66 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF 



Mr. Huron Burt, of Williamsburg, Mr. F. K. Allen, of Allenton 

 and Mr. Varnum, of Sulphur Springs, have also, each of them, testified 

 to me as to the good effects obtained from allowing hogs the run of 

 their orchards. 



There is, however, a more infallible remedy, and one which is al- 

 ways practicable, It is that of entrapping the worms. This can be 

 done by hanging an old cloth in the crotches of the tree, or by what 

 is known as Dr. Trimble's hay-band system, which consists of twisting 

 a hay-band twice or thrice around the trunk of the tree. To make 

 this system perfectly effectual, I lay down the following as rules : 

 1st, the hay-hand should beplaced around the tree hy the first or June t 

 and kept on till every apple is off the tree ; 2c7, it should he pushed up 

 or down, and the worms and chrysalids crushed that were under it, 

 every week, or at the very latest, every two weeks ,' 3d, the trunk of the 

 tree should he kept free from.old rough hark, so as to give the worms 

 no other place of shelter, and, 4th, the ground itself should he kept 

 clean from weeds and rubbish. But, as already stated on a previous 

 page, many of the worms of the second brood yet remain in the apples 

 even after they are gathered for the market. These wormy apples 

 are barrelled up with the sound ones, and stored away in the cellar 

 or in the barn. From them the worms continue to issue, and they 

 generally find plenty of convenient corners about the barrels in which 

 to form their cocoons. Hundreds of these cocoons may sometimes 

 be found around a single barrel, and it therefore becomes obvious 

 that, no matter how thoroughly the hay-band system had been carried 

 out during the summer, there would yet remain a sufficiency in such 

 situations to abundantly continue the species another year. And 

 when we consider that every female moth which escapes in the spring, 

 lays from two to three hundred eggs, and thus spoils so many apples, 

 the practical importance of thoroughly examining, in the spring of 

 the year, all barrels or other vessels in which apples have been stored 

 becomes at once apparent. It should, therefore, also be made a rule 

 to destroy all the cocoons which are found on such barrels or vessels 

 either by burning them up or by immersing them in scalding hot 

 water. 



Now, there is nothing in these rules but can be performed at little 

 trouble and expense. Their execution must henceforth be considered 

 a part of apple-growing. Let every apple-grower in Missouri carry 

 them out strictly, and see that his neighbors do likewise, and fine, 

 smooth, unblemished fruit will be your reward ! 



The philosophy of the hay-band system is simply that the worms, 

 in quitting the fruit, whether while it is on the tree or on the ground, 

 in their search for a cozy nook, in which to spin up, find the shelter 

 given by the hay-band just the thing, and in ninety-nine cases out of 

 a hundred, they will accept of the lure, if no other more enticing be 

 in their way. 1 have thoroughly tested this remedy the past summer, 

 and have found it far more effectual than I had anticipated, wherever 



