94 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



pieces of Potato, Turnip, and Carrot, but should 

 also be searched for at night with a lantern and 

 destroyed, to prevent it from eating through the 

 young flower-scapes of Orchids, to which it is 

 very partial. Sprinkling salt on the gravel, 

 shells, or coal-ashes on which the pots are stood, 

 will destroy large numbers of the pest. 



Slug-worms (Eriocampa). — Strictly speak- 

 ing, these are the caterpillars of a genus of saw- 

 flies, so named from their sluggish habits, slimy 



Fig. 116.— Slug-worm or Sawfly {Eriocampa Umacina). 



appearance, and from their being thickened 

 behind the head, resembling a small slug lying 

 upon the leaves of their food plants. The Pear 

 Sawfly (E. Umacina) is black and shining, tinted 

 with violet, and has brownish-yellow legs, the 

 hindmost pair being darker. The wings have 

 dark nerves, and are otherwise often tinted 

 with black. The slimy caterpillars are black and 

 smooth until the last moult, when they become 

 transversely wrinkled and yellowish. They 

 feed upon the upper surface of the leaves of 

 Pears and other trees of the Rose family from 

 the end of July or beginning of August to the 

 beginning of October, when they pass into the 

 ground and lay up for the winter. The leaves 

 they have fed upon turn brown and drop, or 

 holes break out of them. The Rose Slug-worm 

 (Eriocampa Rosa?) is another very destructive 

 species. The perfect fly is glossy black, with 

 smoky wings, and the knees, shanks, and feet 

 of the two first pairs of legs white. The cater- 

 pillar is yellowish-green with an orange head, 

 and the other characters of the Slug-worm of 

 the Pear. Eggs are laid upon the leaves in 

 May, and soon after the caterpillars commence 

 their work of destruction, feeding for two or 

 three weeks on the upper surface, leaving only a 



skeleton, which turns brown; then they pass 

 into the ground and form their cocoons. 



Remedies. — The sawflies of the Pear may be 

 looked for in July, seated upon the leaves and 

 depositing eggs. Early in the morning and 

 late at night they are sluggish, and may be 

 shaken down upon a freshly-tarred cloth spread 

 beneath the trees. Hand-picking of the cater- 

 pillars may be effected by women and children, 

 and though tedious is effective. The trees may 

 also be dusted with finely-powdered quicklime, 

 which will stick to the slimy coats of the cater- 

 pillars; but as they often cast their skin the 

 operation should be repeated the next day to 

 complete their destruction. Strong soap-suds, 

 with a fair proportion of tobacco-water added, 

 is also a good remedy. Provided there are no 

 fruits upon the tree, an infusion of white helle- 

 bore, used in the same way as for the Garden 

 Pebble Moth, would be very effective. Paris- 

 green would answer equally well, but if the 

 trees are in fruit, kerosene emulsion should be 

 used instead. It is made by boiling J lb. of 

 common soap in a gallon of water, and pouring 

 it in this state into 2 gallons of kerosene ; churn 

 it up with a force-pump for about five minutes, 

 and use it as a fine spray when cool, after dilut- 

 ing with 15 gallons of water to 1 gallon of the 

 emulsion. It kills by contact with the cater- 

 pillars, and also by their eating it. The cocoons 

 may be destroyed by taking off the upper 

 •4 inches of soil from beneath the trees and 

 burning it, or by pointing in a good dressing 

 of quicklime to the same depth. The perfect 

 insect of the Rose Slug-worm may be looked for 

 in May, and destroyed in the same way as that 

 of the Pear. The other remedies also apply, 

 but if Paris-green is employed, use it at the 

 rate of 1 lb. to 200 gallons of water, and add 

 a little lime to prevent the leaves from being 

 scalded. 



Small Ermine Moth (Hyponomeuta Padel- 

 lus). — This tiny moth only measures 7 to 10 lines 

 across the expanded wings, which are white, 

 tinted with gray, or slaty in hue, with four lines 

 of black spots on the front pair. The cater- 

 pillars are gray or brown, with black spots, and 

 appear in May and June. They live in large com- 

 munities under a common web in their younger 

 stages, and when numerous clusters of them are 

 present they sometimes completely destroy all 

 the earlier developed leaves of Apple and 

 Hawthorn trees, turning them brown. When 

 full-fed they form their cocoons upon leaves, 

 especially those that are curled; also upon the 

 stem and similar places where they can find 



