The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-03-13

fruit during harvest and through the
winter, is an enemy every time, as
most of his work of thinning fruit il
done too late to help the remaining
portion of the crop. This year this
insect has attracted but little attention,
because there was SO great an abund-
ance of fruit that there were not enough
worms to 60 round. The apple crop
being extremely light last year, very
few of these insects were produced.
Next year, with small crop of apples,
we shall find more worms than fruit, as
1t has been q good year this season for
raising the moths. The codling worm
moth is, though small, very beautiful
insect. They may be found in spring
on the inside of cellar windows, where
apples have been stored. Their pupa
cases may also be found in the crevices
OF boxes or barrels that have
contained apples, and they may
De found abundantly, too, under
the rough bark of the trees near
where they were reared. Scraping
trees at the right season will destroy q
great many. The best method he had
discovered for trapping this insect is
to wrap the trunk OF the trees with
ioosely-folded paper, which invites
them to form their cocoons therein,
and whence they may be removed
weekly. In his own orchard he had
fiftY-seven trees which were treated in
this way the past summer, the chrysa-
hdes being destroyed every Monday
morning. The first week, on the 22d
OF July, he found less than hundred,
but later he sometimes found as MANY
as two or three hundred. During the
season he trapped, in all, 1852. Which
were counted, and probably as many
more not counted, each of which might
lay thirty eggs next year, thus check
ing much mischief for the coming sea-
son. He had 175 barrels of good,
sound fruit the past summer and au-
tumn, all free from insects, and insects
enough have been DESTROYED to save
12O barrels of apples from being at
tackled next year. That being the case,
it would seem that such work pays.
With all the help of the curicufio. he
still finds it necessary to thin his fruit
artifcially, and he showed little in
strument shaped like the fork in the
handle of tack hammer, which, be-
ing inserted in the end of q long pole,
is used for twisting of the surplus APP
pies and pears. His rule for thinning
is to take off every specimen that is
wormy or in sny way imperfect, then
to reduce all clusters to a single speci-
men, and, finally, to cut out from one
half to three-fourths of what remains,
and this is the hardest thing to do of
all. Pears should not be nearer than
six inches apart on the tree, if one
would obtain the finest and largest
quality of fruit. Young trees, especial
ly, should have their fruit thinned very
close, particularly where they are not
making much wood. Allowing two or
more specimens of apples or pears to
touch each other, invites the codling
moth to deposit its eggs where the fruit
touches, as it is then better protected
from accident.
There were many other insects of
which he might say something, but as
he had designed to discuss only such as
he had become personally familiar with,
he would not enlarge. In answer to a
question. the speaker said that the
quince-tree borer was similar in its
habits to the apple-tree borer, but was
another species. They should be de-
stroyed in the same way as given for
destroying the borer of the apple tree.
N. E. Farmer.