65 THE APPLE. 



for smearing the bandages, as being a more effectual barrier, and sel- 

 dom or never requiring renewal. 



Mr. Jonathan Dennis, Jun., of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, hag 

 invented and patented a cii-cular leaden trough, vv'hich siu-rounds the 

 trunk of the tree, and is filled vk^ith oil, and stops effectually the ascent 

 of the canker-worm. There appear, however, to be two objections to 

 this trough, as it is freqtiently used ; one, the escape of the oil, if not 

 carefully used, which injures the tree ; and the other, the irjuriou? 

 effect of nailing the troughs to the bark or trunk. They should be sup- 

 ported by wedges of wood driven in between the trough and the trunk, 

 and the spaces completely filled up with liquid clay, put on with a brush. 

 The insects must be taken out and the oil renewed from time to time. 

 For districts where the canker-worm greatly abounds, this leaden trough 

 is probably the most permanent and effectvial remedy yet employed. 



Circular strips of zinc or tin, about four inches wide, passing around 

 the trmik of the ti-ee, the lower end standing out in a flaring manner, 

 I'esembling a bowl bottom upward, proves an effectual preventive remedy, 

 as the insects cannot pass the lower rim. 



Experiments made by the Hon. John Lowell, and Professor Peck, of 

 Massachusetts, lead to a belief that if the grotuid under trees which suffer 

 from this insect is dug and well pulverized to the depth of five inches, in 

 October, and a good top-dressing of lime applied as far as the branches 

 extend, the canker-worm will there be almost entirely destroyed. The 

 elm, and linden-trees in many places, suffer equally with tlie Apple from 

 the attacks of the canker-worm. 



The hark-louse, a dull white, oval, scale-like insect, about a tenth of an 

 inch long (a species of coccus), which sometimes ajjpears in great numbers 

 on the stems of young Aj)ple and Pear trees, and stunts their growiih, 

 may be destroyed by a wash of soft soap or the ])otash solution. The 

 best time to apply these is in the mouth of June, when the insects are 

 young, or when the tree is devoid of foliage. 



IVie woolly Aphis {aphis lanigera), or American blight* is a dreadful 

 enemy of the Apple. It makes its appearance in the form of a minute 

 white down in the crotches and crevices of the branches, which is com- 

 posed of a great number of very minute woolly lice, that if allowed will 

 increase with fearful I'apidity, and produce a sickly and diseased state of 

 the whole tree. Fortunately, this insect is easily destroyed. " This is 

 effected by washing the parts with diluted sulphuric acid, which is formed 

 by mixing three-fourths of an ounce by measure of the sulphuric acid of 

 the shops with seven and a half ounces of water. lb should be rubbed 

 into the parts affected by means of a piece of rag tied to a stick, the 

 operator taking care not to let it touch his clothes. After the bai'k of a 

 tree has been washed with this mixture, the first shower will redissolve 

 it, and convey it into the most minute crevice, so as effectually to destroy 

 all insects that may have escaped," — {Loudoii's 2Iagazine, ix., p. 336.) 

 It is the more common practice to destroy it by the use of whale-oil, soap 

 or lime wash. 



The Apjyle-ivonn or Codling moth ( Carpocapsa jyomonella of Euro- 

 pean writers) is the insect introduced with the Apple-tree from Europe 



* It is not a little singular that this insect, which is not indigenous to this 

 country, and is never seen here except where introduced with imported trees, 

 should be called in England the American blight. It is the most inveterate eueinj 

 of the Apple in the north of France and Germany. 



