October i, 1891] 



THE HUMMING BIRD. 



79 



in May, and for this first brood only a weak mixture of 

 Paris green (J oz. to a pailful of water is sufficient) 

 may be sprayed on the bushes, or a dry mixture of 

 i oz. of Paris green to 6 lbs. flour, well mixed to- 

 gether, may be dusted over the bushes after a shower, 

 or when damp with dew. For the second brood of 

 caterpillars, which appears just before the fruit ripens, 

 Paris green must on no account be used, owing to its 

 poisonous nature ; but instead of it white hellebore, 

 dusted on dry or in water, i ox. to a pailful of water. 



17. Oyster-Shell Bark - Louse (Mytilaspis 

 pomorum, Bouché).— Some might not at first 

 recognise as insects the little roughnesses on the bark 

 of apple trees. Such however they are, and extremely 

 injurious insects too. Their life history is peculiar. 

 About the 1st June minute white mite-like insects, 

 with six legs, emerge from beneath the scales on the 

 bark and for two or three days run about seeking for 

 a suitable place to attach themselves. They then 

 pierce the young bark with their beaks and live on 

 the sap of the tree. They never move from that 

 place again. The waxy scale is gradually secreted, 

 and by August the insect has transformed itself into a 

 scale covering a cluster of eggs. These remain un- 

 changed through the winter, and the young do not 

 hatch again until the next June. 



Remedies. — This insect, like many others, thrives 

 most on unhealthy trees. When detected, therefore, 

 measures should be adopted for inducing a vigorous 

 growth, as well as for the removal of the scale insects. 

 Spraying just before the buds open with kerosene 

 emulsion (Remedy II.) will destroy many of the 

 scales — and again at the time the young lice are 

 active, for at this time they are most susceptible to 

 injury. Scrubbing the trunks and branches of young 

 trees with alkaline washes (Remedy V. and VI.) during 

 the winter or early in spring will also keep down the 

 numbers of this pernicious insect. 



18. Pear-tree Slug (Selandria cerasi, Peck). — 

 In June and August slimy greenish-brown slug-like 

 caterpillars, \ inch long, occur on the leaves of pear 

 and cherry trees, feeding on the upper surface. 



Remedies. — The same as for No. 16. 



19. Plum Curculio {Conotrachelus nenuphar, 

 Herbst.) — There is perhaps no insect so well known 

 by name as the Plum Curculio. The perfect insect 

 belongs to the family known as snout-beetles, from the 

 shape of the head, which is elongated into a beak. It 

 is a small, rough, grayish beetle about I inch long. 

 The females lay their eggs in the young fruit of 

 plums and cherries, frequently destroying the whole 

 crop. 



Remedies. — The beetles are sluggish in the early 

 morning, and drop from the trees if a sudden jar be 

 given to the trunk. For this purpose a metal spike 

 is driven into the trunk, which is struck sharply with 

 an iron hammer. This gives the sharp jar necessary 

 to dislodge beetles which fall on sheets or into 

 receptacles placed beneath the trees. They are then 

 collected and destroyed. 



Of late years abundant evidence has proved the 

 efficacy of spraying the trees, as soon as the fruit has 

 formed, with Paris green, 1 pound to 200 gallons of 

 water, and ten days afterwards a second time with a 

 weaker mixture, 1 pound to 300 gallons. Should 



heavy rains occur immediately after these sprayings 

 they must be repeated. 



20. Raspberry Borer (Oberea bimaculata, Oliv). 

 — Towards the end of June the tips of the young 

 shoots of raspberries may frequently be seen to fade 

 and droop. If these be examined there will be found, 

 at the base of the faded portion, two rows of punctures 

 half an inch apart, and between them a small hole 

 leading into the heart of the cane, where one large 

 yellow egg lies embedded. After a few days this egg 

 hatches, and the young grub eats its way down the 

 centre of the stem towards the root. It becomes full 

 grown about August, when it is about f inch long. 

 The perfect insect emerges the next June as a narrow 

 black beetle, with long feelers, and the thorax or 

 middle portion of the body yellow, and bearing 

 three black spots. It also attacks the blackberry. 



Remedy. — This is simple, but requires prompt 

 action. The faded shoots are quite conspicuous, and 

 when seen should at once be picked off. They 

 separate from the cane with a light touch, and when 

 removed the girdled portion should be examined, to 

 see that the grub has not hatched and bored down 

 into the stem. 



21. Raspberry-cane Maggot (Anthomya?). — 

 There is another pest which affects the young wood 

 of raspberries similarly ; but does not produce the 

 two rings of punctures. This is the maggot of a 

 small black fly which lays a single egg in the axil of 

 one of the upper leaves. The young maggot bores 

 down the stem until full grown, and then changes to a 

 brown puparium inside the stem. 



Remedy. — After a time the young cane turns black 

 at the tip and must be cut down as soon as seen. 

 This is a more injurious pest than the last, where it 

 occurs, because it burrows further down the stem 

 before the indications of its presence are visible. 



22. Raspberry Saw-fly {Selandria rubi, Harris). 

 — About the time raspberries are in flower the leaves 

 are noticed to be riddled with small holes. On 

 examination this will be found to be the work of a 

 green, bristly caterpillar. From the close resemblance 

 in colour to the leaves on which they feed, these 

 caterpillars are seldom recognized as the cause of the 

 injury. They disappear from the canes before July, 

 and form oval cocoons beneath the ground. From 

 these the perfect insect, a small, dark, four-winged 

 fly, \ inch long, appears the next May. 



Remedy. — Sprinkle the foliage as soon as the cater- 

 pillar's work is detected with white hellebore, 1 oz. in 

 a pailful of water. 



23. Raspberry Plume-moth. (Oxyptilus nigro- 

 ciliatus, Zeller). — In June another small caterpillar, 

 somewhat like the last, but with finer bristles and of 

 a paler green colour, may be found injuring the foliage 

 in a very similar manner to the last. This, however, 

 turns to a very beautiful little moth, bronze, dotted 

 with silvery white, which may be found flying about 

 the canes in July. 



Remedy.— The same as for No. 22. 



24. Red-humped Caterpillar of the Apple 

 [Oedemasia concinna, Sm. Ab.). — Late in summer large 

 clusters of voracious waxy-looking, yellow, white and 

 black caterpillars, with their heads and a hump on the 

 fourth ring of the body of a bright red, are sometimes 



