25 



mer, larvae of all sizes may be found when winter sets in. During- the 

 cold weather they remain torpid in their burrows and complete their feed- 

 ing- and transformations in the spring. 



All sorts of remedies have been tried for the destruction or the pre- 

 vention of the attacks of this insect, but no thoroughly satisfactory one 

 has yet been found. On the whole, the best plan is to carefully examine 

 all the trees, one by one, and cut out with a sharp knife the worms whose 

 presence is indicated by a mass of gum. This is a slow and therefore 

 expensive operation. Wrapping tar-paper about the trunk and a few inches 

 below the surface of the soil will keep the moths from depositing their 

 eggs. Mounding up the base of the trees with earth is also done with 

 the same object in view, but there is a danger of injuring the bark and 

 therefore the health of the tree, if the earth is left too long against it. 

 Washes of various kinds have been tried, but most of them are danger- 

 ous owing to the tender character of the bark ; the only one that seems 

 to be both effective and safe is gas-tar, the smell of which keeps away 

 the moth. It should be used with care and tried on a few trees to begin 

 with before applying to a whole orchard. 



Among other insects affecting the peach may be mentioned the Plum 

 Curculio, which injures the fruit, and a black Aphis which often swarms 

 on the leaves. 



INSECTS AFFECTING THE GRAPE. 



The Grape-Vine Flea-Beetle (Haltica chalybea), Fig. 39. Among the 

 numerous insect enemies of the Grape the first to appear in the spring is 

 this Flea-beetle. It is a small steel-blue creature, sometimes metallic 

 green or purple, about one-sixth of an inch long, with the thighs of the 

 hind-legs greatly enlarged, enabling the lively little insect to jump to some 

 distance; hence the name "Flea-beetle." It winters in the adult stage 

 under fallen leaves and other rubbish and comes out as soon as the weather 

 is warm enough to cause the buds to swell. Upon these it feeds, boring 

 into them and devouring them, and to such an extent that sometimes the 

 canes have few leaves left. It soon begins to deposit its minute orange 

 eggs in clusters on the underside of the foliage, and from these there 

 hatch out small dark-brown grubs which eat holes through the leaves 

 and sometimes completely devour them. About the end of June they are 

 full grown, and enter the earth to transform to the pupal stage; two oc 

 three weeks later the new brood of beetles appears and feeds upon the 

 foliage of the vine, which by this time is so luxuriant that it is not in- 

 jured by the attack. Late in autumn the beetles betake themselves *.•> 

 their winter hiding-places. 



The chief thing to do in dealing with this insect is to watch for it in 

 the spring, and as soon as any are to be seen to spray or syringe with 

 Paris green to which lime has been added. Another method is to jar the 

 beetles from the vines into a pan of water with some coal-oil floating on 



