SECRETARY'S REPORT. 185 



six more, or twelve dollars as the cost of the whole crop on the 

 trees, or three cents per bushel. The value of sweet apples for 

 cattle and swine has proved to be fully equal to the best root crops. 

 No land owner need therefore fear to plant extensively with a view 

 of being furnished with a copious supply of food for domestic an- 

 imals, needing not, like other crops, the yearly attention and care 

 of procuring seed and planting." 



Obstacles. It may be well here to refer to some of the hindrances 

 to successful culture, among which the ravages of insects hold a 

 prominent place. 



The Apple Worm, or codling moth — the Garpocapsa Pomonella 

 of entomologists — seems on the increase, and in some sections is 

 very troublesome. The perfect insect is a small and very pretty 

 moth, which flies mostly by night and lays its eggs in the blossom 

 end of the young fruit, where it hatches, and the worm burrows to 

 the core, causing the fruit to fall prematurely. The worm then 

 leaves the fruit and selects some crevice in the bark or other place 

 about the tree, where it spins its cocoon, from which the moth 

 usually emerges the next spring. Some of the earlier ones are 

 said to come out the same season. If practicable to allow swine 

 and poultry ,to run in the orchard, these worms will mostly be des- 

 troyed. Many can be caught by placing old cloths in the forks of 

 the tree, in which the worms will collect. Open mouthed bottles 

 filled with a mixture of molasses and water with a little vinegar, 

 hung near the trees will atti-act multitudes of the moths. For this 

 purpose June or July are the best months. Any method which 

 will dispose of the damaged fruit as soon as it falls, will be found 

 the most effectual means ol getting rid. of this pest. Eemoving all 

 rough bark from the stem and limbs, and thus keeping it smooth, 

 deprives them of their favorite lodging places, and so assists in 

 keeping rid of them. 



Bark Lice. In some situations, and some kinds much more than 

 others, apple trees are subject to serious injury from a species of 

 coccus. The limbs and twigs are sometimes so covered as to give 

 an almost wrinkled look to them. The little oval shells, resembling 

 half a grain of flax seed, are the deposits of eggs, usually thirty or 

 forty in each. The insect itself is very small, and looks at first 

 like a speck of bluish moiild. They begin to hatch about the 

 twenty-fifth of May and finish about the tenth of June. They are 

 active only a short time, but they do a good deal of mischief in a 



