114 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



more eflectual were it not that many of the orchards in the 

 immediate neighborhood are not protected at all. 



The best method is to commence in good season in the fall, 

 about October first, and tack narrow strips of tarred paper, 

 some five or six inches wide, tightly around the tree, just 

 below the limbs ; upon this apply the ink (when warm, in the 

 middle of the day,), a good coat at first, afterwards a mere 

 touching will answer ; apply ouce or twice a week till cold 

 weather sets in, and should there be a long-continued warm 

 spell in winter, an application or two might be well. Com- 

 mence in the spring as soon as the frost is out four or five 

 inches, and continue as long as the grubs run, generally about 

 a month. Remove the bandages every spring. Procure a 

 good article, and follow it up carefully for one or two years, 

 and very few worms will be left. 



For destroying the caterpillars, commence when they are 

 quite small ; take them when they are at home, generally 

 early in the morning, or by ten or eleven o'clock in the fore- 

 noon. The "handiest " way to kill them is the best, though 

 a stiff, conical brush attached to a pole, is very convenient. 

 If all would take hold in earnest, these pests might easily be 

 got rid of, as they are much more controllable than the canker- 

 worm. The apple-tree borer is troublesome at times, but can 

 easily be destroyed. The curculio appears at times, as though 

 determined to destroy all our fruit ; but one thing is certain, 

 they are not more plenty than they were twenty years ago, 

 and with the destruction of our plums and many of our sweet 

 cherries, they appear to be partially satisfied, and with nothing 

 left but the apple and pear to prey upon, they will probably 

 diminish, rather than increase. 



T. C. Thurlow, Chairman. 



