DISEASES AND DEPREDATORS. 331 



Other similar applications, will produce a good effect, 

 and restore vigour. Trees attacked by mildew may 

 be sprinkled with soapsuds, and dusted with snuff, 

 tobacco-dust, or sulphur ; if canker is observed, let 

 the part affected be cut clean out in such a manner 

 Ihat no water can remain in the wound, and then 

 wash the place with a niixiiue of soot and water, 

 after which it may be coated over with train or other 

 oil, and soot or brickdust used to thicken it and give 

 (t a proper consistence. 



Of the insects that attack trees and fruit we have 

 already noticed the curculio and the borer, and the 

 best means of preventing injury from their presence. 

 There are two insects that seem to prefer the apple- 

 tree to other fruit-trees, which are very destructive, 

 and in some seasons ruin the fruit of whole districts. 

 These are the caterpillar and the canker-worm. The 

 caterpillar is the product of a moth, which deposites 

 its eggs in a thimble-like form around the outer 

 shoots of the apple branches in autumn, where they 

 remain during the winter, and are vivified by the 

 warmth of spring about the time the buds open to 

 supply them with food. If they appear early, a sec- 

 ond crop is sometimes produced late in the season, 

 but usually in less numbers than the first. These 

 catei'pillars do not eat the fruit ; they injure it by 

 destroying the leaves necessary to the elaboration 

 of the juices that go towards perfecting it. Nothing 

 but a Httle attention is necessary to free an orchard 

 from this pest. The silklike nest spun by the worm 

 shows itself at once, and a rag or a brush on the end 

 of a pole, apphed while the worms are in their nests, 

 will wind up and crush the whole. 



The canker-worm is a more serious and destnic- 

 tive enemy than the caterpillar, in those parts of the 

 country where it is found. Its habits are such that 

 it is less readil)"^ observed, or its depredations pre- 

 vented. The female of the canker-worm is wing- 

 less, and, when it emerges from its chrysahs state in 



