Kollar^s Vier Hauptfeinde der Obslgarten. 171 



Art. III. Die Vier Hauptfeinde der Obstg'drten, 8$c. The Four 

 principal Enemies of the Orchard, "with the most effective Means for 

 their Destruction. By Vincent Kollar, Keeper of the Imperial 

 Cabinet of Natural History. Pamph. 8vo, pp.30. Vienna, 1839. 



The following is a translation of the Introduction to this pamphlet, which is 

 entitled " From what do caterpillars arise, and what becomes of them ?" 



The melancholy appearance of the orchards in the neighbourhood of 

 Vienna, and the serious complaints, from all quarters, of the great destruction 

 which the caterpillars have effected on all kinds of fruit trees, have induced 

 me, in the following pages, to give some short instructions to countrymen and 

 gardeners, which will, in most cases, enable them to protect their fruit trees 

 from similar devastations. 



There are, it is true, many books, and many treatises in the different peri- 

 odicals on domestic economy, which have already treated this subject in a 

 masterly manner ; but these works are either out of print, or, from the num- 

 ber of years which had passed away without any particular injuries having 

 been effected by the caterpillars, have been entirely forgotten. Many of these 

 books are also much too expensive for the countryman. 



When we contemplate an orchard devastated by caterpillars, such as the 

 orchards near Vienna were in the past year (and, according to all appearances, 

 the following year will be much the same), one might almost believe that one 

 of the plagues of Egypt had come upon us, and that all kinds of insects had 

 sworn death to the different varieties of fruit trees ; and yet in such years it 

 is generally observed that only one kind of caterpillar destructive to fruit 

 trees commits the devastation. 



There are seldom more than four different kinds of such caterpillars in the 

 same summer ; and they appear at different periods. It must, however, be 

 observed, that the different kinds of destructive caterpillars do not all appear 

 at the same time, but come in succession; so that the devastation of the fruit 

 trees is sometimes finished by the second, third, or fourth kind of caterpillar, 

 which was begun by the first. 



From my own experience, and also from the observations communicated to 

 me by my friends, I am enabled to ascertain that there were only four kinds of 

 caterpillars which, this year, in Austria, and also in the adjacent countries, not 

 only stripped the fruit trees of their leaves, but, in great part, stripped them 

 also of their fruit. 



I do not mean to say that the four here treated of are always those that 

 are most destructive to fruit trees ; there are, on the contrary, a great many 

 more, quite as injurious ; but whoever wishes to know more of those insects 

 may consult my work on that subject, entitled An Account of the Insects 

 injurious to the Farmer, Gardener, and Forester; Vienna, 1837*; which I 

 wrote by the desire of the Imperial Agricultural Society of Vienna, and in 

 which the chapter on the insects injurious to fruit trees is most skilfully 

 handled by one of our greatest pomologists, M. Joseph Schmidberger, 

 canon regular of the Institution of St. Florian. This pamphlet may therefore 

 be considered as an extract from that large work, and will only treat of those 

 insects that are the most destructive to fruit trees. 



But whoever expects to find in that work warranted receipts for the anni- 

 hilation of insects will be very much mistaken ; and, probably, displeased with 

 having made the purchase, may throw down the book without reading it ; but 

 these persons may believe me, when I say that such receipts, though valued 

 by some, are only catchpennies ; and, not to mention the loss of time and 

 money which they occasion, are of no benefit to the fruit trees, but, in many 

 cases, even do them an injury. For example, syringing the trees with ley, dis- 



* This work has been translated by a member of our family, and will 

 appear early in April. 



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