124 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



The application of tar or printers' ink to the trunk of the 

 tree, with or without tarred paper, is probably the most com- 

 mon method of preventing the ascent of the grub. It is gen- 

 erally believed that ink is better than tar, because it requires 

 less frequent applications, still there is a wide difference in 

 the estimates of its value by those who have used it. 



Mr. Sawyer states that in his case ink was too expensive, 

 and yet the writer of this has used ink on an orchard of ten 

 or twelve hundred trees for the last four years, and has pro- 

 tected them from substantial injury to the fruit at an expense 

 probably less than would have been required by any other 

 known method. These apparently conflicting statements can 

 doubtless be reconciled on the theory of difference in location. 

 It is well ■ known that the grub begins to run as soon as the 

 ground is thawed after a severe freeze, and continues to run 

 whenever the weather is warm enough through the winter 

 and spring until the season is over. The warmer and dryer 

 the location the sooner and oftener will the grub make her 

 appearance, and consequently an orchard situated on a south- 

 erly exposure, on warm land, will require very much more 

 attention than one on a cold, wet soil exposed to the north. 

 Mr. Sawyer's orchard is situated on warm, dry land, while 

 mine is on a colder soil, inclined to the north, and hence there 

 is no doubt that it would require much more labor and 

 expense to protect his orchard equally with mine by this 

 method of using tar or ink. 



The chief objection to the use of tar or ink is the uncer- 

 tainty of accomplishing the desired end. The grubs will 

 sometimes run w^hen least expected, or a storm will set in 

 and prevent renewal of the tar or ink, while it nowise hinders 

 the grub. Sometimes, too, in inking a large orchard, the 

 workmen become careless and occasionally miss a tree, or 

 make an imperfect application of the ink, so that the grubs 

 can pass, and one omission of this kind is fatal when the 

 grubs run thickly. 



If the ground shuts up early in the fall, and remains frozen 

 till late in the spring, the trees can be pretty eflectually pro- 

 tected by a careful application of ink for from two to four 

 weeks. But it is extremely difllcult in our open winters and 

 early springs to do more by this method than to repel the 

 main army of grubs from our orcliards. 



