second season they spend mostly in the sap- 
 wood, or near the bark, getting two-thirds their size, and this, 
 year doing their greatest damage, as five or six of them will fre- 
 quently girdle or nearly girdle the tree, making death sure ; they 
 again winter low down in the body of the tree, and eat the next 
 
30 
 
 season deeply into the wood, sometimes quite through the tree, 
 finishing its gnawing work at the commencement of the third 
 winter. At the close of its work it extends its passage invaria- 
 bly to the bark, and thinning that somewhat, stuffing the upper 
 end with wood, like sawdust, and below with soft wood fibres, it 
 rests from its labors, remaining motionless as before through the 
 winter. The following spring it casts ofif its skin, becoming a 
 pupa ; rests in this condition about three weeks ; and then, as a 
 beetle, gradually gets strength, and after nearly two weeks more, 
 cuts its way through the sawdust piled against the bark, and then 
 the bark, to issue through a round hole as an adult beetle, ready 
 to propagate as before. The time from its entry to its egress, is 
 about one month short of three years. 
 
 Few ever take the trouble to hunt for this beetle, and as it 
 flies in the night, lying concealed during the day, it is not often 
 seen in the adult state. As will be seen in the cut, it has two 
 stripes its entire length, and is rather handsome. 
 
 There is still another species, called the flat-headed species, 
 as the head of the larva is flat, but, as it is never very abundant 
 and is of small size, it seldom does much harm, and the same 
 treatment is destructive to both species. 
 
 The best remedy is to prevent the successful laying of eggs, 
 which may be done by smoothing and then soaping the bark. 
 If such is done near the ground only, they will lay their eggs at 
 the juncture of the largest limbs, or higher up on the trunk, so 
 scraping and soaping must be thorough. If the borers are 
 really in the trees, there is no way except to kill them, or cut 
 them out one at a time. A small piece of whalebone is the best 
 to kill them with, by pushing it into their holes. A piece of 
 wire will answer. When the bark is killed over them it is just 
 as well to cut them out. The application of the soap is neces- 
 sary in May. Either soft or hard soap will do, but if hard soap 
 is used a thin piece had better be crowded down into each prin- 
 cipal crotch of the tree, so that the rain may wash it down the 
 trunk. Do this, of course, after having washed the tree with 
 strong suds. 
 
31 
 
 Fig. 20. 
 
 THE CURRANT-WORM. Nematiis Ventricosus. Klug. 
 
 <i, a, a, different stages of growth; b, a single segment of the caterpillar magnified. 
 
 Fig. 21. 
 Adult specimens enlarged. The marks at ihe side represent the actual measurement with 
 wings spread. <i, male ; b, female. 
 
 This worm is so common and so well known in New Hamp- 
 shire that it needs no description. It affords an excellent ex- 
 ample of the wonderful rapidity with which an important insect 
 
32 
 
 may increase and flourish in this country. It was imported from 
 Europe in i860, into nurseries, in Rochester, N. Y. Since that 
 time it has not only spread eastward throughout New England, 
 but to the Far West. It is a dreadful pest to the currant and 
 gooseberry bushes, and in sections where it has been left to do 
 its work unchecked such fruits are numbered as things of the 
 past. 
 
 Though near fifty species of the Nematus are natives of this 
 country, this little foreigner has forced himself so disagreeably 
 to our notice that we almost forget the ravages of the native 
 varieties. 
 
 Though the worm is so well known, the fly that causes the 
 mischief is seldom noticed. The female is of a bright honey- 
 yellow color. The head is black, with all the parts below, as 
 well as between, the origin of the antennx-, except the tip of the 
 jaws, a dull honej'-yellow. The antennas are brown-black, often 
 tinged with reddish above, except toward the base, and beneath, 
 entirely dull reddish, except the two basal joints. They are four- 
 fifths as long as the body ; the third joint, when viewed side- 
 ways, is four times as long as wide ; the third, fourth, and 
 fifth joints slowly diminishing in length. On the thorax are 
 four conspicuous black spots and other smaller ones. The legs 
 are bright honey-yellow ; the hip joints whitish, with the extreme 
 tips of the hind shanks, and the whole of the hind toe joints 
 are blackish brown. The wings are glossy, with dark veins, and 
 expand a little over one-half inch. It is stated in the American 
 Entomologist^ that in Europe she is known to lay eggs which 
 have not been fertilized, and from them young caterpillars are 
 hatched. It is probable, however, that they do not have the 
 power of again propagating the race, and that the eggs hatch 
 and the worms eat it just as likely as in the case of the silk-worm 
 and other moths, as well as of some insects, including the 
 honey-bee. 
 
 The male (Fig. 21, d)'\% rather smaller and is black. The 
 head is dull honey-yellow. The antennaj are brown-black, often 
 a little reddish beneath, except toward the base ; they are as 
 long as the body ; while longer than in the female, they are 
 also somewhat flattened out. The under side of the thorax and 
 
33 
 
 abdomen are honey-yellow. I have given this minute description 
 of the fly, as, if seen and killed, hundreds of the worms may 
 be saved. The eggs are laid about the 20th of May in New 
 Hampshire, in regular rows, along the under side of the veins 
 of the leaf, at the rate of about two a minute. The embryo 
 escapes from the egg in from four to ten days, and immediately 
 commences feeding. They continue their work upon the bushes 
 until they are bare of leaves, and then, whether fully grown or 
 not, go down into the ground and form little black pupae, vary- 
 ing in size according to the way the worm is fed. Emerging in 
 about two weeks, they lay their second brood, which pass the 
 pupa state in the ground, as before, but do not emerge until the 
 following spring. The fly lives about nine days. 
 
 For their destruction, we first look to the birds. While a few 
 only will catch the fly, none are found to eat the worm. Thus 
 we are deprived of our most powerful ally. We never half 
 realized the good done by insectivorous birds until we have an 
 enemy they disregard. Among the natural enemies of this pest 
 are three kinds of ichneumon-flies, of which one is an egg 
 parasite. From this aid three-fourths of the eggs are destroyed ; 
 but the other fourth give us much trouble. 
 
 The first method of destruction is to pick off the worms and 
 destroy them. This, if there are but few bushes, can be done 
 quite easily, and is really the most practicable method. 
 
 The next in use is to dust on the leaves powdered white helle- 
 bore, from a muslin bag. Used in this way, it is not sufficiently 
 poisonous to render dangerous the use of the fruit. This is 
 recommended by Walsh and Riley. 
 
 A solution of a pound of copperas to six gallons of water has 
 been used with success. It blackens the leaves, but does no 
 injury to them. Suds made of carbolic soap may be sprinkled 
 on from a common sprinkler. Any dust that touches them is 
 lodged in the spiracles, or breathing-pores, and soon produces 
 death. Dust from the road, dried fine plaster of Paris, or any 
 finely pulverized substance will answer. The Grafton fertilizer, 
 which was finely pulverized quartz, was the best material I ever 
 saw for killing them. It possessed the requisites of great fine- 
 ness and perfect dryness, so it would make a dust easily. 
 3 
 
34 
 
 Gum aloes are, when fine, equally penetrating, and less danger- 
 ous than the white hellebore. 
 
 By a little attention in time this pest can be easily stayed, by 
 any of the means spoken of, but TAe Boston yoiirnal of Chefnis- 
 try says this worm can be immediately destroyed by the use of 
 carbolate of lime. This is certainly less costly and more agree- 
 able to use than the hellebore, so to those that must buy some- 
 thing to use, instead of using road-dust, I would recommend it. 
 With two or three applications the work would be done. 
 
 Fig. 22. 
 
 Fig. 24. 
 CABBAGE-WORM. Pieris Rapa. 
 
 Fig. 23, butterfly of the cabbage-worm, male. Fig. 24, female. The female is distin- 
 guished from the male by having two round spots, rarely three, on the wings. The body of 
 this butterfly is black above, with white wings, a, cabbage-worm ; b, chrysalis. 
 
 This worm, the product of the rape-butterfly, is the great pest 
 of the cabbage-grower, and doubtless the worst of all our 
 imported insects. It was imported from England to Quebec in 
 1857, as it is supposed, with a quantity of cabbages ; but it was 
 so sparse that none were seen until 1859, and so rapid was its 
 increase that in 1864 it had extended at least forty miles in 
 every direction from Quebec, and it was estimated that it caused 
 
35 
 
 a loss of the cabbage crop that would have sold for at least two 
 hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 
 
 In England and Europe, it is the butterfly everywhere common ; 
 its larva is the dread of every cook, as she expects to cook 
 several with every cabbage, notwithstanding her utmost care. 
 Its chrysalides are so abundant in the winter-time that they seem 
 present upon everything that affords them the least protection ; 
 even upon the doors of dwellings in constant use several may 
 often be found. America had two native species, which some- 
 times appeared upon the cabbage, but they were content with 
 the outside leaves ; but while this important species riddle the 
 outside leaves, they secrete themselves in the head also, and 
 render it necessary to pull the same to pieces before cooking, 
 and then you are not sure, for many times they appear cooked 
 with the leaf. The color is so near that of the leaf upon which 
 they feed that they are ever liable to appear as unwelcome 
 visitants. The use of the cabbage among all is rapidly de- 
 creasing from this cause. It has already spread over large 
 sections of the country, being taken in Vermont in 1866, in 
 Maine in 1868, and around New York and Boston in 1870. It 
 is now almost as wide-spread as the cabbage is cultivated. 
 
 The butterflies have their bodies black above, with wings 
 white, as may be seen in the cuts. 
 
 The female may be distinguished from the male by having 
 two round spots, rarely three, instead of one as in the male, 
 upon the front wings. Underneath both sexes are alike, and 
 have two spots on each front wing, but none on the back ones, 
 which are usually yellowish, yet sometimes with a greenish tint. 
 They vary much in color, but the above general description will 
 be sufficient to enable one to recognize them, as the first 
 impression will be white or nearly so, and the slight variations 
 of tint, from yellow to green, will not be likely to much confuse. 
 
 This butterfly deposits its eggs upon the leaves of the cabbage, 
 usually upon the under side. They are exceedingly beautiful 
 when magnified, having a delicate tint, variable as in the butter 
 fly, and seemingly etched with a beautiful network of lines. The 
 larva, as seen in the cut at «, is pale green, finely dotted with 
 black, with a yellowish stripe down the back, and a row of yel- 
 
36 
 
 lowish spots along each side in a line with the breathing-holes. 
 As the stripes and spots are somewhat obscure, some farmers do 
 not notice them, and think they have another variety, which is 
 possible, as we have two native species that sometimes feed 
 upon the cabbage, but they are sparse in numbers, and seldom 
 seen in New Hampshire. 
 
 When about to transform, it leaves the plant upon which it 
 feeds and takes shelter under the rails of fences, in stone-walls, 
 or any place convenient, and changes to a chrysalis, which, 
 though variable in color, is usually pale green, speckled with 
 minute black dots, as seen at b. 
 
 The second brood pass the winter in this condition, this 
 species, like our native ones, having two broods a year. 
 
