INSECTS, " 481 



a plantation to the other. Not a moment should bo lost 

 in destroying the first one that makes its appearance. 

 Where the hark is rough it should be scraped smooth ; if 

 the roots be affected the earth should be removed, and 

 every part washed, and every crevice filled with the fol- 

 lowing pieparation, recommended in Harris's Treatise : 

 " Two parts of soft-soap and eight of water, mixed with 

 lime enough to bring it to the consistency of thick white- 

 wash, to be put on with a brush." A solution of two 

 pounds of potash in seven quarts of water will answer 

 as well. Fresh earth should be put upon the roots. 



The Oyster Shell Barh- Louse. — This is a dark-brown 

 scale insect, that infests the bark of the apple-tree. 

 The scales are of a dark-brown color, like the bark, and 

 are not easily seen unless looked for. They attach them- 

 selves closely to the bai'k, and sometimes are so numerous 

 as to form a complete coating. They seldom appear on 

 thrifty-growing trees in good soil ; but where the soil is 

 damp and cold, and the trees growing feebly, this insect 

 may be looked for. June is the time to destroy them, 

 when they are young. At other times they are hard, and 

 able to resist any ordinary remedy. The same application 

 recommended for the aphis, applied to them with a hard 

 brush, will effect their destruction. Where they have 

 been left for a long time undisturbed, and have pretty 

 well covered the tree, the quickest and best remedy is to 

 destroy tree and all, unless it possesses some extraordinary 

 claim for indulgence. There are many other species of 

 bark lice or scale insects. Nearly every kind of tree or 

 shrub may be infested by them. 



The Apple-tree Borer is a very troublesome insect in' 

 some sections of the country. In Western New York 

 we have never met with it but in two or three instances, 

 in very old, neglected orchards, that had stood for twenty 

 years in grass. The beetle is striped brown and white, 

 and is about three-fourths of an inch long. It deposits its 



