222 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 



average better, as there will be a less number of insects to prey 

 upon it than if this had not been done. 



These small apples, which drop from the trees first, have 

 nearly all been punctured by the curculio, many of them per- 

 haps a dozen times ; and there are really more worms in one 

 quart of those small apples than in a barrel of fruit which has 

 attained its full size : hence the importance of picking up the 

 fruit when quite small, and destroying the larvae before they 

 have left it for the ground. 



The principal insects which attack the foliage of the trees are 

 the canker-worm and the common caterpillar. The former has 

 destroyed most of the fruit in the immediate vicinity of Boston 

 for many years ; and there has been quite a number of plans tt> 

 check or stop the ravages of this very destructive insect, none 

 of whicli appear to be entirely successful. 



The common caterpillar can be kept under by constant vigi- 

 lance. The best and easiest way of destroying a large portion 

 of them is by picking off the eggs, which can now easily be 

 found on the small twigs, and burning them. Whatever is 

 missed should be exterminated immediately after hatching, as 

 then it is much less trouble than it would be if they had attained 

 their full size. 



These, although they are not the only insects which attack 

 the foliage, yet they are the ones that cause the most trouble 

 and destruction to the crop ; and these insects, together with 

 the borer, which can be more easily managed, are now the prin- 

 cipal drawbacks which the orchardist has to contend with, which, 

 with the increased price of l^yid near large cities, renders it 

 doubtful if it would be profitable to plant out apple-orchards in 

 their immediate vicinities, or where land suitable for orcharding 

 is worth one hundred and fifty dollars per acre, — land of that 

 value and in such locations paying better with some other crop. 



And the fact that owners of apple-orchards near Boston, the 

 trees of which are now just in their prime, are having them dug 

 up, and the ground cleared entirely of trees, for the purpose of 

 growing some other crop on the land rather than apples, goes to 

 prove that it is either unprofitable to raise apples, or more 

 profitable to grow some other crop on land so valuable. 



And therefore we cannot arrive at any other conclusion than 

 this: that the apple cannot be cultivated in the immediate vicinity 



