224 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



July and August. It disfigures the tree very much, and 

 frequently destroys the fruit ; because he eats the surface of 

 the fruits the same as the foliage, and stops tlieir develop- 

 ment. ]\Iy plan of meeting him is the same as the others. 

 It is a hand-to-hand contest in nearly every instance, only 

 we do not fight individuals. In this case we destroy whole 

 nests, the same as we do the tent-caterpillar. At that time 

 I am engaged with my help in thinning pears ; and my in- 

 struction to every person vrho has any thing to do with it is 

 this, '• Xo matter when or where you see the web-worm, no 

 matter how high up it is, or how inaccessible, don't you do 

 any thing else until vou cjet that nest down." Bv watching 

 the boughs carefully, and keeping on the alert, jou vnU. 

 almost invariablv cret them when thev are small, the same as 

 the tent-caterpillar. They are very easy to see, — so easy, 

 that you cmi scarcely help noticing them, even without look- 

 ing especially for them. In the beginning they occupy only a 

 single leaf. A whole cluster of eggs is laid upon the surface 

 of one leaf. At that age you do not often see them. I 

 found a few last season at that time. But before any web is 

 spun, or when it is partially spun, and they are all mar- 

 shalled in line, of course the}" are easily killed. You can 

 grasp the limb that contains them, and the two or three 

 leaves that involve the whole crop of worms are very easily 

 taken off and trodden under foot : when, if vou allow them 

 to go on a little more extensively, it is very difficult to get 

 rid of all of them. The}' are a verj^ great blemish upon an 

 orchard. I have seen more this year than ever before. I 

 "do not know the insect that lavs the esfsr- I never saw it. 



I will devote the rest of the time allotted to me to the cod- 

 ling-moth. That is one of the most important insects that 

 we have to deal with, and one of the greatest cui'ses — 

 scarcelv mitisrated at all. as the curculio is — that the fruit- 

 grower has to contend with. In the odd 3-ear our fruit is 

 nearlv all affected bv the codling-moth. In a vear like this 

 we are under rather more favorable cu'cumstances, because 

 last year we only grew a small crop of fruit, and of course 

 we raised a small crop of codling-moths. This year we ob- 

 tained am enormous crop of fruit, and we got ahead of him. 

 There was not codling-moth enough to go round : hence the 

 large amount of smooth, clean apples that we have raised. 



