FRUIT GROWING ON THE FARM 275 



ling moth has two generations in a season, and when the 

 worm or larva of the second generation leaves the apple, it 

 hides for the winter in a silken cocoon, usually under the 

 scale of the bark of the apple tree. The moth emerges from 

 this cocoon the next spring soon after the blossoms drop. If 

 you should look behind the loose-bark of the apple tree now, 

 you would probably find the silken cocoons of the apple worm. 

 Woodpeckers and nuthatches find these cocoons and destroy 

 them in great numbers. These birds should never be killed, 

 as they are doing a good work in destroying the worms that 

 would otherwise spoil many apples. 



Curculio. Apples, plums, and cherries are often injured 

 by an insect called the curculio. This insect punctures the 

 skin of the fruit and lays its eggs in it. The eggs hatch 

 into grubs that live until they are full grown. This causes 

 the fruit to be " wormy " and to drop before ripening. 



San Jose scale. The common enemy of all fruit trees is 

 the San Jose scale. About all the structure the insect has 

 is a long beak and a big stomach. It is entirely covered with 

 a waxy scale, giving the branch upon which great numbers 

 collect an ashy color. The scale insects suck the sap from 

 the living bark and cause the tree to die. There are four 

 or five broods in a season, and the young scales live dormant 

 through the winter. The oyster-shell scale is common on the 

 apple and peach tree, but, having only one generation in 

 a season, the injury done by it is not so serious. 



Yellows. The peach is subject to a disease called "yel- 

 lows." This disease has entirely destroyed whole orchards 

 of trees. No remedy is known for it but to dig out and burn 



