OANKKK WOKM. 109 



tar has generally been used as most available and effective. But this 

 method is very troublesome and unsatisfactory, when attempted to be 

 used upon any considerable scale. The tar dries rapidly in the air, 

 and has to be renewed as often as every other day ; and when we con- 

 sider that the moths sometimes commence running in the fall, and con- 

 tinue to do so on mild days in winter and all through the month of 

 March, we can see that the remedy demands too much time and atten- 

 tion to be practiced in large orchards. 



Mr. Walsh, in an article upon this subject in the "Practical Ento- 

 mologist," assnminor that, in order to make this remedy successful, it 

 may be necessary to renew the tar every day from the last of October 

 to the middle of May, with the exception of cold days in the dead of 

 winter, so as to intercept not only the moths bat also the young cater- 

 pillars that might hatch below the obstruction, goes into a calculation 

 to show that, even at this rate, it would pay the cost, if by so doing we 

 can save our crop of apples. I do not question his calculation as a 

 matter of dollars and cents, but it is utterly useless, as a general princi- 

 ple, to recommend remedies against noxious insects which will require 

 daily thought and attention for six months in the year, or any consider- 

 able fraction of that period. Abundant experience shows that people in 

 general will not persevere in fighting noxious insects if the contest re- 

 quires any considerable expenditure of time, thought or money. Many 

 of them will sooner adopt the heroic treatment formerly recommended 

 by the editor of the "New England Farmer" to the Michigan State 

 Agricnltural Society, namely : to cut down the infested trees for tire- 

 wood, or leave them to die a natural death, and turn their attention to 

 some less troublesome means of procuring a livelihood. 



At about the time of commencing ray observations upon the Canker- 

 worm moth, in the spring, I received a letter from Mr. John Tinker, 

 of Clinton, Wisconsin, to whom I have before had occasion to refer, 

 asking for information bow to fight the Canker-worm. I immediately 

 entered into a correspondence with him, and derived some interesting 

 information, drawn from his extensive experience with this destructive 

 insect. Mr. Tinker states that apple-trees will perish after having been 

 defoliated three years in succession. With respect to the orchard in 

 which I have made my observations, 'I have learned that the Canker- 

 worms first made their appearance in it four years ago, and now some 

 of the trees are dead and others are in a dying condition. Mr. Tinker 

 went extensively into the tarring process, and, at my suggestion, used a 

 mixture of molasses with the tar, which he found would spread easier 

 and retain its fluidity longer. 



