74 ESSEX SOCIETY. 



tar and red ochre, or burgundy pitch and bees-wax, well incorpo- 

 rated, be spread upon the end, to keep out air and moisture. 

 The great principle to be attended to in pruning apple trees, is 

 to cut off all dead, diseased, or useless branches at their base, 

 and thinning others, so that the sun and air may penetrate to 

 {not through) every part of the tree. Few people have confi- 

 dence enough to do this effectually ; but they may be assured 

 that they would have more and better fruit, were they to re- 

 tain only one half the number of branches which in general at 

 present exist in most orchards. 



Injurious Insects. — Aphides. The insects which injure our 

 fruit trees are various, as well as the methods devised for their 

 extirpation. For the genus of aphis or green fly, which is often 

 found upon the succulent shoots of young apple trees, and which 

 injures their growth, we think that the best preventive opera- 

 tion, is that of good culture. Autumn ploughing also, exposing 

 the larvse to the frosts of winter, and the moderate use of salt, are 

 destructive to this insect. Curculio. The most pernicious ene- 

 my however to the apple is the curculio, which, in a chrysalis 

 state, passes the winter in the earth, from thence emerging at 

 about the time the blossoms appear, and depositing its egg in the 

 apple ; these eggs produce small maggots, which exist in the fruit, 

 causing it to drop prematurely. The best method we are ac- 

 quainted with to destroy or lessen their ravages, is to give the 

 ground a top-dressing of coarse salt early in April, around each 

 tree, to the spread or extent of its branches, and also to gather 

 up the fruit that drops daily ; by this course, a check is put to 

 their ravages. 



Canker Worm. Various methods have been adopted for their 

 destruction ; some apply strips of cloth bound around the body 

 of the tree, smeared with tar, to prevent the ascent of the 

 female or grub ; but as they move up in the fall, and even in 

 warm days in the winter, as well as in the spring, this is an 

 uncertain as well as a tedious process. This insect enters the 

 ground near the trunk or body of the tree, rarely, if ever, beyond 

 the spread of the branches; applying lime, ashes and salt, 

 dug in around the trees in September and October, tends greatly 

 to lessen their ravages. 



