STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 185 



peoples hitherto uncontaminated, become very fearful in their ravages. 

 Our own vines are those which have best resisted the attacks of the louse 

 in the past. Those which now are living are the very ones which have 

 best resisted it. 



Mr. WiER — I feel called upon to say a few words, as my name has 

 been mentioned, though it is not me. Many of you know that there is a 

 very large family of Wiers. The man that invented the apple worm trap 

 is a cousin of mine, and I got into it because I could not help myself. I 

 advised him not to take out a patent, but he insisted on doing it; and 

 wanted me to help him, and, as a relative and friend, I did my best. 



Now, there is something in that pamphlet, which Professor Riley has 

 read, which I wish to modify. All my experiments were carried on in 

 the summer of 1870, and very carefully noted. I did not take into con- 

 sideration, fully, the season. In putting traps on the trees, I found that 

 in putting them on the south side we caught no worms — that, I satisfied 

 myself of, fully. I experimented by putting different traps on different 

 sides of the trees, near the branches, and near the ground, and in every 

 conceivable way for a period of three months. I say now, that I made 

 some mistakes, but I found that I could catch no more worms in three 

 traps than I could in one. There was another thing to be taken into con- 

 sideration there — all the trees were young — bearing the first crop of fruit, 

 and there was no rough bark on them. The trap was the only place the 

 insect could find ; it found that trap, even if there was only one. I think 

 it would be very different on large, old trees, that had rough bark on. 



There is another point I want to mention. I do not know what Mr. 

 Thomas Wier will eventually do with this patent. Every device for doing 

 that with two or more pieces of wood is covered by that patent. I wrote 

 the specification myself, and know it ; but I do not know what will be 

 done with the patent — I do not think there will ever be any thing done. 

 I believe that way of arranging the trap, by opening, as we arranged it, 

 is the easiest way, and the speediest way of catching the codling moth, 

 while I am not intending to deny what Mr. Riley has said — that one trap 

 is incapable of catching all the worms. 



There are some points about the codling moth on which I can hardly 

 agree with him. Although his facts, as he has put them, could hardly be 

 questioned, yet they are not entirely conclusive on some points. I have 

 seen it flying in the middle of the day through apple trees ; but only on 

 one occasion have I seen it when the sun was just setting, and I never 

 could find any flying, when the first group of eggs would be laid, later 



