84 



POPULAR FRUIT GROWING. 



be sprayed wth strong soapsuds, kerosene emulsion or tobacco 

 water. If the lice are allowed to get very numerous before 

 spraying is commenced, the work will have to be repeated sev- 

 eral times. Where trees are heavily infested, smoking may be 

 the most desirable treatment. (See reference to this under the 

 head of Insects Injurious to the Plum.) 



Climbing Cut Worms (Agrotis sp.;— When the foliage or 

 buds are being destroyed without any apparent cause, climbing 

 cut worms should be searched for. If present they will be found 

 in the day-time buried in the ground near the base of the trees 

 and occasionally do much damage. They are closely allied to 

 and resemble the common cut worms so well known to gardeners. 

 Remedies. — They may be destroyed by spraying the foliage 

 as recommended for the Tent Caterpillar and by jarring the 

 trees after dark and then gathering the worms. 

 Insects Attacking Trunks and Branches. 

 Flat Headed Apple Tree Borer (Chrysobothris femorata). — 

 This borer is quite abundant in some sections but generally does 

 not cause serious losses here. It prefers 

 to work in trees that are newly trans- 

 planted, or weakened by some disease, 

 making its borings in the trunks and larg- 

 er branches and often completely girdling 

 them. It is the larva of a beetle that is 

 oblong, flattish in form and of a shining 

 greenish-black color about three-«ighths 

 of an inch long. The beetles emerge from 

 the borings in the trees in the early 

 summer. They are very active in the 

 middle of warm days and may be found 

 in the hot sunshine running up and down 

 the trunk of the tree, whence they fly 

 quickly if an attempt is made to catch 

 them. They lay their eggs, which are 

 yellow, under loose scales on the bark or 

 in cracks and crevices. The young soon hatch and eat their 

 way through the bark, feeding on the sap wood. As the borer 

 approaches maturity, it usually bores into the more solid wood 



Fig. 30 —Flat head- 

 ed Apple Tree 

 Borer, a.— Borer 

 full grown, b. — 

 Pupa, c— Reverse 

 side of head. d. — 

 Mature borer. 



