MALUS. 



MALUS. 



secured. It is observed that this pressure 

 never causes them to rot next the head, and is 

 necessary, as they are never allowed to rattle 

 in removing. No soft straw or shavings are 

 admitted at the ends; it causes mustiness and 

 decay. They are next carefully placed in 

 wagons, and removed on the bulge, and laid in 

 courses in a cool, airy situation, on the north 

 side of buildings, near the cellar, protected by 

 a covering on the top, of boards, so placed as 

 to defend them from the sun and rain, while 

 the air is not excluded at the sides. A chill 

 does not injure them ; it is no disservice ; but 

 when extreme cold weather comes on, and 

 they are in imminent danger of being frozen, 

 whether by night or day, they are carefully 

 rolled into a cool, airy, dry cellar, with open- 

 ings on the north side, that the cold air may 

 have free access ; they are laid in tiers, and 

 the cellar is in due time closed and rendered 

 secure from frost. The barrels are never 

 tumbled or placed on the head. Apples keep 

 best when grown in dry seasons, and on dry 

 soils. If fruit is gathered late, and according 

 to the above directions, repacking is unneces- 

 sary; it is even ruinous, and should on no ac- 

 count be practised till the barrel is opened for 

 use. It has been fully tried. 



When apples are to be exported, Mr. Cob- 

 bett has recommended that ' they should, if 

 possible, be carried on deck; otherwise be- 

 tween decks.' Between decks is the place, 

 and in the most dry, cool, and airy part. 

 (Kenrick.) 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO TREES AXD FRUIT. 



Among the insects that have been brought 

 to America with other productions of Europe, 

 may be mentioned the JJpple-ivorm, as it is com- 

 monly called, which has become naturalized 

 wherever the apple tree has been introduced. 

 This mischievous creature has been sometimes 

 mistaken for the plum-weevil, from which, 

 however, it may be easily distinguished by its 

 shape, habits, and transformations. Although 

 the plum-weevil prefers stone-fruit, it is some- 

 limes met with in apples. On the other hand, 

 Dr. Harris says he has never known the apple- 

 worm to be found in plums. It is, he observes, 

 not a grub, but a caterpillar, belonging to the 

 Tortrix tribe, and in due time is changed to a 

 moth, commonly called the Codlingmoth, or fruit- 

 moth of the apple. An anonymous writer, in 

 the Entomological Magazine of London, has well 

 remarked that this moth " is the most beautiful 

 of the beautiful 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." 



Some interesting facts collected by Dr. Har- 

 ris, serving to establish the difference between 

 the plum-weevil and apple-worm (codling cater- 

 pillar), will be found under the head of PLUM- 



WEEVIL. 



The apple-worm has been long known in 

 Europe, and its history has been written by 

 some of the ablest naturalists. Accounts of it 

 have also been furnished in the New England 

 Farmer and other good American periodicals. 



The apple-worm moths may be found in the 

 early part of summer, about the time of the 

 first ripening of the fruit. They are sometimes 

 seen in houses in the evening, trying to get 

 through the windows into the open air, having 

 been brought in with fruit while they were in 

 the caterpillar state. Their fore-wings, when 

 seen at a distance, have somewhat the appear- 

 ance of brown watered silk ; when closely exa- 

 mined, they will be found to be crossed by nu- 

 merous 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 expand 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 

 their 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 immediately 

 burrow into the apples, making their way gra- 

 dually from the eye towards the core. Com- 

 monly 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 di- 

 rections. 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 re- 

 ceived within, which generally causes it to 

 ripen before its time. 



Soon after the half-grown apples drop, and 

 sometimes while they are still hanging, the 

 worms leave them and creep into chinks in the 

 bark of the trees, or into other sheltered places, 

 which they hollow out with their teeth to suit 

 their shape. Here each one spins for itself a 

 cocoon or silken case, as thin, delicate, anc' 

 white as tissue-paper. Some of the apple- 

 worms, probably the earliest, are said by Kol- 

 lar to change to chrysalids immediately after 



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