THE APPLE. 



07 



which appears in the early worm-eaten Apples and Pears in the form of 

 a reddish white grub, and causes the fruit to fall prematurely from the 

 trees. The perfect insect is a small moth, the fore-wings gray, with a 

 large round brown spot on the hinder margin. These moths appear in 

 the greatest numbers in the warm evenings of the first of June, and lay 

 their eggs in the eye or blossom-end of the young fruit, especially of the 

 early kinds of Apples and Pears. In a short time these eggs hatch, and 

 the grub burrows its way till it reaches the core ; the fruit then ripens 

 prematurely, and drops to the ground. Here the worm leaves the fruit 

 and creeps into the crevices of the bark and hollow of the tree, and spins 

 its cocoon, which usually remains there till the ensuing spring, when the 

 young moth again emerges from it. The readiest way of destroying 

 them, when it can be done conveniently, is to allow swine and poultry 

 to run at large in the orchards when the premature fruit is falling ; or 

 otherwise the fruit may be picked up daily and placed where the worms 

 will be killed. It is said that if an old cloth is placed in the crotch of 

 the tree about the time the fruit begins to drop, the Apple-worm will 

 make it a retiring-place, and thousands may be caught and killed from 

 time to time. As the cocoons are deposited chiefly under the old loose 

 bark, the thorough cultivator will take care, by keeping the trunks of his 

 trees smooth, to afford them little harbor ; and by scraping and wash- 

 ing the trunks early in the spring, to destroy such as may have already 

 taken up their quarters there. 



When the fruit of orchards is much liable to the attacks of this 

 insect, we cannot too much insist on the efficacy of small bonfires lighted 

 in the evening, by which myriads of this and all other moths may be 

 destroyed before they have time to deposit their eggs and cause worm- 

 eaten fruit. 



A simple preventive remedy, or method of trapping the insect when 

 in the grub form, has been introduced by Dr. -J. P. Trimble, of New 

 Jersey, and consists in twisting a band or rope of hay, long enough to 

 pass three or four times around the body of the tree, and putting it 

 thereon, " securing its ends so as to prevent its becoming loose ; as soon ' 

 as the fruit shows signs of the worms being at work, or from the middle 

 to the last of June. They should be examined every two weeks, as long 

 as the warm weather lasts, the earlier broods of worms becoming moths 

 and producing a second crop. If the orchard is pastured, the bands must 

 of course be put out of the reach of animals. Sometimes it may be neces- 

 sary to place them around the limbs ; in that case the scales of rough 

 bark on the body of the tree below them should be scraped off." 



The Blight, which occasionally kills suddenly the ends of the limbs 

 of the apple and the quince, is caused by an' insect (JBostrichus bicauda- 

 tus) which affects the small twigs, by penetrating the wood at the axil 

 of a leaf, and causing it to wither. It is designated the Twig blight. 

 Little or no injury results, but it is always well to cut away the injured 

 1 twig just below the wound. 



The Apple-bark Beetle ( Tomicus mali), described by Fitch, is a small, 

 smooth, black or chestnut-red beetle ; the larvae feed under the bark and 

 then enter the wood, sometimes killing the young tree. 



GATHERING AND KEEPING THE FRUIT. 



In order to secure soundness and preservation, it is indispensably 



