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Hymenoptera, that is to say, in the perfect state they are beetles, 

 moths, or wasp-like insects. 



We may lay it down as a rule, which has but few exceptions, so 

 far as applied to our State, that this work so far as done in the or- 

 chard, nursery and cultivated trees, is done by insects while they are 

 in their worm or larval state; hence it follows, as a matter of course, 

 that the perfect insects into which they are transformed must be 

 sought in other situations, because possessing very different habits. 

 On this account these insects are seldom recognized in their perfect 

 state by those unacquainted with their history, especially those species 

 which are sly, hiding during the day (as the Saperda) and coming 

 forth only at evening. 



In order to ascertain the most vulnerable points in» an insect's histo- 

 ry, we must be thoroughly acquainted with its entire life, from the 

 moment the egg is deposited until the close of its existence in the 

 perfect state. If we find this point to be the egg state, on account of 

 the situation selected, exposed condition, aggregation or other cause, 

 then as a matter of course, it is against this state that our efforts 

 should be directed ; and the same is true in reference to any other 

 stage of their life which may be found to present the most vulnerable 

 point. 



By understanding'these things in reference to our various injurious 

 insects we are enabled to group together, to a certain extent, those of 

 similar habits, and presenting the same vulnerable points and thus 

 generalize remedies; and if we can find a method of culture which is 

 also at the same time a remedy, we are thus enabled to make a given 

 amount of labor answer a double purpose. 



This grouping of habits does not necessarily correspond with the 

 grouping in the classification of insects ; in fact it may, and often 

 will, bring together insects widely differing from each other. 



As an illustration I may mention the Saperda, Aegeria exitiosa (peach- 

 root borer), and a species of woolly aphis — species belonging to three 

 different orders — which operate more or less about the collar, or lower 

 part of the trunk of fruit trees; if we can find a method of mulching, 

 or to use a more general term, of cultivating this part of the tree, 

 which will operate as a protection against these species, and at the 

 same time be beneficial to the trees, an important point is gained ; 

 and although it may not do away entirely with the necessity of spe- 

 cial remedies to these different species, yet by steadily persevering in 

 it we may constantly diminish our insect foes, and render the special 

 remedies less and less necessary. 



But as heretofore stated, in order to direct our experiment intelli- 

 gently it is necessary to know something in reference to these insects 

 in their different stages. As we meet with the borers, when at work, 

 almost exclusively in the larva state, it is important to ascertain 

 whether they possess any characters in this state by which we may 

 determine what they will be in the perfect state, and thus be enabled 

 to trace their habits in that state, and see whether it presents any 

 vulnerable point. 



As a general rule it is exceeding difficult to determine species in 

 this stage of their existence ; still there are characters by which we 

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