THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 17 



to cleanse the trunk alone, as most of the scales containing living eggs 

 will be found on the terminal branches. Alkaline washes, and all 

 other washes, except those of an oily nature, such as petroleum or 

 kerosene, are of no avail when applied to the scales, for the simple 

 reason that they do not penetrate and reach the eggs which are so 

 well protected by these scales ; and it is very doubtful whether any 

 solution can be used that is sufficiently oily to penetrate the scales 

 and kill the eggs without injuring the tree, especially while the sap of 

 the tree is inactive. Hence, this Bark-louse can only be successfully 

 fought at the time the eggs are hatching, and the young lice are crawl- 

 ing over the limbs. The time of year in which this occurs has already 

 been indicated, and the trees should be closely watched during the 

 last days of May and the first days of June, for, without close scrutiny, 

 they will not be observed, appearing simply like very minute, white, 

 moving specks. "While the young larvae are thus crawling over the 

 tree, they are so tender that they can be readily destroyed by simply 

 scrubbing the limbs with a stiff brush. It it quite evident, however, 

 that any remedy, to become practicable on a large scale, so as to 

 rapidly and effectually reach every limb of the tree, both large and 

 small, must be applied by a syringe or by means of fumigation, and 

 that whatever be applied, it must kill the lice without injuring the 

 foliage or fruit, as the young apples are generally as large as a good 

 sized pea by the time the lice hatch. Fumigation has not yet been 

 sufficiently tried to enable us to judge of its merits. A correspondent 

 of the Prairie Farmer, in recommending brimstone, gives the follow- 

 ing as his plan of using it: " My plan is to cover the entire tree with 

 cloth, so that there are no holes to let out the smoke ; take an iron 

 dish — a frying pan with a handle, if you please — put in about one 

 pound of roll brimstone (not sulphur), heat a chunk of iron red hot — 

 say a clock weight; drop the iron upon the brimstone, and put it un- 

 der the tent cloth, where it should remain long enough to fairly 

 smudge the whole tree. More brimstone can be added, and the iron 

 repeated as often as desired, probably five minutes to a tree would be 

 sufficient, more would do no harm. The cloth can be easily taken off 

 and put on by two operators, each with a light pole with a spike in 

 the end. The one pound of brimstone will burn about an hour." Hav- 

 ing had no bark lice on which to try the above experiment, I wrote to 

 the party recommending it, and as I received no answer, the experi- 

 ment probably tailed or was never tried. The brimstone would doubt- 

 less injure the tree. 



Mr. A. R. Whitney, of Franklin Grove, Lee county, Illinois, whose 

 apple trees have been troubled more or less with bark lice, found that 

 an application of sheep manure around the trees, had a beneficial 

 effect in checking the pests, and he attributes the result to the am- 

 monia arising from the manure. With regard to washes, to be used 

 with a syringe, the late Dr. Jno. A. Kennicott used 1 lb. of sal soda to 

 one gallon of water with good effect ; it is best used by heating P 

 2 r s e 



