326 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



lates some of these insects to burst their chrysalis 

 skins and come forth in the perlecied state ; and 

 this last translbrmaiion, as belbre stated, may take 

 place in tlie autumn, or in the course ol the win- 

 ter, as well as in the spring ; it is also retarded, 

 in some individual*, lor a year or more beyond 

 the usual time. They come out ot the ground 

 mostly in Uie night, when they may be seen 

 struggling through the grass as I'ar as the limbs 

 extend Irom the body of the trees under which 

 they had been buried. As the iemales are desti- 

 tute of wmgs, they are not able to wai.der Tar 

 (iom the trees upon which they had lived in the 

 caterpillar state. Canker-worms are therelbre 

 naturally contined to a very limited space, !rom 

 which they spread year alter year. Accident 

 however, will olien carry them I'ar Irom their na- 

 tive haunts, and in this way probably they have 

 extended to places remote li'om each other. 

 Where they have become established, and have 

 been neglected, their ravages are olien very great. 

 In the early part of the season, the canker-worms 

 do not attract much attention ; but it is in June, 

 when they become extremely voracious, that the 

 mischiel they have dont? is rendered apparent, 

 when we have before us the melancholy sight ol' 

 the foliage of our I'ruit trees and of our noble elms 

 reduced to withered and lifeless shreds, and whole 

 orchards looking as if they had been suddenly 

 scorched with fire. 



In order to protect our trees from the ravages 

 of canker-worms, where these looping spoilers 

 abound, it should be our aim, if possible, to pre- 

 vent the wingless females from ascending the 

 trees to deposite their eggs. This can be done by 

 the application of tar around the body of the tree, 

 either directly on the baik, as lias been the most 

 common practice, or, what is better, over a broad 

 belt of clay mortar, or on strips of old canvass or 

 of strong paper, from six to twelve inclies wide, 

 fastened around the trunk with strings. The tar 

 must be applied as early as the first ol November, 

 and perhaps in October, and it should be renewed 

 daily as long as the insects continue rising ; alter 

 which the bands may be removed, and the tar 

 should be entirely scraped from the bark. When 

 all this has been properly and seasonably done, it 

 has proved eH'ectual. The time, labor and ex- 

 pense attending the use of tar, and the injury that 

 it does the trees when allowed to run and remain 

 on the bark, have caused many persons to ne- 

 glect this method, and some to try various modi- 

 fications of it, and other expedients. Among the 

 modifications may be mentioned a horizontal and 

 close-fitting collar of boards, fastened around the 

 trunk, and s.Tieared beneaiii with tar ; or lour 

 boards, nailed together like a box, without top or 

 bottom, around the base of the tree, to receive the 

 tar on the outside. These can be used to protect 

 a few choice trees in a garden, or around a house 

 or a public square, but will be Ibund too expensive 

 to be applied to any great extent. Collars of tin 

 plate, fastened around the trees, and slo|)ing down- 

 wards like an inverted tunnel, have been" pro- 

 posed, upon the supposition that the moths would 

 not be able to creep in an inverted position, be- 

 neath the smooth and sloping surface. This 

 method will also prove too expensive for general 

 adoption, even should it be Ibund to answer the 

 purpose. A belt of cotton-wool, which it has 

 been thought would entangle the (eetof the in- 



sects, and thus keep them from ascending the 

 trees, has not proved an effectual bar to them. 

 Litile square or circular troughs of tin or of lead, 

 filled with cheap fish oil, and placed around the 

 trees, three lieet or more above the surface of the 

 ground, with a etulRug of cloth, hay, or sea-weed 

 between ihera and the trunk, have long been used 

 by various persons in JVlassachuseils with good 

 success ; and the only objections to them are the 

 cost of the troughs, the dilficuliy of fixing and 

 keeping them in their places, and the injury suf- 

 fered by the trees when the oil is washed or 

 blown out and falls upon the bark. Mr. Jonathan 

 Dennis, jr., of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, has 

 obtained a patent lor a circular leaden trough to 

 contain oil, oliering some advantages over those 

 that have heretolore been used, although it does 

 not entirely prevent the escape ol the oil, and the 

 nails, with which it is secured, are found to be 

 mjurious to the trees. These troughs ought not 

 to be nailed to the trees, but should be supported 

 by a i'ew wooden wedges driven between them 

 and the trunks. A stuffing of cloth, cotton or 

 tow, should never be used; sea- weed and fine 

 hay, which will not absorb the oil, are much bet- 

 ter. Belore the troughs are fastened and filled, 

 the body of the tree should be well coated with 

 clay paint or white wash, to absorb the oil that 

 may fall upon it. Care should be taken to renew 

 the oil as olten as it escapes or becomes filled with 

 the insects. These troughs will be found more 

 economical and less troublesome than the appli- 

 cation of tar, and may salely be recommended and 

 employed, if proper attention is given to the pre- 

 cautions above named. Some persons fasten si- 

 milar troughs, to contain oil, around the outer 

 sides of an open box enclosing the base of the 

 tree, and a projecting ledge is nailed on the edge 

 of the box to shed the rain ; by this contrivance, 

 all ihe danger of hurting the tree with the oil is 

 entirely avoided. In the 'Manchester Guardian," 

 an English newspaper, of the 4ih of November, 

 1840, is the following article on the use of melted 

 Indian rubber to prevent insects from climbing up 

 trees : — 



"At a late meeting of the Entomological So- 

 ciety, [of London?] Mr. J. H. Eennell commu- 

 nicated the following successful mode of prevent- 

 ing insects ascending the trunks of fruit trees. 

 Let a piece of Indian rubber be burnt over a 

 gallipot, into which it will gradually drop in the 

 condition of a viscid juice, which slate, it appears, 

 it will always retain ; for Mr. Fennell has, at the 

 present time, some which has been melted lor 

 upwards of a year, and has been exposed to all 

 weathers without undergoing the slightest change. 

 Having melted the Indian rubber, let a piece of 

 cord or worsted be smeared with it, and then lied 

 several times round the trunk. The melted sub- 

 stance is so very sticky, that the insects will be 

 prevented, and generally captured, in their at- 

 tempts to pass over it. About three pennyworth 

 of Indian rubber is sufficient for ihe protection of 

 twenty ordinary sized fruit trees." 



Applied in this way, it would not be sufficient to 

 keep the canker-worm moths from getting up the 

 trees; for ihe first comers would soon bridge over 

 the cord with their bodies, and thus afford a pas- 

 sage to their followers. To insure success, it 

 should be melted in larger quantities, and daubed 

 with a brush upon strips of cloth or paper, fasten- 



