378 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JUIVES, 1«41. 



apple trees, which had been eaten by the canUer 

 worm more or less for several years, but last year, 

 particularly, the foliage and truit were eaten en- 

 tirely up. On some of the trees the worms were 

 very numerous, and hardly found sufficient quanti- 

 ty of food to subsist upon. 



After the worms had become quite large, I less- 

 ened their numbers by shaking the limbs and 

 throwing coarse sand into the trees, thereby caus- 

 ing them to suspend themselves by their thread 

 and striking them off with a stick to the ground, 

 and then tarring the trees to prevent their as- 

 cending them. Dry coarse sand or ashes placed 

 around the trunks will answer the purpose, to pre- 

 vent the worms again ascending the trees. Small 

 trees in this way may be wholly cleared of worms, 

 but on large ones this method of e.iterpating th« 

 insect avails but little, for after destroying great 

 numbers, enough will still remain to greatly in- 

 jure the foliage and fruit, besides the injury the 

 tree will be likely to sustain in shaking it, when 

 the bark from the great flow of sap at this season 

 of the year is very apt to peal, thereby causing 

 canker. For this reason, I prefer coarse sand 

 thrown into the tree, as it will generally destroy 

 them without causing injury. But after the insect 

 is on the tree, if a large one, little can be done to 

 destroy it, audit should be our chief aim to devise 

 some way to prevent its ascending the trunk. 



Soon after the worms had entered the ground 

 and passed into the chrysalis state, I removed the 

 earth around the trees to the distance of five feet 

 from the trunk, and to the depth of six inches, this 

 I carted away and brought back, in return, some 

 good manure mixed with earth, and placed it around 

 the trees. In this way I got rid of a vast number 

 of the worms by removing them with the dirt, be- 

 sides increasing the growth and fruitfulness of the 

 trees. I then covered the compost over with spent 

 bark or tan, which I have/ound beneficial by pre- 

 venting the growth of grass, and Jieeping the earth 

 loose, and by the property it possesses of retaining 

 frost, the earth around the trees is kept frozen, 

 causing the grubs to remain still during the mod- 

 erate weather in February, March, and beginning 

 of April, thereby avoiding the necessity of tarring 

 during this period. In the autumn and spring fol- 

 lowing the trees were tarred, and after the grubs 

 were done running, they were scraped, and a wash 

 composed of lime, soupsuds, clay, and cowdung 

 applied with a whitewash brush to the trunk and 

 branches. The trees were carefully pruned about 

 the middle of .May, by removing all the dead and 

 diseased limbs, which, in consequence of repeated 

 injury they had sustained by the worms, had be- 

 come quite numerous. 



There is nothing, perhaps, that will so soon 

 cause decay in an apple tree as this insect. You 

 will first notice the injury by observing the ex- 

 tremities of the branches, which will be dead, and 

 unless they are removed in pruning, the disease 

 will extend along to the trunk, and cause the death 

 of the tree. Trees deprived of their foliage by the 

 worm, generally puts forth again the same season, 

 but this extra labor of furnishing new leaves is 

 very exhausting to the vigor of the tree, and hence 

 it becomes necessary to prune close, and apply ma- 

 nure, and in some bad cases of injury, the more 

 stimulating the better. 



When manure cannot be obtained, digging 

 around the tree will answer a good purpose by 

 crushing the chrysalis, exposing it to the action of 



the sun and air, or to be devoured by birds, and the 

 earth being looM.'ued, will impart vigor to the tree. 

 The question may be asked by some of your read- 

 ers, when is the best time to dig around the tree ? 

 In reply, I would answer, I consider the first of 

 July the best season, although it may be done at 

 any time, from that period to the fall of the leaves 

 in autumn. The reasons for my preferring the 

 first of July are these. The worms having passed 

 into the chrysalis state, the shells are soft and ten- 

 der, and are more easily crushed by digging, and 

 the tree will the sooner recover from it.s injury by 

 receiving an immediate benefit from your assistance, 

 but if delayed until autumn it will derive little ben- 

 efit from your labors the present year. I have suc- 

 ceeded by the process above described, in com- 

 pletely restoring trees to the highest state of health 

 and vigor, covering theia with an abundance of 

 fruit and foliage, and with but very little appear- 

 ance of the Canker Worm. 



