Part 34

How to build and operate: For the house or box part, take four pieces of 2x4, 56 inches long, and four pieces 2x4, 37-1/2 inches long; nail together with the short pieces on the inside, lapping the long ones on the end of the shorter--thus making a frame 52x37-1/2 on the inside. This makes the sills and plates. Close three sides of this with matched flooring, up and down, seven feet high; now you have a box seven feet high, 52x37-1/2 inches. Leave the one side open to be closed with four doors similar to double stable doors, and in the exact center of this door space nail a 1x2 inch piece up and down to nail tray rest to. This will give two rows of trays.

Put comb roof on with the flooring, leaving a vent open at comb two inches the entire length of box. Make a V trough, which turn upside down with one inch blocks under the corners; this gives ventilation and also keeps out the rain; also make two six-inch holes below, to be opened or closed as needed; this admits cold air and drives the hot air up, causing complete draft. When the evaporator is full of fruit, the holes below should be open full size, except at night, when fruit is nearly dried, they should be closed, or partly so, which is done by tacking a small piece of board over hole, which can be pushed to one side and a nail or screw hold it in place. For the trays to rest on, take a piece 1x4, 37-1/2 inches long, nail a two-inch piece of same length in center of this, on top; this gives one inch on each side for rabbet; this is for center, and the rabbet rest is nailed to it through the 1x2 inch in front, and through the siding on rear side. For the outside rabbet, one piece 1x1 inch, 37-1/2 long; this nailed to the end of the box forms rabbet for the trays to rest on. As many of these tray rests can be made as needed to fill the box to near the top of doors. Place the first ones twelve inches from bottom of box, and continue up, placing them three and one-half inches apart. The trays are made of 1x1 inch strips for the frame part, and are 2x3 feet square; bottom is made of plastering lath sawed in two, and also cut in two lengthwise, as they are too wide; nail these to bottom of frame, three-sixteenths of an inch apart. When used for berries or sweet corn, tack cheese cloth stretched tightly over the lath. There should be four doors, in order to have as small a space open as possible in attending to the fruit; these are hung by light hinges to outside and fastened by a wooden button screwed to center upright. The lumber can all be bought at planer ready for use cheaper than it can be cut by hand.

For the furnace, build a box of brick or stone as large on the inside as the house, letting the most of the wall extend on the outside, in order to have all the space possible inside, for heating. Build into this wall at the bottom and ends a piece of heavy stack or sheet iron; any old smoke-stack will do, but must be at least one foot in diameter: if smoke-stack is used, split it and spread as much as possible, to have large enough place for fire and all the heating surface possible. This open edge of iron must be well plastered down with mortar, or brick and mortar, that no smoke may get inside. Let it extend just through the wall to a flue built at the end on the outside, of brick or stone, as high or a little higher than the wall; then a common six-inch stovepipe set on, to run as high as the evaporator, will do. A damper in pipe is an advantage to check draft and control heat, and pipe should be at least one foot from evaporator.

The mouth of furnace should be at same end as the ventilator holes in the evaporator, and can be closed by a piece of sheet iron with a small draft underneath, the same as a stove door.

Set your box evaporator on this wall, and mud or plaster it down tight. In using, always have your house well heated before putting in fruit. The top of wall must be fully one foot above top of iron; this will make two feet space from iron to first tray. In putting the trays in, shove the first one clear back, let second be flush in front, the third clear back again--placing them the same in both sides; this sends the heated air directly over each tray to the top.

A MISSOURI APPLE HOUSE.

The property of Col. J. C. Evans, Harlem, Mo., president of Missouri State Horticultural Society. Dimensions: Length, 200 feet; width, 46 feet; depth, 11 feet; earth bank, 5-1/2 feet thick. Capacity, 15,000 barrels. Cost, $1,000 and eighty-five loads of sawdust. Double floor overhead, with eight inches of sawdust between. Roof projects three feet all round. Ground slopes away rapidly, to carry away water. Winter entrance through anteroom 12x12. Driveway twelve feet wide through whole length.

MANY WAYS OF USING CULL APPLES.

Cider: Newly made sweet cider is both pleasant and healthful, and is a useful ingredient in some culinary preparations; but it should be used fresh from the press or not more than twenty-four hours old. To make it, cut out all the rotten and bruised spots, also the worms and their burrows. To make cider or vinegar from rotten and wormy apples ought to be considered a crime. The famous Russet cider of New York is made from sound Russet apples and brings top price.

Sweet cider may be canned or bottled and will keep interminably, if heated to 160 degrees and kept hot for twenty minutes, then canned and sealed as for fruit.

Boiled cider, that is, reduced to one-fifth by boiling, and canned, is a nice article for culinary use, for making apple-butter, apple-sauce and in apple or mince pies. It would sell.

