324 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 15 
less saturate the earth about the apple tree with 
nicotine, which will not only kill every aphis that 
may be there, but it will prevent others from enter¬ 
ing and, at the same time, act as a good fertilizer to 
the tree. 
In the Missouri experiments, badly infested 10- 
year-old bearing apple trees were, apparently, freed 
from all the root-lice by applying as described above, 
from 2K to 5 pounds of tobacco dust twice in one 
season (June 29 and August 15). As the dust can be 
obtained for about a cent per pound in large quanti¬ 
ties. the cost of the treatment is comparatively small. 
Only the dust will answer ; the stems will not do. It 
is to be hoped that this simple treatment will prove 
equally effectual in other parts of the country. It 
may prove a great boon to many afflicted fruit growers 
in the West. I would advise B. E. T. to give the 
tobacco dust a thorough trial; it may rejuvenate his 
orchard. 
Carbon bisulphide was also used in the Missouri 
experiments, and with much success. A McGowen 
injector, modified for use in an orchard, was used, 
and a fluid ounce of the liquid was injected to a depth 
of six inches to a foot into each of two or three holes 
made two feet away from the trunk on different 
sides of the tree. This amount, applied in this way, 
apparently killed all the root lice on young bearing 
trees and did not injure the trees ; when applied 
close to the trunk of the tree, in many cases, the trees 
were killed or badly injured. The liquid must not be 
allowed to come in contact with the roots ; after it 
vaporizes, which it quickly does, then it will not 
injure the roots. It is necessary to use the liquid 
only when the soil is dry ; when wet, the fumes will 
not penetrate far. 
The tobacco dust is recommended in preference to 
the carbon bisulphide, for the former is more lasting 
in its effects than the latter. While the bisulphide 
kills the lice in a shorter time, it remains in the soil 
for only a short time, and thus would not prevent the 
re-stocking of the roots from the branch-form of the 
insect. The tobacco dust works slower, but kills, 
and remains in the soil to prevent other colonies of 
the lice from forming on the roots. In extreme cases, 
where bearing trees are badly infested, it may be well 
to kill the lice immediately with the carbon bisul¬ 
phide, and then apply the tobacco dust a little later 
to prevent the insect from getting a foothold on the 
roots for a long time. Wherever the branch-form 
occurs in conspicuous woolly patches on the branches, 
it should be destroyed with kerosene emulsion or 
whale-oil soap, for individuals of this form may 
migrate at any time to the roots, and start colonies 
there. 
Canker Worms in Kansas. 
A. M. E., Moonlight, Kan.— Last spring, wben our apple trees 
were in bloom, there came a host of worms or caterpillars which 
almost ruined some orchards. They did not congregate or get in 
bunches, as several other species do, but were over the whole 
tree eating the blossoms and young leaves just opening. Many 
trees were so much weakened that they made but little after¬ 
growth during the summer. The worms were about 1 or 1 H inch 
long, of a dark or brownish color, no thicker than a heavy needle. 
They remained several weeks. 1 am told that, several years ago, 
large orchards were destroyed in Illinois by them. I fear their 
reappearance. Can anything be done against their ravages ? 
Ans. —The worms were, doubtless, the well-known 
and dreaded canker worms, which every year ravage 
apple orchards in many parts of the country. Last 
year, at least 200 acres of orchards were defoliated in 
western New York by these insects. Canker worms 
are the caterpillars of certain small, delicately-built 
moths, the females of which are curious, degraded 
forms, having no wings, so that they can only 
crawl, not fly, from place to place. There are two 
distinct kinds of canker worms, which are com¬ 
monly designated as the Spring canker worm and 
the Fall canker worm. Both kinds are what are 
popularly called “ measuring worms” from their 
peculiar looping gait when they walk. The worms 
of both kinds hatch about the same time in the 
spring, and feed upon the foliage during the 
same period of about a month; usually, they 
hatch early in May. The Spring canker worm has 
only five pairs of legs, while the caterpillar of the 
fall species has six pairs. Sometimes, both kinds 
work together on the same tree, but usually, either 
the spring or fall kind predominates in a locality. 
When the worms get full-grown, they leave the trees, 
and, dropping to the ground by their silken threads, 
go into the ground a short distance, and there, in a 
slight cocoon, enter the pupa state. In the case of 
the fall species, the moths emerge late in the fall, and 
the wingless females crawl up the tree and lay their 
eggs, shaped like truncated cones, in large clusters 
on the bark. The insect then winters in the eggs. 
In the case of the Spring canker worm, however, the 
pupa does not give out its moth until the next spring. 
