— t8 — 



breaks off l)its of bark, leavintr the cocoon and sometimes the 

 worm fully exposed and passes on, and the creeper avails himself 

 of his oversight. It looks almost as if the woodpecker purposely 

 uncovered some of the worms for the creeper, as he leaves them 

 fully in view, and goes on until he finds others which he will eat. 



The tent caterpillar {C/isioaimpa mnericana) is another an- 

 nual visitant of our orchards, but these caterpillars are so easily 

 managed that only the most careless fruit grower will allow them 

 to mature. 



Last season, as we were preparing for the annual raid upon 

 these creatures, 1 noticed a Cuckoo was destroying one of the 

 nests and filling its mouth with the young worms. The Cuckoo's 

 nest was in one of the apple trees, so I stopped proceedings, and 

 the pair of birds destroyed every nest. 



The peach borer {yEgeria cxitiosa) is ever present, but this is 

 of minor importance compared with the black peach aphis. In a 

 mild winter we sometimes find the twigs of a tree completely cov- 

 ered with these insects. Such a tree is soon thereafter killed with 

 the yellows — not from their visible work on the limbs, but from 

 their attacks on the roots. How and when they enter the ground 

 I do not know from practical observation, but 1 have pulled up 

 young trees in late summer when the leaves had turned yellow 

 and found the roots almost covered with lice when none could be 

 seen above ground. 



Root-lice are much more destructive than those on the stems 

 and leaves, both to herbaceous as well as to woody plants. Last 

 summer I noticed a native Ampelopsis looked sick, and the leaves 

 began to fall in August. Heretofore it had been a strong, vigor- 

 ous grower. Carefully removing the earth from the long roots 

 which run near the surface, 1 found clusters of dun-colored lice 

 thickly scattered all along the rootlets, causing little galls. As 

 the Ampelopsis is closely related to the grape, may not these 

 lice be related to the grape Phylloxera, of which Professor Riley has 

 given us the life history? 



The most effectual remedy which I have ft)und for these 

 underground pests is some disagreeable compound that w^as sent 

 to me for a trial on the rose-bug. Tt had no effect on this nuisance, 

 and as the odor was so annoying I had the box carried off some 

 distance from the house, where it remained three years. I think 

 the donor called it sludge — the refuse of kerosene, but I should 

 think it was the refuse of everything disagreeable. However, 

 after three years banishment I came across it and found the vile 



