184r 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[May, 
The Codling-Moth.—Wier’s Trap. 
BY C. V. RILEY. 
RSsolved to test Wier’s trap thoroughly, in 
comparison with other methods of allurement, 
I commenced as early as the first of May to 
prepare a number of trees as follows: 1st, with 
Wier’s trap, screwed on in different positions ; 
some trees having single traps,^either on the 
north, south, east, or west sides, and placed at 
Fig. 5.— delicate long-sting. 
different heights from the ground, and some 
having as many as three traps; 2d, strips of 
old sacks four inches wide, and lined on one 
side with pieces of lath tacked on transversely, 
and at such distance from each other that when 
brought around the tree they formed an almost 
complete wooden ring; 3d, bandages of various 
kinds of rag; 4th, hay ropes; 5th, paper band¬ 
ages, made of the cheapest kind of straw- 
wintek nelis.— (See page 183.) 
paper, folded several times, and in widths vary¬ 
ing from three to six inches. In order to insure 
the utmost accuracy, these several traps were 
regularly examined every twelve days through¬ 
out the season, and a careful account kept of 
the worms or chrysalids found under each; 
and where it was a question as to the compara¬ 
tive merits of the different traps they were 
placed on trees of the same variety. The re¬ 
sults of these experiments--not to waste space 
with the detailed array of figures—-may be thus 
summed up: 
No Apple-worms wrnre found until the 14th of 
June, and though many other insects had pre¬ 
viously taken advantage of the shelter, not a 
single Plum-Gurculio was found. While, there¬ 
fore, there is no harm in having the band¬ 
ages on as early as recommended last year, in 
ordinary seasons little, if anything, will be lost 
by waiting until the first of June. Where 
three of the Wier-traps were on the same tree, 
I obtained more worms than where there was 
but one; and where there was but one there 
was no difference in favor of position as regards 
direction or altitude, taking the season through. 
The lathed canvas encircling the tree secured, 
on an average, five times as many worms as 
any single Wier-trap. The rag, paper, and hay 
bandages allured almost as many, and either 
kind more than the single Wier-trap. 
I hope therefore that the patentees have 
already realized the anticipated fortune from 
their invention ; for, while I should be sorry to 
injure their chances in the least, truth compels 
me to state that, after a year’s trial, I am not 
quite as favorably impressed with the useful¬ 
ness of this shingle-trap as I was before trial, 
and am more thoroughly confirmed in the opin¬ 
ion expressed last year that, “ notwithstanding 
all the theories of my friend Wier, it must al¬ 
ways be inferior to any trap that encircles the 
tree.” I do not wish to detract from its merits 
one jot, and where old shingles are abundant, 
and other material scarce, the former will still 
prove valuable for the reasons given a year ago, 
and Mr. Wier deserves our thanks for showing 
us how to use them. 
Time, expense, and efficiency considered— 
and so far as one year’s comparison will warrant 
conclusions—I place the different materials 
enumerated in the following order of merit: 
1st. Paper bandages. Common straw wrap¬ 
ping-paper, 18 x 30, can be bought for 60 cts. 
per bundle. Each bundle contains 240 sheets, 
and each sheet, folded lengthwise thrice upon 
itself, will give us eight layers between two and 
three inches wide, and be of sufficient length to 
encircle most ordinary trees. It is easily drawn 
around the tree and fastened with a tack; and 
so cheap, that wdien the time comes to destroy 
the worms, the bandages containing them may 
be detached, piled in a heap and burned, and 
new ones attached in their places. If eight 
bandages are used -to each tree during the sea¬ 
son, the cost will be just tw T o cents per tree, and 
the owner could well afford to treble the num¬ 
ber of sheets, and keep three on each tree, 
either together or in different places. 
2d. Rags. These have very much the same 
effect as paper, but are more costly, and difficult 
to get of the requisite length. Where they can 
be had cheaply, they may be detached from the 
tree and scalded with their contents. 
3d. The Wier-trap used as recommended last 
year is perhaps the next most useful; but both 
cost and time required to destroy the w’orms 
are greater than in the first two methods. 
4th. The lath belt is the very best of all traps 
so far as efficiency goes, but it is placed fourth 
ou the list because of the greater cost and 
trouble of making. On the same kinds of trees 
(Early Harvest), and in the same orchard, I 
have taken with this belt, between June 15th 
and July 1st, as many as 68 and 99 larva; and 
pupae, against fourteen and twenty in the single 
Wier-trap. 
5th. Hay-bands, on account of their greater 
inconvenience, I place last. 
All these methods are good, and the orchard- 
ist will be guided in his choice by individual 
circumstances. 
I wish to allude before closing to an appar¬ 
ently plausible theory advanced by Dr. J. S. 
Parker, of Ithaca, N. Y. Iu an article in the 
Maine Farmer for June 1st, 1872, in which nine- 
teuths of all the apples set in 1871 are said to 
have been either totally lost or greatly damaged, 
he suggests that the insect might be well nigh 
exterminated if, by united effort, we could 
forego one year’s crop by knocking off all the 
young fruit. He fails to attach sufficient import¬ 
ance to the fact that the insect breeds in wild, 
crabs, pears, peaches, and even plums. 
PARASITES. 
If we except a species of hair-snake, beloug- 
Fig. 1,— RING-LEGGED PIMPLA. 
iug probably to the genus Mermis , and which 
Mr. P. H. Foster, of Babylon, N. Y., has found 
on two occasions infesting it (Gardeners’ 
Monthly, May, 1872), no true parasite of the 
Apple-worm has ever been discovered in this 
country. I have this year discovered two. 
The first (fig. 1) may be called the Ring-legged 
Pimpla (Pimpla annulipcs , Br.), and is of a 
black color. It eats its way out of the chrysalis 
and cocoon of the Codling-moth without having 
previously made any cocoon of its own. The 
second may be called the Delicate Long-sting 
(Macrocentrus delicatus , Cress.), and is pale 
WINTER NELIS, SECTION. 
honey-yellow tinged with brown (fig. 2). The 
unfortunate Apple-worm is probably pierced by 
this species while yet in the fruit, as it always 
succumbs soon after forming its cocoon and 
before changing to chrysalis — the parasite 
forming a brown cocoon for itself within that 
of its victim. Whether the parasites here 
described had anything to do with the scarcity 
of Apple-worms, and the consequent large ap¬ 
ple crop that was harvested in many parts of 
the country, it were useless to speculate, 
