1882 .] 
AMERICAN" AGRICULTURIST. 
23 T 
Some Apple Insects. 
“ Why do you say so much 'about insects ? ” 
some may ask. The question shows that the quer¬ 
ist has not reached the proper state of mind to be 
a successful fruit-grower. Unless one accepts the 
fact, that he must keep up a constant light with 
Fig. 1. —THE TENT CATERPILLAR. 
insects, he will not have much “luck” with fruit, 
whether small fruits or those of the orchard. 
With respect to insects, endeavor to interest in, 
and secure the co-operation of the neighbors. 
One working by himself can do much, but vastly 
less than when his neighbors work with him to the 
same end. If there were a gang of fruit thieves 
in the vicinity, the neighbors would at once unite 
to get rid of them. Thousands of small fruit 
thieves, the insects, are always committing depre¬ 
dations, and it will pay to unite against them. 
Nowhere is the wisdom of the injunction, “ Resist 
Beginnings,” more strikingly shown than in deal¬ 
ing with insects. A single female insect killed 
now, will prevent the birth of myriads. It is not 
necessary that every fruit-grower should be a 
trained entomologist, but he should know all his 
Insect enemies at sight, and understand their life- 
history, know their different stages and mode of 
living, that he may most effectually destroy them. 
The Tent Caterpillar.— There is more than 
one, but we now refer to that often called the cater¬ 
pillar of the orchard, and which, if left unmo¬ 
lested, soon strips the leaves from the trees. 
While this is one of the most destructive of the 
Fig. 2 .—the moth. 
orchard insects, it is also one of the most easily 
subdued. The clusters of its eggs, c, in fig. 1, are 
always near the ends of the twigs, and may be 
readily seen and removed at any time when the 
tree is leafless. It is, of course, too late for this 
now, as the caterpillars have hatched, and have 
already begun their webs, or nests. They com¬ 
mence to spin at once, placing their “tents” at 
the forks of the small branches. All the caterpil¬ 
lars from one cluster of eggs join in weaving the 
web, in which they live together, and increase its 
size as their growth demands. The tents are not 
only conspicuous signals that the enemy has en¬ 
camped, but they afford a ready trap for its destruc¬ 
tion. One writer has said that the presence of 
these in the trees is a sign that a careless cultivator 
lives on the place. The caterpillars rarely leave 
the web before 9 o’clock in the morning, and are 
back again in the evening. Hence one has only to 
destroy the nest when the occupants are “at 
home,” and make an end of them. The many 
contrivances in the way of swabs for applying vari¬ 
ous liquids, and for burning the tents, are of no 
use. All one needs is his hand, gloved, if desired, 
and with one grasp the whole colony may be re¬ 
moved, thrown upon the ground, and trampled 
upon. The engraving shows the caterpillar at a, in 
side view, and at b, back view; the colors being 
varied with white, black, blue, and reddish. They 
get their full growth in four to six weeks, then 
leave the tree, and find some fence corner or other 
hiding place, where they spin a yellow cocoon, ( d , 
in fig. 1). In about three weeks, the perfect insect 
comes forth, a moth (fig. 2), which is generally 
dull yellowish, or reddish-brown. Its front wings 
are crossed by two whitish lines, the space between 
these being usually of lighter color than the rest of 
the wing. The moth does not feed, the sole pur¬ 
pose of the female being to provide eggs for next 
year’s progeny. The insect is especially fond of 
the Wild Black Cherry ; and while some have ad¬ 
vised planting this tree to attract the moth away 
from the apple trees, others regard it as a nuisance, 
as it becomes a breeding place for the insects. 
The Apple Worm, or Codling Moth.— Fig¬ 
ure 3 gives a glance at the life-history of this most 
destructive insect. Soon after the fruit is set, a 
little brown moth lays one egg at its blossom end ; 
this soon hatches ; the worm enters the apple and 
lives upon its substance, depositing an abundance 
of excrement. In three weeks the worm makes 
its growth, and, if the apple does not drop, leaves 
the fruit, goes down the tree, finds a crevice in the 
bark, and makes a cocoon. In 10 or 15 days an¬ 
other crop of moths issues, to re-stock the fruit 
with worms, which proceed in the same manner as 
Fig. 3. —THE CODLING MOTH. 
before. The worms that come out of the fallen 
fruit, if the ground is clear of rubbish, go to the 
tree, crawl up the trunk and find a place to spin. 
This last brood do not leave their cocoons until the 
following spring. The remedy is simple and ef¬ 
fective. Place around the tr.uuk of the tree a strip 
of old carpet or other coarse woollen fabric, about 
6 inches wide, fasten it with a few tacks; the 
worms, finding this a convenient place, will take 
shelter under it and spin. Every 10 days these 
cloths are to be removed and the insects crushed. 