 The first remedy that occurs to most when they see their 
 cabbages destroyed, is to quit raising them, and starve them 
 out. This cannot be, as they feed upon several plants, and 
 even upon the willow, when other food is not at hand. 
 
 The first method of attack is to cover the young plant with 
 mosquito-netting, held off from the leaves by sticks, usually four 
 of them, set in the ground, and a piece of netting pinned on. 
 This is done in various ways, according to the tact of the person 
 doing it, and, when properly done, prevents the eggs being laid 
 upon the leaves, and so the cabbage grows in security. This 
 costs, besides the labor, from one to two cents for each cab- 
 bage. 
 
 If this is not done, picking the eggs is the next method. 
 They can be easily found, and, if attended to often, they may all 
 be destroyed. Children can easily do this, and are usually led 
 to do it by the promise of a small reward for any certain number 
 found. When the butterflies are seen about your garden they 
 can easily be caught in a net, as they are slow, lumbering fliers, 
 and easily killed, thus crushing hundreds of eggs without hunt- 
 ing for them. 
 
 If the eggs have not been destroyed, poultry, if in numbers, 
 will pick oflf most of the worms, as they are considered by fowls 
 as a sweet morsel, very desirable. But we can not fully depend 
 upon them to do the work, though they will help greatly. As 
 they get into the very heart of the cabbage-head, hand-picking 
 
37 
 
 will not amount to much more, but yet it will decrease their 
 numbers so that cabbages can be raised. 
 
 Paris green or white hellebore will, of course, kill the worms, 
 but should never be used, as it will lodge in the growing head 
 and endanger the lives of those making use of the cabbage. 
 Dust sprinkled on it is also effectual, but will leave grit in the 
 head so as to injure it for eating, yet is without danger. 
 
 Carbolic soap-suds are destructive to them, and if not too 
 strong will not injure the plant. Fine sawdust impregnated 
 with carbolic acid is one of the best things for their destruction. 
 Superphosphate of lime, fine salt, ashes, and lime have all been 
 used with effect, yet nothing of the kind is sure to kill all the 
 worms. Close attention to the plant, or perfect protection by 
 netting, as first spoken of, is the only way to secure a crop of 
 cabbages. 
 
 If, as estimated, at least half a million dollars' worth of 
 cabbages were destroyed by it around New York City alone, 
 last year, and an average of two hundred and fifty thousand 
 dollars' worth are annually destroyed around Boston, Montreal, 
 and other cities, it shows beyond question, that we have, in 
 spite of our warfare upon it, an implacable foe. 
 
 We have thus far but one insect that lends us substantial aid. 
 This is a species of chalcid-fly, and so rapid has been its work 
 that of one hundred and ten chrysalides, collected by F. W. Put- 
 nam, of Salem, Mass., at least two-thirds were infested, and 
 brought forth chalcid-flies instead of cabbage-butterflies. In 
 most sections, however, this help has not yet arrived, but will 
 become general, doubtless, in a few years. 
 
 By placing boards elevated a few inches from the ground 
 about your cabbages, the worms will select these places for their 
 change to the chrysalis state ; and as those infested by the chal- 
 cid-fly can be easily distinguished by the livid and otherwise 
 diseased appearance of the body, and left to produce flies, while 
 the healthy are destroyed, you can aid your friends and destroy 
 your enemies. If the chrysalides are all found healthy, you can 
 make a general destruction. 
 
38 
 
 Fig. 26; Larva. 
 Fig. 25 ; Tongue. 
 
 COMMON HOUSE-FLY. Musca Domestica. LiNN. 
 
 This fly, in fact, needs no introduction, as it is well known 
 everywhere, so I do not as much as give its portrait. 
 
 There is, however, in the study of the proboscis and tongue- 
 like organ, as seen in the cut above (Fig. 25), much for study. 
 The maxillffi are minute, and their palpi (w/) are single-jointed, 
 and the mandibles {nt) are comparatively useless, being very 
 short and small compared with the lancet-like jaws of the mos- 
 quito. But the structure of the tongue itself {labium, I) is 
 most curious. When the fly settles upon a lump of sugar, or 
 any other eatable substance, it unbends its tongue, extends it, 
 and the broad, knob-like end divides into two broad, flat, muscu- 
 lar leaves (/), which thus present a sucker-like surface, with 
 which the fly laps up its food. These two leaves are supported 
 upon a frame-work of tracheal tubes, which act as a set of 
 springs to open and shut the muscular leaves. These, it will be 
 seen from the magnified cut, end in hairs projecting externally. 
 Thus the inside of this broad, fleshy expansion is rough, like a 
 rasp, and so is easily employed by the insect in scraping or tear- 
 ing delicate surfaces. It is by means of this curious structure 
 that the house-fly occasions much injury to the covers of books, 
 or any polished surface that owes its polish to albuminous mate- 
 rial. It is by means of these, also, that it teases us in the heat 
 of summer, when it alights upon the hands or face, to sip the 
 perspiration as it exudes from, and is condensed upon, the skin. 
 
 Doubtless all have noticed that house-flies are more numerous 
 
89 
 
 about barns, but few trace the transformation of the fly. Where 
 the house-fly comes from, is often asked, yet seldom answered, 
 as its habits have not been much observed. The barn and its 
 vicinity are usually its birthplace, and about such places may be 
 seen in June, now and then, stray flies, the remnant of last year's 
 brood, that have in some sheltered nook survived in a dormaht 
 state the cold of winter. The excrements of the horse are the 
 most desirable on which to deposit its eggs, and yet they may, 
 for want of that material, deposit them on other refuse of the 
 barn, and sometimes even on sand or loam that is made rich by 
 the wash of the buildings. The eggs hatch almost immediately, 
 producing a maggot, fleshy, smooth, and shining, about one- 
 third of an inch in length, and yellowish white (Fig. 26). 
 After feeding for some time it goes into the pupa state, shorten- 
 ing up as in a (Fig. 26). It is a reddish brown case, two-thirds 
 the length of the maggot, and, as seen in the cut, thicker and 
 stouter. In this transition case it remains from six to ten days, 
 — according to the warmth of the weather, — emerging there- 
 from a perfect, full-grown fly. I have frequently called the 
 attention of the farmer to the pupa case, asking him what it 
 was. He almost invariably answers that he supposes them un- 
 digested oats that have passed his horse ; and in several 
 instances they were dosing horses for indigestion, having taken 
 these pupae for the signs of such. From inquiry thus, I have 
 concluded that most farmers notice the pupa cases, but do not 
 understand what they are. I have never known the house-fly 
 to lay its eggs upon meat, or anything about the house, though 
 they sometimes do about a sink-spout, or other places where 
 slops are thrown out. With a little concerted action among our 
 population, the house-fly might be greatly decimated in numbers. 
 All barnyard fowls are fond of the larva and the pupa also, and, 
 if yarded where they have full access to their breeding-grounds, 
 will greatly aid in their destruction. As fowls are given to 
 much wandering, they will seldom eat the pupa unless shut up 
 in a yard where the manure from the barn is thrown, or where 
 it usually lies ; as the dirt in such locations is rich enough in the 
 necessary larval food to produce them if no manure is at hand. 
 We will now turn our attention to microscopic pests. 
 
40 
 
 MICROSCOPIC PESTS. 
 
 At the present time, every one who possesses any love of na- 
 ture, or even a love simply for marvelous things, desires some 
 knowledge of the minute mysteries of nature. To follow out 
 the peculiar character of animal or plant when too small singly 
 for the human eye to study, requires a microscope. At the prices 
 they are now sold for, they are within reach of almost every one. 
 With our microscope complete, wherever we search, be it our 
 own dwellings, the meadow or the upland, the grasses or the 
 forest, the ruin crumbling into dust or the sands of the sea- 
 shore, even in the waters of our marshes, rivers, lakes or ocean, 
 there may be discovered plants and animals which are unknown 
 to our unaided vision, yet endowed with organs perfectly adapted 
 to their respective necessities ; and with regard to the latter, of- 
 ten, if not always, for their enjoyment. Even in the aqueous 
 vapor and dust of the atmosphere are germs of living beings, 
 both animal and vegetable, though the latter much predominate, 
 that the microscope alone enables us to contemplate with any 
 satisfaction. 
 
 It is true that when near sundown a beam of sunlight strug- 
 gles through the thick foliage of a forest, or enters our room by 
 means of some small aperture, we can see, floating in that beam 
 of light, numerous particles of apparent dust, yet what its form, 
 or its ultimate destination, our unaided eye could never inform 
 us. It is the microscope alone that gives us aid, and that shows 
 us countless spores, or seeds to reproduce minute vegetation, as 
 well as plants actually flourishing in the atmosphere. Also the 
 germs of animal life are often, yes, very often, there ; and, judg- 
 ing from analogy, we find thus an easy method to propagate by 
 germ various diseases in the human family ; and that such is 
 often true is beyond reasonable doubt, though such germs have 
 never been fully identified. In our limited survey of those won- 
 ders of life and organization, which are thus revealed to us, it is 
 natural to first turn our attention to the vegetable kingdom. 
 And the largest number, as well as the most interesting, of the 
 peculiar plants thus revealed in all their beauty, yet perhaps 
 
41 
 
 the most difficult to understand, on account of their varied ap- 
 pearance and intermediate forms, are the 
 
 FUNGI. 
 
 Their sudden appearance and growth, their ephemeral nature, 
 and the multiplicity of their forms, have always been a source 
 of trouble to investigators, and even the most indefatigable of 
 modern mycologists have been able to lift but partially the veil 
 which hangs over the life and development of these organisms. 
 Almost every one, however, supposes that there can be no doubt 
 as to what a toadstool, a mildew, or a mold is, and some may 
 •even correctly call them fungi, but many others are entirely un- 
 acquainted with that Latin word which denotes them. Rust on 
 grain, and smut on Indian corn and other cereals, are also familiar 
 to farmers ; but a vast multitude of other all too numerous fungi 
 are known only to the botanist by name, and only to the mycol- 
 ogist in their habits and structures, and to him only after long 
 and patient study. In fact, it is to the researches of many emi- 
 nent men and women, in Europe, Great Britain, and in this 
 country, both among the dead as well as among the living, that 
 the structure, habits and mode of growth, relation to the "various 
 departments of industry, injurious effects and general utility of 
 these smaller fungi in nature, are collected and known. As 
 plants, although of a low order of organization, they are of great 
 interest as mere objects of beauty ; but to attain a full compre- 
 hension of this fact we must have recourse to the microscope, 
 as the peculiar portions of these structures are beyond the reach 
 of unaided vision. No one that has not had his eye upon them, 
 aided by magnifying power, could possibly conceive that the lit- 
 tle specks of brown or black, seen on the brilliant ripening fo- 
 liage of the maple in September and October, or on the skins of 
 apples, pears, and other fruit ; on the dry stalks of plants or 
 straw, on old decaying matter, on the buildings and fence-rails, 
 on the panes of the window, or the bodies of diseased insects, 
 like bees and house-flies, — in fine, on almost everything, — are re- 
 ceptacles of exquisitely sculptured and carved seed-vessels, 
 called spores \ often beaded thread-like strings of pearls ; again. 
 
