culty of getting it at a uniform strength makes the use of it a little uncertain as to the quantity that should be used.

The experience of the past season leads us to conclude that one pound of either to 200 gallons of water is of sufficient strength to accomplish the work.

WHEN TO APPLY.

The best and most opportune time to commence spraying the tree is soon after the fruit is set, and when it is about the size of a small pea; and this should be continued with an interval of two weeks until the middle of June on early varieties, and until September on late ones.

APPLE-TREE BORER.

Of these there are a number of species. The two-striped, or round-headed, is extremely destructive to apple orchards, from the borings of the grub into the wood of the trees. The mature beetle appears during May and June, and being strictly nocturnal, is seldom seen except by those who hunt for it. The female deposits her eggs mostly in June, in the bark near the foot of the tree, and also in the forks of the main branches. The eggs hatched, the minute grubs commence boring into the wood, generally downward the first year, and upward and near the bark the second year. The Borer lives in the wood of the tree until the third year, when it emerges as a perfect beetle. It infests healthy as well as unhealthy

trees, and is very destructive. The Flat-headed Borer, while working in the same class of trees, is totally unlike the other, boring an oval hole twice as wide as high. The beetle flies by day instead of at night, and besides the apple tree, attacks the oak, peach, soft maple, ash, willow, tulip, and even the elm and cottonwood; it also attains its full size in one year from the egg. This Borer attacks limbs and trunk indiscriminately.

REMEDIES.

The natural enemies of these insects are the birds of the woodpecker tribe.

Artificial remedies are, to find the cast of the larvæ, and kill them by piercing with a flexible wire. Prevention is, however, the only sure remedy. Keep the base of every tree clear of weeds and trash, and apply a solution of soft soap reduced to the consistence of a thick

paint by the addition of a strong solution of washing-soda in water. This, if applied to the bark of the tree, especially about the base or collar, and thence up the trunk and over the larger branches, will dry in a few hours and form a tenacious coating not easily dissolved by rain. This soap solution should be applied in May, and a second time the latter part of June. The moth may be prevented from laying her eggs upon the tree by placing stiff paper, about a foot high, around it, the bottom extending some two inches below the surface, and fastening the top with a string or wire.

THE APPLE-TREE CATERPILLAR.

There are several varieties of these insects so like in appearance and unlike in habits that much confusion is occasioned in trying to distinguish between them. These caterpillars are seldom abundant for many years in succession, for in times of great plenty their natural enemies multiply with great rapidity. Several parasites destroy them, and some of the insect-feeding birds devour them greedily.

REMEDIES.

The egg-clusters should be sought for and destroyed during the winter months. When the caterpillars have become half grown, the trees should be frequently inspected early in the morning, and the congregated masses destroyed by trickling a little kerosene oil over them. Trees can be thoroughly cleaned of them by the use of the London-purple spray as used for the destruction of the Codlin Moth, or three spoonfuls of Onegarth's Insecticide dissolved in a pailful of water, and the trees sprayed with this solution. During the day they are so constantly on the move, that a tree thoroughly cleansed from them in the morning may be crowded again before night; so, to avoid this, fasten strips of cotton-batten four inches wide about the trunk of the tree, by means of a string tied tight in the middle.

We desire to emphasize the fact that one hour spent in the orchard destroying the eggs or the young Caterpillars when first hatched, will accomplish more than one day after they are large enough to scatter from the home nest. The successful orchardist is he who watches every tree for the first appearance of every insect that will be injurious to it.

THE PEAR AND CHERRY-TREE SLUG.

Pear and cherry growers should be on the lookout for this destructive pest about the middle of June, and again early in August, and

foliage, feeding upon the upper side of the leaves and consuming the tissues, leaving only the veins and under skin. The foliage deprived of its substance, withers and becomes dark colored, as if scorched by fire, and soon afterward it drops from the tree. Trees badly infested often become as bare of foliage in July as they are in January. In such cases, the tree is obliged to throw out new leaves, and this extra effort so exhausts its vigor as to interfere seriously with its fruit-producing powers the following year. Although very abundant one season they may be very scarce the next, as they are liable to be destroyed in the interval by enemies and by unfavorable climatic influences.

