CHAPTER III.
THE RULER WITH THE IRON HAND But evil is wrought by want of thought As well as want of heart.
-- _Hood._ One morning as we flew across the open space which lay between the wood and the wheat fields, we noticed two gentlemen in the orchard who were carefully examining the trees, peering curiously into the cracks of the rough bark or unfolding the curled leaves.
As we came nearer we discovered that one of them was the owner of the place, the father of Miss Dorothy and Miss Katie.

The other was a thin gentleman in spectacles, who held a magnifying glass through which he intently looked at a twig which he had broken off.
After a few minutes' inspection he said: "Colonel, your orchard is somewhat affected.

This is a specimen of the _chionaspis furfuris_." "Is it anything like the scurfy-bark louse ?" inquired the colonel.
"The same thing exactly.

It occurs more commonly in the apple, but it infects the pear and peach trees.

You will find it on the mountain ash, and sometimes on the currant bushes," he answered.
The colonel asked him if he would recommend spraying to get rid of the pests, and was advised to begin immediately, using tobacco water or whale-oil soap.
"By the way," said the colonel, "there is a beetle attacking my shade trees.