42 
 
 consisting of myriads of the most fantastic shapes that the 
 genius of man could imagine, but could never imitate. 
 
 A subject so broad and so varied, one which can be investi- 
 gated at any season of the year, inviting the naturalist, more es- 
 pecially the botanist, forth from earliest spring to latest autumn, 
 to search for forms of beauty on every living or ripening leaf 
 and fruit, and in winter rendering the evening lamp more at- 
 tractive in studying the collected treasures of the summer's 
 gleanings ; even if such collections have not been made, the 
 barn with its harvested treasures is at hand, and from that may 
 be taken specimens which can never fail to interest as well as in- 
 struct every thoughtful person in some way or other ; and would 
 ever be of the greatest interest, if presented in an agreeable 
 manner, and shown with regard to their reference, or connec- 
 tion, with the industrial pursuits of society. 
 
 Not only is such study of interest to the botanist, whose spe- 
 cialty is the study of fungi, but it possesses more than ordinary 
 interest to the husbandman whose crops often lie at the mercy 
 of some of this class of parasites, and to his family, as their wel- 
 fare often depends upon these minute organisms. Even a slight 
 acquaintance with a few of these wonderful little plants, would 
 render the walk for exercise or pleasure ten times more valuable, 
 and often remunerative. Who, even without special thought 
 upon the subject, has not noticed along the roadside early as 
 June, where blackberry-bushes are found among weeds and grass, 
 that their leaves were powdered underneath with rich golden 
 dust, which might be shaken from little orange cups 1 Many 
 times from children, and often also from the middle-aged and old, 
 has come the query as to what it was. On other bushes also, 
 when yielding fruit, even, to tempt women, men, boys, and 
 maidens ; yet would they turn aside, because the dust was omi- 
 nous, but in what way or from whence it came none knew. 
 
 Those dusty-looking lilac-bushes, so dusty ere the close of 
 summer that no rain could wash them clean, or ever will, so long 
 as that peculiar white egg-mold riots on the upper surfaces of 
 their leaves. 
 
 The crystalline drops of permanent dew, on some refuse mat- 
 ter, ofte-i attract attention as they glisten in the sun, but few stop 
 
43 
 
 to examine and see the white threads in countless numbers that 
 permeate them. Though such things often attract attention, 
 they are soon forgotten when we know nothing about them, and 
 no one is there to tell an anecdote from their history. Cun- 
 ningly, wisely, and full of secret hidden meaning, a thousand 
 forms of lower vegetable life look up into our faces, while we, with 
 repressed curiosity and not quite willing, tread them under our 
 feet. How few even ever stop to think that they are leaves in 
 the great book of nature, and consequently worthy the reading, 
 and that to every one who will study those pages and translate 
 the hieroglyphics, that the time and trouble of deciphering would 
 be richly rewarded by the knowledge obtained. 
 
 " How thankful I am to you, " said a friend, " that you have 
 told me so much about the lichens in our pastures. They are 
 now a great source of happiness to me ; formerly I detested 
 them." 
 
 " The best lectures on botany," said a well-known and highly 
 appreciated educator, " are lessons upon every plant we meet." 
 Yes, within reach of all of us is study for a life-time, and we may 
 thus not only please ourselves, but by and by be considered 
 benefactors. With an intention to introduce a few of these little 
 parasitical growths to the attention of the reader, and to make 
 plain and easy what at first seems so obscure and mysterious, I 
 will bring forward some of the more common species, and, ex- 
 plaining by word and figure their form and habits, endeavor to 
 interest you to such an extent that you will be willing at least to 
 acknowledge their power for good or evil, and know where to 
 find your enemy, when pet plants, or fields of grain, grasses, or 
 potatoes, are likely to fail under the evil so wide-spread and 
 fatal. 
 
 CLUSTER CUPS. 
 
 M. C. Cooke, the great English writer on fungi, divides them 
 into six families. In one of these families the spores are the 
 principal feature. This family is called the " dust fungi " 
 {Coniomycetes). Of course it contains many groups, called 
 families or orders, which are analogous to the natural orders of 
 
44 
 
 flowering plants. Without enumerating any of the various 
 characteristics of these orders, I will select one typical plant. 
 The spores are inclosed in a distinct peridium (covering for the 
 seeds). This is a cup-shaped excrescence on the infested leaves. 
 This order is called ^cidiacei. They are always developed on 
 living plants, sometimes on the flowers, fruit, or stems, but 
 usually on the leaves ; occasionally on the upper surface, but 
 almost always on the under side of the leaf. 
 
 The different species are distributed widely over the entire 
 world. They may be found on every continent, and on almost 
 every island. When examined they look like minute cups upon 
 the leaf, and hence we call them '^ cluster cups." Besides the 
 generic name they have also added a specific name, generally 
 derived from some plant they are known to infest ; but this must 
 not lead the student to suppose that one species is only found 
 on that particular plant, for most of them infest many plants, 
 yet some, of course, to a greater extent than others. 
 
 We must therefore look to the actual differences in the fungi, 
 not in the plants they infest. 
 
 The leaf may be truly said to be the lung of the plant. 
 Through the stomata (minute holes) on the under side of the 
 leaf, the plant obtains nourishment from the atmosphere, which 
 is as necessary to them as our breath is to us. 
 
 Anything that clogs or injures the stomata of any plant 
 directly injures the growth of that plant. This little fungi, when 
 the plant has become infested, breaks through the epidermis, 
 destroying many of the breathing-pores (stomata), and also 
 draws its own nourishment from the life-juices of the plant it 
 infests. Before it breaks through the under surface of the leaf, 
 the infested leaf, if closely examined, will appear to be covered 
 with little elevations or pustules, paler at the apex ; these soon 
 become ruptured, and the fungus pushes its head through the 
 opening, at the same time bursting by radiating fissures. The 
 teeth thus formed resemble those of the peristome of some 
 mosses. All around the orifice the teeth, or fringe, become re- 
 curved, and the orange spores (fungi seed) are exposed, crowded 
 together within. At first, and in fact while contained in the 
 
45 
 
 peridium (cup), these spores are connected together as a string 
 of beads, but when dispersed they are scattered singly about 
 the orifice, often mixed with colorless cells arising from the 
 partial breaking up of the teeth, or fringe, of the peridium. Let 
 us now for a moment examine the manner in which these cups 
 are distributed upon the leaf. They are scattered without any 
 apparent order over the under surface, with now and then one 
 upon the upper surface, but they nowhere touch each other, 
 unless at the margins of the leaf, but then they are never joined, 
 only crowded. Generally there is a space greater than the width 
 of the cups between them. The leaf is not thickened by their 
 growth, and the upper surface gives you no indication of what is 
 going on beneath. If a leaf be taken fresh, and the epidermis 
 from the under side be stripped off, as it is often easy to do, the 
 orifices through which the fungi have burst will appear in 
 irregular holes, and the fungi will be left rooted still upon the 
 leaf, showing that they are not confined to the surface, and thus 
 we see why the damage is so great to the plant upon which they 
 subsist. 
 
 The spores in this species are orange in color, but variable 
 both in size and form, though the majority are comparatively 
 large. Each of these spores is capable of reproducing its 
 species, and if we compute two thousand cluster cups as occur- 
 ring on each leaf, and many leaves have double this number, 
 and supposing each cup to contain two hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand spores, which again is much below the actual number, then 
 we shall have not less than five hundred millions of reproductive 
 bodies on one infected leaf, to furnish a crop of parasites for the 
 plants of the succeeding year. As we thus so soon reckon by 
 millions, our figures and capacities fail in appreciating the 
 myriads of spores which compose the orange dust produced from 
 one infected cluster of plants. Nor is this all, for it is found 
 that one of these spores is not only capable of producing a 
 plant, but is in itself a bundle of vegetative spores, which are 
 exceedingly minute, and yet, small as they are, they have the 
 capability to produce fresh crops of cluster cups. 
 
 Naturally enough, our reader will ere this be debating in his 
 
46 
 
 own mind how these spores, which we have seen are shed in 
 such profusion, can enter the tissues of the plants which give 
 subsequent evidence of infection, as I have described ; in fact, 
 how the yellow dust with which the atmosphere may be filled 
 to-day can inoculate the young plants of next year. If one or 
 two of these spores are sprinkled upon the cuticle which has 
 been removed from the leaf, as we have before indicated, it will 
 be seen that they are very much larger than the stomata, or 
 breathing-pores, which stud the cuticle ; hence it is clear they 
 cannot gain admittance there. There remains but one other 
 portal to the interior of the plant, and that is through the 
 extremities of the roots. Here another difficulty arises ; for the 
 spores are as large as the cells through which they would there 
 have to pass. This difficulty is, however, much lessened when 
 we remember that these spores are a bundle of infinite particles, 
 each particle of which is probably capable of infecting a plant. 
 Even under this consideration, there is much need of an active 
 imagination, to invent hypotheses to cover the points upon 
 which we as yet know nothing definite. 
 
 '* The Rev. M. J. Berkeley proved many years ago that the 
 spores of bunt, for example, may be caused to infect all the 
 plants the seeds of which had been placed in contact with 
 them." But this did not prove that the seeds absorbed them, 
 as it is probable they did not, but they would adhere to the 
 seed and thus be conveyed to the ground, where infection to the 
 sprout would be probable. Much has been done to elucidate 
 this mystery, but much remains a mystery still. No spores 
 have ever been seen traversing the tissues of growing plants. 
 
 The stems and leaves of violets, sweet-scented and scentless 
 all alike, are often distorted and ruined altogether by a variety 
 of cluster cups ; the stinging nettle does not escape ; the hardy 
 dock, the useful currant, the wild geraniums, alike feed with 
 their juices fungi of this description. 
 
 It has long been a popular belief in England (says F. B. 
 Hough in his report on Forestry), that the barberry-bush {Ber- 
 beris vulgaris) has some agency in the propagation of rust in 
 wheat and other grain, and the researches of botanists have 
 
47 
 
 somewhat tended to confirm this belief. The spores from grain- 
 rust {Puccinia graminis) are said to find their way to the leaves 
 of the barberry, germinate, and form cluster cups on the under 
 surface of the leaves, and the spores from these in turn germi- 
 nate on the grain by alternate generation. The fact that rust 
 sometimes appears in fields where there are no barberry-bushes 
 capable of bearing the intermediate form, appears to indicate 
 that there are other plants having the same capability of bearing 
 the intermediate growth. The clearing off of barberry, or other 
 plants or bushes, near wheat-fields, has, it is claimed, been pro- 
 ductive of good results ; and if it should be proved beyond 
 doubt that there is a direct relation between this and grain-rust, 
 the use of the barberry as a hedge-plant, as well as that of other 
 bushes, should be discontinued. Cooke, on the other hand, says 
 that while this statement long ago had credit among the people, 
 it has no foundation in fact, as the genera are distinct and per- 
 fect in themselves ; while some others, perhaps equally eminent, 
 claim intermediate and spurious forms. Professor CErsted, it is 
 said, has recently determined 
 their identity as one and the 
 same plant. In this figure 
 (Fig. 27), a shows a leaf of the 
 barberry, with cluster cups upon 
 it {/Ecidium herberidis) ; b, a 
 portion of the leaf magnified ; 
 
 c, the same fragment seen side- 
 wise. 
 
