344 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



been published, there may have been some made) is to examine your 

 nursery stock before setting it, and dip it into a good strong tobacco water 

 or strong soapsuds. Now, this insect is not in your soil to start with; 

 it comes on the trees ;first. If it once gets into the soil it can stay there 

 a long time, because these insects are taken care of by the ants. The ants 

 will carry them over winter. The ants and plant lice bear a curious rela- 

 tion to each other. The ants get what they secrete and feed upon it, so 

 that the carrying over of these lice on the roots or in the field is due 

 largely to the ants. The insect is spread about through the orchard in 

 that way probably more than any other. They can not work themselves 

 through the soil very much; they can a little, but I think their spreading 

 around is due largely to the ants. Then, when they get up on the leaves, 

 they sometimes produce a winged form which can fly, and that flying form 

 of course can spread the insect over the orchard. The way to treat it is 

 to treat your stock before you set it. Somebody has told me that ashes 

 are proving very efl'ective against it. I learn that Prof. Taft has made 

 some experiments along that line. I am glad there is some one that is 

 getting at them. 



Q. What do you do with army worms? 



Prof. Taft: We got ahead of the worms; that is, found the direction of 

 their march, and plowed furrows across it, which we found was the most 

 effective thing. Plow three or four furrows, perhaps, and put post-holes 

 in the furrows; the worms get into the furrows, and in crawling along 

 these they fall into the holes, and bushels of them were gathered in that 

 way. Leave the perpendicular side of the furrow away from the point 

 they are coming from, so that when they get into the furrow and try to 

 climb up this perpendicular side they can not get up; and if you have 

 some holes in the furrow, the first thing they will do when they find it is 

 not very easy to get up that side, is to crawl along, and so they get into 

 the holes. 



Q. How does early spraying before the leaves appear, affect the aphides 

 — how are they reached, are they reached at all? 



Prof. Slingerland: You could not reach the insect by spraying before 

 the leaves come out. You spray them mostly for fungous troubles and for 

 scab. There are some insects at work, the caterpillars sometimes get out 

 by that time, but generally the spraying for insects does not begin until 

 after the leaves are out, especially for the codlin moth; there is no use of 

 spraying until after the blossoms are gone. 



Q. In talking about the codlin moth, would not it be a good time to kill 

 the worm in the cocoon at this time of year? 



Prof. Slingerland : You can kill a great many of them by scraping off 

 the rough bark of the tree, and it makes a nice, cleaner tree; we think 

 washing a tree will not do it— it may kill a few of the worms. 



Q. What varieties of bird most affect the worms in these cocoons? 



Prof. Slingerland: We see these detested English sparrows cleaning 

 them out pretty well. 



Q. How can you get rid of the squash-bug or stink bug? 



A. The squash-bug is a " tough nut," there is no doubt about that. 

 They come out in the spring. The only way I know is to handpick the old 

 bugs and the eggs early in the spring. If you let them get started you can 



