(1KXKRA I. I'R. I ( ' TICE.ENEMIBS. 29J 



Thus a number are captured. They may bo destroy eel by placing them, in u pail partly 

 tilled with petroleum and water, or giving them to fowls. The quantity of caterpillars 

 collected varies with the infestations. One man gathered a peck, and two men five 

 bushels of looper, web-nest and other caterpillars in a day. By shaking the trees and 

 detaching the threads, with unfed fowls attending the operator, thousands of caterpillars 

 are picked up, or trampled into the ground, but as some may escape and return to the 

 trees, a hay-band round the stem, and smeared on the outer face with gas tar, will prevent 

 their ascension. Avoid smearing gas tar in a ring on the bark, or on the ground round 

 the butts of the trees, for it sooner or later injures stems and roots, and has sometimes 

 a fatal effect. 



For the wholesale destruction of caterpillars, Paris-green and London purple have 

 been used in America since 1872 with marked success, but, though both substances 

 are manufactured in this country, they were not used by fruit growers at home to any 

 great extent until within the last three or four years. Experiments have been conducted 

 in various parts of the country, notably in the Toddington and Glewstou Court Fruit 

 Hardens, with the result that Paris-green paste in the proportion of 1 ounce to 8 or 

 10 gallons of water for plums, and 1 ounce to 20 gallons of water for apples and 

 pears, destroyed caterpillars without materially injuring the foliage. These propor- 

 tions must not be exceeded, nor used when the trees are in blossom on account of 

 the bees. Caterpillars, however, devour the blossom ; therefore, spraying with Paris- 

 green should be practised in infested orchards when the leaf buds are developing, 

 ul ways before the flowers expand, and not again until they have fallen, and the fruit is 

 forming. Then the spraying may be continued until the trees are free from the 

 voracious pests. On the third or fourth day after spraying, good results are manifested 

 in the death of the caterpillars by eating the poison with the leaves ; therefore, that 

 interval should elapse between the sprayings. At Glewston Court, spraying with Paris- 

 green mixture has been practised twice a week for months without any injurious effects 

 on the foliage and fruit. 



Emerald or Paris-green is a compound containing : copper, o2vll per cent. ; arsenic, 

 28-56 ; oxygen, 32-48 ; hydrogen, 0-70 ; carbon, G'09 = 100-00. It is a double salt of 

 arsenite and acetate of copper (aceto-arsenite of copper), and a dangerous poison. The 

 paste is less dangerous than the powder. Care must be taken not to breathe in the 

 powder or allow the poison to settle in any sore or crack in the skin, nor should it fall on 

 fruit or vegetables that are soon after used for food, while it is prudent to exclude 



