1884. 



The LANCASTER FARMER. 



117 



many places in the East, we infer that if is. 

 Ploughing the ground while the trees were so 

 full of worms as to be able to drive a man and 

 an ox out of the orchard, must be regarded as 

 a very silly process, and if it had been accom- 

 plished would only have put the soil in a very 

 good condition for the worms to enter after 

 they had matured their larval development, 

 and there they would have gone of their own 

 accord. This worm can only be conquered 

 above ground, and if not exterminated whilst 

 on the trees then traps must be set to capture 

 the females as they come up out ot the ground 

 in the spring, and very early in the spring 

 too— indeed, during warm spells, in the 

 months of February, March and April, they 

 have been known to come up and ascend the 

 trees, hence various kinds of traps have been 

 attached to the trunks, entirely surrounding 

 them, to capture the female moths, for they 

 are wingless and can only get on the trees by 

 crawling up the trunks. The males have 

 wings and can lly, but they do no further harm 

 than fertilizing the females. If, therefore, 

 the females are destroyed before they deposit 

 their eggs the work of extermination is ac- 

 complished. This work may not be agreeable, 

 but it must be dune. 



In any event, application should have been 

 made, at the proper time, (it may now be too 

 late) to the Department of Agriculture at 

 Washington ; it might have sent on a com- 

 missioner of investigation, for this is the very 

 information it has been seeking for years past. 

 Gapes in Chickens. 



Here we quote a case of a diflerent cliar- 

 acter, in which an attempt is made to establish 

 a thecny in regard to the origin of the "Gape- 

 worm." In the editorial columns of The 

 Poultry Wm-ld, for July 1S84, we find an ably 

 written article (in the main) on this subject, 

 which we regard as erroneous, when the 

 writer infers that because the "Bot-fly," 

 "Sheep-fly" and other insects, are worms in 

 one of the forms of their development, that 

 have been bred from eggs deposited by the fly 

 of said worms, it therefore must follow— or is 

 likely to follow— that the gape-worm is but 

 the 'larva form of some winged insect that 

 deposits its eggs in the nostrils of the chickens, 

 or in the soil, and is thence picked up (by the 

 chicken) and then gains access to its mouth or 

 wind-pipe, "where both heat and air favor 

 its growth, till it arrives at maturity, and is 

 ejected to repeat itself as a fly, larva and 

 worm." « 



It is true, that the history and development 

 of the strongylidce are somewhat complicated, 

 and difticult to study, but it does not follow 

 that they are the larva of winged-insects; or 

 "flies," any more than it follows that Tape- 

 worms, and other stomach, intestinal, and 

 anal worms are the larvK of winged insects : 

 or that Trichinte, Hair-worms, Fillarians, or 

 Vinegar-worms, are the offspring of insect 

 forms. They belong to entirely different 

 families of the animal world ; and any effort 

 directed towards their identification with 

 the insect world, will only be labor in 

 vain. The paper we refer to is in the main a 

 good one, and here we would suggest that 

 ejected gape worms should be immediately 

 burnt or scalded ; because instances are on 

 record where they liave revived by heat and 

 moisture, after having been dried from ten to 



fifleen days. Eggs have been discovered in 

 their bodies, as well as in Hair-worms, which 

 is never the case in insect larvic. 



MAPLE TREE PESTS. 



The maple trees in the suburbs of the city 

 are being destroyed by an insect on an exten- 

 sive scale. The same insect is making inroads 

 in the maple groves in New York, and Prof. 

 J. A. Lintner, State Entomologist of New 

 York, to whom some specimens were sent, 

 says : 



The specimens sent, attached irregularly to 

 the lower surface of majjle leaves, about 

 twenty on each leaf, are white cottony masses, 

 of from three to nearly four-tentlis of an inch 

 long, about one-half as broad, of a sub-oval 

 form, bearing upon the narrower end a brown 

 scale which is rounded in front, usually ir- 

 regularly contorted behind, as if from drying, 

 and crossed in the more perfect examples 

 with three or four transverse ridges. 



They belong to the Coccidce, or as more 

 commonly known, scale insects. Their com- 

 mon name — drawn from the tree upon which 

 they more frequently occur— is the maple 

 tree scale insect. The species was first de- 

 scribed by Br. Rathvon, of Lancaster, Pa., in 

 the year 1854, who found it occurring "in 

 such countless .nillions " upon some linden 

 trees, that he gave it the name of Coccus in- 

 numerabilis. A few months thereafter (in 

 1855, Dr. Fitch received examples of it from 

 an osage orange hedge in Ohio, and deeming 

 it identical with a fig-tree Lecanium of 

 Europe, he simply described and figured it, 

 with the remark that if it proved a new 

 species it should be known Lecanium marri- 

 larc", — the specific name taken from the plant 

 upon which it occurred. In 18(10 tlie species 

 again came under the notice of Dr. Fitch, as 

 infesting maples in Albany and vicinity, and 

 not recognizing it as the osage orange insect, 

 he proposed for it the name of Lecanium aceri- 

 corticis. In 1808 it was received by Messrs. 

