THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



87 



The Canker Worm.— Finding a Hare's Nest. 



BY BENJ. D. WALSH, M. A. 



In the Western Rural of June 2, 18Q6, there 

 appeared a communication from " a Subscriber" at 

 Genesee, Mich., in which the writer throws doubt 

 upon the well and long ascertained fact, that the fe- 

 male cankerworm moth crawls up the trees which 

 she infests to deposits her eggs thereon. According 

 to " Subscriber," she must, occasionally at all events, 

 deposit her eggs on the ground. And this is his 

 argument : — 



The theory that the moth of the canker-worm deposits 

 egg3 in the branches of the trees may be very good, but 

 when theory comes in contact with actual observation 

 and experience, it becomes men to consult with one an- 

 other, and make further investigations and observations 

 in order to arrive at Just conclusions, and that the truth 

 of a theory be thereby established. 



» , * iS « s « 



I will briefly state what my experience has been with 

 the canker-worm. Last year a portion of my orchard 

 was terribly infested by these destructive insects. The tops 

 had the appearance of having been burnt over. Having 

 watched their operations pretty closely last year, I tried 

 an experiment this Spring, which has been, so far, very 

 successful and satisfactory. 



I took a strip of heavy woolen cloth about three or four 

 inches in width, and doubled it so that a strip when 

 fastened around the tree is one and one-half, or two 

 inches wide. The cloth can be securely fastened around 

 the tree with twine. I put the cloth mid way between 

 the ground and the lower branches of the tree. I then 

 put as much tar on the cloth as will stay on. I made the 

 cloth double thickness to prevent the tar from doing any 

 injury to the bark of the tree. The cloth answers the 

 double purpose of protecting the tree and holding the 

 tar. This forms a bridge that the worms cannot get over. 

 I go through the orchard two or three times a day, and 

 each time I find a greater or less number of worms on 

 the body of the trees below the tar. They are invariably 

 travelling towards the top of the tree until they get to the 

 tar, when they will travel around the body of the tree, 

 and occasionally try a new place to ascend. 



I have observed some of the worms just as they were 

 starting from the ground to commence their ascent, 

 which led me to believe that the moth does not deposit 

 its eggs in the tree, but iu the ground where they are 

 hatched into a worm. * 



Now if " Subscriber" had reflected for a moment, 

 he would have been aware that the eggs of the can- 

 ker-worm are minute objects, and that the young 

 larva, when it first comes out of the egg and be- 

 fore it begins to feed, must also be very minute. 

 Consequently if it had been only freshly-hatched 

 larvse that were ascending his trees, they would 

 have been so small as to be scarcely perceivable by 

 the naked eye of any but a practiced Entomologist. 

 Moreover his theory is contrary to the general law, 

 that insects lay their eggs in tho.se situations only, 

 where the natural food of the young larva will be 

 most accessible, the blow-fly on meat, the cheese-fly 

 on cheese, the dung-beetles on dung, &c., &c. The 

 whole mystery is solved at once by the following 

 acute remarks of the Editor of the Western 

 Rural : — 



It is probable that the caterpillars which he saw crawl- 

 ing up the trees had fallen to the ground from the 

 branches, and were endeavoring to regain their position. 

 This they always do when they happen to fall or to be 

 washed off by heavy rain. Probably it wag after a 

 shower that he saw them trying to ascend from the 

 ground. 



Driving nails into Frnit Trees. 



BY BENJ. D. WALSH, M. A. 



It is singular what a propensity just now men 

 have to drive nails into fruit-trees, with the idea of 

 benefiting them. Some indeed prefer boring 

 auger-holes, but the nails seem the almost universal 

 panacea of the day. Probably in 18G7 it will be 

 the fashion to take a draw-knife and shave all the 

 bark off the trees in every orchard ; and in 18G8 we 

 shall reach the millennium of horticultural perfec- 

 tion, and dress ofi' all our fruit-trees with a jack- 

 plane to some mathematical figure. The following 

 is from the American Farmer, of Juno, 1866 : 



A WRITER in The California Farmer states that two po- 

 mologists in the State benefited their fruit trees by driv- 

 ing nails into them near the roots. The growth of the 

 trees was in no ways injured, and fruit was produced on 

 trees that had heretofore been almost "barren, while in 

 other trees the quality and flavor of the fruit was im- 

 proved. 



But the Nail Disease prevails in Massachusetts, 

 as well as in California ; as witness the following 

 from the Maine Farmer of Blay 24, 1866 : 



Messrs Editors : — I have seen an inquiry taken from 

 your paper, for a remedy for the apple borer, and give 

 you the following as a, sure remedy, which will not impede 

 the growth of the tree : With a small gimlet bore a hole 

 in the tree within a few inches of the ground. Fill this 

 hole with sulphur. If the tree be large, let the gimlet be 

 correspondingly large. The hole should penetrate through 

 the sap into the wood, from one-half to an inch. Press 

 the sulphur into the hole and cover it with clay or shoe- 

 maker's wax, or a cloth, so tight that it cannot escape. 

 In a short time the sulphur will be carried to all parts of 

 the tree by the sap — and the borers will disappear also. 



If you have plum trees troubled with the black loart 

 drive one or two nails into the tree. 



Haverhill Mass., May lUh, 1866. 



But a correspondent of the Boston Cultivator 

 is more merciful. Instead of driving the nails into 

 the tree, he compromises the matter by driving 

 them into the ground at the foot of the tree. 

 Hear him, as quoted in the Country Gentleman of 

 May 31, 1866. 



A correspondent of the Boston Cultivator states that he 

 has been very successful in removing or preveuting the 

 Black knot, by burying iron turnings in the earth and 

 then promptly cutting off whatever of the Black knot 

 may appear. He thinks that driving nails in the ground 

 beneath the tree will answer the same purpose as the 

 iron turnings. We have no doubt this remedy, if faith- 

 fully applied, would prove entirely successful — especial 

 rare being taken to cut off promptly every vestige of the 

 black knot on its first appearance. The iron and nails 

 will be equally effectual if thrown into the river. 



I fully agree with the Editor, that the nails 

 would do just as much good if they were thrown 

 into the river; but the best way of all to apply 

 them would be on the loose fence-boards surround- 

 ing the orchard. 



The only truly philosophical nail-driver, however, 

 h^ils from Illinois. He drives his tenpennies upon 

 chemical and mathematical principles, spike-nails 

 for large trees and brads and sparables for seed- 

 lings. The following, which is printed in the 

 Prairie Farmer of June 2, 1866, is indeed a gem 

 in its way : — 



Eds. Phairie Farmer : — I found on looking over my 

 apple trees that the borer has commenced his work of 

 destruction, and I set my wits to work to find something 

 to destroy him, and think I have found just the thing. 