The moths appear very early in the spring, some 
having appeared last spring as early as March 27 in 
New York. The wingless females at once proceed to 
qrawl up the trees and lay their oval eggs in small, 
loose clusters in the crevices of the bark. This is, in 
brief, the life story of canker worms. If they are 
allowed to multiply in an orchard, they will soon 
become a very formidable foe. In fact, they are one 
of the worst pests of the orchardist, but are not, 
usually, numerous over large areas at one time. 
Two methods are now employed in fighting these 
insects. Either may prove successful when thor¬ 
oughly, faithfully and honestly done. When the 
worms are very numerous, I would advise a combina¬ 
tion of the two methods. Before the advent of spray¬ 
ing, the method most often relied upon to prevent 
their ravages, was the banding or trap system. This 
consists in painting a strip, several inches wide, of 
tar, printers’ ink, or other sticky substance around 
the trunk of the tree, either on the bark or on a band 
of paper tied around the tree. This band prevents 
the ascent of the wingless female moths to lay their 
eggs ; if the eggs are laid below the band, then the 
ascent of the young caterpillars is stopped. The new 
substance known as Dendrolene, which has been 
widely advertised for this purpose, has not given good 
satisfaction where used, and when applied to the 
bark, it may injure young trees. Of course, the secret 
of success with this method is in getting the band on 
at the right time, and in keeping it sticky. The time 
to apply it will depend upon which kind of canker 
worm you have to fight. If the fall species, the trees 
must be banded in the autumn, but if it is the spring 
kind that is doing the damage, the bands need not be 
applied until about March 15 in the latitude of New 
York. They should be kept on and kept fresh for, at 
least, a month or six weeks. 
After May 1, the trees should be carefully examined 
every day, and as soon as the newly-hatched worms 
are seen, preparations for thorough and frequent ap¬ 
plications of Paris-green (one pound to 150 or 200 gal¬ 
lons of water) should be made. As some had ex¬ 
pressed doubts about the success of arsenical spray¬ 
ings against the worms, Prof Bailey demonstrated, 
in a New York orchard in 1895, that “ The canker 
“A ROOF OF THIRD PITCH.” Fig. 141. 
worm can be killed by honest spraying with Paris- 
green.” Details of this interesting and instructive 
experiment may be obtained in Bulletin 101 of the 
Cornell Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. Had the 
trees been thoroughly banded in March and April, 
doubtless the same results could have been accom¬ 
plished with much less spraying. 
If there be reason to expect an onslaught of canker 
worms in an orchard (and if the orchard was infested 
last year and nothing done to destroy the pests, we 
may depend upon having a crop of the worms in 
1897), I believe that the most successful method of 
fighting them will be to get in one blow with the 
sticky bands in March and April, and then be ready 
to give the newly-hatched worms a m6nu of Paris- 
green for their first meal, and have every subsequent 
course consist largely of the same food until the foe 
is conquered. It will require prompt and thorough 
work, and must be begun early, the earlier the better, 
as it takes much less Paris-green to kill a young 
worm than one half or two-thirds grown. I believe 
that a good preventive against the attacks of these 
is thorough cultivation ; one rarely, if ever, hears of 
a well-tilled orchard suffering from canker worms. 
m. v. s. 
Roofing Paint for Painting Trees. 
W. H. If., Charlotte , Vt. —Is roofing paint or prepared coal tar, 
that used for paper roofing, safe to use in painting over the cuts 
made in pruning fruit trees ? I tried a few trees last spring, and 
it works well thus far as I can see, but I don’t want to run any 
great risk. 
Ans —The element, creosote, which usually occurs 
in coal tar paint, may injure the growing cells of the 
tissue near the bark. Not knowing the constituents 
of the roofing paint mentioned, we could not, of 
course, give any definite answer until after carefully 
testing it. Good white-lead paint is as good a cover¬ 
ing for wounds on a tree as anything yet devised, ex¬ 
cept, possibly, the well-known fungicide, Bordeaux 
Mixture. One cannot hope to heal the wound with 
any coating. The true use of the paint is to prevent 
the entrance of any fungous or bacterial germs into 
the wound. These are what cause decay and prevent 
Nature’s healing process. If the roofing paint con¬ 
tains much creosote, one would better use something 
else. In any case, experiment cautiously with a 
substance whose composition is unknown, m. v. s. 
“ A Roof of Third Pitch : ” Winding Barbed Wire. 
J. N., New Cas8el, Win. —1. How can I cut a rafter for a build¬ 
ing, for a roof of one-tblrd pitch ? 2. How can I make a fence-wire 
reel to wind wire as the reel moves along ? It is very unhandy 
to remove an old fence without something to wind the wire with. 
