6o AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



causes an annual loss of from 25% to 75^0 of the apple crop, 

 as well as many other fruits. 



The codling moth passes the third stage of its existence in 

 the crevices of the bark upon the trunk of the tree. Now 

 nature has fitted a whole series of birds for a tree-trunk life, 

 and they cannot acquire their subsistence anywhere else. Such 

 birds are the woodpeckers, nuthatchers and tree creepers, while 

 other birds like the sparrows, bluebirds and chickadees glean 

 from the trunks. 



The downy woodpecker, the avowed enemy of the codling 

 moth, is with us all the year round. His whole life is given 

 to the destruction of insects that do injury to the trees. When- 

 ever and wherever you see him, you will find him searching 

 for food in and under the bark. In a twenty-five year study 

 of birds I never saw one on the ground or on the tops of the 

 branches. His whole anatomy is adapted to the life he leads, 

 toes four, two in front and two behind, long, strong and flex- 

 ible, and each armed with a strong curved claw ; legs strong, 

 and a tail fitted as a prop to serve as a fulcrum to give added 

 strength to his blows; tongue, the most wonderful of nature's 

 work in its adaptability to its uses, capable of being extended 

 almost indefinitely, its point armed with a barbed spear-like 

 tip for probing and bringing forth from the bottom of the 

 opening cut by his chisel bill any larva disclosed therein. 



Search your orchards for samples of his work. Examine 

 the bark scales he has pecked into. Remove them and find 

 the empty cocoon beneath. If you find scales with living 

 pupae under them, you have not woodpeckers enough to take 

 care of your trees. Carry home with you some of these bark 

 scales that have been treated by the downy. Next May or 

 June, collect an equal number of adult moths and kill with 

 cyanide or chloroform. Next summer lay beside the empty 

 cocoons and dead moths an equal number of wormy apples, cut 

 open so as to show the ravages of the insect in its larval stage ; 

 if possible, put with them an equal number of small green 

 apples, each one with a flat, oval, scale-like egg upon it, and 

 learn a lesson that will make you and your posterity the ever- 

 lasting friends of the downy woodpecker. If you are not yet 

 convinced of the utility of the downy, solve this simple problem 

 in arithmetic : If a codling moth lays 80 eggs (the average 



