14 



which are as yet, in the present stage of agricultural 

 knowledge, entirely beyond his control, while others, by 

 careful watchfulness, may be easily guarded against. 



The canker worm, which has already been spoken of, 

 the borer and caterpillar are the worst enemies of the 

 orchard. The borer can easily be found by his chips, 

 and probed to death with a wire, or limber twig peeled 

 and pointed. The caterpillar's nests are readily seen 

 when the trees first put out their leaves ; the nests at 

 that time are small, and a whole colony can be destroyed 

 by a single pinch with the thumb and finger, provided 

 you call upon them at proper hours. Until eight o'clock 

 in the morning, and from twelve to two in the afternoon 

 they are all at home; other parts of every pleasant day 

 they are out foraging, and no man has any excuse for 

 allowing his trees to be eaten by them. The small black 

 fly is very destructive to young cabbage and cucumber 

 plants, frequently destroying the whole crop in a single 

 day. Air-slacked lime or ashes sifted on, are per- 

 fect remedies. The striped squash bug and a maggot 

 are very destructive to the squash crop : air-slacked lime 

 or ground plaster is easily applied, inexpensive, and an 

 entire protection against the bug. By planting five 

 seeds in a hill, there will usually be plants enough for 

 the maggot, and two or three plants, besides, to grow, 

 which are sufficient. To insure the seeds coming up 

 readily, they should be stuck in the prepared hill, one 

 inch deep, with the pointed end down ; this will save 

 them two days of severe labor in turning over to come 

 up ; a labor which in some cases is so difficult as to pre- 

 vent their coming up at all. 



Then we have the onion maggot, an enemy more diffi- 

 cult to deal with, very destructive to the crop in most 



