THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



133 



rScientific. 



THE OYSTER-SHELL BARK LOUSE. 



(Mi/tilaspis pomorutn.) 



Very few have any idea how common 

 a pest this is in our Canadian orchards. 

 Many people are wondering why their 

 orchards are so unfruitful, and why they 

 are so stunted in gi'owth, and look so 

 sickly, when the whole trouble is due 

 to this pernicious little louse, which, 

 unnoticed by them, is pi'eying upon the 

 bark of their apple trees in immense 

 numbers, sucking out their strength 

 and life. 



Last summer toward the end of May 

 a neighbor brought in to the writer a 

 branch of a young tree from his orchard 

 asking, " What is the matter with this 

 tree?" The tree would not grow, and 

 he had discovered that the bark was 

 curiously rough with numerous tiny 

 scales about one-sixth of an inch in 

 length, as shewn in hg. 1. Upon lift- 



FiG. 1. — Oyster-Shell Bark Lolse. 



ing one of these scales and using a hand 

 glass the question was soon solved. To 

 his astonishment, there were revealed 

 nearly one hundred wee little lice, too 

 small to be readily seen by the naked 

 eye, and which ran about with the 

 greatest speed over the bai-k as if de- 

 lighted at their liberation from the con- 

 finement of the maternal shell. No 

 wonder the tree was stunted ! 



This louse belongs to the genus Coc- 

 cidae, and is allied to the aphis, bed- 

 bug, and body-louse. Tt was introduced 

 into this country some eighty years ago 

 from Europe, and although the female 

 cannot fly, and hence migi-ates slowly, 

 it has now become more or less dis- 

 tributed throughout our whole country. 



The time to destroy these bark lice 

 is early in the month of June, because 

 at that time the young brood escape 

 from under the scales where they hyber- 

 nate, and which are actually the dead 

 bodies of the mother lice. The loose 

 bark should fii-st be scraped off with a 

 hoe, because the cunning youngsters 

 hide away carefully beneath it, as if 

 they were trying to escape discovery. 



Then the ti-unks and large limbs must 

 be washed with a strong solution of soft 

 soap and washing soda, with enough 

 water to enable one to apply it with a 

 paint brush, or scrubbing brush. If 

 the lice have spread over the limbs, the 

 whole ti-ee must be syringed with a 

 solution of washing soda and water in 

 the proportion of half a pound to a pail- 

 ful, or potash and water, two pounds to 

 seven quarts. Caustic soda and water 

 is recommended as still more effective. 



There are several insects which prey 

 upon the bark louse, as also some insec- 

 ti\orous birds, but unfortunately this 

 hateful insect increases out of all pro- 

 portion to the number of its destroyers, 

 and unless vigoi'ous remedial measures 

 are employed, some of our best orchards 

 will die of premature old age. 



PARIS GREEN AND THE CODLING MOTH. 



This month is the time to destroy 

 the Codling Moth, and therefoi-e we 

 may perhaps be pardoned for writing 

 a few lines upon so trite a subject as 

 the use of Paris Gveen. 



That it pays the oi-chardist to use it 

 has been established by repeated ex- 

 pei'iment. Prof. Forbes, State Ento- 

 mologist of Illinois, has proved to his 

 satisfaction that its application will 

 save about three quarters of the fruit 

 usually lost by the work of this insect, 

 and many of us in Canada have be- 

 come convinced of this statement. 



The writer has now used it for two 

 years quite extensively and with ex- 

 cellent results. Last year he applied 