REMEDIES.

London purple or Paris green mixed with water in the proportion of one ounce to six gallons, and applied to the foliage with a syringe or a spray pump, promptly destroys this slug. Fresh air-slaked lime, sand, ashes, or road dust, dusted on the foliage, is said to be an efficient remedy; but these latter are unsatisfactory measures and usually of little value.

THE PEACH-TREE BORER.

This notorious pest, so destructive to peach orchards, is very widely disseminated. The moth appears from about the first of June to the middle of September. The sexes differ very much in appearance. In the figure herewith, No. 1 represents the female and No. 2 the male. The female is much the larger, and has a broad, heavy abdomen. The body is of

**

a glossy steel blue color, with a purplish reflection and a broad band of orange yellow across the abdomen. When the wings are extended, the moth measures about an inch and a half across. The male is about two thirds the size of the female.

The female deposits her eggs in the bark of the tree at the surface of the ground. They are very small, oval in form, slightly

flattened, and of a dull yellowish color. They are deposited singly and fastened to the bark by a gummy secretion. As soon as the worm is hatched, it works downward in the bark of the root, forming a small winding channel, which soon becomes filled with gum. As it increases in size it devours the bark and sap-wood, and causes a copious exudation of gum, which eventually forms a thick mass around the base of the tree, intermingled with the castings of the worin. When full-grown, the worm measures over half an inch in length and about a quarter of an inch in diameter. It is a naked, soft, round grub, of a pale whitish color, with a reddish, hornylooking head and black jaws. In badly-infested trees the whole of the bark at the base of the tree is sometimes consumed for an inch or two below the surface. Nor does the insect always confine itself to the base of the tree; it occasionally attacks the trunk farther up, and sometimes the forks of the limbs. But exuding gum invariably points out the spot where the enemy is at work. Its operations are not always confined to the peach; it also works on the plum.

REMEDIES.

Several remedies have been proposed to meet this evil. Where the borers are present, they are easily detected, in consequence of the exudation of gum. Hence, early in the spring the trees should be examined, a little of the earth removed from about the base of the tree, and if masses of gum are found, the grub should be searched for and destroyed. Hot water has been found to be very effectual in killing them. It should be used boiling hot, and after the earth has been removed from about the base of the tree.

Among the preventive measures, much has been written in favor of mounding the trees, banking the earth up around the trunk to the height of a foot or more, and pressing it firmly about the tree. Some allow the mounds to remain permanently; but the better way is to mound up late in the spring, and level off the ground again in September, after egg-laying has ceased and the moth has disappeared. Another preventive, which we regard as much better than mounding the trees, is the use of stiff paper, one foot high, about the base, extending some two inches below the surface and fastened at the top with a string or wire. The washes recommended for the Apple-tree borer are also good to be used on the peach.

THE OYSTER-SHELL BARK-LOUSE.

This scale is of a brownish or grayish color, about one sixth of an inch in length, nearly the color of the bark of the trees, and in

scales. Under each scale, as shown in the accompanying figure, at 1 may be found a mass of from twenty to one hundred eggs. In

May or early June, and in September, they hatch, and appear as shown, highly magnified, at 2. In a few days a fringe of delicate, waxy threads issues from

their bodies, as seen at 3. Gradually the insect assumes the form shown at 4; 5 and 6 represent the larvæ as nearly full grown, and when detached from the scale. Before the end of the season the louse has secreted for itself the scalely covering shown at 7, in which it lives and matures.

REMEDIES.

The rosin-and-lye wash recommended for the San José Scale will be found effective; also strong solutions of soap or tobacco.