50 FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



will quote the follo\ving paragraph which was addressed last spring to the 

 Bural Next- Yorker: 



While visiting the grounds of I. M. Babcock & Sons in Brighton, near 

 Eochester, N. Y., we entered a field of eight hundred apple trees in the very 

 zenith of their bearing capacity, loaded down with the finest of winter fruit. 

 But my attention wa"s directed to the branches of the trees, which, to my 

 utter surprise, were thoroughly lined with these insects or minute worms 

 inclosed in their silk-like cocoon, and tightly attached to the small branches 

 which you will readily perceive; also tlie leaves of the trees are infested 

 with a "similar worm incased within the leaf, from one-fourth to one-half an 

 inch in length — what some would call the leaf-rollers. The etfect of their 

 ruinous work on the trees is to almost denude them of their leaves, and 

 greatly to diminish the future prospects for fruit. Now, Mr. Editor, through 

 the Rural Neio Yorker, we shall look for some solution of the nature and 

 character of this most formidable enemy that has appeared upon our apple 

 trees. I send you a branch that has the insects on, and the leaf which I 

 believe contains the parent, which is the cause of all the mischief Will you 

 have this subject investigated by competent hands, and report through the 



Rural ? 



H. N. Langworthy. 



The little worm which is the cause of such mischief feeds externally 

 npon the leaf, and is quite active, letting itself down by a web when dis- 

 turbed. It measures, when h\\\j grown, nearly one-half inch in length, and 

 is of a dark green color, with the joints swollen so as to look like a series of 

 beads, with a small head held horizontally, and with sparse, short hairs over 

 the bod3% It has the normal complement of legs, namely, ten false and six 

 true ones. When full grown it spins a dirty white cocoon, which is charac- 

 terized by being ribbed longitudinally (Fig. 23, h, represents one enlarged). 

 Within this cocoon it soon assumes the pupa state, in which state it is of a 

 dark brown color, rough-punctured on the back, and. with a smooth, pol- 

 ished anal cap. The pupa works itself partly out of the cocoon and gives forth 

 fi little moth (Fig. 23, c, enlarged, the hair lines showing the natural size). 

 which is of a dirty-white, or gray color, marked with brown as in the figure. 

 It was first described in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 of Philadelphia, for 1860, p. 211. 



In this latitude the worm does its principal damage during the month 

 of September, and the greater number of cocoons are formed during the 

 latter part of that month and during October. The moths commence to 

 issue in April, and immediatel}^ deposit their eggs on the tender leaves. 

 Fresh cocoons I have found as earh- as the first of June, and there are at 

 least two, and perhaps more, broods of the worm during the year. 



Eemedies. — The great peculiarity of this insect is its habit of forming 

 its little ribbed cocoon in company on the bark — a habit which at once give? 

 us the mastery over it; for as the pupa remains in the cocoon all through 

 the winter, we can make war upon it at any time during that season. When 

 the insect is abundant these cocoons will absolutely cover the smaller twigs in 

 the manner shown at Figure 23, a ; and they will be found even on the larger 

 branches and trunk. Anything applied to the tree with the object of kill- 

 ing these puppe, must be of an oily nature, so as to readily soak through the 



