State Agricultural Society. 327 



herein given. I may add, that this insect is the only one that I have 

 known to infest well desiccated fruit (my observations have extended 

 over a period of eight years, and been conducted with care), and also 

 that it exhibits no preference for an3 r particular mode of desiccation, 

 but attacks all that is exposed; The annual or semi-annual dismantling 

 of our houses, bringing into requisition every available point that will 

 expose our fabrics and furniture to the raj^s of the sun, attests the pref- 

 erence of this pest as to his abode, as well as suggests the remedy neces- 

 sary to his extinction. 



"I will add, that I have seen one other insect only in fruit. It is a 

 minute brown weevil, and is found only where there is an excess of 

 moisture sufficient to produce alcoholic fermentation, which is of itself 

 sufficient to destroy the fruit." 



Whatever may be the real truth as to when and how the insect eggs 

 were deposited in the Briggs fruit, or when and how they are generally 

 deposited in dried fruit, the one prominent fact brought out by the 

 above related experiences, is that fruit while drying, or after being dried, 

 is very liable to have the seeds of this destructive insect's eggs laid 

 upon or near it, and that great caution is necessary to protect it and 

 guard against loss. Mr. Ballou's success in this direction was certainly 

 remarkable, and probably not one person in a thousand would have 

 been as successful. It will be observed that he attributes this success 

 in saving his fruit from the worms to the single fact that the " direct 

 rays of the sun are destructive to the insect up to the fourth stage of 

 its existence, and that the perfect insect is rarely seen on the wing in 

 full sunlight." Now, w r hile it is true that the direct rays of a hot Sum- 

 mer's sun will kill the egg or larvae of an insect, it is also true that 

 insects, from natural instinct, do not deposit their eggs in such exposed 

 places, but seek the underside of the fruit, and the wrinkles and crevices 

 in the same, and there where the direct rays of the sun, however much 

 the fruit may be turned and manipulated, cannot penetrate, to do the 

 mischief. Again, fruit cannot all be dried in the hot Summer season, 

 but must be continued in the Fall so late that the sun's rays become 

 less direct and effectual in the destruction of insects and eggs. Most of 

 our fruit must be dried in September, and much of it, especially apples, 

 in October, when the rays of the sun, even in the hottest day, will do 

 no harm to the most delicate insect eggs or larva?, and when insects are 

 most numerous and active in their habits of reproducing their own 

 sjsecies. 



Mr. Ballou's experience in bee-keeping has doubtless proved to him 

 that the period or danger from the bee moth is not in July and August, 

 but later in the season. From the varieties of fruits dried by him, 

 principally prunes and plums, it is evident his experiments covered the 

 former and not the latter period, and that he did not, therefore, 

 encounter the danger in its worst form and at its worst time. Again, 

 Mr. Ballou is a man of very exact observation and habits and great care, as 

 is evident from the manner in which he conducted his experiments, and 

 as we know from personal acquaintance; and, while he would succeed 

 in keeping insects out of sun-dried fruit ninety-nine others would fail. 

 His success, therefore, under the circumstances, does not change the 

 fact as stated by us, and as attested by general experience, "that sun- 

 dried fruit is practically a failure." 



While upon this subject we wish most heartily to indorse Mr. Ballou's 

 plan and care in boxing and keeping dried fruits, whether sun-dried or 



