EXTERMINATING NOXIOUS IN/SECTS. 227 



CHAPTER VIII. 



EXTERMINATING NOXIOUS INSECTS FROM APPLE-ORCHARDS. 



The army-worm, canker-worm, palmer-worm, slugs, 



The joint-worm, the drop-worm, the borer, and bugs, 



Like rapacious armies, when seizing their prey, 



United, spread ruin through branches and spray. EDWABDS. 



The Increase of noxious Insects. It has been affirmed 

 by some pomologists and tillers of the soil that in propor- 

 tion as we increase improved fruits, just in that propor- 

 tion will fruit-insects, and fruit and fruit-tree diseases in- 

 crease. A recognition of this fact will each year, as we 

 multiply orchards, become more and more apparent. Hale's 

 Early peaches, at first, will be free from rot. Pear-trees 

 will be, measurably exempt from pear-tree blight; vines 

 free from Vine-hoppers, and grapes free from Grape-cod- 

 lings and rot. From some cause not yet well understood, 

 all, or nearly all, our young vineyards are, for the first few 

 years of fruitage, free from rot ; and then ever afterwards 

 subject to it. The same is true of cherry, peach, and plum 

 rot. Therefore, to those engaging in pomological pursuits, 

 a knowledge of the several difficulties likely to be encoun- 

 tered should be recognized ; and, so far as known, the rem- 

 edies for each difficulty must be promptly applied. For 

 many years past, only a small proportion of the people who 

 attempt to grow fruit have been careful to exterminate one- 

 fourth part of the noxious worms and insects on their prem- 

 ises. Hence they have multiplied with surprising rapidity. 

 Consequently, as orchards and crops of fruit have increased, 

 and insects have been allowed to flourish unmolested where 



