Injurious insects : how to recognize and control them / by Walter C. O'Kane.

  • Walter Collins O'Kane
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Injurious insects : how to recognize and control them / by Walter C. O'Kane. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    cloth serves the purpose very well. Handy covers are made by cutting a barrel hoop into two pieces, crossing these at a right angle, tacking the ends to a second hoop, and covering this frame with cloth. Such frames may be packed away for storage, one within another, taking up little room. Wire screening may be shaped into cones, which are used in the same way as the cloth-covered frames, and have a similar advantage of packing away in small space. If galvanized wire is used and properly stored when not needed, it will not rust for several years; but the first cost is rather heavy as compared with cheesecloth frames. Destroying Borers Cutting out borers with a knife is a remedy that seems drastic, but it may be the only means of putting a stop to an injury that would otherwise prove fatal. Frequently, it is possible to kill the borer by probing the burrow with a soft copper wire. If the end of the wire is nicked, so as to give it a few rough barbs, it will bring the borer or a piece of him out with it, and the operator may thus know whether he has succeeded in reaching the culprit. If cutting is necessary, a sharp knife should be used and the course of the burrow carefully followed. In this way no more real damage will be done to the tree than has already been done by the borer itself. It is well to paint the wound afterward with a mixture of lead and linseed oil —not with ready-mixed paint, which is apt to contain injurious oils added as driers. Removal of Dead or Dying Limbs There are certain species of small borers that attack especially trees that have been weakened. Once started, they continue to breed in such places, rapidly killing the tree and spreading from it to others in the neighborhood that do not happen to be growing as vigorously as might be. By prompt removal of the infested limbs or trees the pests may be eliminated and other trees near by saved from attack. This, in fact, is the only feasible means of control in the case of some insects,
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