Cider vinegar is the best for home use and market. No one having an apple orchard should ever buy vinegar, and ought to have some to sell to neighbors or at the stores. To make: Sweet cider carefully made should be placed in clean, sweet, oak barrels, placed in a room where sun and frost cannot reach it. The barrels should be laid on their sides, with the open bung-hole upward, and double mosquito net or wire tacked over it. It requires from eighteen months to two years to become first class, but there is no more labor excepting to rack or siphon it off from the sediment; do not be impatient; make some every year, and if you are a "rustler" you will make good money out of it. Our home demand requires over 50,000 barrels per month.

Apple-butter, to be good, requires boiled cider, and if to the boiled cider is added the good parts of the best culls, and carefully and skilfully boiled, either with or without spices, it sells for one dollar per gallon and is very profitable.

Dried apples: The best of the culls, carefully trimmed, peeled, cored, and quartered or sliced, may be dried in the sun and air anywhere in Kansas. A cheap rack of poles or slats three or four feet above the ground, a lot of trays made of lath with muslin bottoms and plenty of mosquito netting to spread on hoops or bars above the fruit to keep off flies, are all that is needed. Do not leave them spread out during rain, or at night. The trays can be piled at night, with the fruit in them, under a shed or cover. Keep all vermin from them and stir often.

Evaporated apples sell better, and by many are preferred. [I like the sun-kissed ones the best.--Sec.] There are numerous patent evaporators, all very good; but any ingenious man can make his own. The evaporators in which the Wellhouse culls are dried are very simple. President Wellhouse says he spent over $2,500 on patent dryers without any satisfaction, and then built his own, which are described elsewhere.

ENEMIES OF THE APPLE.[A]

[A] We are pleased to acknowledge our obligations for much of the following valuable information on our insect enemies and for the loan of cuts used to Prof. J. M. Stedman, of Columbia College, Mo., and Prof. E. E. Faville, of the Kansas Agricultural College.

APPLE-WORMS.

Many believe that worms are the parents of worms, and that they come suddenly, like a "wolf on the fold." A letter is received at this office telling of the sudden appearance in immense numbers of a worm that is destroying all that is before it, and wondering where they came from "so suddenly." Speaking of apple pests, the canker-worm, tent-caterpillar, the worm (larva) of the handmaid-moth, and the apple-worm (larva of the codling-moth), they did not come (travel) from anywhere; and no difference if they cover your trees, or are like the "sands on the seashore," they were all hatched right there on your trees.

An observer looks at an apple or a nut with a hole in it, and says, "There is where the worm went in." It is directly the opposite; that is where the worm went out. He hatched from an egg, placed on, near by or just under the surface of the fruit; and eating a burrow to the core it grew large and plump, became a full-grown worm, burrowed to the surface, and passed out. When you see worms hanging in great numbers from single webs or the bole of your tree alive, with myriads of worms crawling, some up, some down, some crosswise, know of a surety that they are not going _up_, but coming _down_ to Mother Earth. Insect life changes more in a day than humanity does in a year. These worms have quit feeding, and are in a nervous, uneasy, often blind and skin-tight condition, going through a change from the luxury of leaf or fruit eating to a desire and ability to burrow into a living tomb several inches below the earth's surface. These myriads of worms are doing you no harm now; they will never eat again, no matter how tempting the morsel. This shows the absurdity of bands of cotton, etc., placed about a tree when the bole is covered with worms, "to keep them from going up."

The real parents, the ones that lay the eggs and propagate their species, are usually winged moths or butterflies. A beautiful moth that you admire and will not allow your child to hurt may be the parent of the disgusting and destructive worms covering your trees or shrubs. In the following pages, we have tried in the least and simplest language to describe our commonest and most objectionable apple pests.

SPRING CANKER-WORM.

This is the worm that the amateur and the very busy man suddenly discovers in April defoliating his apple trees, and, on examination, he finds them in such myriads that he imagines some power has suddenly sown them broadcast over his orchard. See fig. 1. Had he been observant during the sunny middays of February, he would have noticed insects similar to figure 2 crawling up the bole of the tree, and looking closer, a little later, he would see small masses of eggs, shown in figures 3 _a_ and _b_, glued fast, usually near the base of limbs or twigs.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.]

[Illustration: FIG. 2. Adult Female.]

[Illustration: FIG. 3. _a_, Eggs deposited at base of limb. _b_, Egg mass.]

[Illustration: FIG. 4. _a_, Larva, or worm. _b_, Cluster, and a magnified egg.]

