GALLS 



2367 



GALSWORTHY 



VARIOUS FORMS OF GALLS AND A GALL FLY 



(a) Gall fly; (6) galls on leaf of California white oak; (c) stem of goldenrod, showing spherical 

 gall above, made by the larva of a fly, and below, a spindle-shaped gall made by the caterpillar of a 

 moth; (d) oak apple; (e) willow cone gall; (/) mossy rose gall. 



contain but one larva, others have several 

 in some cases a dozen larvae. In appearance 

 there is great variety, from those which are 

 smooth and shining to rough and hairy vari- 

 eties; from trumpet-shaped, rosette or starlike 

 forms to ball or kidney shapes. Birds, squir- 

 rels and insects tear open these strange little 

 homes to feed upon the larvae within, and to 

 protect them from their ruthless enemies Na- 

 ture has provided various interesting devices. 

 Some secrete juices to trap intruding insects, 

 others are protected by color, and still others 

 are bitter with tannin. 



Many gall-producing insects are extremely 

 injurious to vegetation, as the Hessian fly, 

 which costs the United States and Canada mil- 

 lions of dollars worth of wheat crops each 

 year; or the destructive grape-vine phylloxera, 

 or the clover-seed midge. The small, dark, 

 four-winged gall-fly, however, is of some value, 

 as it deposits its eggs in the leaves and twigs 

 of various plants and trees, and when these 

 are deposited in oaks the familiar and valu- 

 able spongy white, green or blue oak apples 

 appear. From them are obtained tannin for 

 leather tanning; they are also made into ink 

 and dyes and are frequently used in medi- 

 cine. The galls of commerce are gathered 

 chiefly by peasants in Aleppo, Italy, formerly 

 the center of that trade, and in Persia, Cyprus, 

 Asia Minor and Syria. Although oak apples 

 are abundant throughout America, the gather- 

 ing would be too costly. The pioneers used 

 them for ink and dyeing, and some of the old- 

 est American documents show the bright, prac- 

 tically permanent ink of oak galls. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes : 



Insects 

 Phylloxera 

 Slime Molds 



GALS 'WORTHY, JOHN (1867- ), one of 

 the foremost of twentieth century English 

 novelists and dramatists, noted for his keen 

 studies of social problems. Galsworthy is usu- 

 ally regarded as a writer with a purpose ; nearly 

 all the work of 

 his mature years 

 deals with some 

 evil or injustice 

 against which he 

 protests. Thus 

 his play Justice 

 is a bitter protest 

 against the prac- 

 tice of placing 



> &,,. fMfW/' ' ^^F-X 



convicts in soli- ^2fifl '*? *1 

 tary confinement. 

 Aside from its 

 success as a play 



it achieved the desired effect in that it called 

 public attention to the horrible results of soli- 

 tary confinement and actually induced the 

 British government to abolish this form of 

 punishment. Galsworthy's efforts to secure re- 

 forms, however, do not mean that he has sac- 

 rificed artistic workmanship to propaganda; 

 his novels and plays, on the contrary,. are artis- 

 tically successful, and it is likely that his work 

 would not be so successful in securing reform 

 if it were not also literature of permanent 

 value. 



It is as a dramatist that Galsworthy is per- 

 haps best known, although his first piece of 

 writing was a novel, Jocelyn, published in 1898. 



