PRESERVATION OF FRUITS. 91 



appreciated in the London market, that his crop is anticipated 

 before hand, at the highest rates. 



The apple worm, or coddling-moth, (Carpocapas pomanella) 

 which is so prevalent in Massachusetts, and especially destruc- 

 tive to fruit in the light soils of Plymouth County, is what the 

 orchardist must contend against in order to have his winter 

 fruit sound and in good condition for keeping. The damage 

 done to apples every year by the apple worm is immense. 

 Many of the apples after they are punctured, fall from the 

 trees before they are half grown, and those that remain on till 

 fall, on account of the punctures of the worms, will not keep 

 more than three weeks after they are picked. 



In about the latter part of June, or during the first or second 

 weeks of July, the millers or moths fly about the apple trees at 

 night, and deposit their eggs in the calyx or eye of the apple, 

 and sometimes in summer pears, preferring early to late fruits ; 

 the eggs hatch in a few days, and the young worms burrow in 

 the apple, making their way gradually to the core. In three 

 or four weeks they come to their full size, and feast on the 

 heart of the apple until it falls, when they soon after make 

 their escape at the opening that has been used for the ejection 

 of their excrements. On leaving the apples, the worms crawl 

 into the chinks in the bark of trees or other sheltered places, 

 which they hollow out with their teeth. Each here spins a 

 cocoon, or silk-like case, like white tissue paper. When the 

 weather is favorable, these worms change to chrysalids, and, 

 turning into moths, come forth the same season a new and 

 second generation of destructive agents. I would suggest a 

 remedy which I think will perhaps be as efficacious as any that 

 can be adopted, and which I shall use more extensively in my 

 apple orchards in future. In the first place, I prepare a 

 poisonous mixture of the following. One pint of vinegar, one 

 gill of honey, and one ounce of cobalt. Cheap, deep tin plates 

 — rather deeper than common soup plates, but of the same size 

 — are used to put the composition in. These holes, equidistant 

 from each other, are punctured on the outer edges of the plates 

 through which are passed strings of stout rope yarn, each about 

 eighteen inches long ; these are brought together at the end 

 and fastened to one of the lower branches of the apple tree, 

 thus leaving the plate containing the sweet, poisonous prepara- 