Along early in April these eggs, warmed by the same sun that swells the buds and causes the green tips of the leaves to protrude, hatch into tiny worms looking like a dark thread snipped into bits about an eighth of an inch long. These millions of tiny worms, scarcely visible, occupy their time eating and growing, and the orchardist is possibly unaware of the army he is feeding until they grow into lusty, fat worms, from one and one-eighth to one and one-fourth inches long, of a dark olive-green color, with black heads. See _a_, fig. 4. If disturbed they quickly spin a single web and fall suspended at its end, as in fig. 1. Their life, as worms, lasts only about six weeks, then they seem suddenly to have vanished. They have gone into the earth to pass into the pupa state, coming out the following spring as adults; the males with wings to fly, the female wingless, as in fig. 2, to crawl up the tree as described. Now, as these myriads of tiny worms must make the tons of grown worms entirely from the foliage on the trees in which they hatched, it is plain that the said foliage must suffer, and it will look as if scorched by fire.

_Remedies._ Bands smeared with sticky material put tightly around the tree bole early in February has stopped many a female from crawling up to lay her eggs. Spraying with London purple or Paris green, one pound with two pounds of lime and 150 gallons of water, is the common remedy. To be efficacious the drug must be of a normal strength, say forty-five per cent. arsenic, and as the worms grow larger and stronger the water must be lessened. When the worms are an inch or more long it may require only fifty gallons of water. Another formula is, two pounds white arsenic, four pounds sal soda, two gallons of water; boil until the arsenic is dissolved. One pint is enough for forty gallons of water. As the worms usually feed on the under side of the leaves, spraying should be from below as much as possible. "The early bird catches the worm" is true here. Therefore, spray while the worms are tiny and the foliage thin, and the work will count as the "stitch in time," destroying nine hundred and ninety-nine.

TENT-CATERPILLAR.

Nearly every one has seen the "tents" of these in neglected trees. See fig. 5. They usually betoken the too busy man--the man with too many irons in the fire. They are large, unsightly bunches of webs, closely woven together at the forks of twigs at the ends of limbs or branches. The parents of these worms are moths (see fig. 6) which appear in June each year, and deposit their eggs in clusters containing two or three hundred, surrounding small twigs. See fig. 7. Sharp eyes, a sharp knife and nimble fingers will bring many to the kitchen fire. These eggs hatch in the warm days of spring, and the tiny worms immediately seek and devour the tender buds and leaves. The day they hatch they begin to build the "tent." Those from the same mass of eggs, say 250, combine to make the home nest or tent. They come out from this tent to feed in the morning, return for a _siesta_ or sleep, and emerge again in the afternoon for a second feed.

[Illustration: FIG. 5. Tent with larvae.]

[Illustration: FIG. 6. Adult.]

[Illustration: FIG. 7.]

[Illustration: FIG. 8. Tent-caterpillar.]

They live in this way four or five weeks, becoming, when full grown, about two inches long and nearly as large as a lead-pencil. See fig. 8. They are black, with light-colored tufts of hair on the back. Down the center of the back is a white line bordered with irregular yellowish lines. The sides of the body are marked with pale blue, while the under side of the worm is black. When grown they pass to the ground and hunt a sheltered place, where they spin a cocoon, from which, in about three weeks, emerges the adult moth, fig. 6, the color of which varies from yellowish to reddish brown. The front wings each contain two oblique, whitish lines, dividing the wing into three nearly equal parts. These moths are night flyers during the last half of June and first half of July. They eat nothing. The female lays her eggs as described, and dies.

_Remedies._ Spare the birds; put up boxes for the bats and owls. Cut off the egg clusters during the winter. Cut and burn the tents, or burn the tents on the tree, with any kind of a torch. Early morning or late evening is the time, as they are then all home. Spray the foliage nearest the tents with solutions for canker-worm.

CODLING-MOTH.

The apple-worm, which every apple eater has found many times in the apple, is the child of the codling-moth. See _b_, fig. 9. It is a scourge all over the apple-growing district. It destroys or reduces the value of the apple crop many millions of dollars annually.

[Illustration: FIG. 9. _a_, Female Codling-moth. _b_, Larva of same in apple.]

The parent--adult insect, or moth--see _a_, fig. 9, is a small moth with a spread of wings three-fourths of an inch, the first pair marked with wavy lines of gray and brown, with a large, oval brown spot, streaked coppery, on hinder margin. The hind wings are yellowish brown. These moths appear, and begin to lay on the surface of the leaves, in the calyx, or on the surface of the apple, about the 1st of May. The eggs hatch in about one week, and the young worm immediately begins to burrow into the apple, working its way to the center, where it works around the core, gaining strength and size for about three weeks, when it leaves the apple and seeks a hiding place in which to spin its cocoon, the favorite place being under projections of the rough bark of the tree. When first hatched these worms are small, hardly one-eighth of an inch long, white, with a black head and shoulders. When mature, the body is pinkish and the head and shoulders brown. The adult, _a_, fig. 9, issues from the cocoon in about two weeks, appearing near June 15. They commence at once to lay eggs. The worms of this, the second brood, live in the apple all winter, and it is these that disgust the apple eater and cut the profits of the orchardist.

