INSECTS INJURIOUS TO APPLES. 129 



One nest is enough to defoliate a large branch, and when 

 several are on a tree, the size and quality of the fruit is 

 seriously lessened. 



The best mode for their destruction, is to cut off the small 

 branches which hold the eggs during autumn or winter, 

 and commit them to the fire. The most convenient imple- 

 ment is a long pole, armed with a pair of clipping-shears, 

 worked by a cord ; or a sharp hooked knife, on the end of 

 a pole, will answer nearly as well. The eggs are seen at a 

 glance, after a little practice ; a cloudy day should be 

 selected to prevent pain to the eyes. If this work is done just 

 at the moment the eggs are hatching, it will be equally 

 efficacious, and the webs or downy covering of the young 

 insect?, render them conspicuous. Every nest of eggs thus 

 removed, which is done in a few seconds, totally prevents 

 a nest of caterpillars in the spring, and is far more expe- 

 ditious and effectual than the usual modes of brushing off 

 the caterpillars with poles, brushes, or washing them with 

 soap-suds, ley, or white-wash. 



The Borer. (Saperda bivittata.) This insect enters the 

 tree and cuts into the solid wood near the surface of the 

 earth. It is a dangerous enemy ; for while only a few small 

 holes are perceived in the bark outside, it may have per- 

 forated the wood internally in all directions and reduced it 

 to a mass of powder. 



It has not yet become very extensively spread, but in 

 some parts of the country it has become a most serious 

 evil, and has been allowed to multiply till it has destroyed 

 whole orchards. 



The perfect insect is a brown and white striped beetle, 

 about half an inch long, which flies at night. It deposits 

 its eggs late in spring or the first of summer, in the bark 

 near the surface of the ground, and sometimes in the forks 

 of the branches. The first indication of its presence, is the 

 appearance of numerous small round holes, as if the bark 

 had been perforated by buck-shot. These holes will soon 

 become more visible by the ejected dust. 



It is nearly impossible to save a tree, unless taken early. 

 At the first, "the insect may be cut out with the point of a 

 knife. If deeper in the wood, it may be extracted by a 

 flexible barbed wire, or punched to death in its hole by 



