ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE. 401 



that during summer they must be confined 

 to such unfed hay as remains over from 

 the previous year's making. Therefore, 

 new hay should never be stacked in con- 

 tact with old. In confinement, the worms 

 show a tendency to work their way to the 

 bottom of whatever they are confined in, 

 and we may conclude that this tendency 

 is natural. It will account for their being 

 found so generally at the bottom of a 

 stack. Yet, aside from this tendency, it 

 follows that wherever clover is stacked for 

 successive years on the same foundation, 

 the bottom, coming in contact as it does 

 with the infested leavings of the previous 

 year, will necessarily suffer most. Sec- 

 ondly, as the worms show a preference 

 for the moister and more compact por- 

 tions of a stack, it will be well to build 

 on a good log or rail foundation. This 

 gives an air passage underneath, and is, 

 besides, a commendable practice. Third- 

 ly, we should recommend salting the hay, 

 especially the two or three feet near the 

 bottom ; for while it is a good practice 

 as a preventive of moldiness, it may also 

 prove an antidote to the worm nuisance. 



LEGGED MAPLE BORER. — Vieing 

 with the Flat-headed Borer, in destructive- 

 ness, but generally following in its trail 

 and rendering more conspicuous the 

 damage which that species does to our 

 shade maples, the insect under consider- 

 eration deserves notice. It may be called 

 the Legged Maple Borer, because the 

 possession of sixteen legs at once dis- 

 tinguishes it from the Flat-headed Borer. 

 It is, indeed, in structure similar to, and 

 belongs to the same family as the common 

 Peach-tree Borer, and the more common 

 Currant Borer. 



The worm (Figure 43), burrows under 

 the bark of our soft maples, feeding on 

 the inner bark and sap-wood and never 

 penetrating deeply into the more solid 

 heart-wood. It is so numerous at times 

 that it completely girdles, and thus kills 

 outright, trees of considerable size ; while 

 smaller trees are weakened, and rendered 

 liable to be broken by wind, even where 

 the worms are less numerous. 



Remedy. — We have always found the 

 worms in such trees as had been injured, 

 either by the work of the Flat-headed 

 Borer, the rubbing of the tree against a 

 post or board, or in some other way. 

 Where the bark is kept smooth, they 

 26 



never seem to trouble it, the parent evi- 

 dently preferring to consign her eggs to 

 cracked or roughened parts. For this 

 reason the worm is not found in the 

 smoother branches, but solely in the main 

 trunk. Whether the soap application 

 will prevent the moth from depositing 

 her eggs, is not known : judging from 

 analogy, probably not. Yet it will tend 



Fig. 43. — ^Egeria Acerni. 



a, a, larva, dorsal and lateral views; b, 6, i t . 

 cocoons exposed by detachment of bark ; c, moth; 

 d, chrysalis skin as it is often left remaining in the ■ 

 hole of exit 



to keep the bark smoother, and, in being 

 used to shield the tree from the other 

 borer, it will indirectly shield it from this 

 one. 



Mr. Grannadius recommends white- 

 washing the trunks, and filling up all 

 holes and fissures with mortar, so as to' 

 render the bark as smooth as possible. 



MICE, Field. — Field mice, which are- 

 sometimes so destructive to apple trees; 

 and the bulbs of herd grass, may be 

 trapped and destroyed by digging a few 

 holes in the form of a post-hole in the 

 fields infested by them. Having occa- 

 sion to build a post-fence on one side of/ 

 an orchard not long since, about a dozen 

 of the post-holes were left unfilled for a 

 couple of days, and on going to set the 

 posts from one to eight mice were found 

 in each hole, having fallen in and being 

 unable to climb the smooth sides of the^ 

 hole. 



