66 



THE APPLE. 



for smearing the bandages, as being a more effectual barrier, and sel- 

 dom or never requiring renewal. 



Mr. Jonathan Dennis, Jun., of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, has 

 invented and patented a circular leaden trough, which surrounds the 

 trunk of the tree, and is filled with oil, and stops effectually the ascent 

 of the canker-worm. There appear, however, to be two objections to 

 this trough, as it is frequently used ; one, the escape of the oil, if not 

 carefully used, which injures the tree ; and the other, the injurious 

 effect of nailing the troughs to the bark or trunk. They should be sup- 

 ported by wedges of wood driven in between the trough and the trunk, 

 F.nd the spaces completely filled up with liquid clay, put on with a brush. 

 The insects must be taken out and the oil renewed from time to time. 

 For districts where the canker-worm greatly abounds, this leaden trough 

 is probably the most permanent and effectual remedy yet employed. 



Circular strips of zinc or tin, about four inches wide, passing around 

 the trunk of the tree, the lower end standing out in a flaring manner, 

 resembling a bowl bottom upward, proves an effectual preventive remedy, 

 as the insects cannot pass the lower rim. 



Experiments made by the Hon. John Lowell, and Professor Peck, of 

 Massachusetts, lead to a belief that if the ground under trees which suffer 

 from this insect is dug and well pulverized to the depth of five inches, in 

 October, and a good top-dressing of lime applied as far as the branches 

 extend, the canker-worm will there be aloiost entirely destroyed. The 

 elm, and linden-trees in many places, suffer equally with the Apple from 

 the attacks of the canker-worm. 



The bark-louse, a dull white, oval, scale-like insect, about a tenth of an 

 inch long (a species of coccus), which sometimes appears in great numbers 

 on the stems of young Apple and Pear trees, and stunts their growth, 

 may be destroyed by a wash of soft soap or the potash solution. The 

 best time to apply these is in the month of June, when the insects are 

 young, or when the tree is devoid of foliage. 



The woolly Aphis [aphis lanigera),OY American blight* is a dreadful 

 enemy of the Apple. It makes its appearance in the form of a minute 

 white down in the crotches and crevices of the branches, which is com- 

 posed of a great number of very minute woolly lice, that if allowed will 

 increase with fearful rapidity, and produce a sickly and diseased state of 

 the whole tree. Fortunately, this insect is easily destroyed. " This is 

 effected by washing the j)arts with diluted sulphuric acid, which is formed 

 b}' mixing three-fourths of an ounce by measure of the sulphuric acid of 

 the shops with seven and a half ounces of water. It should be rubbed 

 into the parts affected by means of a piece of rag tied to a stick, the 

 operator taking care not to let it touch his clothes. After the bark of a 

 tree has been washed with this mixture, the first shower will redissolve 

 it, and convey it into the most minute crevice, so as effectually to destroy 

 all insects that may have escaped." — [Loudon's Magazine, ix., p. 336.) 

 It is the more common practice to destroy it by the use of whale-oil, soap 

 or lime wash. 



The Apple-worm or Codling moth ( Carpocapsa poriionella of Euro- 

 pean writers) is the insect introduced with the Apple-tree from Europe 



* It is not a little singular that tliis insect, which is not indigenous to this 

 country, and is never seen here except where introduced with imported trees, 

 should be called in England the American blight. It is the most inveterate enemy 

 of the Apple in the north of France and Germany. 



