Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-11-08
ENEMIES OFTHE PECAN TREE


them.
ENEMIES OF THE PECAN TREE
BuS three insect enemies to the pecan
tree are reported by entomologists as yet,
and after careful search for them, begun
in 1880, we have been able to find but one
of the three in Texas. The others may be
here, but if so they have escaped our atten-
ton.
The insect injurious to the pecan tree, that
we have seen in Texas, is commonly known
Is the fall web-worm-scientificn name Hy-
phantria cunea 1t is small caterpillar, that
spins an unsightly web in the foliage of the
tree, which, if undisturbed, increases in
size throughout the season, looking ugly
and damaging the tree to some extent by
destroying many of its leaves. Fortunately
it is not at all hard to manage. The
arsenite insecticides, such as Paris green,
London purple, or diluted solution of ar
senic, as recommended by US in former ar
ticles for the cotton worm, will promptly
put an end to its operations. and do no
harm to the tree. Another simple and Sure
remedy is to burn the webs so soon as they
appear, with ball of cotton or rags tied to
the end of pole and saturated with kero-
sene. Hold the flaming ball under the web
just moment-a single fash is sufficient.
This will destroy the worms and not hurt
the young twigs of the tree. A web SIM
ply twisted out with pole may be rebuilt,
but no effort is ever made to rebuild a
burned-out web.
This caterpillar is the larva of small
moth or miller, of a whitish color, spotted
more or less with black or brown. The
eggs of the moth are laid on the leaves early
in spring, and week or so later the worms
are Matched to work well through the sea-
son, unless destroyed as suggested. The
harm effected is by no means serious, as
the twigs of the tree upon which the webs
hang seldom die, but put out again all right
in the next spring. OF course it is some
thing against the tree to have its leaves de-
stroyed, therefore the webs and worms
should be promptly destroyed.
Another insect occasionally found by US
working upon both the pecan and the
hickory, east of the Mississippi river, is a
small borer that cuts through the bark of
the man trunk and digs tunnel direct into
the wood, ranging upward. tits about one
half of an inch in length, and looks little
like the borer found IN peach trees. though
its head is not quite so broad and fiat. OF
course it is a larva-its parent is black
beetle, spotted and marked more or less
-,,l,t oil T ,ln,,t
fourths of an inch; long 'feelers' come out
from either side of the head, turning back
more or less. Scientific name, Cyllene
picta.
This beetle deposits eggs upon the outer
bark of the tree early in spring, and a week
or so thereafter finds the young borers
Matched and cutting inward, as already
mentioned. By fall all transformations of
the insect have been passed, leaving the
perfect beetles to hibernate through the
winter and be ready for starting a new
brood on the opening of the next spring.
The remedy for this pest would be to give
the trunks of the trees a good spraying
with our diluted solution of arsenic early in
spring This would effectually destroy the
young borers ere they had more than
started into the bark, for they eat their way
in and hence could not avoid getting dose
of the poison.
AS already stated, this borer has never
yet been found by US in Texas, and the al
most invariable healthy and luxuriant ap-
pearance of our wild pecan trees leads US
to think it is not here. A hickory or pecan
tree infested by this borer to any great ex-
tent always looks sickly. But should it be
here, or should it make its appearance later,
the means of cutting it short are, as you
see, both simple and inexpensive. One
thousand large pecan trees could be pro-
tected against it at less than 80 cents an
nually for the poison.
The third insect to which our attention
has been called as working upon the pecan
tree in other states, but which we have
never yet seen in Texas, is twig girdler
known to entomologists as Oncideres Gin
gulatus. 1t is grayish brown beetle about
three-fourths of an inch in length, armed
with long 'feelers" somewhat like those of
the beetles that make most of the tree
borers, though the "feelers" extend more
TO front than do the 'feelers" (antenna) of
the borer beetles. 1t has snout or bill
which turns squarely downward at right
angles with its body, and now for what it
does:
This mischievous little beetle flies up
into the pecan, the hickory or the persim-
mon trees land possibly into trees of other
families), and selecting twig proceeds to
pierce it and deposit eggs therein. Those
eggs hatch little grubs which work along
the pith Of the twigs, but it is necessary
for them to come out and go into the ground
before they can pass through their trans
formations and become perfect beetles like
the parent. But the parent has made pro-
visions to favor all this. After depositing
her eggs in the twig she descends few
inches, and with her bill already mentioned
begins girdling it round and round. She
works only at night, and it takes several
nights for her to complete the job in hands.
When completed the twig is glrdled round
until almost cut of, just wood enough being
left to enable it to hang on till towards fall
By fall the grubs are ready to go into the
ground, and then the fall winds come and
break OF the twig at the girdle It drops
TO the earth and the grubs come out dig
into the soil and undergo their tranSforma-