SECRETAEY'S REPORT. 157 



invented, more or less expensive and ingenious, to effect the 

 same end, such as troughs filled with oil or salt water, conical 

 collars of metal, &c. I have lately examined a very neat, and 

 apparently effectual collar, composed of glass of the form of an 

 inverted gutter, and attached to the tree by an iron hoop and 

 tent of cloth, the im'ention of Mr. Benjamin Merritt, Jr. This 

 will, no doubt, prove very valuable, as it opposes a practically 

 impassable barrier to the female moth, if the expense does not 

 prevent its introduction. If we are successful by any of these 

 appliances in preventing the ascent of the mother, we must, as 

 previously stated, remove the eggs outside this cordon, before 

 the first of May, or all our labor and expense may prove in 

 vain. 



Notwithstanding our patient care and perseverance has pre- 

 served the tree thus far, we are still liable to the depredations 

 of certain little creatures which attack the fruit. 



A moth, nearly related to the destroyers of our furs and car- 

 pets, deposits her eggs in the calyx or blossom end of the young 

 apple, about the end of June. The eggs in a few days give 

 birth to small, white caterpillars, with blackish heads, which 

 burrow into the core and open a hole on the side, through 

 which they eject theii castings. This injury causes the fruit in 

 about three weeks to become prematurely ripe and fall to the 

 ground, soon after which the grubs leave it and make their 

 cocoons in crevices in the bark. The first record we have of its 

 depredations in this country, is by Mr. Joseph Tufts, of Charles- 

 town, who discovered it in a St. Michael pear. It has since 

 proved very destructive also to cranberries. The moth is 

 described by Mr. Tufts as having the upper wings of a light 

 slate color, crossed by wavy bands of a darker shade, towards 

 the tips of each, an oval spot of a burnished coppery lustre will 

 be seen, the feet, antennae, and body beneath, are of a light 

 gray ; it expands about three-quarters of an inch. The thorough 

 rubbing of the trees with soap or the scraping and brushing off 

 the rough bark in the late fall or early spring, will be found 

 very serviceable in ridding ourselves of this insect ; but the 

 collecting daily of all worm-eaten windfalls, boiling them, and 

 feeding to the cattle or swine has proved most effectual. A 

 small, white, tapering, polished maggot is v5ry destructive to 

 some varieties of the apple. I have found it most abundant in 



