57 



" When needed for use, the butter will mix readily with any proportion of water, if 

 first thinned with a small quantity of the liquid." In using the emulsion for killing 

 plant lice, or other insects, care should be taken to dilute it at least twelve or sixteen 

 times with water and then try the effect on a small portion of the infested plant ; if it 

 is found to injure the foliage, then dilute still further. One pint of the butter will 

 usually suffice for two gallons of water. Dilute only as needed for immediate use. The 

 cost of this article, which is very effective, is exceedingly trifling. 



Another emulsion is made with coal oil and soap instead of milk. When a moderate 

 quantity is required, take two gallons of coal oil, half a pound of common bar soap, soft 

 soap, or whale-oil soap, and one gallon of water. Dissolve the soap in the water, and 

 add it boiling hot to the coal oil. Churn the mixture, as before, by means of force-pump 

 and spray nozzle, for five or ten minutes. The emulsion, if perfect, forms a cream, which 

 thickens on cooling, and should adhere without oiliness to the surface of glass. Dilute 

 before using, one part of the emulsion to nine parts of cold water. The three gallons of 

 emulsion thus made produce, when diluted, thirty gallons of wash at a cost of about one 

 cent per gallon. 



These emulsions have been found thoroughly effective remedies, not only for plant 

 lice, but also for many other insects. They can be used in the field, hop-yard or orchard 

 on a large scale, and in the garden with equal efficiency. In England, similar washes 

 have been applied to hop-yards for the destruction of the Aphis by the aid of steam 

 power. 



Apple Tree Borers. 



There are two beetles whose larva? are especially injurious to young apple trees; they 

 are familarly known as the flat-headed and round-headed borers, from the shape of the 

 grubs. The former belongs to the family Buprestida?, and is a common insect all over 

 North America. Its scientific name is Chrysobothris femorata, Fabr; the annexed wood- 

 cut represents the grub and the perfect insect. It does but 

 little noticeable harm to healthy full-grown trees, but is often 

 very destructive to young, freshly transplanted, or sickly trees. 

 The presence of the borer within the trees may often be detected 

 by the discoloration of the bark over the spot where it is at work, 

 the cavity beneath causing a dried and flattened appearance, 

 and also by the presence of its sawdust-like castings, or the 

 exudation of sap. In such cases, the simplest remedy is to cut 

 out the grub with a knife, or destroy it by means of the inser- 

 tion of a stiff wire. 



The best preventive remedy for this insect, so far as known 

 at present, is a wash made of soft-soap and carbolic acid* 

 Soft-soap and lime, with a little dissolved glue added to cause 

 F IG . 30. adherence, is also recommended; or soft-soap reduced to the 



consistency of a thick paint by the addition of a strong solution of washing soda 

 in water. Any of these washes, to be effective, must be applied to the branches 

 and twigs as far as practicable, as well as to the trunks of the trees, for this 

 borer does not confine its work to any particular part. The application of the 

 wash should be made in May, and again in early July and late August, in order to 

 prevent the deposit of eggs by the female beetle. A gentleman (quoted by Professor 

 Riley), who has had much experience with this beetle in the West, states that he has 

 taken as many as a hundred borers from one small tree, and advises that "those 

 having trees subject to attacks should look over them every week if possible, or 

 every two weeks at least, from the first of June to the fall, for exudation of sap from 

 the bark, which is a sure indication of their presence. When noticed, the borer may be 

 destroyed by cleanly cutting out a small slice of the bark." This method involves great 

 labour, but it is worth doing in the case of a young orchard that is found to be infested 

 by this creature. The writer just referred to states that "carelessness in this respect the 

 past season has cost me more than three hundred trees, all young." 



The round-headed apple tree borer (Saperda Candida, Fabr., Fig. 31c) is not nearly so 

 orntnon as the species just referred to. It is found in the Niagara district and other parts of 



