42 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



about that season of the year, the Umbs of apple trees thus infested 

 are covered with a substance resembhng a fine mould, of a cotton^' 

 appearance. The eggs of the bark lice are deposited in this sub- 

 stance, and can be destro3ed by being wiped off with the hand cov- 

 ered by a mitten. As the middle of June is the season of the 

 dopositing of the eggs of the aphis, at that time their shell is loose 

 and the alkali applied will penetrate the scale and destroy the insect 

 beneath. But the orchardist has a friend to assist him in the destruc- 

 tion of the bark lice. In the first warm daj-s in spring a small 

 brown bug or beetle known as the lady bug may be seen crawling 

 slowly among the limbs of trees infested with bark lice. These 

 little beetles destroy vast numbers of the bark lice. I have watched 

 them with a small magnifying glass. They proceed from shell to 

 shell, perforating the covering of the bark lice and sucking out the 

 contents. They are about the size of a half of a pea, with two 

 black spots on their wing covers. A few years since on visiting a 

 neighbor I found him in his orchard busil}' engaged in destroying 

 these little beetles, and told him he was killing his best friends. 



Another vexatious pest which the orchardist has to contend with 

 is the apple tree borer, which can only be got rid of after they enter 

 the tree b3' digging them out with a small chisel or drawing them 

 from their hole with a blunted or hooked wire. Sometimes when 

 the worm cannot be reached without badly lacerating the tree I have 

 inserted one or two lighted matches into the hole, and found that 

 the fumes of the sulphur destroyed them. The borer continues its 

 destructive work for three years after it enters the tree. The eggs 

 from which the worms are hatched are deposited on the bark of the 

 tree very near the surface of the ground, and soon after the eggs 

 are hatched the minute worms ma}' be discovered in the early morn- 

 ing b}' a small damp spot on the bark caused by the wounding of 

 the bark and flowing of the sap. Before they enter the tree they 

 can be destroyed with slight trouble. But prevention is better than 

 cure, and it is far less trouble to prevent the borers from molesting 

 our trees than it is to dislodge them after they have once entered the 

 body of the tree. I have found that a covering of birch bark or old 

 oil-cloth fastened around the tree, will prevent the eggs from being 

 attached to the bark. The covering should be about a foot in width 

 and inserted an inch beneath the surface of the ground. 



The codling moth is another destructive pest the orchardist has 

 to contend with, and one of the most difficult to subdue. It is 