 The leaves of the pear show 
 other species, and very singular 
 and curious clusters of excres- 
 cences occur on the leaves of 
 the apple-tree and mountain 
 ash, and are also very promi- i,,^ 2^ 
 
 nent on the leaves of the quince-tree, and especially of the wild 
 apple-tree of the West, consisting of large peridia, pointed at 
 the tops, and so swollen below as to bear a rude resemblance to 
 urns, the edges split into long, contorted threads. They are a 
 
48 
 
 species of Rtcs/elia. The R. lacerata is seen in Fig. 28, a, 
 
 natural size, living on the leaves 
 and fruit of the hawthorn ; b, a 
 portion magnified. The spores 
 are also of a light orange color, 
 but the plant, by comparison, or 
 even by comparison of the cuts, 
 may be seen to widely differ in 
 its appearance. The fir and 
 pine also suffer, as they are 
 often attacked by the Perider- 
 minum, which changes the foli- 
 age, and spoils the effect of their 
 branches, rendering them un- 
 Kig. 28. sightly. Unfortunately but little 
 
 is known of this fungus, but it is well worthy of attention from 
 
 those that are interested in the minute 'aspects of nature, and 
 
 those who can recognize the hand 
 
 " That sets a sun amidst the firmament, 
 Or luolds a dewdrop, and lights up its gem." 
 
 But we must not stop for reflection, but slightly notice another 
 class. The spores of the smaller fungi have thus far been 
 spoken of as seeds, but this is not strictly true, and several novel 
 and interesting points for consideration and inquiry arise. 
 
 If we should place some of the yellow dust, which fills the 
 cup-shaped peridia, in a drop of water, and prevent its evapora- 
 tion by covering it with a watch-crystal, or any other glass would 
 do as well, we should find in a few hours that each particle of 
 the dust had swollen, and bursting at some point had given out 
 a little thread, at the apex of which it is crowned with delicate 
 curved appendages, which soon become connected by lateral 
 threads, thus forming a kind of latticed network, and from the 
 sides of these filaments little cells sprout, which in turn germi- 
 nate and reproduce the plant. Those of our readers who are 
 familiar with the early stages of the ferns, can trace a striking 
 analogy in the process. 
 
 In many of the smaller fungi the spore is present in another 
 form, constituting what is termed the spermagone (pustules and 
 
49 
 
 depressions like pockets), often in shape of a minute dot near 
 tlie peridium, and sometimes on the other side of the leaf. In 
 fact it may be like a little blister filled with threads, throwing 
 off little curved bodies called spermatia (germinating filaments), 
 which escape through an orifice provided for the purpose. 
 
 Before the nature of these singular objects was known, sper- 
 magones were mistaken for distinct kinds of fungi, and many 
 species were thus described. In the Peridermimim Pint, before 
 spoken of, they are white, few in number, and are developed not 
 only in the spring, but sometimes re-appear in the autumn upon 
 the same leaves that produced them at the commencement of 
 the year. The evident effort of nature, then, in this process, is 
 to produce an ultimate condition of fungal life, which shall be 
 sure to continue indefinitely the presence of the parasites upon 
 the leaves and other parts of the higher plants. And this is 
 done with certainty by the mycelium, a system of the most sub- 
 tile threads, which can enter the tissues by attacking the seed 
 when sown, and whose persistence of vitality enables it to 
 endure the most trying circumstances unharmed. So vitalized 
 indeed is the mycelium, that any fragment of it will vegetate 
 and grow after long periods of desiccation. And its luxuriance 
 of growth is in nowise dependent on any higher development, 
 such as, were it the stems and leaves of a flowering plant, would 
 be necessary to cause it sooner or later to push forth blossoms 
 and fruit. 
 
 This wonderful vitality is taken advantage of in the cultiva- 
 tion of the edible fungi, such as the mushroom for example, 
 where lumps of dry earth permeated by the mycelium, or 
 *' spawn," as it is called, are planted in prepared soil andagood 
 crop realized. It is familiar to nurserymen, and all those who 
 cultivate trees for shade or otherwise, that they often languish 
 and die, owing to their roots reaching spots deep in the ground, 
 where decayed wood or other vegetable remains are filled with 
 this subtile fungal spawn^ which inoculates the tree with the 
 destructive fungus, causing its death. Fortunately, the awaken- 
 ing and full vigor depends much upon the atmospheric condi- 
 tion, else we should live in fear that every plant would be 
 blasted. From this cause fungi of every form are often regarded 
 4 
 
50 
 
 as meteorological phenomena, and wet and foggy weather are 
 complained of as harbingers of various fungoid evils. 
 
 MILDEW OR RUST. 
 
 Peculiar hot and damp days will be dreaded by nearly all on 
 account of "mildew," but " mildew " is one of those loose terms 
 that represents no definite idea, or a very different one to vari- 
 ous individuals. 
 
 Talk of mildew of grain to a farmer, and he tells you of the 
 rust which appears in lines or irregular spots upon the wheat- 
 stalk, indicating Puccinia graminis, which is known to him and 
 generations before him in many sections as mildew. 
 
 Talk to a New England housewife of mildew, and she will 
 describe a minute species of fungus which attacks damp linen, 
 as true mildew, and will ask if you know what will remove the 
 spots occasioned by it. 
 
 Ask the hop-grower of New York about mildew, and he will 
 point out a species of mold that infests the hop-vine, but which 
 differs as much from the mildev/ of the South as does the mildew 
 of linen. The librarian will tell you of mildewed books and 
 papers, and the housemaid of mildewed cellars, — all meaning a 
 fungous growth, but as wide in their significance as the poison- 
 hemlock and hemlock-tree. 
 
 Mildew in England means in literature but one thing, and that 
 is the rust upon wheat and other grain, known scientifically as 
 Puccinia graminis. 
 
 But let us look into the history of this pest. In view of a 
 clearer understanding of this peculiar pest, so long supposed to 
 be several separate species, and which under the present light 
 of science seems fast merging into one, we will suppose a fine 
 day in June dawns upon our resolve to learn of mildew, or rust, 
 and we stray away from the village to gain the chance to exam- 
 ine a wheat-field. Having reached the field, there is no appear- 
 ance of anything but a healthy crop ; we walk into it perhaps 
 fifteen or twenty yards before we find a single fungus of which 
 we are in quest. But let us look closely down at the green 
 leaves at the very bottom of the wheat-plant, and we are soon 
 
51 
 
 rewarded, as we shall find one or two that look rusty. The sur- 
 face seems powdered with red ochre, and to have grown sickly 
 under the operation. Pluck it carefully, and examine it with 
 low magnifying power ; a pocket lens will do. Already the cuti- 
 cle of the leaf is traversed with numerous longitudinal cracks 
 or fissures, within which and around which you discern an orange 
 powder, to which the rusty appearance on the leaf is due. 
 Further examination reveals also portions in which the cuticle is 
 distended into yellowish elongated pustules, not yet ruptured, 
 and which is an earlier stage of this same disease. This is the 
 rust of the New England agriculturist, the Trichobasis rtibigo 
 vera of the botanist, or the first phase of the mildew. 
 
 To know more of this parasite we must take it to our micro- 
 scope, and by careful manipulation we shall find that the vege- 
 tative system of this, as well as of all similar fungi, consists of a 
 number of delicate simple or branched threads, often intertwin- 
 ing and even uniting one to the other by little branchlets. These 
 threads, as we have before explained, are called the mycelium ; 
 they penetrate the intercellular spaces and insinuate themselves 
 in a complete network among the cells of which the leaf or other 
 diseased portion of the plant is composed. We may regard the 
 whole mycelium of one pustule, or spore-spot, as the vegetative 
 system of one fungal plant. At first it might have originated 
 as several individuals, which afterward become combined as 
 one, for the production of fruit, and by their combined effort a 
 cluster of fruity or spore-spot, is produced. 
 
 In the first instance, a number of minute, transparent, color- 
 less cellules are developed from the mycelium ; these enlarge, 
 and are filled with an orange-colored endochrome, and appear 
 beneath the leaf as yellowish spots. As a consequence of this 
 increase of bulk, the cuticle becomes distended in the form of 
 a pustule over the yellow cellules, and at length, unable to with- 
 stand the pressure from beneath, ruptures in irregular, but more 
 or less elongated fissures, and the yellow bodies, which I will 
 call spores, break from their short pedicels and escape ; to the 
 naked eye presenting the appearance of an orange powder. 
 
 On the first of August we will again visit our wheat-field. 
 Rusty leaves are more common than before. A little careful 
 
^'Z 
 
 examination, and here and there we shall find a leaf or two 
 with decidedly brown pustules intermixed with the rusty ones. 
 If we remove from the browner spots a little of the powder by 
 means of a sharp-pointed knife, and place it in a drop of water, 
 and cover it with a thin glass, and place it under our microscope* 
 a different series of forms will be observed. There will still be 
 a portion of one-celled yellow spores, but the majority will be 
 elongated, mostly with short stalks, and either decidedly two- 
 celled or a tendency to be so. 
 
 These two-celled spores are another form of the mildew called 
 Pucci7iia gratninis, which may be produced in the same pustules 
 and from the same mycelium as the rust previously described, 
 and is generally considered at the present time to be the same 
 fungus. Other grain and various other plants are likewise 
 affected. 
 
 Fig. 29 represents at a, wheat-straw inefcted 
 with this rust ; b, cluster of spores magnified ; 
 c, single spore magnified 300 diameters. 
 
 This rust is so common and so much alike 
 on all plants, that this plate will answer to rep- 
 resent the fungus wherever found. 
 
 Let us now for the third time visit our wheat- 
 field. It is ripe^ or else much damaged, possi- 
 bly destroyed, by the fungi. 
 
 On the straw we shall find black lines, or 
 blackish spots, from the size of a pin's head to 
 an inch in length ; this is the mildew, rust, or 
 Fuccinia, — it matters not what name it is 
 called, — in full maturity, and when once seen 
 it is never forgotten. Botanists may dispute 
 about its intermediate stages ; may give it dif- 
 '''^■'''' ferent names when found on other plants, — 
 
 but it still remains the great pest of the husbandman. There 
 are no lingering doubts in the minds of agriculturists, bot- 
 anists, savans of science, or laborers, that the rust is not injuri- 
 ous, because the most casual observation shows it in the sickly 
 condition of all plants affected through the season. 
 
