722 MASS. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



be a serious matter. Besides, in any case, the oil is almost 

 certain to be driven out by wind or rain against the bark of 

 the tree, and the tree in consequence is seriously injured. 

 Tarring on the bark itself is still more objectionable. If the 

 tar is applied on strips of canvas, which are fastened round the 

 body of the tree, there is still danger that the tar may run down 

 upon the bark. Besides, the tar is soon hardened by the sun 

 or chilled by rain, and the insect then passes over it with ease. 



The best expedient with which I am acquainted, is that era- 

 ployed in Europe, against an insect resembling our canker- 

 worm, though apparently not so notorious. It is mentioned 

 by KoUar, and called by him a wooden boot, I suppose for no 

 other reason than because it is placed round the foot of the 

 tree. It is, in fact, a box, without top or bottom, and with 

 sides of about a foot high, furnished with a border at the top, 

 on the outside, like the eaves of a house. The tar is put on 

 under the border, and being thus protected from the sun and 

 the weather, remains liquid for a long time. Care must still 

 be taken to renew it occasionally. Some insects may rise be- 

 tween the boot and the tree, but these will be few, if any, as 

 the propensity of these insects is to climb over the obstacles 

 which they find in their path, and not to mine beneath them, 

 and most of them rise from the ground at a little distance from 

 the very trunk of the tree. For a tree not exceeding twelve 

 inches in diameter, a boot will cost not exceeding sixteen or 

 eighteen cents, and if taken off and replaced at the proper 

 seasons these boots will last for years. 



The history of the insect may be briefly given as follows. 

 The male, which is a small miller, and the female, a grub with- 

 out wings, climb the tree in the autumn, or early in the spring, 

 and the female deposits her eggs on the branches of the tree. 

 These eggs are hatched in the spring, about the time of the 

 appearance of the young foliage. The young worm issues 

 forth and preys on the leaves for about Your weeks, turning 

 this short period to (for himself) the very best account. He 

 then descends into the ground, and about the first of Ju'ly the 

 insect has disappeared for the summer, to issue forth again in 

 his perfect state, after the first hard frost, or from that period till 

 early spring. Dr. Harris states, that in mild winters he has 

 seen them issue forth in every month from October till March. 



