STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 93 



tency of thin paint. Apply this faithfully with an old paint brush ; 

 it will adhere to the trees, at least through the first few rains, and 

 will destroy the last remaining louse." It is well also to invigorate 

 the trees, enfeebled by this pest, by thorough cultivation about the 

 roots, applying wood ashes and other necessary nutriment. In 

 some States the bar,k louse is fast decreasing in numbers, in con- 

 sequence of the beneficent labors of parasites. It has been dis- 

 covered that small mites devour largely the small white eggs. 

 They have, as larvse, six legs, but as imagines eight. They hiber- 

 nate under the scales, and are smaller than the eggs upon which 

 they feed. We would welcome them among us as the harbingers 

 of better times, for as they increase the apple tree bark lice must 

 decrease. 



Another parasite is the chalcis fly, (Aphelinus mytilaspidis) and 

 whether it has found its way to an orchard or not may be easily 

 determined, for when the fly escapes it leaves the door open — a 

 smooth, round hole in the scale, which may be easily detected by 

 a common lens. There are two broods ; the first as imagines, 

 appearing early in the season, the second in August or September. 

 Later in the season the larvge may be found under the scales, 

 usually one, sometimes two. Thus we have a tiny fly, less than 

 .04 of itn inch long which in some localities is bringing to nought 

 one of the mightiest pests of our apple orchards. Thus, also, the 

 weak things of the world confound the mighty. Still, we must 

 not abate our activity in their artificial destruction. Speed the 

 day when these natural enemies shall do the work ; until then we 

 must not forget to scrape our trees and must make free use of 

 soapsuds. 



The Tent and Fall Web-Caterpillar. 



Our apple trees are also severely injured by a wholesale des- 

 truction of foliage. The chief agents of this work are the tent 

 and fall web-caterpillars. The former of these Lepidopterous 

 insects casts its silken net in the spring, just as the tender leaf- 

 buds are opening. The latter, as its name implies, weaves its 

 web in autumn. While a tree denuded of its foliage in spring 

 will die, in autumn such a loss is seldoni fatal ; hence the tent 

 caterpillar is far more to be dreaded than the full web-worm. 



The moth of the tent caterpillar ( Clisiocampa Americana, Har- 

 ris,^ appears in July, is of a brown color, with oblique bands of 

 lighter color crossing the wings. 



