18 NOVEMBER 1876, Page 3

H the report by the Canadian Meister of Agriculture of

the 'extremely migratory habits of the Colorado or potato-beetle is accurate, there is little chance of our escaping a visit from him on this side of the Atlantic ; and it appears that the only practicable mode of defeating him is not on shipboard, but in the field of his destructive labours—i.e., in the potato-field itself. There the eggs and the grubs are to be found, and it is these which must be destroyed if the potato is to be saved. If he comes in any force, that will probably treble, or more than treble, the ordinary labour spent on the potato crop, and we should soon have potatoes at a very high price. However, we may-be thankful that. he-is visible at all. What is to prevent the invasion of an equally destructive animalcule which, without a microscope, would be invisible,—in which case, since we cannot put our potato-fields under the microscope, we should be simply helpless ?