A Aem 'Remedy /or tf>e Caj/A'er yi'orm. 79 



A New Remedy for the Canker 'Worm. 



BY C. M. HOOKER. 



THE Canker worm, which has for so many years been the worst enemy of the apple 

 grower, in the New England states, has for a number of years been quite trouble- 

 some in many parts of Western New York, and also in some of the Western states. 



The habits and appearance of this caterpillar have been too often described to 

 make it necessary to enter into a description of them here. But perhaps it will be 

 well to say, for the information of those that are in doubt as to the worm I refer to, 

 that it is the caterpillar that feeds principally upon the leaves of the apple tree, leav- 

 ing the stem and frame-work of the leaf, and which, turning brown, gives the orchards, 

 about mid-summer, the appearance of having been burned or scorched with fire. In 

 a few weeks new leaves are put forth, and the tree partially recovers, but bears no 

 fruit ; and where orchards are neglected, this process goes on from year to year, until 

 the trees are so enfeebled as to be worthless. Sometimes the Canker worm will leave 

 an orchard entirely, without any apparent cause, but such is -very seldom the case, 

 though they are much more abundant some years than others. 



Having a young apple orchard, in one corner of which a few Canker worms have 

 begun their work, I have naturally been quite interested to know how to get rid of 

 the pests. Troughs filled with oil are expensive and troublesome. Collars of zinc 

 or tin are not a perfect protection, and cost a good deal. Painting with printer's ink, 

 on strips of paper, fastened around the tree, is perhaps the best protection we have ; 

 but that is a great deal of work, and is very apt to be neglected or half done, in 

 which case a partial crop, at least, of worms is the result. I have been trying to 

 get something that will destroy the worms on the trees, and which can be applied 

 without too much trouble or expense, and hope that I have hit upon something that 

 will be found useful for that purpose. 1 refer to Paris Green, the article that is used 

 so extensively to destroy the potato bug. Last year I mixed some of it with eight 

 times its bulk of air-slacked lime, tied it in a thin muslin bag to the end of a long 

 pole, and in the morning, while the dew was on the leaves, gave a tree, on which the 

 Canker worms were at work, a good dusting with the compound ; the result was that, 

 the next day. scarcely a live worm could be found ; all that had reached the leaves, 

 on which the mixture had fallen, were dead. I found many of them still hanging to 

 the tree, though life was extinct ; the tree was a small one, eight or ten years old, 

 and it was late in the season when I made the application. The worms were every 

 one gone in a few days, as would have been the case in any event. I regretted very 

 much, that I had not begun at them earlier, and I propose to do so this year ; but 

 one thing is certain, Paris Green will kill them, and they will eat it, if it is on the 

 leaves upon which .they are feeding. There are objections to this, as to all remedies, 

 but still, I hope it may be found of some practical value — further trial is needed to 

 settle that question. Paris Green is a very deadly poison, being a preparation from 

 arsenic; great care must be taken to keep it where nothing will be injured by it ; 

 and in mixing and using it, care must be taken not to get any of it into the lungs, as 

 it can enter the system in that way, as is very well known to painters. Of course it 

 would not do to let hogs or cattle run in orchards where this was in use. 



On young trees, it can be applied from the ground ; on large ones, it would be 



