188 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



from whom the trees are procured owes it to himself as well as to his 

 customers to send out uoue but perfectly clean stock ; and lastly, the 

 planter should examine each tree with great particularity and dip such 

 as show signs of the insect in strong soapsuds or dilute kerosene 

 emulsion. These precautions are troublesome and somewhat expen- 

 sive, especially of time, but only by their observance canthe orchardist 

 be assured of the health of his young trees. 



The peach-tree bark-louse {Lecanium persical). While not a very 

 common pest, the above insect occasionally appears in peach orchards 

 and proves very disfiguring. and injurious to the trees, spreading not 

 only over the trunk but to the tips of the smallest twigs. The scale is 

 about one-tenth inch in diameter and almost hemispherical, quite 

 smooth and shining, and varying in color from almost black to sealing- 

 wax red with some black shadings. Under each scale in winter will be 

 found a mass of tiny eggs, from which in spring numerous young hatch 

 and scatter over the trees. After a brief period of activity these attach 

 themselves by their beaks to the young twigs, and the scales begin to 

 form, and the tree infested becomes somewhat dwarfed and of a sickly 

 appearance from the appropriation of the sap by these little parasites. 

 Drenching the infested trees with kerosene emulsion during winter or 

 before the young have hatched in the spring will^ in all probability, 

 clear them off. The species has baen reported to me from but two 

 localities in the State, and in these cases existed on but few trees. 



A NEW DESTRUCTIVE INSECT. 

 The Osage Orange Pyralid [Loxostege madurce, Riley). 



It is as well, perhaps, that the Osage orange hedge is going out of 

 favor as a fence, since the rapid spread northward of the above named 

 insect seriously threatens its existence. The insect made its appear- 

 ance for the first time in St. Louis county in the summer of 1890, and 

 has become increasingly destructive during the two following seasons, 

 until last summer it not only rendered all the hedges that came under 

 my eye most unsightly by its ravages and its webbing, but it entirely 

 prevented growth, and even killed occasional plants. The depredator 

 is a slender, glassy caterpillar, green at first, but at maturity varying 

 from a pinkish brown or gray to a more or less deep olive green, with 

 fine, whitish bands or marking. These larvae are hatched from masses 

 of pale green, white-margined eggs, that overlap each other like fish 

 scales, and are deposited by the parent moths on the under sides of the 

 leaves. The tiny larvie feed in company for a few days, but soon dis- 

 perse over the surrounding foliage, which they at first merely perforate, 

 but soon entirely devour all parts except the mid-rib and principal 

 veins. They feed mainly at night, and spin a great quantity of fine, 



