ENTOMOLOGY 43 



palmer-worm is quite a small, slender caterpillar, measuring only 

 about half an inch in length. It general color is olivaceous or 'brown- 

 ish-green, lighter on the underside, and usually with a light-brown 

 head. The body is striped with 4 narrow white lines. The palmer- 

 worm moth is a minute gray or brownish-gray insect measuring 

 across its expanded wings only a little more than ^ inch. This 

 insect appears at irregular intervals in great numbers, doing con- 

 siderable damage in the territory where it occurs. It feeds on apple, 

 plum, cherry, and oak. 



The codling moth sprays will keep the insects in check on apple 

 and the annual poison sprays on plum and cherry for curculios will 

 answer on those trees. (Bui. 124 and 187 Cornell Exp. Sta.) 



Apple Leaf-Miner. Many fruit-growers have observed small, 

 brownish patches on the leaves of apple trees. These patches are 

 caused by a minute insect which feeds on the internal tissue of the 

 leaf. The insect is the larva of a small gray moth. The mines are 

 sometimes.so numerous that as they increase in size they run together 

 and form one large blotch covering the greater part of the leaf. As 

 the epidermis of the upper surface of the leaf dies it loses its elas- 

 ticity, and a curling of the leaf inward is the result. The leaves at 

 this stage cease to perform their functions and soon drop. The 

 higher branches of the tree are usually more seriously affected and 

 lose their foliage first. This loss of foliage results in premature, un- 

 dersized fruit. By checking its vegetative activity the vitality of the 

 tree will also be more or less reduced. In view of the fact that the 

 insect feeds entirely on the inner tissues of the leaf, the application 

 of arsenicals or contract insecticides is useless for the control of this 

 pest. The gathering up and destroying of the leaves in the fall read- 

 ily suggests itself, and is recommended where tillage is not practiced. 

 There are, however, so many insects' of various species which spend 

 part of their existence in the ground and which are destroyed by 

 breaking up their quarters, that, aside from the generally recognized 

 benefits, orchard tillage is, in most cases, recommended. 



The Bud-Moth. Early in the spring, just as they commence to 

 swell and open, the buds of apple and pear and sometimes those of 

 plum, cherry, quince, and peach trees, are occasionally attacked by 

 small, almost naked caterpillars, about a fifth of an inch long, and 

 dirty white in color, the head and thoracic shield being black or very 

 dark brown. The caterpillars feed on the opening buds, later bind- 

 ing the young leaves and blossoms together with silken threads. In- 

 side the nest thus formed, the larvae feed and attain the length of 

 nearly three-fourths of an inch, change to pupae and finally to adult, 

 winged moths, which usually emerge here during the last of June, or 

 first part of July. The eggs are soon laid and the larva) hatched, the 

 young larvae feeding on the under side of the leaves and skeletoniz- 

 ing them. When partially grown, they spin small ncsls or liiber- 

 naculi, in protected places, and remain until the following spring, 

 when they attack the buds as described. 



The best remedy is to spray with arsenicals just as (lie buds 

 open. Cover the buds with poison, and the young larva 1 will be killed 