Yours, with respect and esteem, 



S. P. FOWLER. 



[Having previously signified our intention to 

 copy the above article, Mr Fowler, after requesting 

 us to make a few corrections, adds — ] 



The Method to he used to renovrite and restore 

 to health and vigor apple trees that have received in- 

 jury from the Canker tlonn When trees have 



been suffered to be eaten for several years, as is 

 sometimes done by some persons, under the mis- 

 taken notion that it is best to let them alone and 

 eat themselves out, as they term it, it frequently be- 

 comes a subject of inquiry, what is best to do with 

 them to restore th-"'i! ? I will relate to you the 

 method a neighbor of mine pursued in regard to 

 his trees, by my su'/L'ea'ion. He had sufiered the 

 canker worm to injure them most severely; many 

 of the limbs were dead — others partially so ; suck- 

 ers were growing up from the middle of the tree ; 

 the limbs and trunk covered with moss, and with 

 the appearance of canker — exhibiting decay and 

 disease. Four different modes to pursue toward 



the trees presented themselves to our minds 



The first was to cut them down and set out new 

 ones; but this was given up, when we considered 

 that it vvas a well est.-iblished fact, that new orch- 

 ards do badly on the site of old ones. The second 

 wasj to head them down afterthe manner laid down 

 by Forsyth and other writers, to restore old and 

 decayed trees ; but this mode was abandoned, for 

 reasons which will hereafter appear. The third 

 was, to trim out the suckers and cut off the dead 

 limbs, shorten those half dead by cutting them 

 down to the live wood, 'pruning close, ploughing or 

 digging amongst the roots r how we should have 

 succeeded in pursuing this method, I do not know: 

 it has been practiced by Capt. Benj. Porter this 

 spring upon his trees, which you will remember the 

 canker worms and neglect have caused to be in a 

 bad condition. We shall see the results in a few 

 years, if we live. Had I have owned that large 

 orchard, I would have given considerable for the 

 opportunity which he had of entirely changing his 

 trees, by grafting the suckers upon his old, and 

 many of them, poor varieties of apples, and substi- 

 tuting the new and better kinds of fruit. 



Our principal objection to this method was the 

 the difficulty of again imparting vigor in old and 

 diseased tops, full of moss and canker, and likewise 

 perceiving the tendency of the sap to flow into the 

 suckers instead of the old limbs ; and should these 

 suckers be removed every year, or indeed twice a 



year, as we have sometimes done, still there is a 

 tendency in the tree to throw out new suckers, ^ 

 plainly indicating thereby that it is striving to ob- 

 tain a new top, which in time it would acquire 

 without assistance, (although much better with it,) I 

 by the growth of the suckers and the old limbs dy- . 

 ing down to the trunk. Our fourth method, which i 

 we practiced with success and recommend to others, 

 is as follows. First, to cutout all dead limbs close 

 to the trunk, and when large, apply paint, with a 

 brush, to the wounds. Red or yellow ochre is 

 best ; by the way we consider this the best appli- 

 cation for wounds caused by removing large limbs, 

 or by accidents, that can be made. I applied 

 Forsyth's composition to the ends of limbs removed 

 in pruning a few years since, and I found some of 

 them rotten, caused by its retaining moisture, as I 

 supposed. Cut off all partially dead limbs down 

 to the live wood. Trim out the suckers, leaving 

 a sufficient number of the most vigorous to form a 

 good head to the trees, and apply the wash ; dig 

 around the trees and apply manure, if you have it. 

 When the suckers have acquired a sufficient size, 

 graft them, and as they grow and occasion may re- 

 quire, ci.t the old limbs out close to the grafts at 

 the fork, prune the grafts and give them a proper 

 direction, so as to form a good top. By this me- 

 thod, in a few years you can get rid of the old 

 head, substituting for it a new one, healthy and 

 vigorous. The advantages of this method over all 

 others in restoring trees badly injured by the can- 

 ker worm, are these : It gives us an opportunity by 

 gralting, to obtain the new and better varieties of 

 fruit; and in some old orchards this is very desi- 

 rable. The reasons why we prefer it over Mr 

 Forsyth's meihod of heading down, are these: the 

 old limbs are bearing some fruit while your grafts 

 are growing in your suckers, and you do not risk 

 the life of the tree by depriving it at once of all 

 its limbs, for there is some danger of losing 

 large trees in this way. 



There are many things connected with the hab- 

 its of the canker worm and the means of its de- 

 struction, which it might be useful to publish. It 

 has undoubtedly produced more injury to our apple 

 trees than any thing else. 



The next most destructive insect to our trees, or 

 rather fruit, we have to trouble us, is the Curculio. 

 They have increased very much with me in a few 

 years, destroying gr injuring, I should think, near- 

 ly hall my fruit. 



The canker is a disease well understood in Eng- 

 land, but very little here. It is common with us, 

 and when its effects are seen, it is ascribed by 

 many people, ignorantly, to injury caused by severe 

 winters, and nothing more thought of it. Much 

 might be said on the subject of pruning. Very 

 many people who prune trees, know but little about 

 it Much has been said and written on the proper 

 time to prune, hut after some considerable experi- 

 ence I think more of the manner of performing it 

 than I do of the season in which it is done. All 

 seasons have their advantages and disadvantages, 

 and much might be said on both sides ; I hare 

 pruned at all seasons of the year successfully and 

 now do it when I have leisure and my saw is sharp. 

 The attention of many people has been directed 

 within a few years to the cultivation of fruit trees, 

 and more have been set this year than I ever kneWj^ 

 before. 



A great deal more I have to write, had I space. 

 Your friend, S. P. FowtER. 



