THE PESTS OF THE FARM. 101 



as farmers often say, that in my mode of attack I had got the 

 cart before the horse, and that I would change my plan some- 

 what. I therefore sent my man forward with the tar, and I 

 followed with my pole, in the way above described. The result 

 was I went over forty large apple-trees twice, using fifteen 

 minutes each time on each tree ; and although not every worm 

 was destroyed, almost all were — so nearly so that I saw but 

 little of their depredations after the second attack. 



" The best time to do this work is on a still, warm day, after 

 the dew has disappeared ; then they more readily drop upon 

 their thread when the limbs are jarred than they will on a 

 windy or cool day, or when the trees are wet. If I failed last 

 fall, or if I do this spring, to catch the grubs as they run up, I 

 mean not to fail in bringing down the worms after they show 

 themselves upon the trees. By the above plan I think we may 

 be sure of every worm that we can get upon the ground, for 

 they will persevere until they are stuck fast in the tar. There 

 are now but few homesteads in Newton where there are more 

 than forty large apple-trees upon them. Who, with that num- 

 ber, would sooner lose his fruit, and be obliged to see his trees 

 disfigured and injured by these worms, than to be at the ex- 

 pense of two days' work upon them ? " 



Another very injurious larva is the caterpillar of the apple- 

 tree moth. Its habits are too well known to require a descrip- 

 tion here. Of the numerous devices planned for the destruction 

 of this pest, none have proved more efficacious than simply re- 

 moving with the hand the nest and its inmates at early morning, 

 and crushing the caterpillars beneath the foot. All washes have 

 proved ineffectual, and the brush is not always successful. Pick 

 off every individual, and clean off the nests ; and in early spring 

 scrape off" the loose bark and moss and burn it, and it will be 

 found that the apple-tree caterpillar can be easily suppressed. 

 The apple-tree borer is also well known as being very destruc- 

 tive, and when its ravages are unchecked the life of the tree is 

 endangered. The presence of one of these grubs may readily 

 be determined on finding on the ground, close to the trunk of 

 the tree, a little pile of the castings of the insect, which greatly 

 resemble fine saw-dust ; above this dust will be seen the mouth 

 of the burrow, running into the wood of the trunk. The best 

 method of killing the grub is to thrust a sharpened flexible wire 



