88 CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT 



drip, nor run down on the bark of the tree, which 

 would injure it. When all the trees of an orchard 

 are thus prepared, let the strips be plentifully 

 smeared with cold tar, put on with a brush. It 

 should be renewed once a day without fail. The 

 best time is soon after sun-set, because the insects 

 are wont to pass up in the evening, and the tar 

 will not harden so much in the night as in the day, 

 because of the dampness of the air. The daily 

 task must be renewed, and performed with the 

 greatest care, till the latter end of May, or till the 

 time when the hatching of the worms is commonly 

 over, which will be earlier or later, according to 

 the difference of climate. 



Another mode of tarring, and which bids fair to 

 be preferred to the foregoing, is as follows : Take 

 two pretty wide pieces of board ; plane them ; 

 make semicircular notches in each, fitting them to 

 the stem or body of the tree ; and fasten them to- 

 gether securely at the ends, so that the most vio- 

 lent winds aftd storms may not displace nor stir 

 them. The crevices betwixt the boards and the 

 tree may be easily stopped with rags or tow : 

 then smear the under sides of the boards with 

 tar. The tar being defended from the direct rays 

 of the sun, will hold its tenacity the longer, and, 

 therefore, will not need to be frequently renewed ; 

 and the trees may be secured more in this way 

 from the dripping of the tar, as a margin of two 

 <or three inches, next to the tree, may be left un- 

 ^smeared. 



" The remedy of tarring." says professor Peck, 

 " was probably first suggested by the structure of 

 the female insect, which, happily for man, has no 

 wings. If this remedy were diligently and univer- 

 sally used, it would very likely rid us of this pest ; 

 it must, indeed, be granted, at a considerable ex- 

 pense. But the negligence of many will counter- 

 act the vigilance of a few, whatever remedy may 