Where there are many cloths, it is expeditious to 
run them through a clothes-wringer and then re¬ 
place. These traps should be set about the middle 
of June, and be continued until the last of August. 
Raise Your Own Seed Corn. 
The time to plan for this is now while the corn 
crop is going in, or under cultivation. It is a rea¬ 
sonable thing to say that a tenth may be added to 
the yield of corn on any farm by using seed that 
has been carefully raised for the purpose. Not 
much attention is paid to the selection of seed by 
the average farmer. The man who reads and thinks 
about the seed qsed for his crops, selects the best 
he can find in his crib at planting time, and finds 
that this pays. It pays still better to select ears 
from the field the fall previous to planting, from 
stalks that bear two or more perfect ears. A better 
practice still is to plant the corn for seed in a small 
patch by itself, and guard it against all the acci¬ 
dents that must attend its growth and cultivation 
in the larger field. The ground should be specially 
prepared for this purpose, and made rich enough 
to supply all the wants of the plant. It should be 
thoroughly cultivated every two or three weeks, 
until the grain is full in the ear. Like produces 
like, in corn as in cattle, and the silk and the tassel 
are both factors in giving character to the ear. 
Though the male and female blossoms in the corn 
are upon the same plant, there is no security for 
self fertilization when any plant is grown in the 
open field. The pollen from a barren stalk may 
fall upon the ear grown from selected seed, and 
this ear may be imperfect, or be a cob with little or 
no corn on it. If the ears selected for seed have 
been fertilized by a nubbin stalk, the nubbin imper¬ 
fection goes down to posterity. In a small piece of 
corn planted remote from other com we may guard 
against the accidents of promiscuous fertilization, 
and secure, as far as possible, corn with a good 
pedigree, and perfect after its kind. All barren 
stalks should be cut out, and no more stalks be left 
in the hill than will give perfect ears. If the owner 
will select from this patch the earliest and best 
formed ears, for his seed, and follow up this prac¬ 
tice for a few years, he will have a new variety 
and a large increase in his yield of corn. 
State Bounties for the Increase of 
Forests. 
There can be no doubt of the fact, that in most 
of our older States the forests have been cut off 
far beyond the requirements of good husbandry. 
One-fifth of the land, at least, should be covered 
with wood, to afford protection against the sweep 
of the winds ; to prevent the springs and streams 
from drying up ; to equalize the rain-fall; and to 
secure good crops upon the soil that is under the 
plow. A forest to furnish a home for birds that 
keep down the multiplication of insects destruc¬ 
tive to crops, is of far more value than most peo¬ 
ple have any idea of. Notwithstanding the intro¬ 
duction of coal, and its almost universal use for 
fuel in our cities and villages along the sea-coast 
and the line of our railroads, the greater number of 
our people are so located as to necessarily use only 
wood for fuel. There is an ever-increasing de¬ 
mand upon our forests for lumber, for ship-build¬ 
ing, for railroad-ties, and many other uses. The 
forests are waning ; the streams are reduced in 
volume ; the mountains and high lands are stripped 
of their wood ; and severe drouths are growing 
more frequent. We are suffering to-day in the 
high price of beef, of dairy products, and of all 
the grains, in consequence of the prolonged drouth 
of last season. This matter is often discussed or 
alluded to in our Agricultural and other journals, 
but little has been done to remedy the evil. It af¬ 
fects whole States, the Eastern and Middle, as well 
as Western, and is already a question of national 
concern. Our prosperity as a people depends upon 
the conservation and increase of our forests. One 
of the best things possible in our circumstances, 
is the offering of bounties to individuals by our 
State Legislatures for the planting of forest trees 
upon the elevated, the rocky, and exhausted por¬ 
tions of our farms. No inconsiderable portions of 
these farms are so poor, that they do not produce 
enough to pay the taxes upon them. If they were 
exempted from taxation, or if a small bounty were 
offered for planting them with forest trees, the 
owners would have an inducement to undertake 
this much needed improvement, and in a few years 
it would become the fashion to transplant trees, or 
to sow the seeds upon the waste land of our farms. 
In many cases, the young trees for transplanting 
can be found upon the farm. In clearing up a 
piece of neglected land this spring, we have been 
surprised to see the large number of young sugar 
maples, white ash, elm, butternut, dogwood, and 
soft maple, from one to five years old, that were 
growing along the brook-side and under the walls, 
in the best possible condition to transplant. 