 Walsh and Riley, as infesting maples and also 

 as occurring on osage orange, and vvaS de- 

 scribed, by them as Lecanium acericoia and L 

 maclurcB (American Entomologist, i, 18(59, p. 

 14, fig. 8). Although marked diflerences have 

 been pointed out in these several forms, they 

 are believed by those who have most closely 

 studied them, to be the .same species with that 

 first described by Dr. Rathvon, and now 

 known as Pulvinaria innumerabilis. 



While many of our scale insects appear to 

 be confined to a single plant, this species, 

 from some peculiar adaption to varied condi- 

 tions, has quite an extensive range, having 

 been reported as found upon maple, osage 

 orange, linden, locust, sumac, box-elder, 

 beech, willow, grape, currant and rose. From 

 such a range, together with its large size and 

 enormous processes of multiplication, it may 

 properly be numbered among the more in- 

 jurious species. The scale of this insect con- 

 sists of excretory and exuvial material. The 

 white, cottony matter, which is so conspicu- 

 ous a feature of it, in the later stage of its ex- 

 istence, is a secretion for the protection of 

 tlie eggs and the newly-hatched larvae. 



The life histories of this and of other scale 

 insects are full of interest, but they cannot be 

 briefly given, and therefore those who desire 

 to become acquainted with them should refer 



to some of the many valuable papers in which 

 they have been treated at length. This par- 

 ticular species has been the subject of an 

 elaborate paper, of some fifty pages and two 

 plates, by the late J. Duncan Putnam, of the 

 Davenport (Iowa) Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, which, from the extremely careful 

 study of which it is the fruit, may justly serve 

 as a model for similar biological work. 



For the scientific study of the family, refer- 

 ence may be had to a report, on Scale-Insects, 

 by Prof. .1. II. Comstock, contained in the 

 Annual Report of (he Commissioners of Agri- 

 culture for the year l!<8(J. A second report, 

 on the same insects, in continuation of Prof. 

 Comstock's special study of them while ento- 

 mologist to the Department of Agriculture, 

 has just been published in the Second Annual 

 Report of the Cornell University Experimen- 

 tal Station. It is devoted to one of the sub- 

 families of the Coccwte, the Uiaspinm, and 

 treats of 121 species, a number of which are 

 for the first time de8cril)ed. In addition to 

 these, nearly 50 species of other North Ameri- 

 can Uoccidai are noticed. 



As the scale-Insects, when they abound are 

 exceeding Injurious to the vegetation that 

 they attack, it is of great importance that all 

 who are liable to sufier from their injuries 

 should know how they may best be destroyed. 

 Although serious pests, they are not beyond 

 control if the proper remedies be resorted to. 



When scale-insects are discovered infesting 

 a few trees in an orchard, the trees should be 

 cut down and destroyed at once, as the best 

 way to arrest the evil. 



The species that are confined to the trunks 

 and larger branches of .shade and other trees, 

 may often be destroyed by scrubbing with a 

 stiff brush, wet with strong soap-suds. 



If the foliage is infested, a force pump or 

 garden syringe must be employed for spraying 

 the Insecticide. The two best insecticides for 

 the purpose are soap and kerosene. The first 

 has been thoroughly tested in many experi- 

 ments by or under the direction of Prof. 

 Comstock, and Is strongly recommended by 

 him, to be used In the following manner : In 

 a gallon of hot water one-fourth of a pound 

 of whale-oil soap is dissolved, and its applica- 

 tion Is made at a temperature of about 100=' 

 Fahr. It should be repeated after an interval 

 of a few days. As the result of other experi- 

 ments subsequently made, it Is stated that 

 one pound of concentrated lye to one gallon 

 of water will elTectually destroy all scale in- 

 sects, drying up the scales and eggs beneath 

 them, and killing the young insects If hatched. 



It is asserted, however, by Prof. Riley that 

 whale oil soap and lye fail to kill the eggs of 

 scale Insects, and he Iherefore urges the use 

 of kerosene as greatly superior to them, and 

 decidedly preferable to any other known sub- 

 stance for the eradication of these pests. 



The most simple way to apply the kerosene 

 is to mix it with water, for undiluted it is de- 

 structive to many kinds of vegetation. As it 

 separates quickly from the water. It requires 

 to be kept in constant agitation, which may 

 be done by discharging the syringe or pump 

 several times into the pail before applying the 

 liquid to the trees, and continuing to alter- 

 nate the discharge from the tree to the pall. 

 By far the best way In which to use kerosene 

 for insecticidal purposes, is to make an emul- 