 The manner of impregnation is unknown, or, if known, is in 
 
53 
 
 dispute. Some believe, as the stomata or breathing-pores of 
 the plant are open in clamp weather, that the infinitesimal germs 
 enter these pores and gain a foothold, and push their rootlets 
 into the cellular tissue of the plant. Others think they enter 
 from the ground through the roots, and others still do not be- 
 lieve that they enter the plant at all, but that the seeds are poi- 
 soned by the touch of their spores. Be it as it may, we well 
 know that it exists, and of course desire to have as little dam- 
 age from it as possible. Observation has shown that rich land, 
 or that manured by old manure, is much more likely to have the 
 grain crop injured than land not so rich, or manured by green 
 manure or some of our fertilizers. This should teach care in 
 the preparation of our land. Some claim that an admixture of 
 sulphur in sowing, and others that if it is sifted on the leaves, is 
 a preventive. Careful experiments have shown all such reme- 
 dies useless. Ashes are good to produce a healthy condition of 
 the crop, while they have no effect upon the fungi. 
 
 The state of the atmosphere conducive to very rapid growth, 
 is usually liable to develop the pest. We believe that all straw 
 infected to a large extent should be burned, and all grasses and 
 weeds standing around such fields should share the same fate. 
 In this way the principal danger might be avoided. 
 
 Another instance of the two-formed condition of the smaller 
 fungi can be traced in the delicate condition of moldiness 
 which frequently covers the leaves of the lilac, the grape, the 
 fruit of the gooseberry, and various other plants. It looks like 
 strings of beads made of colorless cells. In this condition it is 
 known and described as Oidiiim. 
 
 Fig. 30, a, tufts of conidia of the Oid- 
 ium Monilioides ; b, portion of grass leaf 
 with same species of blight, the spores 
 being the self-same beads and egg-shaped 
 bodies, whence the generic name, but 
 careful observation will show us that this 
 is not its perfect condition ; and when, 
 later in autumn, these threads become 
 more compact, and are surmounted on 
 their horizontal surfaces by shining black 
 
54 
 
 capsules, or perithecia, each of which is filled wiih elegant 
 elliptical and elongated cells, and each in turn containing sev- 
 eral spores, we shall find in Erisyphe that we have arrived at the 
 conclusion of the dimorphism of this fungus, so injurious in its 
 effects. 
 
 The famous grape mildew, so destructive to the grapes of Eu- 
 rope, and known as Oidiiim Tuckeri, is also only an imperfect 
 form of some common Erisyphe ; so of the grape fungi of New 
 England, as well as of various other fungal plants. 
 
 Even the cluster cup first described is quite likely to turn out 
 but one form of the rust, on some other plant. Some, as I have 
 before said, even now suppose it identical with the Fuccinia, 
 and with good reason. 
 
 SMUTS. 
 
 Another of the fungal diseases of grain, long and widely 
 known among agriculturists, is here called smut. Different 
 names have been given it in different localities. In some it 
 is " dust-brand," in others, "bunt-ear," " black-ball," etc. All 
 the names refer to the blackish, sootlike dust with which the 
 infested and abortive heads are covered. This fungus in New 
 England does not generally excite much alarm among the farm- 
 ers, yet it often injures the crop. Perhaps it is not so extensively 
 injurious as rust, yet it destroys every infested head of grain 
 upon which it establishes itself, and is also thought to be poison- 
 ous to people, or animals, that feed upon it. In Johnson's work 
 on the grasses of Great Britain, he says " that diseased wheat 
 examined by Sir K. Davy, when good, had an average of .955 
 parts of nutritive matter to 1,000 : sometimes from disease, or 
 smut, rust, or mildew, it was reduced as low as .2 10 in 1,000." The 
 consequence of using such diseased wheat for food would be a 
 step towards starvation, even though no greater evil resulted. 
 It is, however, well known to be highly prejudicial to health ; 
 and the higher standard of living among the poorer classes of 
 our population, compared with those of some continental coun- 
 tries, is the only cause of their exemption from the dreadful 
 diseases resulting from the use of bad grain. That such dis- 
 eases might occasionally prevail among them here, from similar 
 
55 
 
 causes, under a more restricted diet, is evident from a record in 
 the Philosophical Tratisactions ior iho. year 1762. The case in 
 question occurred in the village of Wallisham, about fifteen or 
 sixteen miles from Bury, St. Edmond's, Suffolk, and the report 
 of it was forwarded to the Royal Society by Dr. Wollaston, 
 attested by the Rev. Mr. Bone, the curate of the parish, and is 
 abridged as follows : — Some of the wheat belonging to a farmer 
 in the neighborhood, being laid or beaten down by bad weather, 
 and diseased, the grain much damaged in consequence, it was 
 collected and threshed apart from the remainder. Being unfit 
 for the market, it was sold at a low price to any of the farm la- 
 borers, and other people of the village, who would purchase. 
 The sale of this wheat commenced about Christmas, and to one 
 poor family, whose chief and possibly sole support it was for 
 some time, the result was most alarming and unparalleled. It 
 appears that the consumption of this poor wheat by the father, 
 mother, and five children, was about two bushels in a fortnight ; 
 the same being eaten in the form of bread and puddings, both 
 of them very indifferent in quality. 
 
 But to poverty, cheapness and sufficiency of food are always 
 irresistible inducements, and this unwholesome fare was con- 
 tinued without intermission until the mother and her children 
 were attacked within a few days of each other with a gangre- 
 nous disease. The first indication of the disease was intense 
 pains in the lower limbs. It first occurred on the tenth of Jan- 
 uary, and was thought to be rheumatism, but when this pain sub- 
 sided it was followed by numbness and insensibility of the parts 
 which terminated in mortification. The condition of the family 
 at the time Dr. Wollaston made his report to the society is here 
 subjoined : — 
 
 " Mary, the mother, aged forty. Right foot off at ankle ; left 
 leg mortified, a mere bone but not off. 
 
 " Elizabeth, aged thirteen. Both legs off below the knee. 
 
 " Sarah, aged ten years. One foot off at ankle. 
 
 " Robert, aged eight. Both legs off below the knee. 
 
 " Edward, aged four. Both feet off at ankles. 
 
 " An infant, aged four months. Dead." 
 
 The father was not attacked until about a fortnight after his 
 
56 
 
 wife and children, and in a slighter degree. In his case the 
 pain was confined to two fingers of his right hand, which turned 
 blackish and withered. Another laboring man in the same par- 
 ish, who had eaten of this bread, suffered from numbness in 
 both his hands for upwards of a month. They were constantly 
 cold, and his finger-ends peeled ; one thumb he says remains 
 without any sensation. 
 
 In several instances where bread made from the same wheat 
 was eaten in the farmer's own family, as well as by other per- 
 sons, no prejudicial effects were noticed, probably in conse- 
 quence of such bread being used only occasionally, and as an 
 adjunct to other and more wholesome food. The nature of the 
 disease with which the wheat was affected does not appear to 
 have been fully ascertained, but the circumstances are well au- 
 thenticated. It is of course possible that the want of proper 
 nourishment in the wheat may have had a share to do with the 
 disease ; but smutty and mildewed grain has always been con- 
 sidered unhealthy to man, and many cases of disease in animals 
 have often been traced to this cause. 
 
 With such examples before us, too great caution cannot be 
 used regarding the use of grain and flour of suspicious character. 
 
 These fungi, like many of the others that infest our fields and 
 gardens, belong to the family in which the spores are the dis- 
 tinctive feature, and is regarded as fixed in the genus Ustilago 
 (or smut of grain), and the specific name segetum (standing). So 
 we have the name Ustilago segetum^ or the smut of standing grain. 
 
 Another kind of smut known in this country is Ustilago mag- 
 dis (the maize smut). It is even more common than the other, 
 as no corn-field is without more or less of it. It forms a peculiar 
 thickened and abnormal growth, that is full of the characteristic 
 black spores represented as magnified four hundred diameters in 
 Fig. 31. 
 
 The spores in this fungus are very numerous, 
 simple, deeply serrated, springing from delicate 
 threads or in closely-packed cells, ultimately 
 breaking up into a powdery mass. A species of 
 this smut affects some grasses slightly in this 
 TigT^^^ country, but in France it frequently affects grass 
 
57 
 
 to such an extent as to produce disastrous consequences on the 
 hay-makers, such as violent swellings of the head and face, with 
 poisonous irritation over the whole system. Threshers are some- 
 times thus affected in this country, when at work on smutty oats, 
 although not all are equally affected. 
 
 The spores of this species are so immense in number, that it 
 would seem impossible to guard corn or other grain against its rav- 
 ages, but it seems like others of this class — they are quite easily 
 destroyed, and in that way are kept in check. They adhere to 
 the grain in threshing, but if the grain is washed with clean 
 water, and then with a solution of Glauber's salts, and while 
 still moist dusted with quicklime, these spores will be destroyed, 
 and the rust spores also, and the crop will be improved, as the 
 caustic soda is set free by the sulphuric acid of the salts com- 
 bining with the lime, and converting it into sulphate of lime 
 (plaster of Paris) which is beneficial to the young sprout, while 
 the caustic soda is fatal to the spores of rust and smut. 
 
 Other washes, as of chloride of lime, at the rate of one ounce 
 to the gallon of water, or of aqua ammonia in same proportions, 
 are probably also beneficial to kill the spores, and aid germination 
 of the grain. Experience has also taught us that a wet season is 
 much more prolific of fungi than a dry one ; and thick-sown 
 grain than thin-sown. 
 
 The direction of the wind when grain is sown is of no effect, 
 notwithstanding old people, many of them, think that an east 
 wind is deleterious. 
 
 THE ONION SMUT. 
 
 This fungus, called by Prof. C. C. Frost, of Brattleborough, Vt., 
 Urocystis Cepuloe, since its first appearance in New England in 
 1870 has caused much damage to that crop. It is thought to be 
 allied to the rust on Indian corn, but not exactly the same. The 
 damage caused to single towns in Massachusetts from this smut 
 alone is estimated at several thousands of dollars. There is as 
 yet very little known about the development of this fungus. It 
 has never been known in Europe, and is supposed to originate 
 from some of our wild species of onions, and of course is as yet 
 
58 
 
 but imperfectly known here. It changes the onion to the pecu- 
 liar dark sooty powder so well known as smut, and the infected 
 onions at once cease to grow ; and though the black may often 
 be peeled off apparently with one or two of the layers of the 
 onion, they are not considered healthy, and great loss is en- 
 tailed to those raising them. As the spores doubtless remain in 
 the ground, and nothing put on the ground would be likely to 
 eradicate them, the only known help is to change the locality, 
 giving the onions ground on which they have not been previously 
 raised, and using the onion-bed for other purposes, or for such 
 crops as the spores would not injure. 
 
 After a time, perhaps four or five years, the old beds might 
 probably be again planted, as doubtless the spores would have 
 lost their vitality. 
 
 As this smut at the present time is principally confined to 
 Massachusetts and Connecticut, with a little care on our part, it 
 will be a long time before New Hampshire will materially suffer 
 from this fungi. 
 
 Should it appear among us, it should be at once stamped out 
 by burning over the land, and not trying to raise onions on it 
 for at least four years, as a trial would not only be useless but 
 would endanger whole townships by the increase of the spores. 
 
