118 GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



of the enemy. The best preventive is a soap and corrosive 

 sublimate wash made as follows: 



Corrosive sublimate, 1 ounce. 



Soft soap, 10 gallons. 



Alcohol, 1 pint. 



Water, to make a stiff paint. 



Dissolve the sublimate in the alcohol and add the soap, 

 and then the water. Apply this wash to the tree early in 

 May, and renew within twenty days, or earlier, as long as 

 the beetles are seen flying about. Coat the trunk and the 

 large limbs. 



Apple-Tree Tent Caterpillar (Clisiocampa Ameri- 

 cana). — The moth is a reddish night-flying insect which 

 lays her eggs, 200 or more, around small twigs in early 

 summer, and then dies. These eggs remain unhatched 

 until the following spring, when the tree begins to bud, 

 when they hatch small caterpillars, which feed upon the 

 leaves of the tree. The caterpillars spin a web in the 

 forks of the tree, where they remain at rest during the 

 hot part of the day. These web tents are quite dense and 

 seldom attain a larger size than one foot. 



Plants- Injured. — Apple, cherry, and other trees. 



Remedies. — Fasten to a long pole a wad of cotton 

 dipped in kerosene oil and burn the webs while the cater- 

 pillars are resting therein. 



Blister Beetle (Epicaute vittata, Fab.). — This insect is 

 also called the " potato bug," but it must not be confused 

 with the Colorado bug. The beetle is yellow, with two 

 black stripes down each wing cover. It is about one-half 

 inch long. The larvae feed on eggs of other insects, and 

 the beetle lives on the leaves of plants. 



Plants Injured. — Irish potatoes, beets. 



Remedies. — Hand-picking and spraying with Paris 

 green or London purple. 



