Entomology Commons^™

Observations On Insects---Season Of 1894., Herbert Osborn, C. W. Mally

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

The chinch bug has been destructive over a considerable area of the state. In its distribution it has occupied the southeastern quarter of the state. With the exception of a few isolated cases and the somewhat more extended patch in Howard and Winneshiek counties, all the damage could be included within a line drawn southwest from Dubuque to Des Moines, and from Des Moines south to the border of the state. Throughout this region there was an extended and severe drouth during the preceding spring and fall, and but little rain, so that the bugs had an opportunity to hibernate ...

Corn Insects. Their Injuries And How To Treat Them., Herbert Osborn

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

The corn crop is one of the most important crops of the state, and will doubtless remain so for many years to come. It is, therefore, of importance to know something of its insect enemies and the method of treating them. From the nature of the injuries to corn, particularly on account of the difficulty of any direct examination of some forms, and the difficulty of making any exact estimate, their injuries are, I think, very generally under-estimated. Probably the most serious losses come from those working under ground, the injuries of which are to be found simply in the ...

Notes On Injurious Insects, Herbert Osborn, F. A. Sirrine

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

Among the insects which have been particularly destructive the past season the wheat head army worm is conspicuous. Reports received from different parts of the state, besides numerous articles in state papers, indicate it in many parts of the state heretofore free from it. It is especially noticeable on account of the method in which it works, the worm attacking the heads of timothy and shelling out the seed. In this way it causes almost a total loss of the seed crop, and, since its work appears after the time when timothy is best cut for hay, it also causes ...

Grass Leaf Hoppers, Herbert Osborn

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

In the last Bulletin we gave the results of an experiment with the hopperdozer or tar pan on a piece of pasture land in increasing the capacity of pasturage. At the same time we were working upon the life histories of the more destructive species of leaf hoppers, and a summary of those results with their economic bearing will be presented here.

Our first effort was to determine the manner in which the winter is passed. Adults of several of the species studied had been observed late in autumn and early winter and even on mild days late in December ...

Machinery And Methods For Spraying, Herbert Osborn, L. H. Pammel

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

The frequent requests for information as to methods of spraying, the apparatus to be used, and the formulae for preparation of insecticides and fungicides is sufficient reason why we present here a condensed statement of directions for this work.

There are now on the market a number of excellent outfits for spraying adapted to all grades of work, and it would be out of the question to specify any particular one to the exclusion of others as meeting all requirements. We are not under anv obligations to any firm for favors even to the extent ot apparatus for experimental work ...

Report Of Experiments And Studies In Entomology, Herbert Osborn

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

During the past season we have given especial attention to grass and clover insects, the importance of which, in this State, need not be emphasized. Other studies of insects affecting potatoes and rape have been made because of their immediate interest, those on the Potato Stalk Weevil being published in this number. Some of the insects affecting rape were mentioned in a preceding Bulletin, and it is hoped that further matter may be presented in the next number, along with some details of studies on Leaf Hoppers, the present number being already crowded.

The work on the Clover Seed Caterpillar ...

Reports On Injurious Insects, Herbert Osborn, H. A. Gossard

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

During the last few years there has been considerable loss experienced in some of the states to the east of us from the attacks of certain weevils, known commonly as “Bill Bugs,” upon corn when it is just coming above ground, but up to the present year we have had no information of injuries from these insects in this state. It seems, however, that we are no longer to be favored in this respect as reports and specimens from a number of localities as well as a considerable abundance of the insects in the vicinity of Ames points to the ...

Effects Of Spraying On Plants And Fruit And Notes On Insects, Herbert Osborn

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

There are a few considerations regarding spraying and its effects upon plants and fruit, that it seems important to bring before the people of the state, notwithstanding their familiarity to many readers, and the fact that most of the matter to be presented has often been repeated in various publications, and much of it in one form or another in previous bulletins of this station. The fact that this bulletin may be read by several thousand people who do not have access to previous bulletins of the station is, perhaps, sufficient reason why the repetition is justified.

There is no ...

Reports On Injurious Insects, Herbert Osborn, H. A. Gossard

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

A short time since Prof. Curtiss informed us that Mr. Dana Reed, of Coon Rapids, had given him some beetles that were eating into the ears of corn, and from his description it was inferred that they were the common Indian Cetonia (Euphoria inda), which has in a few instances heretofore been reported as doing damage of this character. The beetles proved, as suspected, to be this species, and in view of the uncertainty as to the possibility of this species to do damage of this kind it seemed desirable to get as much data as possible and to make ...

Reports Of Entomological Work, Herbert Osborn, H. A. Gossard

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

On the evening of the twenty-third of May many small dark brown moths were noticed flying about a clover field upon the College Farm. They were resting upon the blossoms and among the leaves and upon being disturbed would fly a few paces and then settle again. These moths proved upon examination to be Grapholitha intersinctana, Clemens, the parent forms of the Clover-Seed Caterpillar mentioned in the Entomologist’s report to the Commissioner of Agriculture in 1880. We had during the past winter received specimens of clover-seed which we suspected of being some of the states east of us in ...

