CAN 



CAN 



59 



to be had, it might answer the pur- 

 pose better, as its tenacity will con- 

 tinue for some time. 2. Some tie 

 straw round the bodies of the trees. 

 This serves to entangle and retard 

 the insects, and prevents the ascent 

 of many of them. But they are so 

 amazingly prolific, that if ever so 

 few of them get up, a tree is greatly 

 damaged, at least for an ensuing 

 season or two. 



The pasturing of swine in an or- 

 chard, where it can conveniently 

 be done, I suppose to be an excel- 

 lent method. With their snouts 

 and their feet, they will destroy 

 many of the insects, before they 

 come out of the ground, or while 

 they are coming out. And I have 

 neverknown any orchard,constant- 

 ly used as a hog pasture, wholly 

 destroyed, or even made wholly 

 unfruitful by these worms. But 

 this method cannot always be tak- 

 en ; and if it could, I do not sup- 

 pose it would be quite effectual. — 

 When the trees are young, the 

 swine will be apt to injure them by 

 tearing the bark. 



But as tarring the trees is the 

 best antidote that we yet know of, 

 and as many persons of experience 

 believe it is possible that the insects 

 may be thus quite prevented pas- 

 sing up the trees, I shall here give 

 directions how to perform it in the 

 most effectual manner. 



In the first place, it is necessary 

 to begin the operation very early 

 in the year. Not observing this 

 caution, has occasioned the want 

 of success which many have com- 

 plained of: For it is certain that 

 the bugs will begin to pass up as 

 soon as the ground is so much 



thawed, that they can extricate 

 themselves from the soil ; which 

 is, in some years, as early as Feb- 

 ruary. Therefore, to make sure 

 work, it is best to begin as soon as 

 the ground is bare of snow in that 

 month, that the first thawing of the 

 ground may not happen before the 

 trees are prepared ; for, beginning 

 after ever so few of the insects are 

 gone up, the labour will all be lost. 



Another thing to be observed is, 

 to fill the crevices of the bark with 

 clay, before the strip of linen 

 or canvas is put on, that the in- 

 sects may not find any passage 

 for them under it. 



Having put on the strip, which 

 should be at least three inches wide, 

 drawn it close, and strongly fasten- 

 ed the ends together, a thumb rope 

 of tow should be tied round the 

 tree, close to the lower edge of the 

 strip. The design of doing this is, 

 that the tar may not drip, nor run 

 down on the bark of the tree,which 

 would injure it. 



When all the trees of an orch- 

 ard are thus prepared, let the strips 

 be plentifully smeared with cold 

 tar, put on with a brush. Perhaps 

 tar mixed with a small proportion 

 of fish oil would be still better. It 

 would not harden so soon as tar 

 alone. And oil is known to repel 

 most kinds of insects. The smear- 

 ing should be renewed once a day 

 without fail. The best time is 

 soon after sun-set ; because the in- 

 sects are wont to pass up in the 

 evening, and the tar will wot hard- 

 en 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 