 It should as much be the law to stamp out by legal proceed- 
 ings such pests, as to keep small-pox out of our towns, as the 
 diseases resulting to the human family are none the less to be 
 dreaded because slow and insidious in their workings. 
 
 Those who desire to know more of this disease we will refer 
 to the Massachusetts Agricultural Report for 1876-77, where it 
 is fully described. 
 
 WHITE RUST. 
 
 The idea we have thus far of rust and smut is, that it is dark 
 colored, or like the rust of iron ; but as I speak of white rust 
 that opinion must be overthrown, as the white rust of the cab- 
 bage, turnip, and all similar plants is one that the gardener has 
 often to contend with. I bring it in to show that fungi must be 
 looked for in every place and under all colors. This white rust 
 
69 
 
 is called Cystopus candidus. It 
 is represented in Fig. 32 as it 
 occurs on shepherd's-purse, a 
 showing the fruit with the rust 
 upon it ; b, portions of the cab- 
 bage-leaf with the same species 
 upon it ; and c, conidia of the 
 same. (See Cooke's treatise on 
 fungi.) 
 
 Upon the leaf of the cabbage 
 it appears as engraved, in white 
 patches ; the leaves become de- 
 formed and swollen or blistered, 
 even before we can make out 
 fully the cause of the mischief 
 outside. These blistered pus- 
 tules have a minute system of '^' ^^' 
 branching threads, which traverse the pulpy parts of the leaves, 
 and which threads, insinuating themselves between the cells that 
 constitute the pulp, take their nutriment at the expense of the 
 growing foliage. 
 
 It is after the pustules assume the white color and are visible 
 on the skin or cuticle that the reproductive parts termed conidia 
 can be detected. (See Fig. 32.) From the multitudes of these 
 beads or spores forming the white powdery dust, the term coni- 
 dia is applied, which means dust-like. Other plants, besides, 
 are often affected, as the water-cress, pepper-grass, radish, and 
 even the weed purslane does not escape its ravages. Its mode 
 of vegetation is one of peculiar interest, in fine one of the most 
 curious phenomena of plant life, and indicates in this low order 
 of vegetation a relation to higher structural forms, not only in 
 plants but even in animals. Thus, if a few particles of the white 
 dust be immersed in a drop of water, and examined under the 
 microscope, they will be seen to rapidly absorb water, and swell- 
 ing, a large and obtuse papilla resembling the neck of a bottle 
 is produced, and a seeming empty space is formed in the con- 
 tents of each spore. As these disappear, the whole granular 
 substance becomes separated by fine lines into five to eight por- 
 
60 
 
 tions each, with a small, faintly colored, empty space in the 
 center. These portions are so many zoospores. These are soon 
 expelled one by one, and soon afterwards begin to move, being 
 provided with seeming fins or fringes by which they are enabled 
 to swim about like an animalcule ; but they are only buds en- 
 dowed with motion, same as many other plants have. These of 
 course are capable of infecting plants, as we have seen. 
 
 The prodigal provision of nature is here, as everywhere, espe- 
 cially in its lower orders, signally manifested, when we are told 
 that the immense number of zoospores capable of being pro- 
 duced from a single infected plant is almost beyond calculation. 
 
 It is easy for a million of conidia to be developed from one 
 such plant, each producing five to eight zoospores. It can 
 scarcely be considered marvelous that the white rust should be 
 so common on plants favorable to its development, the marvel 
 being rather that any escape. 
 
 THE POTATO DISEASE. 
 
 Mold is a word in common use, and all will tell you what 
 mold is, yet each will perhaps tell you of a different kind. This 
 very numerous family are called Hyphomycetes ; that is, fungi that 
 grow by throwing out delicate threads. 
 
 Of course there are several distinct groups. 
 
 To the common eye, unaided by the microscope or observa- 
 tion, mildews, moldiness, and similar microscopic plants would 
 be readily confounded. But the mildew is a much more highly 
 developed fungus, and though apparently as dangerous, is not 
 so to the same extent. The egg-mold {Oidium), which covers 
 and suffocates the young gooseberry, or the grape, readily yields 
 to agents which will destroy it, and set free from its threads the 
 swelling fruit ; but the potato-mold, for instance, is the inception 
 of the potato-rot, which is so dreaded. The " molds," then, as 
 Russell says, "are fearful parasitic plants, which riot on the 
 tender tissues of other plants and eventually cause their death." 
 There are in this country as many as ten known fungi infesting 
 the potato. It is on this account that those attempting to 
 describe the potato disease have differed so widely from each 
 
61 
 
 other, while all have brought up some facts. The true potato- 
 mold, causing so much mischief, is now generally admitted to 
 be the Peronospora infestans, and were it not for its effects it 
 would be regarded as a thing of beauty. Were the flies or 
 insects, which are so liberally endowed with eyes, and quite 
 unconcerned about crops, — to investigate, the leaves of the 
 potato would be quite a pretty set of objects to examine, 
 presenting white, many branched, and beaded twigged plants, 
 with egg-shaped seed bodies on the tips of the branches. These 
 vegetable growths issue from the stomata (breathing-pores) of 
 the leaves, choke up the internal and external passages, and 
 prevent a healthy action from being maintained. Soon the 
 leaves become paler, or yellow, then discolored spots appear, 
 and the stems are covered with dark patches ; even the stalks 
 become filled with clotted substances, and sooner or later 
 putrefy, and lastly the tuber suffers, and the rot rapidly increases. 
 
 It was towards the close of the summer of 1845 that the world 
 awakened to what they supposed a new disease in the potato 
 crop ; and one which threatened its entire destruction. Early 
 in September its ravages in Ireland threatened starvation to the 
 people. It extended to Scotland, England, and the continent, 
 and rewards were offered for detection of the cause ; and a host 
 of observations were made with no valuable results. 
 
 It is only by long years of patient study that nature's works 
 are found out, and it will be longer still before any sure pre- 
 ventive will be reached. There are, however, some things 
 that tempt this fungous growth that is so destructive ; as close 
 planting, damp land, weeds that shade the crop, etc. 
 
 As there are some differences of opinion in relation to the 
 actual condition of the potato, favorable or otherwise, to the 
 rot, I copy from the observations of others. 
 
 " Some eminent chemists, such as Dr. Lyon Playfair, believe 
 that the potato-plant when healthy, is not subject to attacks 
 from fungi. In a lecture delivered by the doctor before the 
 Royal Agricultural Society of England, December 9, 1845, he 
 remarked that ' much had been said and written with regard to 
 the source of the disease, and since minute fungi had been 
 assigned as its cause, potatoes, apples, and other fruits had been 
 
62 
 
 inoculated with fungous spores, and had become diseased ; but if 
 there was not some previous disease in the potato itself, how 
 was it that some varieties of potatoes escaped while growing in 
 the immediate vicinity, while others were attacked ? ' " The 
 disease, he believed, arose from structural or chemical causes. 
 
 When a decayed potato was examined it was found that the 
 diseased spots were always in the region of the spiral vessels 
 whose function it is to carry air into the tissue of the plants. 
 He believed the disease originated in the oxidation of the tissue. 
 The Rev. M. J. Berkeley, the leading mycologist of England, on 
 the other hand, contends that the fungus Botrytis iiifestans, or, 
 as now classed under the new genus, Peronospora infestans, will 
 attack the healthy tubers ; but the question arises just at this 
 point, What means have we of ascertaining the perfectly healthy 
 structure, and chemical state of tubers ? Every farmer plants 
 what he deems sound tubers, yet in the majority of cases, since 
 1845, the crop during very moist seasons has been more 
 generally affected than it was prior to that date. 
 
 The severity of attacks of fungi on plants will depend in some 
 cases on the density of their organic structure and the solubility 
 of their nitrogenous matter. The nitrogenous principle of 
 potatoes,. for example, is soluble in water ; that of turnips nearly 
 insoluble. The former, therefore, ferments more readily than 
 the latter. The leaves of a healthy peach-tree, when placed in 
 a moist atmosphere at about 75° Fahrenheit, resist fungoid fer- 
 mentation for months, while those of a peach-tree affected with 
 the " yellows," placed under the same general conditions, will 
 quickly ferment and become covered with the fruit of the fungous 
 mucor. The first possess an antiseptic property, the second are 
 deficient in it. If two blocks of wood, one of boxwood and the 
 other of soft pine, are placed in a fungoid solution, the first will 
 resist the action of the mycelium for a long time because of its 
 density, while the second will quickly decay. The first absorbs 
 very little water, the second a great deal. A certain amount of 
 moisture is always necessary to the growth of fungi. The 
 presence of an excess of water is highly favorable to the growth 
 of the common molds and some other forms of fungoid plants. 
 
 In years previous to the noted potato-rot of 1845, the average 
 
63 
 
 amount of water found in healthy potatoes, according to Professor 
 Playfair, was 72 per cent; that of unhealthy tubers since that 
 date, 80 per cent. The tendency to ferment is therefore in- 
 creased. It was observed by Professor Playfair, in his lecture 
 alluded to, that a peculiar state of the weather had been 
 observed all over the north of Europe where the disease had 
 been seen, as well as in America. The wide-spread use of the 
 potato as an article of diet, especially among the laboring 
 classes throughout Europe, must have led to the extensive 
 planting of diseased potatoes in 1846, because healthy seed could 
 not be found. Indeed, Professor Playfair, in his second lecture 
 of the loth of December, 1845, recommends "the planting of 
 diseased potatoes as seed rather than none." He further states 
 that there was no prospect of obtaining healthy seed from 
 abroad, and that he had permission of the late government 
 authorities for stating that this was the result of their consular 
 returns. The unavoidable adoption of this advice tended to 
 establish hereditary disease in after years, whether it arose from 
 chemical, structural, or fungoid conditions. 
 
 If a healthy potato is so dug out on its opposite ends that it 
 will resemble a double egg-cup, and placed erect on one end for 
 about six days in an atmosphere at the temperature of 70° Fahren- 
 heit, its under cavity will become covered with mildew, and its fruit 
 will appear in the form of blue mold, Penicillium glaucum. In 
 this case the inverted cavity will retain the moisture, and as a 
 consequence slight fermentation will ensue, the fungus deriving 
 its nutriment from the potato ; but the upper surface, although 
 fully exposed to the floating germs in the atmosphere, will not 
 sustain a fungous growth, in consequence of the free evaporation 
 of the moisture from it. This form of fermentation should not 
 be confounded with that produced by the fungus of potato-rot, 
 Peronospora infestans. The chemical action of the blue-mold 
 fungus is slow, and its odor is simply that of sour paste, while 
 the destructive action of the potato-rot is very rapid, producing 
 a higher state of decomposition and very offensive odors. The 
 mycelium and fruit of each fungus also differ essentially from 
 each other. Both forms of fungus produce oxidation of the cel- 
 lulose structure, but with very different results. Consequently 
 
64 
 
 potato-rot consists of more than the " mere decay of the tissue 
 by its absorption of oxygen.'' The purely fungoid theory, on 
 the other hand, will not account for the many exceptions pointed 
 out by those who favor the chemical theory ; since it may be 
 shown that as the chemical constitution and density of any veg- 
 etables vary, so will the genus and species of fungi be found to 
 vary with the proximate principles of the plants on which they 
 subsist. 
 
