154 



Insetts and Diseases. 



another rod sharpened at both ends, with a length equal to the 

 breadth of the sheet, and insert it crosswise, placing it atop the 

 other two rods, and bringing up the edge of the sheeting to receive 

 its points. A notch cut near each end of the rod for the others to 

 drop in, will prevent them from springing in ; or a small nail ma} 

 be driven through for the same purpose. The thing is now com- 

 plete ; and one person, taking these cross-pieces as handles, will 

 carry them readily from tree to tree, and place them on the ground 

 beneath, without any waste of time. By jarring with a hammer or 

 sledge, and pinching between thumb and finger, he will destroy 

 hundreds in a short time. 



If these sheets are quite large, it will be best to place stiffeners at 



each end, as shown in Fig. 

 190. These rods, if nothing 

 better is at hand, may be 

 made by cutting long green 

 poles, or shoots of bushes, 

 and peeling the bark off. 

 One-half to three-fourths of 

 an inch in diameter, will be 

 large enough. 



Should the insects be very 

 abundant, they may be de- 

 stroyed by throwing them 

 into a pail of hot water, or, still better, into a small tin vessel of 

 kerosene, by varying the contrivance as follows : Instead of the 

 stiffeners across the ends, formed by single rods, let them be two 

 short rods, meeting in the middle. When the middle rod is pulled out 

 these will form a sort of hinge, so that the two sides of the sheet may 

 be folded up like the covers of a book, and the insects thrown down 

 into the trough thus formed, and thence into the vessel. In dislodging 

 the insects from the tree, much depends on a sharp, stunning blow. 

 It may be given by the stroke of a mallet, upon the short stump of 

 one of the smaller limbs, sawed off for this purpose, and which pre- 

 vents bruising the bark. Or a mallet may be thickly covered with 

 woollen cloth encased in India-rubber, to prevent injury to the tree ; 

 but the jar is less sudden in this case. The late David Thomas 

 (who first proposed jarring down on sheets), in a communication to 

 the Genesee Farmer, in 1832, says: "Not three days ago I saw 

 that many of the plums were punctured, and began to suspect that 

 shaking the tree was not sufficient. Under a tree in a remote part of 

 a fruit-garden, having spread the sheets, I therefore made the fol- 



Fig. 190. 



