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.