APPLE PESTS 
success. In case of veneer they should 
be soaked in water before attempting to 
bend them around the trees. Where there 
are only a few trees, as around the home 
yard, the most satisfactory method of pro- 
Fig. 1. Veneer Strips of Ready-made Protector. 
tection is to wrap them with papers; 
cornstalks, burlap, etc., may be used, but 
these must be removed during the sum- 
mer as they furnish a harboring place for 
insects. 
Traps 
There are any number of these which 
are very easily made and are very effect- 
ive. This method is not as economical 
as poisoning but is frequently used. 
Poisons 
Poisons have the advantage of being 
easy to make and place, but may be dan- 
gerous to domesticated animals. Two for- 
mulas are included, any one of which 
will do. 
1. Sulphate of strychnine one part, 
borax one-third part, white syrup one part, 
water ten parts. Put the mixture into 
a jar or large bottle and mix well. Cut 
fresh twigs, water sprouts of apple are 
best, and with a small brush paint them, 
especially over the terminal bud, with the 
above preparation. 
2. The Western Australia Department 
of Agriculture recommends a similar for- 
mula: Dissolve one and one-half ounces 
of strychnine in one quart of vinegar, 
535 
dilute with five gallons of water, add two 
pounds of flour and one pound of sugar, 
stir well and apply to twig as in first 
poison. 
RaILRoAD WormM.—See Apple Maggot, 
this section. 
Rep Bue.—See Apple Red Bug, 
section. 
this 
Red-Humped Apple Tree Caterpillar 
Oedemasia concinna S. & A. 
H. F. WILson 
As yet this insect has not reached a 
very important status as a pest, but it 
is more or less generally distributed in 
fruit growing sections of the United 
States. At times they may get into an 
orchard and strip a great many branches, 
as they are voracious eaters, feeding on 
apple, plum, cherry, rose, thorn pear, 
blackberry, birch, poplar, ete. 
The adults are moths of rather a mixed 
brown color, fore wings dark brown on 
the inner and grayish along the outer 
margin. The thorax and abdomen are 
brown. The moths appear in the middle 
of the summer and deposit their eggs in 
clusters on the under side of the leaves. 
From these soon hatch little larvae or 
worms, which feed on the under side of 
the leaf. Later as they grow larger, the 
whole leaf excepting the midrib, is de- 
voured. In October they become full 
grown, descend to the ground, crawl under 
leaves or rubbish, where they construct a 
clear transparent cocoon, and remain un- 
til the following spring, when they appear 
as moths. 
The full grown caterpillar measures 
about one and one-fourth inches in length. 
It is marked with fine longitudinal stripes 
of black, white and yellow. Head bright 
red, and contracting upward and _ back- 
ward. Body covered with black tubercles, 
which on the dorsum carry black spines. 
Fig. 1. 
The Red-humped Caterpillar. (Much 
Enlarged. ) 
