208 ORCHARDS. 



to pair with them. Very soon after this, if we examine the 

 tre3S, we shall see the eggs, of which every female lays some 

 sixty or a hundred, glued over, closely arranged in rows and 

 placed in the forks and branches and among the young twigs. 

 About the 20th of May and up to the 1st of June, these eggs 

 are hatched and the canker worms, dusky brown, or ash- 

 colored, with a yellow stripe, make their appearance and com- 

 mence preying upon the foliage. "When they are abundant 

 they make rapid progress, and in places where the colony is 

 firmly established, they will sometimes strip an orchard in a 

 few days, making it appear as if a fire had passed over it. 

 After feeding about four weeks, they descend into the ground 

 three or four inches, where they remain in a chrysalis state to 

 emerge again the next season. As the female is not provided 

 with wings they do not spread very rapidly from one place to 

 another ; but when their food becomes scarce they travel in 

 all directions, and to a considerable distance, frequently en- 

 tering houses, as in case of the elm worms, making themselves 

 very troublesome and pestilent. 



Remedies. — The common mode of protecting apple trees 

 is to surround the trunk with a belt or bandage of canvass 

 three or four inches wide nhich is then thickly smeared with 

 tar. A little train oil is sometimes mixed with it to prevent 

 it from becoming hard. The better plan to protect the trees 

 from crawling insects of this nature is to provide each tree 

 with a smooth piece of tin three or four inches wide, as has 

 been recommended in the case of some other insects. These 

 tin belts should fit well around the trunk and extend into the 

 ground some two inches, if that is practicable, if not, the 

 space between the lower end of tin and the tree should be 

 kept perfectly tight with clay or lime and sand mortar. It is 

 believed that trees thus treated will be securely protected from 

 the ravages of this as well as other climbing insects. There 

 are various other remedies for this destructive worm, but the 

 above is deemed sufficient. Young trees, with smooth bark, 

 if well soaped once or twice in Spring and Fall, are well pro- 

 tected from all insects that crawl up the trunk of trees. 



