INSECTS. 



181 



the frost is out of the ground, or at least before the month 

 ot June, as the perfect insect escapes before that time. 



Slug-worm, or naked snail. — These reptiles appear on 

 the leaves of fruit-trees in the month of July. Professor 

 Peck has ascertained that they are the progeny of a small 

 black fjy, which deposits its eggs in the leaf in the months 

 of May and June. They may be destroyed by means of 

 lime, sprinkled over the leaves in the form of powder. 

 For this purpose, a wooden box, of convenient size, having 

 it& bottom perforated with numerous small holes, is to be 

 filled with lime. This, being mounted on a pole, and sha- 

 ken over the tree, distributes the lime among the leaves, 

 and the slugs are immediately destroyed. The labour is 

 very trivial ; a man may cover a large tree in three or four 

 minutes ; and the desired effect is certain. Fine earth, 

 shaken through a basket or perforated box, will answer 

 as welL 



" Another remedy, it is said, will prove equally effectual. 

 It is a strong infusion of tar, made by pouring Vv^ater on tar, 

 and suffering it to stand two or three days, when it be- 

 comes strongly impregnated. This, if sprinkled over th^ 

 leaves by means of an engine, will kill these vermin instan 

 taneously. A strong decoction of tobacco will probably 

 produce the desired effect, and tanners' bark, put round the 

 tree, it is said, will have a salutary tendency as a prevent- 

 ive." — Thacher'^s OrchardisL 



Forsyth recommends v/atering the ground, w^here these 

 insects are, with soap-suds and urine, mixed with tobacco- 

 water. Ducks, admitted into a garden, will destroy all 

 within their reach. 



Wire-worm, or Red-worm. — This insect is slender, and 

 casually about an inch long, with a bard coat, and a pointed 

 head. Mr. William Moody, of Saco, (Maine,) in a com- 

 ;munication to Hon. Josiah Quincy, published in Mass, 

 Agr, Repos. vol. iv. p. 353, observes, I am persuaded, 

 ifrom experience, that sea-sand, put under corn or potatoes 

 with manure, or spread on the land, will go far, if not 

 ^wholly, to the total destruction of these destructive worms, 

 son which nothing else seems to have any effect. It has a 

 ^beneficial effect spread on land before ploughing, or even 

 >after land is planted with corn or potatoes, not only to de- 

 stroy the wire-worm and other insects, but to increase the 

 crop. With my neighbours a load of sea-sand is considered 

 as preferable to a load of the best manure, to mix in with 

 16 



