experiment station bulletins. 



585- 



come out till spring. The loopers or span-worms of this species lack the 

 pair of rudimentary legs on the fifth abdominal segment (Figs. 13, 16). 



,/ /> 



Fig. 13 Spring Canker-worm (Paleacrita vernata); 

 ff, male: b, female, c, d, structural details. 



Fig. 16. Spring Canker-worm {Paleacrita 

 ■vernata); b, an egg, much enlarged; c, d, 

 body segments of larva. 



REMEDIES. 



The fact that the female canker-worms are wingless and must creep 

 from the ground to the branches of the trees in order to lay their eggs, 

 gives us an excellent means of fighting them. If we can head them off 

 and prevent them from crawling up the trunks of the trees, the eggs can- 

 not be deposited on the twigs and no harm will result. To accomplish 

 this end various devices have been tried, such as banding the tree with 

 paper and on this spreading printer's-ink or caterpillar-lime, or anything 

 sticky enough to prevent the caterpillars from crawling up. Perhaps 

 the best band is made of cotton-batting; a strip of this is wound around 

 a tree trunk and fastened securely by a string at or below the middle. 

 The upper end is now turned down, forming a loose, fiuffy mass, in which 

 the insects get entangled and die. This method has one disadvantage; 

 the bands have to be kept on from the last of October until spring is well 

 advanced, and must be renewed after rains, or when the cotton loses 

 its fluffy nature. As the worms feed upon apple, elm, cherry and some 

 other trees, precautions must be taken to prevent them from breeding 

 on these trees and again infesting the fruit-trees. 



The best method of overcoming these pests, however, is by spraying. 

 They readily yield to a spray of one of the arsenites (see chapter on 

 insecticides), which should be applied early, as soon as any worms are 

 seen, even before blooming, but never during the period of bloom. It 

 may be necessary to repeat the spraying, but this method is by far the 

 cheapest and most satisfactory. 



THE APPLE-LEAF TYER. 



(Teras rainutn Cinderella Riley.) 



In 1872, Dr. Riley described a small leaf-tyer (Tortrix Cinderella)* 

 on the apple. Since that time, while it may have become injurious occa- 

 sionally, it has never gained the name of a dangerous pest. The season of 

 1897 has witnessed an outbreak of this disease on the apples and pears in 

 the southeastern part of the State. 



The insect usually makes its presence known by folding together the 

 upper surfaces of the leaves of the apple and pear along the midrib and 

 then fastening them by means of silk. Inside this folded leaf the little 

 worm lives and eventually passes its pupal stage preparatory to coming 



*4th Mo. Rep., pp. 4ft 47 

 74 