 If there is truth in these remarks, the value of sound, hearty 
 seed is one great preventive. Farmers should therefore exer- 
 cise great care in their selection, and never plant a diseased tu- 
 ber. Yet to my mind the fungus is the chief mischief, and so 
 plenty of room, good care, and, I might add, early planting, 
 should go hand in hand with the selection of seed. Russell 
 says entire destruction by fire of all diseased tops should be 
 imperative. 
 
 THE BRISTLE MOLD. 
 
 One more species of mold, known as the "buttercup-blight," 
 is so common and so peculiar in its growth, that I can not pass 
 it by. 
 
 It is represented in Fig. ;^^. Its 
 varieties are all known as bristle 
 mold, and attack damp paper or 
 books ; damp specimens in the col- 
 lections of our botanists are fre- 
 quently nearly ruined, and like 
 other fungi they are dreaded pests. 
 
 RAPID GROWTH OF FUNGI : YEAST- 
 PLANT. 
 
 Fig. 33- 
 a, conceptacle of ErisyM'^c.^nnunis; YeaSt is a well-knOWn SUbstanCC 
 
 ^.jporangium of the same highly magm- ^^ ^j| housekeepers, but all do nOt 
 
 know that it is a plant that thrives on sugar or nitrogenous mat- 
 ter. When the plant is examined under the microscope it is 
 found to be composed of myriads of minute cells, about one 
 twenty-four-hundredths of an inch^iin diameter. During the 
 progress of fermentation these cells'^rapidlyjncrease in number, 
 
65 
 
 until all the material necessary to their growth is used up. Its 
 rapid growth, and the evolution of carbonic acid gas from such 
 growth, makes it convenient for the housewife to raise her bread. 
 She prepares her material, puts in her seed, which is some of the 
 spores of the plant either dry or in fluid, and they immediately 
 commence their growth. 
 
 The cells grow together in chains, and when stirred they some- 
 times appear like threads, which are in reality bundles of the 
 fibers of the yeast-plant. 
 
 If the yeast is not used in this condition, the plant nourish- 
 ment is soon used up, putrefaction commences, and with it comes 
 a swarm of animalcules, countless as they are minute, and vo- 
 raciously devouring all in their way, until they also die from 
 want of food, changing the yeast frequently to a mass of animal 
 and vegetable putrefaction. This soon subsides, and vinegar 
 is the result. 
 
 This can be more fully exemplified by milk-yeast, which 
 sooner, as every housewife knows, passes through its various 
 stages, and sometimes is not baked until the putrescence is such 
 as to be hardly endurable to many persons. 
 
 With this example of fungous growth before their eyes, who 
 can wonder that the various fungi in the State of New Hampshire 
 alone cost the agriculturist many millions of dollars. They blight 
 his fruit-trees from the seed ; they blight his grain crop more or 
 less every year ; they blight his fruit from the blossom to its 
 end, pursuing it with a determined hate ; they mildew his beans 
 and peas ; they impair his corn and potatoes ; they poison his 
 hay, and disease his cattle ; they destroy his loved ones, often 
 with insidious disease, and then rot out his store-houses, his 
 dwelling, and even fastening upon himself, claim him at last as 
 fit ground on which to ripen their spores for deadly work on 
 others. No pest is so deadly, none so insidious in its workings, 
 none so varied, meeting us everywhere and under almost all con- 
 ditions. Insignificant in themselves, their very obscurity gives 
 them the best chances to do us injury. 
 
 They have their enemies, — countless animalcules feed upon 
 their various forms, yet no family is rendered extinct. The very 
 atmosphere we breathe is often hazy with the spores of various 
 
 5 
 
66 
 
 fungi. The only wonder is, why anything, or any condition 
 of plant or atmosphere, can hold the various families of fungi in 
 check. Some suppose them of spontaneous growth. Why is 
 there need of such a supposition, when their minute spores ca- 
 pable of producing their like cannot even be excluded wherever 
 the atmosphere is present ? The wonder is quite the other way, 
 for it is a wonder that they don't destroy more than they do. 
 
 ANIMALCULES. 
 
 It is but a step from the microscopic plant to the animal. 
 The variety of form peculiar to microscopic life is truly wonder- 
 ful. It is so different from what we have been accustomed to 
 meet in our visible world that we are at once struck with its pe- 
 culiar varieties. The number of these creatures exceeds all 
 human calculation. In every pond and ditch, and almost every 
 puddle, in vegetable infusions, in paste and vinegar, on honey, 
 sugar, and all sweet substances, on almost every leaf and flower, 
 even on those fungi only visible through the microscope, and in 
 rivers, seas, and oceans, these creatures are found in such num- 
 bers and varieties as to almost exceed belief. 
 
 " The shapely limb and lubricated joint, 
 Within the small dimensions of a point, 
 Muscle and nerve, miraculously span 
 His mighty work, who speaks, and it is done, 
 The invisible in things scarce seen revealed 
 To whom an atom is an ample field." 
 
 Of these wonderful creations, I will only bring forward a few 
 examples. 
 
 THE MITE FAMILY. 
 
 Comparatively few naturalists have studied up the habits and 
 peculiarities of the mite family. But few of our readers in nat- 
 ural history text-books learn from their pages anything definite 
 in relation to them, either regarding the affinities of these hum- 
 ble creatures, their organization, or frequently singular meta- 
 
67 
 
 Fig. 34- 
 Young Ixades A Ibipictus. 
 
 morphoses. We shall, therefore^ only mention a few typical 
 forms which we have had the pleasure of examining. 
 
 Mites are lowly-organized Arachneds. This order is divided 
 into four families ; viz., the scorpions, spiders, harvestmen, and 
 mites ; the scientific name of 
 which is Acarma. They have a 
 rounded oval body, without the 
 usual division between the head 
 and abdomen observable in spi- 
 ders ; the head, thorax, and ab- 
 domen being merged in a single 
 mass. When mature, there are 
 four pairs of legs, and the mouth 
 part consists, as seen in the ad- 
 joining figure of a young tick, 
 of a pair of maxillge ic), which, 
 in the adult, terminate in two 
 or three jointed feelers ; a pair 
 
 of mandibles (^), often covered with several rows of fine teeth, 
 and ending in three or four larger hooks, and a serrated labium 
 {a). These parts form a beak, which the mite can insinuate 
 into the flesh of its host, upon the blood of which many species 
 subsist. 
 
 While very many of the mites are parasitic on animals, some 
 devour eggs of insects. The Notherus (Fig. 35) destroys mil- 
 lions of the eggs of the canker-worm, and it is said that it also 
 sucks the eggs of the chinch-bug. 
 
 A few of this species are injurious to 
 man, as the Sarcoptes, that burrows under 
 the skin of filthy people, causing a disease 
 once so common, — the itch. The cheese- 
 mites, that swarm over the cheeses in our 
 cities, and sometimes in the country, have 
 six legs when young, but eight after a molt. 
 I have scraped a full pint of them off a sin- 
 gle cheese in Boston, and, putting my hand 
 into the mass, I could distinctly feel the an- 
 imal heat produced by aggregate millions of living, burning fur- 
 naces, the same as from higher organizations. 
 
 Fig. 35- 
 
68 
 
 The harvestmen, known in this section as " daddy-long- 
 legs," almost always have numerous parasites belonging to the 
 mite family. They also live parasitic on various water insects, 
 and on the gills of the fresh-water mussel. 
 
 These species are very minute in size. Some species have 
 been found in the lungs and blood vessels of various animals. 
 
 THE SUGAR MITE. 
 
 Many people have been startled by statements sometimes 
 read, or that they have heard from authoritative sources, as to 
 the immense number of mites {Acarus Sacchari, Fig. 36,) found 
 in unrefined or raw sugar, but those state- 
 ments generally fall below rather than above 
 the truth. 
 
 Dr. Hassel, who first discovered them, 
 found them upon sixty-nine out of seventy- 
 two samples, and found sixty or seventy 
 , mites to one grain of sugar, in most of the 
 samples. Mr, Cameron counted five hun- 
 dred on ten grains, which would be one 
 hundred thousand to the pound. This 
 ^'^■^^' would really be quite an adulteration, but, 
 
 under favorable circumstances, that is, with warmth and moist- 
 ure, I have seen one-half the bulk, at least, animal life. This 
 would, however, only be the case upon small lots of sugar. 
 When in barrels, their number is frequently immense, but they 
 are much more plentiful at the top of the barrel, or nearest the 
 light, though light is in no way necessary to their production. 
 
 The disease known as "grocer's itch," is undoubtedly due to 
 the presence of this mite, which may now and then work its 
 way under the skin of the hand. 
 
 Plentiful as these mites are on the damp brown sugars, I have 
 never detected them on dry white sugar, though I almost always 
 find them on figs, dates, honey, if grained, and often on the 
 comb when not ; in fine, they may be found on all sweet sub- 
 stances that are sufficiently exposed. 
 
 They are a jolly, playful race of beings, and seem to live and 
 eat for enjoyment ; when frightened they play dead, curling up 
 their legs, and remaining inactive for some time. 
 
69 
 
 Another singular mite, and of the lowest order, burrows in the 
 skin of dogs, and also in the diseased follicles of the human 
 face, and more especially the nose of 
 man. (See Fig. 37.) It is a long, slen-^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 der, wormlike form, with eight short Fig. 37. 
 
 legs, though like many other mites it has but six in the larval 
 state. Washing the face in water to which has been added one 
 teaspoonful of strong aqua ammonia to the quart, will usually 
 remove them. ■ 
 
 WATER ANIMALCULES. 
 
 Perhaps no class of objects that are visible to us only through 
 the microscope engage our attention so often, or amaze us so 
 much, as the various forms and peculiar habits of the water 
 animalcules. 
 
 For the first time it is an amazing spectacle to view an as- 
 semblage of dissimilar forms in a drop of stagnant water. 
 They are from one thousandth to one ten-thousandth of an inch 
 in diameter, and I once saw them so crowded that the spaces 
 between them were not much larger. Several hundred forms 
 have been studied and described, but I shall only mention three 
 or four of the more common species. Remember, while pond or 
 river water will contain now and then specimens, that it is stag- 
 nant water alone that is crowded, and the pure spring-water of 
 New Hampshire never contains any animal life. 
 
 The motions of these creatures are varied, I might say almost 
 endless, in variety ; but amid their diversified gambols all have 
 the power of avoiding obstacles in their course, and their neigh- 
 bors, which are in such close proximity to them. Some species 
 are far more common than others, but the more uncommon vari- 
 eties may frequently be obtained in midsummer, by exposing a 
 decoction of any dried leaves to the sun for three or four days ; 
 such exposure must be in the open air. A few species I will 
 describe. 
 
