FRUIT-MAGGOTS. 



FRUIT-MOTH. 



contain also a fibrous matter, not yet accu- 

 rately examined. The colouring matters of 

 fruits, especially the red, dissolve freely both 

 in water and alcohol, but very speedily decay 

 when exposed dry to the action of the sun 

 and weather. Hence they cannot be used as 

 dyes. 



The diseases of fruit-trees are various, and 

 for these the reader is referred to the different 

 heads of BLIGHT, CANKKR, MILDEW, &c. As 

 the culture and propagation of the different 

 fruits are also treated of in separate articles, 

 it will suffice in this place to enumerate a few 

 of the principal works which maybe consulted 

 with advantage for fuller details than the limits 

 of this work will enable me to give; among 

 these are Phillips' 's Hist, of Fruit*; Rogers' s 

 Fruit Cult. ; Hoare on the Vine ; Abercrombic's 

 Fruit Gard.; Linillcy's Guide to the Orchard and 

 Kitchen Gard. ; London 1 s Encyc. of Gard. fyc.; 

 Bliss's Fruit Grower's Instructor. 



Several American works have been pub- 

 lished of great value, upon the culture of fruit- 

 trees, &c.: among these are included Coxe on 

 Fruit-trees; Thatcher's American Orchard ist , 

 Hovey's Magaz. of Horticulture, fyc. ; Kennels 

 Am* Orchardist ; Fessenden's Am. Farmer and 

 Gardener ; Hoffey's OrchardisCs Companion, the 

 last a splendid original work with plates. 



FRUIT MAGGOTS. The little white mag- 

 gots often found in our ripe whortleberries, 

 raspberries, cherries, and other fruits, are the 

 young of small two-winged flies, some of 

 which family deposit their eggs in the stems, 

 buds, and leaves of plants, thereby producing 

 large tumors or galls wherein their young re- 

 side. The larvae of those laying their eggs in 

 fruit, live upon the pulp. The family of insects 

 has received the name of Ortalidians, from a 

 word signifying to shake or flap the wings, 

 these being kept in motion all the time. Some 

 of them are in the habit of suddenly raising 

 their wings perpendicularly above their backs, 

 and running along a few steps with them spread 

 like the tail of a peacock. Their powers of 

 flight are feeble, and they are rarely found 

 sporting on flowers in the sunshine, but gene- 

 rally prefer shady and damp places. The 

 wings of the ortalidians are often beautifully 

 variegated, striped or spotted, with shades of 

 brown or black, (//iirris.) 



FRUIT-MOTH, or CODLING-MOTH. The 

 insect, the eggs of which produce the well- 

 known apple-worm, which has been brought 

 from Europe to America, and naturalized 

 wherever the apple tree has been introduced. 

 This mischievous creature has sometimes 

 been mistaken for the plum-weevil (see Cur- 

 mfto), but it may, says Dr. Harris, be easily 

 distinguished from it by its shape, habits, and 

 transformations. The plum-weevil is, how- 

 ever, sometimes found in apples; but the 

 apple-worm has never yet been found in 

 plums, so far as Dr. Harris has been able to 

 learn. The apple-worm is not a grub, but a 

 true caterpillar, the product of a moth, and not 

 of a beetle, as grubs are. An anonymous 

 writer in the Entomological Magazine of London, 

 has well remarked of this moth (Carpocapsa 

 pomonella), that "it is the most beautiful of the 

 tribe to which it belongs ; yet, from its habits 



not being known, it is seldom seen in the moth 

 state ; and the apple-grower knows no more 

 than the man in the moon to what cause he is 

 indebted for his basketfuls of worm-eaten 

 windfalls in the stillest weather." 



A good account of the apple-worm and its 

 transformations, by Joseph Tufts, Esq., of 

 Charleston, Massachusetts, was published in, 

 the Massachusetts Agr. Rep. and Jouni., vol. v., 

 and some remarks by Mr. Burrelle, of Quincy, 

 Massachusetts, may be found in the Ni-w Eng- 

 land Farmer, vol. xviii. At various times be- 

 tween the middle of June and first of July, the 

 apple-worm moths may be found in New Eng- 

 land. " They are sometimes seen in houses 

 in the evening, trying to get through the win- 

 dows into the open air, having been brought in 

 with fruit while they were in the caterpillar 

 state. Their fore-wings, when seen at a dis- 

 tance, have somewhat the appearance of brown, 

 watered silk ; when closely examined they will 

 be found to be crossed by numerous gray and 

 brown lines, scalloped like the plumage of a 

 bird ; and near the hind angle there is a large, 

 oval, dark brown spot, the edges of which are 

 of a bright copper colour. The head and 

 thorax are brown, mingled with gray ; and the 

 hind-wings and abdomen are light yellowish 

 brown, with the lustre of satin. Its wings ex- 

 pand three-quarters of an inch. This insect 

 is readily distinguished from other moths by 

 the large, oval, brown spot, edged with copper 

 colour, on the hinder margin of each of the 

 fore-wings. During the latter part of June and 

 the month of July, these fruit-moths fly about 

 apple trees every evening, and lay the ; r eggs 

 on the young fruit. They do not puncture the 

 apples, but they drop their eggs, one by one, in 

 the eye or hollow at the blossom end of the 

 fruit, where the skin is most tender. They 

 seem also to seek for early fruit rather than 

 for the late kinds, which we find are not so apt 

 to be wormy as the thin-skinned summer 

 apples. The eggs begin to hatch in a few- 

 days after they are laid, and the little apple- 

 worms or caterpillars produced from them im- 

 mediately burrow into the apples, making their 

 way gradually from the eye towards the core. 

 Commonly only one worm will be found in the 

 same apple; and it is so small at first, that its 

 presence can only be detected by the brownish 

 powder it throws out in eating its way through 

 the eye. The body of the young insect is of a 

 whitish colour ; its head is heart-shaped and 

 black; the top of the first ring or collar and 

 of the last ring is also black ; and there are 

 eight little blackish dots or warts, arranged in. 

 pairs, on each of the other rings. As it grows 

 older its body becomes flesh-coloured ; its 

 head, the collar, and the top of the last ring, 

 turn brown, and the dots are no longer to be 

 seen. In the course of three weeks, or a little 

 more, it comes to its full size, and meanwhile 

 has burrowed to the core and through the apple 

 in various directions. To get rid of the refuse 

 fragments of its food, it gnaws a round hole 

 through the side of the apple, and thrusts them 

 out of the opening. Through this hole also the 

 insect makes its escape after the apple falls to 

 the ground ; and the falling of the fruit is well 

 known to be hastened by the injury it has 

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