170 



INSECTS. 



insects may also be palliated on one species of plant, by 

 presenting to them another^ which they prefer : thus wasps 

 are said to prefer carrots, the berries of the yew, and the 

 honey of the hoya, to grapes ; honey, or sugared water, to 

 ripe fruit, and so on. One insect or animal may also be set 

 to eat another, as ducks for slugs and worms, turkeys for 

 the same purpose, and caterpillars and ants for aphides, 

 and so on." 



The Rev. Mr. Falconer, one of the correspondents of the 

 Bath Agricultural Society, strongly recommends soap-suds, 

 both as a manure and antidote against insects. He observes, 

 that " This mixture of an oil and an alkali has been more 

 generally know^n than adopted as a remedy against the in- 

 sects which infest wall fruit-trees. It will dislodge and de- 

 stroy the insects which have already formed their nests, and 

 bred among the leaves. When used in the early part of the 

 year, it seems to prevent the insects from settling upon them." 

 He prefers soap-suds to lime-water, because lime soon 

 ^' loses its causticity, and with that its efficacy, by exposure 

 to air, and must, consequently, be frequently applied ; and 

 to the dredging of the leaves with the fine dust of ^vood- 

 ashes and lime, because the same effect is produced by the 

 mixture, without the same labour, and is obtained without 

 any expense." He directs to make use of a common 

 garden-pump for sprinkling trees with soap-suds, and says, 

 if the water of a washing cannot be had, a quantity of pot- 

 ash, dissolved in w^ater, may be substituted, and that the 

 'washing of the trees w4th soap-suds twice a week, for three 

 or four weeks, in the spring, will be sufficient to secure 

 them from aphides, &c. 



Other modes of counteracting the effects of insects are 

 pointed out in treating of the plants w^hich are most liable 

 to be injured by them. We shall, however, make some 

 remarks on a few of those w^hicli are most common and 

 injurious to the interests of the cultivator. 



Canker-worm. — We shall not attempt to give either a 

 description or the natural history of the canker-worm, but 

 refer to Professor Peck's Memoir on the subject, (which 

 was originally published in the Mass, Agricultural Repository 

 and republished in the N. E. Farmer^ vol. v. p. 393,) and di- 

 rect our attention, exclusively, to the remedies, w hich have 

 been used or suggested to preserve fruit-trees from this for-* 

 midable enemy. 



The female of this insect comes out of the ground late 

 in the fall, early in the spring, or, sometimes, during a pexi- 