An old barrel does very well to wind it on, but it cannot be un¬ 
wound as well. 
Ans. —1. A third-pitch roof means that the distance 
between the ridge pole and the line of the plates is 
one-third the width of the building. The rafter may 
be laid off entirely with the square. Supposing the 
stick of timber shown in Fig. 141 is to be cut for a 
rafter for the roof shown in the lower part of Fig. 
141. The rafter must rise eight feet from the point, 
N, and span a distance of 12 feet, equal to the 
distance from N to 0. Lay a common carpenter’s 
square on the timber so that the one-foot mark, M, 
and the 1%-foot mark, C, shall be just at the edge of 
the timber. Draw a line along the outer edge of the 
square, marking the line from 1 to 2. This will give 
one bevel of the rafter. Lay the square the second 
time in the position shown by the dotted lines, A, B, 
C, so that that part of the square which was origi¬ 
nally at the point, M, shall be at the point, C. Repeat 
this eight times, and mark the line along the outer 
edge of the square from H to 0. This will give a 
rafter of the required length, and the bevel at both 
ends will be correct so that, when the rafter is set in 
place, it will fit at both the plate end and the ridge. To 
make the necessary length of the projection is an 
easy matter after it is clear how to saw the rafter. 
This same principle with the square will apply in all 
cases. If the building is 33 feet wide and is to have 
a roof with a one-third pitch, then the measuring 
points on the square would be one foot and IK foot s 
and 11 measurements would be required. This would 
give the proper length of rafter, and the bevels at 
each end. If the building were 44 feet wide and a 
one-third pitch roof required, the rise of the rafter 
would be 14 feet 8 inches, and the span 23 feet. To 
mark the rafter off for this, the measuring points on 
the square would be 11 inches and 1GK inches, and 16 
measurements would be required. 
2. The best arrangement I have ever seen for wind¬ 
ing up the wire from an old fence is a windlass. This 
windlass may be constructed like the old-fashioned 
well windlass, and placed atone end of the wire fence. 
Remove one wire at a time, and attach one end to the 
windlass. This wire can then be wound up tightly j 
after which the other wires of the fence may be re¬ 
moved and wound up in the same way. This wind¬ 
lass may then be placed on the rear end of a wagon 
and carried to the place where it is to be used, and 
unwound one wire at a time. By the use of the wind¬ 
lass in this way, an old barb-wire fence may be re¬ 
moved and rebuilt with but little trouble. 
L. A. CLINTON. 
Skim-milk and Buttermilk. 
S. C., Benick, N. S.— What does buttermilk analyze ? Which is 
best for young pigs, buttermilk or skim-milk ? I can get either. 
Where can I get a table of analyses ? 
Ans. —The average composition of these two sub¬ 
stances is about as follows : 
POUNDS IN ONE HUNDRED. 
Muscle-makers. Fat-formers. Pure fat. 
Ski in-milk. 3.4 5.1 0.3 
Buttermilk. 3 4.8 0.5 
The buttermilk usually contains a little more water 
and is slightly less valuable as a food. With poor 
churning, however, more fat is left in the buttermilk 
and, naturally, that makes it richer. At equal prices, 
we would buy the skim-milk. There is an excellent 
table of analyses in the Year Book of the Department 
of Agriculture sent by the Department at Washing¬ 
ton. The Farmer’s and Dairyman’s Handbook, by Prof. 
Woll, has an excellent table. Price, $1.50. 
Abscess on Mare's Leg. 
) V. F. It., Peshtigo, Wis. —The mare about which I wrote and 
about which you made reply on page 252, is still ailing. The 
swelling in her leg continued until it burst, and bloody pus and 
water ran out of it for a week or 10 days. I have poulticed it 
with flaxseed for more than a week, and have washed it with 
carbolic acid 1 to 20 parts water. I keep the opening—which is 
about half way between the hock and the fetlock on the back part 
of the leg—bandaged. I have driven her a few times since she 
has been able to walk around. She is apparently all right other¬ 
wise. Will this affect the colt which she carries ? There is proud 
flesh in the opening. 
Ans —It is an unusual occurrence for an abscess to 
have formed in a case of this kind, unless the mare 
has recently injured the leg in some way. The proud 
flesh you speak of is, probably, unhealthy granula¬ 
tions. If it is still present, dust over thoroughly with 
finely powdered sulphate of copper, and allow it to 
remain for 12 hours, after which wash off with the 
carbolic solution. It would then, probably, be better 
to discontinue the carbolic wash, and apply iodo¬ 
form by dusting it over the diseased surface night 
and morning. The bandage should also be left 
off. The sulphate of copper can be repeated once a 
week as long as necessary, but should not be used 