_Remedies._ The same spray as for canker-worms, used just after the petals of the blossom fall. No eggs are deposited earlier than this. At this time the calyx cup is open, and a little poison in it is apt to prove fatal to the infant worm. In a few days after the egg is laid the calyx closes, and no spray will reach the worm. Remember, this early spraying does away with the parents of the _second_ brood, and hence should not be neglected. Bands of burlaps, paper or other material, loosely tied about the tree before June 1, make attractive places for the worms to pupate in. These bands should be examined often, say weekly, and all worms killed. Fallen fruit should be gathered and fed to stock. Cellars, caves and fruit houses should be thoroughly cleaned and fumigated and the cleanings burned every spring, as many thousands of moths are wintered over in them.

FLAT-HEADED BORER.

The adult, fig. 10, is flat, about three-eighths of an inch long, of a greenish black with coppery reflections. They appear about the last of May and deposit eggs from then until September. They generally lay their eggs in a diseased portion of the tree, where it has been bruised, or sun-scalded, or in trees of weak vitality, in bad health from lack of cultivation or moisture, or from soil poverty. The eggs are small and yellowish, and are found singly or in numbers in crevices in the bark. The larva, or borer, fig. 11, when young, is yellowish, with a broad, flat head; it soon bores to the sap-wood, where it feeds. At this time it is easily discovered by the "castings" from the opening. As they become older and larger they bore into the harder wood, making flattened chambers. In about a year they gnaw a channel to the outside, excepting a thin layer of bark, and backing a little way they crowd castings to the front and change into the perfect insect, emerging about the last of May.

[Illustration: FIG. 10. Adult Flat-headed Borer.]

[Illustration: FIG. 11. Larva of a Flat-headed Borer.]

_Remedies._ Keep the tree thrifty, free from bruises or sun-scald, and the flow of sap will drown them. If any are detected by the castings, cut in, and use a hooked wire to pull them out. Some washes will deter the female from depositing eggs. For instance: Equal parts of soft soap and sal soda, with enough crude carbolic acid to give a strong odor. Apply with a brush several times in a season, especially where the bark appears unhealthy.

ROUND-HEADED BORER.

Attacks the same trees under the same conditions as the flat-headed borer. The adult, fig. 12, is about five-eighths of an inch long, brown above, with two white stripes the whole length of the back. Head and under surface grayish. It is a night flyer. The female appears about June 1, and stays until September. She deposits her eggs at night, in small incisions made angling into the bark, generally near the ground. In about two weeks they hatch, and the little borers, _a_, fig. 13, begin to bore their way into the inner bark and sap-wood, leaving the bore filled with "castings," fig. 14. For two summers they stay in the sap-wood and do great damage, often girdling young trees. After the second winter they cut channels up into the hard wood; attaining their growth by fall, they burrow outward to the under side of the bark, and there remain until spring, changing to adults. See _b_, fig. 13. They then gnaw through the bark, and emerge about June 1 to propagate their species.

_Remedies._ Same as for flat-headed borer.

[Illustration: FIG. 12. Adult Round-headed Borer, greatly enlarged.]

[Illustration: FIG. 13. Larva and pupa of the Round-headed Borer.]

[Illustration: FIG. 14. _a_, Incision in which egg is deposited; _b_, same, the wood has been split along line _a_; _e_, showing egg in place; _c_, showing how egg is inserted under bark; _d_, egg greatly magnified; _e_, hole through which adult emerged; _f_, channel of larva; _g_, insect in pupal state just before issuing as an adult.]

TREE WASHES FOR BORERS.

Observations by members of the Kansas State Horticultural Society.

A. Chandler: I used a tree wash last year on apple trees for borers and insects. I have been troubled in my timber (recently cleared) land with borers, and if I had not taken this precaution they would have been worse. It is known as the "Carnahan tree wash." Obtaining it ready prepared in a can, I applied it in June with a whitewash brush to the tree trunks and a portion of the limbs, and found it very beneficial. While it will not _destroy_ the borer, I think it will prevent the borer beetle from depositing eggs on the outside. From the healthy appearance of the tree and the smooth appearance of the bark, I think it equals anything I ever tried. It is also good for the prevention of other insects, as tree-crickets, etc., and I think it will destroy the curculio to some extent, and will prevent insects climbing the trees. My trees never looked more thrifty. I cannot say it will prevent root-rot.

F. Holsinger: I would like to inquire whether your ground was thoroughly cultivated?