REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 207 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



non-i2ijurious to folin,-. The addition of Paris green or other arsenite, however 

 renders the spray corrosive and therefore dangerous for orchard use. When it is 

 desired to use Paris green as an insecticide in the spray, only Bordeaux mixture made 

 with lime should bo employed.' 



Canherworms.—Ueporia of rather serious nature came to hand with regard to the 

 injuries of canlverworms in the apple orchards of the Annapolis Valley of Nova 

 fecotia. These caterpillars are very slender and inconspicuous at first and axe fre- 

 quently overlooked until they have attained considerable growth. They are then much 

 more difficult to kill with the ordinary insecticides used in orchards and it becomes 

 necessary to use more poison to the barrel than for most other insects. It is recom- 

 mended to use as much as one pound of Paris green in 100 gallons of Bordeaux mix- 

 ture and this latter should be made with five pounds of lune to the four pounds of 

 copper sulphate in the 40 gallons of water. If applied while the caterpillars are young 

 the cankerworm can be controlled the same as every other leaf-eating insect. The 

 other remedy for canl^erworms is the destruction of the wingless female moths when 

 they leave their chrysalids in the autumn and climb up the trees to lay their eggs. 

 There are two materials which are largely used for this purpose. These are printers' 

 ink thinned with fish oil, one gallon of the latter to five of the former, which quan- 

 tity will treat about an acre of orchard, and the other is a mixture of castor oil and 

 resin. Mr. O. T. Springer, of Bm-lington, Ontario, gives the following receipt :— 



For cold weather; castor oil 2 pounds, common resin 3 pounds; for warm 

 weather add another pound of resin. This mixture must be heated slowly until aU 

 the resin is melted, and then should be painted directly on to tlie bark of the trees 

 while still warm. 



Mr. Geo. E. Fisher, of Freeman, Ont, after many experiments uses the same 

 materials but prepares them rather diiferently. He writes : ' For use against canker- 

 worms, I use for warm weather, 3 pounds of castor oil and 5 pounds of resin, and in 

 cold weather equal parts of both by weight. A little experience is necessary to decide 

 just what proportions of the materials will suit the prevailing weather conditions, but 

 they will vary between the weights I have given. The rough bark of the tree should 

 be scraped off at a convenient height before applying the mixtura The first applica- 

 tion will not remain sticky very long, being apparently absorbed by the Jbark, and a 

 second may be necessary in about a week. This will keep fresh for a good while, and 

 certainly is an excellent trap for cankerworms either in the moth or caterpillar 

 stage.' When applying these mixtures they are painted directly on to the bark of the 

 tree with a large paint brush so as to form a band right around the trunk about three 

 inches wide. The castor oil used is a commercial article, unpurified, which will cost 

 in most places about 8 or 10 cents a pound. Mr. Springer says that the work of band- 

 ing in the above mentioned way is not so great as might be supposed. One man can 

 go over 250 trees in ten hours if the mixture is ready for use. Should the mixture get 

 too cold to spread readily it may be easily and quickly brought to the proper tempera- 

 ture by using a portable oil stove. It is best to put on the first coat plentifully so as 

 to leave a good body of material on the tree. In the Burlington district, which is near 

 Hamilton, Ont., the female moth seldom leaves the ground before the last week in 

 October and never before the first frosts of autumn. If watched for and the band« 

 are painted on to the trees when the females first appear, thousands are caught by the 

 band, including many of the males, which also are destroyed, their delicate wings 

 adhering to the sticky material on the slightest touch. The females, unable to cross 

 the sticky bands, lay their eggs in large numbers on the trunks of the trees between 

 the ground and the band. These must be scraped off and destroyed during the winter 

 or the caterpillars will climb up into the foliage when they hatch in the following 

 spring, for by that time the bands will have dried on the surface or will have become 

 rough by rubbish or dust adhering to them. 



The Rusty Tussock Moth, Noiolophus antiqna, L. — The work which has been 

 done in Nova Scotia in collecting the larvae of the Brown-tail Moth has shown that 



