EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 331 



for, but this is not invariably the case. The writer has in mind a man who is 

 very conscientious, but who has suffered considerable loss among young trees, 

 especially those of peach. 



As a rule stimulation of unaffected trees, and the removal and burning of badly 

 Infested ones, will check the trouble. It is well to use a liberal coat of white- 

 wash on the trunks and large limbs. 



If the insect appears, prune if the trees at all need it; fertilize well and culti- 

 vate. Use commercial fertilizers if necessary, and do everything possible to get 

 the trees in a healthy vigorous condition. Take out badly affected trees and burn 

 them. Advantage may be taken of the preference of the beetles for sickly trees, 

 and if any worthless or comparatively poor trees are in the orchard, girdle them 

 in mid-summer and thus induce the beetles to take possession. This will serve 

 as a trap to attract many beetles to one spot. The trees must be removed and 

 burned before the middle of the following June in order to destroy the beetles 

 before they emerge and commence to lay eggs. When a tree is slightly attacked, 

 the bark may be pared where the trouble is the worst, and as a matter of pre- 

 vention, whitewash, to which a little Paris-green has been added, may be used 

 on the trunk and larger limbs. These measures, while not perfectly satisfactory, 

 will serve to restrict the trouble in many cases. We live in hopes that a more 

 perfect remedy will shortly be discovered. 



Eccentric Scale (see Insects affecting the apple). 



AFFECTING THE FOLIAGE. 



The Black Peach-aphis. (Aphis persicae-niger.) 



The black peach-aphis was first recognized in Michigan in 1889 by Dr. Erwin 

 F. Smith. Like the woolly-louse of the apple, it works both on foliage and on 

 the roots. 



The louse is small, highly polished, and with a metallic lustre. The aerial form 

 is black, with a ventral surface dark brown. The root-inhabiting form, dark 

 brownish black. They reproduce continuously during the summer without the 

 production of eggs, the young being born alive. 



The foliage of the infested trees is sickly in appearance, the leaves often being 

 slightly curled. Eventually the tree dies, usually in a comparatively short time. 



EEMEDIES. 



The danger of introducing this pest on young trees cannot be too strongly 

 felt. If there is the slightest suspicion of the presence of the lice on nursery 

 stock, dip in kerosene-emulsion or tobacco-water, after washing the soil care- 

 fully from the roots. Put in a liberal supply of tobacco-dust about the roots 

 when setting out and keep a bright lookout for the first appearance of the lice. 

 When it is necessary to take out a tree infested with these lice, do not set in 

 another for a year or so. When so-called dead spots appear in the orchard, search 

 for the pest and use a liberal supply of tobacco-dust dug in about the trees, re- 

 membering that the roots extend some distance from the trunk and that the fine 

 rootlets are the ones most injured. Use unleached wood ashes when obtainable, 

 or else kanite or some of the allied salty fertilizers. Tobacco-dust is very cheap 

 and the safest and most practical remedy known to the writer. 



Climbing Cutworms. {Mamestra subjuncta et al.) 



There are among the cutworms, a number, perhaps a dozen or more, that make 

 a practice of climbing fruit trees, grape vines, etc., and of eating out the open- 

 ing buds and young foliage, often to the serious detriment of the tree. The 

 peach tree is the one worst affected in Michigan, but young apple trees just set 

 out, also suffer very severely. There are, as stated, several species of these cut- 

 worms and to describe them all so as to make them recognizable, would hardly 

 be in place here. Their presence is usually detected by their works. Almost all 

 cutworms work at night, and those that have developed the climbing habit are 

 no exceptions. Usually the first intimation of their presence occurs when cer- 

 tain parts of the trees fail to put forth young leaves, or else when such young 

 foliage disappears, usually a whole branch at a time, if the infestation be slight, 



