59 



that the shaft can be grasped above the ball. By withdrawing the shaft partially from 

 the tube and then returning it with force, as the lower end of the tube rests on the 

 ground, both tube and shaft can be driven into the ground to any required depth. The 

 shaft is then wholly withdrawn and the insecticide poured into the tube, by which means 

 it is placed beneath the roots without coming into contact with them. The tube is then 

 withdrawn and the hole made by it filled up with earth. The insecticide (coal oil, or 

 whatever may be used) being volatile, rises through the ground and becomes diffused. 

 In a later communication to the same journal {Psyche, iv., 143), Dr. Barnard speaks of 

 the effective use of this instrument against the grape Phylloxera, and states that the same 

 treatment applies in the case of all other root insects or subterranean pests, mentioning 

 among others the insect now before us, the apple-root plant-louse, or American Blight- 

 Aphis, as it is sometimes called. The great point in the application of this remedy is 

 evidently the distribution of the coal oil, or other insecticide, beneath and beyond the 

 danger of contact with the roots, the destruction of the insect pest being caused by the 

 passage upwards to the surface of the vapour of the petroleum. 



The Army Worm. 



Almost any caterpillar that appears in large numbers and covers a wide area of 

 country is locally called "The Army Worm," but the species to which the name properly 

 belongs from its habit of devastating whole fields at a time, marching on in regular column to- 

 fresh pastures and devouring all green things as it goes, is the Leucania unipuncta, Haw.. 

 Fig. 33 represents the caterpillar in 

 the attitude of eating, and fig. 34 the 

 moth. 



This insect may be found every 

 summer in small numbers, and so far- 

 has seldom appeared in destructive 

 hosts in Canada. The best and 

 simplest remedy for it is to apply 

 Paris green copiously to the fields 

 where it abounds, or, when it has 

 commenced its march, to broad strips 



of meadow immediately in front of its main body, taking care to plow- 

 under the poisoned surface as soon as the remedy has done its work. 

 The moth, which appears towards the end of summer (we have taken 

 it this year late in October), can easily be captured by hundreds by the 

 process of "sugaring," that is by spreading a mixture of coarse sugar 

 and stale beer on fence boards and trees at dusk, and visiting the bait 

 with a lantern during the night. 



Bark Lice. 



Fig. 34. 



Fig. 33. 



There are two or three kinds of bark lice injurious to fruit trees, but the 

 species that is most common and destructive in Canada is that represented in 

 the adjoining wood-cuts (Fig. 35 A and 35B), and known from its shape as the 

 oyster-shell bark louse (Mytilaspis pom- 

 orum, Bouche). To get rid of this pest, 

 which if let alone will soon cover the bark 

 of the whole tree from top to bottom, 

 two or three operations are necessary: 

 first, during the winter or in early spring 

 examine the orchard and scrape the 

 scales off every infested tree as far as 

 they can possibly be reached; but as 

 the scales will be found on the smaller 

 branches and twigs which cannot be got 

 at, the insect must be further fought 



Fig. 35A. 



at the time when the eggs are hatching 



Fig. 35B. 