 The Rotifer^ or wheel-bearing animalcules, are so termed from 
 the appearance of certain wheels, often seen rapidly rotating in 
 various situations on the anterior part of the body near the 
 
70 
 
 mouth. We say wheels, because they were so considered by 
 early microscopic observers who could not account for the motion 
 in any other way ; but an improvement in instruments has 
 shown that it is an incessant muscular action, giving an appa- 
 rent rotation ; but that wheels could revolve in any part of an 
 animate body, would be quite inconsistent with the laws of ani- 
 mal organization. These wheel-shaped muscles are used to aid in 
 the motion of the animalcule and in supplying its food. They 
 are entirely subservient to the power of will, as they can stop 
 the motion instantly or increase it as they choose. 
 
 Their body, though so small, in one species, is shielded by a 
 shell into which this rotating apparatus can be drawn at will. 
 It is by the whirlpool, formed by the before-described rotations, 
 that its food is drawn into its mouth as a vortex, where it is mas- 
 ticated by three tiny teeth, and swallowed into a prepared 
 receptacle where it is ground by muscles working vigorously on 
 each other. Minute and curious as these organs are, the ani- 
 malcule is so small that like all other microscopic creatures they 
 are transparent, and with a moderately high magnifying power 
 this car. as well be seen as the workings of a steam engine made 
 of glass. 
 
 This species enjoy sunshine, and on dark, cloudy days are 
 only found at the bottom of the pond or ditch in which they 
 reside. 
 
 Again another of this same species, called Tardigrade^ have 
 so great a tenacity for life that they may be put upon a 
 glass slide and dried for days, yes, for months or years, and then 
 at once resuscitated by a drop of water. Dr. Carpenter, one of 
 the most renowned microscopists of Europe, states that their 
 tenacity of life goes even further, as he has kept them in a 
 vacuum for thirty days with sulphuric acid and chloride of cal- 
 cium, thus causing them to suffer the most complete desiccation 
 that the chemist can efifect, and yet they have not lost their 
 capability of revivification. For this reason they have been 
 styled the resurrectionists, and it seems for good cause. This 
 wonderful power of resuscitation, and the fact that the rapidity 
 of their reproduction, as estimated by Prof. Erenberg, being 
 from the egg at the rate of seventeen millions per month, is cer- 
 
71 
 
 tainly sufificient for their remarkable appearance in almost every 
 situation, and under almost all circumstances. 
 
 It has been supposed by some that they were the result of 
 spontaneous production, but from what I have said you can see 
 there is no necessity for such a conclusion. The many curiosi- 
 ties connected with the life and introduction of the Rotifer, into 
 almost all places, of course will excite the amateur in micro- 
 scopical investigation to search for them. That he may not be 
 disappointed, I will state that in the leaf-cells of the Spagnum, 
 generally known as bog-moss, there is a very curious departure 
 from the ordinary type of vegetable growth. Instead of the 
 usual cell-tissue their leaves contain spiral fiber, loosely coiled 
 in their interior, and in the membranous covering of the stem 
 there are nicely rounded holes, or apertures, by w^hich there is 
 free communication with the interior, as well as with each other. 
 These natural caverns are appropriated by the Rotifer, and used 
 as dwellings. It is here you are sure to find them at home. 
 
 Another species, called Aurelia, are covered with cilia, or mi- 
 nute hairs around the mouth in a circle ; by their agitation ani- 
 malcules much smaller are drawn into their mouths and de- 
 voured. 
 
 Again the Hydra, which may be found in ponds and rivulets 
 adhering to the leaves of aquatic plants, or twigs and sticks that 
 have fallen into the water, is a wonder among wonders. 
 
 It may be subdivided many times and yet every part will in a 
 few hours become a perfect Hydra. This name is given them 
 because they have many long arms, which were supposed to re- 
 semble the heads of the fifty-headed water-serpent, called Hy- 
 dra, which fabulous history informs us was destroyed by Her- 
 cules, in the lake of Lerna. They are by no means vegetarians, 
 and have the capability of swallowing creatures as large as 
 themselves. 
 
 In the ordinary mode of multiplication little budlike protu- 
 berances are developed on their external surface, which are soon 
 observed to resemble the parent in character, possessing a di- 
 gestive sack and mouth. 
 
 For a time, however, this cavity is connected with that of the 
 parent, but at last the communication is cut off, and the young 
 
72 
 
 Hydra quits its attachment and goes in quest of its own main- 
 tenance. 
 
 A second generation of buds are, however, frequently seen on 
 the young before quitting its parent, and I have counted as many 
 as eighteen in different stages of development on one original 
 stock. Again, in taking its food, it sometimes happens that the 
 same morsel will be seized upon by two Hydrae, when a struggle 
 for the prey ensues, in which the strongest gains the victory. 
 Sometimes each will begin to swallow the same morsel, until the 
 mouths of the pair come in actual contact, vi^hen, if the morsel 
 does not break, the larger deliberately swallows his opponent, 
 sometimes partially, so as to compel the discharge of the food 
 by the smaller, but frequently the entire polyp is engulfed. But 
 Hydra is no fit food for Hydra, and his capacity for endurance 
 saves him from a living tomb, for after a time, when the food is 
 sucked out of his mouth, the sufferer is disgorged with no other 
 loss than his dinner. 
 
 Yet perhaps the greatest curiosity is in the reproduction of its 
 parts. Split one open, and the separate parts will soon take 
 food, and in twenty-four hours are as perfect as ever. 
 
 Strange as it may seem, all these processes can be watched 
 with unerring certainty, and so interesting are the developments, 
 that I always dislike to close the scene, though aching eyes will 
 at length gain the mastery. 
 
 TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 
 
 As the Trichina Spiralis is an animalcule liable to infest man 
 to his injury, and often a disease of swine, rendering the pork 
 dangerous to the consumer, I have selected it as of peculiar 
 interest. It is a small spiral worm, like a pin-worm, which has 
 ever been found now and then in muscles of various animals. 
 It is supposed by some to originate in the rat, and to have been 
 from them spread over the country as they gained a foothold, 
 as it is often found in their muscles, and frequently in those of 
 cats that devour them. How it comes to infest pork is uncer-. 
 tain, but probably by their food, as a hog is none loo particular 
 upon what it feeds, and might eat portions of rats or any other 
 dead animal. 
 
73 
 
 The immature parasites, as seen in muscle under the micro- 
 scope, are worms about one twenty-fifth of an inch in length, 
 spirally coiled up within globular, oval, or lemon-shaped trans- 
 parent cysts, which, according to the length of time they have 
 been formed, are more or less covered with calcareous matter. 
 
 From various experiments, I have been led to believe that 
 after they are completely covered with this calcareous concre- 
 tion, sealed as it were in a stone sarcophagus, that they are 
 destroyed ; such flesh containing them will not contaminate 
 other individuals, as I have fed young rats with it without effect, 
 when they were always contaminated when fed with diseased 
 meat in which the cysts were not calcareous, though the cysts 
 themselves are to be considered rather as abnormalities, de- 
 veloped some little time after the larvae have reached their 
 destination, as hundreds of specimens have been seen to co-exist 
 entirely free from cysts. 
 
 Fig. 38 shows the Trichina when thus in- 
 cysted in the muscles (magnified). 
 
 The number found in any one subject varies, 
 but Leuckart estimated that one ounce of cat- 
 flesh which he observed must have harbored 
 more than 300,000 parasites. Even if we as- 
 sume that the forty-five pounds of muscle 
 which an ordinarily healthy man possesses 
 were infested with only 50,000 Trichinae to the 
 ounce, they would still contain more than 
 thirty millions. Fig 38. 
 
 The adult Trichina magnified is shown in 
 
 TFig. 39- 
 
 The sexually mature male Trichina, accord- 
 ing to Cobbold, is about one-eighteenth of an 
 inch long, while the adult female is one-eighth ; 
 the body is rounded and slender, and the head 
 very narrow and sharply pointed. The mode 
 of reproduction is viviparous. The muscular 
 parasite, when introduced into the alimentary 
 canal of man or animal, is set free in the 
 process of digestion, and in two days' time reaches the adult 
 
 Fig. 39- 
 
74 
 
 condition. Leuckart states that in six days more the female 
 brings forth a numerous brood of minute, hairlike larvae ; these 
 soon begin their wanderings by piercing the intestinal walls, 
 after which they proceed through the system till they reach the 
 muscles, into which they penetrate ; here they develop so that 
 in two weeks more, that is, in about three weeks from the time 
 the infested food was taken, they present the appearance of the 
 ordinary muscular Trichina Spiralis, as shown in Fig. 38. 
 
 The sexually mature worms probably produce more than one 
 brood of young ; they have been found alive in the intestines 
 eight weeks after the infection of the flesh in which they were 
 contained. The larvae remain in the muscles they have reached, 
 and shortly become incysted as heretofore mentioned. Smoking 
 the meat does not kill the parasites it contains ; brine, if very 
 strong and long applied, probably does ; thorough cooking 
 certainly does. Time also has its effect on them, though they 
 are endowed with wonderful vitality. In some healthy subjects 
 who died from accident, the larvae and their inclosing cysts have 
 been found to have undergone calcareous degeneration \ but it is 
 probably months, and even years, before death of the parasite 
 occurs ; in illustration of which, Virchow states that in one case 
 he found them alive eight, and in another thirteen and a half, 
 years after infection. 
 
 When a person is infected, which infection usually takes place 
 from eating partially cooked sausages or raw bacon, in three or 
 four days there is lassitude, depression, sleeplessness, loss of 
 appetite, and fever. Then there supervenes excessive pain in 
 the muscles, especially of the limbs, contractions of the knee 
 and elbow, swelling of the limbs with apparent pneumonia, and 
 frequently mania with death. 
 
 On post-mortem examinations, the muscles are found crowded 
 with the parasites, and to be in a state of fatty degeneration. If 
 they recover, after three or four weeks of the same symptoms, 
 with less severity, convalescence commences, and in six or eight 
 weeks more the patient is quite well, and the incysted Trichinae 
 seem to give him no further trouble. The virulence of the at- 
 tack seems to depend considerably on the number of parasites 
 introduced into the patient's stomach, yet the previous constitu- 
 
75 
 
 tion and strength of the patient have much to do with final 
 recovery. 
 
 The true safeguard is to eat no pork unless thoroughly cooked > 
 yet microscopic examination will reveal the disease, even if ever 
 so small a section of a muscle be examined, and it should be in- 
 cumbent upon all butchers here as in Germany, to make such 
 examination, and they should be punished here, as there, for 
 selling Trichinous meat. 
 
 For this time I will present no further microscopic wonders. 
 What I have said is sufficient to show you, that around us all 
 exist immense fields of study, easy of access, and yet pregnant 
 with wonderful facts, with but few of which we are as yet con- 
 versant. 
 
 " Has any seen 
 The mighty chain of beings, lessening down 
 From infinite perfection to the brink 
 Of dreary nothing ? " 
 
 Until we have, let us be ever ready to grasp truth, wherever 
 found, and lend idle hours to investigation. 
 
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