ENSECTS. 



367 



Two parts of soft soap and eight of water, mixed witli 

 lime enough to bring it to the consistency of thick white- 

 wash, to be put on with a bmsh*." A solution of two 

 pounds of potash in seven quarts of water will answer 

 the same purpose. Fresh earth should be put upon the 

 roots. 



3. TliG Scaly Aphis or Baric Louse. — This is a dark 

 •brown scale insect, that infests the bark of the apple tree. 

 They are of a dark brown color just like the bark, and 

 are not easily seen unless looked for. They attach them- 

 selves closely to the bark, and sometimes are so numerous 

 as to form a complete coating. They seldom appear on 

 thrifty growing trees in good soil ; but where the soil is 

 damp and cold, and the trees growing feebly, this insect 

 may be looked for. June is the time to destroy them, 

 when they are young. At other times they are hard, and 

 able to resist any ordinary remedy. The same applica- 

 tion recommended for the aphis, applied to them with a 

 hard brush, will effect their destruction. Where they 

 have been left for a long time undisturbed, and have 

 pretty well covered the tree, the quickest and best remedy 

 is to destroy tree and all^ unless it possesses some extraor- 

 dinary claim for indulgence. Prof. Harris mentions 

 having found a reddish brown bark louse on his grape- 

 vine, arranged in rows one behind another in the crevices 

 of the bark. 



4. The Apjple Tree Borer is a very troublesome insect 

 in some sections of the country. In Western [N'ew York 

 we have never met with it but in two or three instances, 

 in very old, neglected orchards, that had stood for twenty 

 yeare in grass. The beetle is striped brown and white, 

 and is about three-fourths of an inch long. It deposits its 

 eggs in June, in the bark of the trees near the ground. 

 Here the larva is hatched, becoming a whitish grub, 

 which saws its way into the tree, perforating it in all 



