322 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



others, and always came some distance from the trunk. The speckled and red 

 cutworms are easily trapped, but they should be f;athered early in the morninj; 

 while it is yet cool, for as soon as the boards become heated the cutworms will 

 bury themselves in the soil where it is cooler and there is more moisture. 



Bran, given a green tinge with Paris green, was dropped around the base of 

 each tree as an experiment. The cutworms ate it readily, both as they passed it 

 in starting up the tree and as they came bade hungry from their vain effort to get 

 beyond the band. The next morning more than half of the cutworms were found 

 hanging to the bark, limp and dead, or in the same condition on the ground. In 

 some cases 90 per cent, were found dead. No doubt many that were not found 

 buried themselves in the soil and died there from the effects of the poison. Where 

 much bran was eaten the poison acted very quickly. Bran with and without sweet- 

 ening was tried, but the cutworms seemed to eat one kind as readily as the other. 

 Possibly a supply of freshly poisoned bran will be desirable every few days. The 

 experiment of poisoned twigs was made by dipping freshly cut twigs in Paris 

 green water and standing them in the ground around the trunk where the cut- 

 * worms could easily reach them near the baud. This served as a good decoy and 

 killed about the same number that the bran did. This makes more work than dis- 

 tributing the bran but if one does not prune his orchard until this time, he can 

 quite easily cut some fresh twigs every few days and apply poison to them. 



Spraying the trees with the arsenites will be found to be of very little practical 

 value. The leaves are still in the bud, and the cutworm eats comparatively little of 

 the outside, and hence the poison is slow to act. Mr. Rood says of it, "I sprayed 

 the trees twice, as it rained after the iirst application, and could not see that it did 

 a particle of good. I had no idea that it would, but in my desperation I would try 

 anything." 



It is not uncommon for people to have their fruit trees injured by climbing cut- 

 worms for some time, or even for several seasons before they can ascertain what 

 lias done the injury. One may look carefully over the tree through the day, for 

 an insect, but there will be nothing to indicate the identity of the depredator 

 except the injured buds. To one who has had experience with this "thief in the 

 night," the conspicuous absence is characteristic, for no other insect is likely to feed 

 in this way and leave the tree during the day. Another method is to go out in the 

 evening, if one suspects their presence, and listen for the chewing at the buds which 

 is quite noticeable; or, better yet, put a band on the trunk of a few trees and 

 examine below the bands for them by lantern light. If they have been troublesome 

 in years past, or there is likelihood of their being present, the trees should by all 

 means be protected against a sudden raid that might destroy a year's crop of fruit 

 and endanger the life of the orchard as well. 



