NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



293 



A NEW TREE WORM. 



The Lowell Courier describes a new worm, 

 which has been discovered by Daniel P. Coburn, ol 

 Tyngsboro', which conceals itself in the grass in 

 the day time, and devours the leaves and buds of 

 the fruit trees at night. Mr. Coburn went into 

 the colony with lanterns, for several nights, and by 

 the assistance of his men, made an indiscriminate 

 slaughter of the vermin. Of one caught and ex- 

 hibited, we take a description — 



The worm is as large round as a common pipe 

 stem, over an inch long, composed of some ten or 

 twelve joints, with horny head. He is of a brown 

 color, and has a longitudinal stripe on his back and 

 each side of a lighter color, and when young, each 

 joint is covered with little black spots. He has 

 some twelve or fourteen short legs or feelers. It 

 was caught some nine days ago, and has been kept 

 in a box since that time without food, and is still 

 quite smart and spiteful. Not one was ever found 

 on the trees in the day time. They commence 

 going up the tree at dark, and continue till ten 

 o'clock, and all return before morning ! They 

 move pretty fast. This is the third year their 

 ravages have been noticed, and this year they 

 have been worse than ever. They commence 

 theii ravages very early in the spring, eating the 

 buds before the leaves start, and they depart about 

 the 10th of June. 



This worm has been found destroying all kinds 

 of trees, and has been found even eating the leaves 

 of the blackberry. Mr. Coburn has an extensive 

 lot of trees, and he has found them everywhere 

 throughout his farm, with one exception; he has 

 one field of fine trees, which he has ploughed and 

 planted for the three past years, and he has never 

 found a worm among those trees, although they 

 infest all the trees about the field. This may sug- 

 gest the means of protecting orchards. 



DRYING FRUIT. 



A correspondent inquires for a description of the 

 best mode of drying fruit. While so much atten- 

 tion is given to the cultivation of fruit, there still 

 exists a great deficiency in good, cheap and expe- 

 ditious methods of drying — which by converting 

 perishable property into a condition for long keep- 

 ing and easy transportation, may greatly increase, 

 both in extent and profit, the culture of the high- 

 est flavored sorts. 



Dried apples and dried peaches already consti- 

 tute a considerable article of commerce. I3ut their 

 quality is immeasurably inferior to that which 

 might be attained. The same difference in flavor 

 exists between unpalatable seedlings and the most 

 highly improved grafted variety, whether they be 

 fresh or dried. Yet the poorest apples are usually 

 selected, simply because the dried fruit is bought 

 by the pound, and not for its excellence. Late or 

 inferior peaches are chosen, because their owners 

 have no other use for them; when, besides the 

 inferior flavor of the late seedlings so largely used, 

 the cool damp weather to which they are exposed 

 while drying does the work in a very imperfect 

 manner, and a half decayed flavor is often mingled 

 with that of the fruit itself. If dried at all in the 

 open air, it is of much consequence that early sorts, 

 both of apple and peach, be selected, that the bene- 

 fit of a hot sun may be secured. Why is it not 

 as easy to plant and raise early prolific sorts, that 



will ripen at a time when two days of hot sun 

 will dry them, as later sorts, which will scarcely 

 get dry at all in the open air? 



A good and faultless mode of using artificial 

 heat appears not to have been yet practiced. The 

 great and existing deficiency is a want of a free 

 circulation of the heated air. Hence the reason 

 that the use of flat boards and shelves is usually at- 

 tended with greater or less decay. Light wooden 

 lattice work is better, but imperfectly admits a 

 free circulation, without making the slits too wide 

 to prevent the dried fruit from falling through. 

 Cheap netting or light twine is a still further im- 

 provement. An easy mode of making it is thus 

 described by a correspondent of the Michigan 

 Farmer: — "Take common carpet yarn, warp it for 

 two or three yards length, just as you choose; use 

 a five or six quarters reed; in drawing through 

 the reed, use every third or fourth space between 

 the teeth of it; to ensure strength, double your 

 thread occasionally, and in weaving beat two or 

 three threads loosely together, and then more open, 

 alternately; when taken from the loom, fasten it 

 to a light frame, and it is ready for use." Frames 

 covered with millinet would probably be found 

 well adapted for drying the smaller fruits. 



Rooms or buildings made for drying by artifi- 

 cial heat, must admit a very free ventilation. We 

 have found that when fruit on lattice shelves is 

 placed near a fire or under a stove, where there is 

 no current of air, and where heat is imparted sole- 

 ly by radiation, it becomes heated without drying, 

 for there is no current to sweep ofl!" the moisture 

 about it. But when suspended immediately over 

 the stove, where the heated air is constantly as- 

 cending, the progress goes on rapidly and perfect- 

 ly. When thus dried, it is nearly white in color, 

 and retains its flavor unimpaired, and is incompar- 

 ably better than a great deal that we often see, 

 which is brown with age, and spoiled with incipi- 

 ent decay, before the moisture is all expelled by 

 the tardy process to which it is subjected. 



The following would probably be a well ar- 

 ranged drying room for this purpose. Let the 

 shelves made of netting, stretched on frames, oc- 

 cupy the interior or central portion of the room, 

 one above another, at free intervals, and leaving 

 suflicient space for the person in attendance to pass 

 freely round on every side, next to the wall. This 

 would not only be more convenient, but admit a 

 better circulation of air, than if the shelves were 

 placed against the wall. The room might be heat- 

 ed with a small stove, the pipe of which should 

 at first pass horizontally as near the floor as pos- 

 sible, and afterwards ascend to cause sufficient 

 draught. This arrangement would heat the room 

 far better than to place the pipe overhead, as is 

 too often the case; the heat will rise through the 

 whole height of the room, thus causing a circula- 

 tion of air. The room must be well ventilated at 

 each end near the top, to letofTthe vapor constant- 

 ly arising; for even fresh cool air is better than a 

 hot air charged with moisture. The ventilators 

 may be covered with wii-e gauze when it may be- 

 come desirable to exclude flies, wasps, &c. — Alba- 

 ny Cultivator. 



t^Dr. D. Lee says: — "It is very rare, if ever, 

 that a soil is so sterile that when three inches deep, 

 it may not be made twelve." 



