TBE APPLE. 



87 



RuMBDiES.— All trees should be examined early in autumn, 

 when, if there are borers present, they may be detected by the 

 dry appearance of the bark, by the borings, or by the exudation of 

 sap, or sawdust-like castings. When such signs are seen the parts 

 should be at once cut into with a knife and the borer destroyed. 

 As a preventive measure there is perhaps nothing better than to 

 coat the trunk and larger branches with a mixture of soft-soap re- 

 duced to the consistency of a thick paint with a solution of wash- 

 ing soda, and if a little carbolic acid is added it will be even more 

 repulsive to the beetles. This should be kept on the trees during 

 the summer months, when this insect is injurious. 



New York Weevil (Ithycerm rwveboracmsis). This Is a very 

 large snout-beetle of gray color marked 

 with black, about one-half inch long. 

 It breeds in the oak, and is only abun- 

 dant where there are oak groves near 

 by. In such locations it often causes 

 great injury by gnawing out the buds 

 early in the season, and later by cutting 

 off the young shoots, so that the trees 

 are destroyed or seriously injured. It 

 attacks cherries and plums as well as 

 apples. It seems to do its work at night, 

 or early in the morning, for it does not 

 work much if at all during the day'. 

 Figure 6^ shows this insect in its differ- 

 ent stages of growth. 



Remedy. — The only known remedy 

 for this pest is to jar the trees, when 

 they curl up and fall to the ground, and 

 then may readily be gathered and des- 

 troyed. When the trees are badly in- 

 fested they should be jarred once a ^ay 

 as long as any are found. They disap- 

 pear about the first' of July. 

 Tent Caterpillak (CUsiocampa Amencana) .—The characteris- 

 tics of this insect are readily seen in Fig. 63, which shows the 

 caterpillar resting on the outside of the tent-like structure in 

 which they live, and also a twig sustaining a bunch of eggs. The 

 habit of this insect is about as follows ; The eggs are laid on the 

 smaller twigs of fruit trees in ring-like clusters during the first 

 two weeks in July. Two or three hundred eggs are laid in each 

 cluster, and they are firmly cemented together. These hatch out 

 early in the spring just as the leaves open. The young caterpillars 

 soon commence to make a tent by extending sheets of web across 

 the nearest forks of the twigs, and this tent or nest is enlarged as 

 more room is needed. It has holes in it through which the cater- 

 pillars enter. The caterpillars retreat to the nest at night and in 



Fig. 62. — New York Weevil 

 S, larva; c, beetle. 



