THE GENESEE FAEMEE. 



is an object of great importance, which may be 

 done with such organic substances as straw, 

 forest leaves, tan-baik, and muck ; and also by 

 dry loam and clay. 



Stpetcftes in Sheep. — Seeing an inqniry in the 

 Inst number of tlie Geneare Farmer asking if there 

 was sncli a disease as the stretches in sheep, I 

 answer, tliere is. We have had several cases of 

 it' An old friend of fother's told him the disease 

 was oocnsioned by their inwards knotting togeth- 

 er. When yon first see them stand, stretching, 

 catch them and take tliera up by their hind legs, 

 raising tliem their full length from the ground ; 

 then give them three or four smart jerks up and 

 down ; the)i give them some salt, and in ten min- 

 utes give them some tar, and if they will not lick 

 it themselves put some in their moutli and hold it 

 in till it is dissolved. I know this to be a good 

 remedy, for we have tried it and they always got 

 well in two or three hours. 



I am not quite fifteen years old, but I thought 

 this remedv so useful that I would send it. Jas. 

 PuKDiE. — Colvmhus, Chen. Co., N. Y. 



HORTICULTURAL. 



The Applk Tree Bahk-Lousk.— Piimmpr tiofor*' last I 

 notieed a Inrffe nymber of hnss, nhoiit tlie shape of the 

 common lishlninsc bus, only three times as large, upon my 

 young apple trees : since then 

 nmnv of the trees are covered 

 with' a small thin?, in form 

 of e£:gs, as in the specimen I 

 inclose. I send it to you in 

 hope that you may reeognise 

 the hHint. a'nrl be able to anve 

 the antidote to his ravases. 

 It seems to blisht all the trees 

 npon whieh it appe.-^rs. arfi 

 almost entirely prevent their 

 growth. If you will be so 

 kind as to advise me in rcfi r- 

 cnee to this matter, you will 

 confer a great favor.— Albekt 

 Van Voast. — Schsneetady, 



A': Y. 



This is the troublesome 

 insect called the Apple 

 Tree Bark-Louse. We 

 annex a sketch of it, and 

 quote the following from 

 Harius' excellent Treatise 

 on Insects: 



"Young ap]de trees, 

 and the extremities of 

 tlie liiabs of older trees 

 are very much subject 

 to the attacks of a small 

 Pl)ecie8 of bark-louse. The limbs and smooth 

 jiarts of the trunks are sometimes comph'tely 

 covered wilh these insects, and j)resent u very 

 singulaily wrinkled and rough aj'pearance from 

 the bodies which arc crowded closely together. 

 In the winter these insects are torpid, and ap- 

 parently dead. They measure about one-tenth 

 of a inch in h'ngth, are of an ol)hHig oval shape, 

 graduidly decicasiug to a point at one end, and 

 are of a brownish color, very near to that of the 



bark of the tree. These insects resemble in shape 

 one which was, described by Reaumur* in 1738, 

 who found it on the Elm in France, aud Geoff- 

 rot named the insect Coccus arbonmi linearis, 

 while Gmelin called it conchifonnis. This, or one 

 much like it, is very abundant upon apple trees 

 in England, as we learn from Dr. ISnAwf and Mr. 

 Kirby;:}; and Mr. Rennie§ states that he found 

 it in great plenty on currant bushes. It is highly 

 probable that we have received tliis insect from 

 Europe, but it is somewhat doubtful whether 

 our ap])le tree bark louse be identical with the 

 species found by Reau:mur on the Elm- and the 

 doubt seems to be justified by the difference in 

 the trees and in the habits of the insects, our 

 species being gregarious, and that of the Elm 

 nearly solitary. It is true that on some of our 

 indigenous forest trees bark lice of nearly the 

 same form and appearance have been observed ; 

 but it is by no means clear that they are of tlie 

 same species as those on the apple tree. Tlie 

 first account that we have of the occurrence of 

 bark lice on apple trees, in this country, is a 

 communication by Mr. Enoch Pebley, of Bridge- 

 town, Maine, written in 1794, and published 

 among the early a]ipers of the Massachusetts 

 Agficultural Society. || These insects have now 

 heeome extremely common, and infest our nur- 

 seiii's and young trees to a very great extent. — 

 In the spring the egtcs are readily to be seen on 

 raising the little muscle-shaped scales beneath 

 which they are concealed. These eggs are of a 

 white color, and in shape nearly like those of 

 snakes. Every shell contains from thirty to forty 

 of them, imbedded in a small quantity of whitish 

 friable down. They begin to hatch about tlie 

 '25t!i of May, and finish about the lOth of June, 

 according to Mr. Pert-ey. The young, on their 

 first appearance, are nearly white, very minute, 

 and nearly oval in form. In about ten days they 

 become stationary, aud early in June throw out 

 a quantity of bluish white down, soon after 

 which their transformations are completed, and 

 the females become fertile, and dep(jsil their eggs. 

 These, it seems, are hatched in the course of the 

 summer, and the young come to their growth 

 and ])rovide for a new brood before the ensuing 

 winter. 



Among the natural means which are provided 

 to check the increase of these bark lice, are birds, 

 many of which, especially those of the genera 

 Partis and Rcgulus, contain-ing the chickadee and 

 our wrens, devour great quantities of these lice. 

 I have also found that these iusecls are preyed 

 u])on by internal parasites, minute ieiincumon 

 flies, and the holes (wliich are as small as if 

 made with a fine needle), through which these 

 little insects come forth, may be seen on tlie 

 backs of a great many of the lice which have 

 been destroyed by their intestine foes. The best 

 application for the destruction of the lice is a 

 wash made of two parts of soft soap and eight of 

 water, with which is mixed lime enough to bring 



* Memoirea, Vol. IV., p. 69, plate 5, figs. S. 6, 7. 

 + General Zoology, Vol. VI., J'art 1.. p. Itl6. 

 t Intfodiietion to Kntomology, Vol. 1., p. aul. 

 § Insect Transformations, p. 92, 

 li Sec papers for nS^C, p. ii. 





