220 



SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. 



[CuAP. n. 



Dr. Trimble gave a history of the cockchafer, wliieh remains in the grouml, 

 like the locust, four years, and tht'ii conies forth in innnense numbers, but 

 in the flying state. They do not feed, and conseijuenlly do no damage to 

 pLants. 



In our opinion, the best remedy for curculio is pigs, poultry, and birds. 

 Wo have seen fine crops of plums grown in a curculio neighborhood, in a 

 season when these pests were active, in a small lot occupied as a poultry-yard, 

 in which several pigs run at large. The hens scratched, and the pigs rooted 

 the ground, and the dove-cot also had something to do with the matter. At 

 any rate, the barn was inhabited by swallows, and they catch flies, and per- 

 haps curculios. 



251. — Apple and Peach U'ormSi — The codliu moth, or apjde moth {Carpo- 

 cajysa pomonella), is the name of an injurious insect which deposits its eggs, 

 in June or July evenings, in the calyx of the young apples, where they soon 

 hatch, and the little worms eat their way to the heart of the fruit, where 

 they continue till ready to change into the chrysalis state. " Wormy apples" 

 generally ripen prematurely and fall. The worm is of a reddish color when 

 fully grown, and ready to leave the fruit and creep into crevices of the bark 

 to spin a semi-transparent cocoon, where it changes into a small chestnut- 

 brown chrysalid, and that produces a moth in a few days, measuring 

 seven tenths of an inch across the wings, which are of a bi"Ownish-gray color, 

 crossed by many dark-colored lines, with a dark, oval spot on each wing. 

 The under wings are lighter colored, shaded near the margin. As a remedy 

 against this pest, it has been recommended to wrap cloths loosely around 

 the forks of the trees, for a shelter for the worms to form cocoons, and then 

 destroy them. We fancy that this remedy will cure but a very small part 

 of the evil. Picking up and putting all wind-falls where the worms can 

 never see daylight will kill more of them. 



Perhaps the best remedy for this, and many- other little pests, is the Scrip- 

 tural one — " Dig about the tree and dung it." That is, give it greater vigor 

 of growth ; make it more productive, so that a portion of the fruit will come 

 to maturity in spite of all insects. It is a well-known fact that the most 

 vigorous-growing, thrifty trees exactly correspond with thrifty farmers — the 

 more they have, the more they gain. Insects mostly attack the most 

 neglected trees. 



252. Peach-Tree BororSt — The peach-tree borer {^geria exitiosa) is one 

 of the greatest pests of the farm, because it has almost blotted out of exist- 

 ence this most valuable fruit in large districts of the country. It is believed 

 by most careful observers to be the cause of nearly all the diseases which 

 aflect the peach-trees, the most visible of which is " the yellows," where the 

 leaves gradually take on a yellow, sickly appearance in midsummer, and 

 frequently at the age of three or four years show scarcely a green leaf, when 

 they should be clothed in the richest green, and finally wither and gradually 

 perish. The epitaph of tens of thousands of peach-trees all over New I^n- 

 gland. New York, New Jersey, and Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, 



