t308 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



iads of canker-worms made their advent and were joined in their noc- 

 turnal banquets by climbing cut-worms and other caterpillars, and, 

 when the fruit had set, there also was the ubiquitous codling moth to 

 make good its claim to about seventj^-five i)cr cent, of the product. 

 There may be orchards in Missouri from which a more encouraging re- 

 port could be made, but the above is, I believe, the average entomo- 

 logical history of the apple tree in this State for the season of ]886. 

 What wonder then that our bins and barrels are already empty, or but 

 scantily filled with small and flavorless specimens of the poorer varie- 

 ties ? 



There are but few new facts to offer in the history of any of these 

 well-known pests. The only point of practical importance to be in- 

 sisted on is the application of remedies either prophylactic or directly 

 destructive. 



APPLE TREE BORERS. 



For borers in the trunk the best preventive application is soft 

 soap, made into a thin paste with soda or air slacked lime, and applied 

 especially to the crotch of the tree and for a short distance up on the 

 larger branches : the rains will wash it down far enough to protect the 

 lower part of the trunk, and the beetles will not lay their eggs on bark 

 thus coated. This should be put on in May or early in June. 



Where the borers are already in the tree they may with time and 

 patience be extracted with a knife or wire, but this is a tedeous pro- 

 cess and scarcely worth while, except in the case of some particular 

 tree which the orchardist is anxious to save. 



Nursery stock and young orchards occasionally suffer considerable 

 injury from the attacks of the broad-necked ViioniiH (Frionus laficoUis, 

 Drury), an immense borer which works in the main roots, completely 

 excavating them and often ascending some distance u}) into the trunk. 

 The habits of this insect were briefly described to this society at the 

 last annual meeting by Mr. Lionberger, for whom it had destroyed a 

 large number of young trees. He had not at the time identified the 

 grub with its perfect form, but in the course of the summer I received 

 from him a full grown specimen which I at once recognized as the larva 

 of the above named species. From a short account of it, which I pub- 

 lished in Colman's Eural World of ISTov. 4th, I copy the following par- 

 agraphs : 



"The broad-necked Prionus was fully described and illustrated In 

 Prof. Riley's first and secohd reports on the insects of Missouri. It 