Some Insects Destructive To Grass, Herbert Osborn

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

There is probably no greater loss from insects in the state of Iowa than that which occurs in meadows and pastures and while the loss is not so conspicuous as in some crops because of its insidious nature and the fact that it is only occasionally that the whole or a large part is taken, it is only necessary to note that the half or probably more of the growth of grasses is devoured by insects regularly to realize that there is here an enormous drain on this crop.

This loss becomes conspicuous in dry years or when the insects ...

Notes And Experiments With Injurious Insects And Insecticides, C. P. Gillette

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

Much that is written in this paper is fragmentary and incomplete, but as the writer is about leaving for a new field of labor, it is thought best to record here such observations and experiments as have been carried far enough so that a knowledge of them will be of economic importance.

Kerosene Emulsion As A Sheep Dip And As A Destroyer Of Parasites Upon Domestic Animals, C. P. Gillette

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

It should not be necessary for me to urge upon him who owns sheep the importance of ridding his flock of ticks or other parasitic insects that annoy them. There seems to be a common but mistaken opinion that only poor unprofitable animals will get “lousy.” There are many insects, those that feed upon plants as well as animals, that seem to have decided individual preferences. It is not uncommon to see a tree or plant seriously injured year after year by some insect that does little or no harm to other trees or plants of the same species growing ...

The Apple Curculio, C. P. Gillette

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

A number of inquiries have been received at the station concerning the Apple Curculio, and I therefore give the following information concerning it.

The Beetle varies much in size. The largest specimen in the station collection measures 3-16 of an inch. The beetles are often mistaken for the plum curculio, but they are easily distinguished from that species by the long, slender, somewhat curved beak and by the two prominent humps on the posterior portion of each wing-cover where the color is rust-red.

The Potato Stalk-Weevil, C. P. Gillette

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

It seems best at this time to briefly call the attention of the farmers of the state to the Potato Stalk-weevil. Judging from all accounts that can be gathered, this has been one of our worst insect pests the past season. I believe that a half million of dollars would fall far short of making good the loss that it has occasioned the state this year from its injuries to the potato crop.

The Potato Stalk-weevil at this place (and so far as I can learn, it is the first mention of the insect in the state) was first discovered ...

Experiments With Arsenites, C. P. Gillette

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

Paris green was brought into prominence as an insecticide for the first time in this country in 1869 and London purple in 1877. Arsenious acid (white arsenic) was successfully used for the destruction of the Canker-worm as early as 1875 and is still frequently recommended for the destruction of insects. During these years the arsenites have arisen to the first rank as insect destroyers. They have been largely experimented with by entomologists and widely used by farmers and fruit-growers, and yet there is much difference of opinion as to the proportions in which each may be safely applied to different ...

The Hog Louse, C. P. Gillette

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

During last August 1 learned that the pigs on the College Farm were being troubled with lice. I had for some time been anxious to try the kerosene emulsion remedy against these disgusting pests as used so successfully for the destruction of cattle lice last winter and reported upon in Bulletin 5 of this station.

Mixtures of kerosene and lard, and lard and sulphur, as ordinarily recommended against parasites upon domestic animals were first tried that I might know from experience how much of a task it would be to use these substances in the usual way. As I had ...

New Cynipidae, C. P. Gillette

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

Neuroterus flavipes, n. sp. Gall:— A hard woody swelling of the mid-rib or one of the main veins of a leaf, the leaf becoming much wrinkled and deformed as the result. Large galls measure three-fourths of an inch in length and one-fourth of an inch in width. The flies usually escape from the upper surface, sometimes through a slightly raised teat-like projection.

Galls were gathered at Ames, Iowa, July 6, 1888, from which the flies had already begun to issue.

Gall-fly:— Female.— Head thorax and abdomen black; antennae and legs light yellow; length, I. 6mm. (1 inch=25.4 mm).

Codling Moth Experiments, C. P. Gillette

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

An excellent opportunity, of which I gladly took advantage was offered in my garden last summer for making tests and comparisons of certain remedies for the destruction of the larvae of the codling moth.

The diagram given below shows the row of Duchess trees, Nos. i to 13 inclusive, that were used in the experiment with their surroundings. At A are two Fameuse trees, at B two crabs, at C a Red Astrican and a tree of an unknown summer variety, at D two Roman Stems, and at E four Duchess. The two Fameuse trees, the Red Astrican and one ...

Preparation Of Insecticides: London Purple And Paris Green

Bulletin (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station)

I speak of these substances first because they are of all insecticides, the most important. There is 110 insect that can take either of these poisons into its system and live, hence their great value for the destruction of leaf-eating insects where the application does not endanger the lives of other beings. The poisonous principal in both of these substances is arsenic of which Paris green contains about fifty-seven per cent, and London purple about forty-seven per cent. This difference should be taken into account when these two poisons are being prepared. It should also be borne in mind that ...