The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1897-05-21
THAT CANKER WORM.
About the destructive Pest
from Chancellor Snow.

LAWRENCE, Kan, May 13, 1897.
Nearly every citizen has by this
time probably observed a slender
caterpillar suspended in mid air by a
single silken thread letting itself down
to the ground from the leaves and
branches ofelm and apple trees. This
caterpillar is the sOcaled canker
worm, "a pest which in the eastern
United States has proved very f0rmid-
able 10 apple orchards and elm trees.
In some seasons ia Massachusetts |
have seen every orchard along the
coast aud for distance OF twenty five
miles inland with the green pulp OF
the leaves entirely destroyed leaving
nothing but the brown ribs and veins
of the leaves and presenting an APP
pearance as if fire has swept over
the entire area.
The canker worm, which is now
quite generally distributed in eastern
Kansas, has not previously occurred
in sufficient numbers TO produce great
damage over large area Ii is posi-
bic, however, that anOt her season may
witness the destruction of foliage
similar to that which sometimes oc-
ours in the eastern states.
Attic present stage the best method
of destroying these pests is by spray
ing with mixture of Paris green or
London purple in water, at the rate of
one pound of the poison to It's gallons
of water, with the addition of one
pound of quick lime to every pound
of poison to prevent injury to the foil
age by the poison.
In order to prevent damage next
season completely effectual plan of
operations may be adopted inasmuch
as the females are without wings and
consequently are obliged to reach the
leaves and branches of the trees for
the purpose of depositing their eggs
by crawling up the trunks of the
trees. If therefore, early in the
spring, the trunks of the trees be
girdled by sticky substances like coal
tar or sorghum, the moths will be
kept from depOsiting their eggs on the
trees. These substances must be fire.
quently renewed in order to maintain
their sickness. The best method OF
application is first to wrsp the trunk
with bandsge consisting of layer of
cotton batting, next to bark, enclosed
with layer of stiff paper, and tying
this double handage tightly about the
middle so that no openings may he
left between the trunk and the
bandsge. The sticky substances may
be smeared i'm a circle around the
middle of the bsndage Another
method of protecting the trees is b.
the use of collars of zine or tin fastened
closely tOthe tree and slOping down
ward like an inverted funnel. This
arrangement will prevent both mott s
and caterpillars from ascending the
trees if the openings between the
collar and the trunk of the trees are
carefully packed.
On account of the limited power of
IocomOtiOn possessed by the female
the ravages of the canker worm are
often confined within narrow limits,
hence it is comparatively easy to
stamp ont this pest by concerted
action. When, however, it has once
obtained a general foothOld it multi
plies with great rapidity and the
caterpillars may be carried by the
wind on their silken threads from one
tree to another. They may be dis
lodged from a small tree by Earring
the tree, when they may be easily
destroyed. +. II SNOW.