Mower County transcript., 1871-07-20
The COdling Moth.

The C0lling Moth.
The following, relating to the codling
moth and how to destroy it, arc extracts
from an essay read before the Bcrrin
County (Mich.) Horticultural Society, by
D. N. Brown, of st. Joseph:
The codling moth is a gray, dirty look
ing miller, about thrce-fourths of an inch
in length, very quick In her movements
and when still her wings lie close to her
body. Fairly in the month Of June she
makes her appearance, and may bc seen
by jarring the limbs Of trees. She makes
many angular motions while descending
to the ground, and conceals herself in
stantly.
When the apple reaches the size of
hazel nut, she deposits her egg in the
down of the blossoms. where it matches
in few days if the weather is warm I'm
mcdiately the young larva begins to cut
its way toward to the center of the fruit
to feed upon it's flesh and seeds. If, how
ever, the end of the fruit is too hard, the
larva will leave and enter some more ten
der part. 1t is common for them to leave
one apple and enter another; and thus a
single worm may destroy a large quantity.
There are continuous and consecutive
crops Of these insects from early summer
until late in the fall, or until the apple
crop is gathered They increase rapidly
as the warm weather advances.
In the spring their commencement is
but small, owing to the wOodpecker, and
many other birds which prey upon the
larva whilst slightly protected in its silken
case, and deposited about stumps, hollow
weeds, and especially under the scales of
dead bark on the apple tree. On examin-
alton you will sec many of these
scales perforated by birds, who subsist
during winter upon insects. | have often
wondered to see with what precision they
strike their game. When you see small
hole through one of these old scales, pull
it OFT and notice the accuracy with which
this natural mechanic hits the cocoon
which contained his morning meal.
Many apples containing the larvae of this
moth arc barrclcd, and you will often find
a large number of these cocoons about
the hoops and joints, which should he
carefully destroyed. Should you make any
of your lighted rooms a storehouse for ap-
pies in the spring, you may find your win
dcws dotted with this miller Owing to
the many methods by which this larvae in
winter is destroyed, the carly brood is
small. These, however, deposit their eggs,
which hatch into perfect moth in about
thirty days, which in their turn are ready
to make in the apple second depositc OF
eggs, which, as we are not able to ascer-
tain the number of eggs each female can
lay, we may safely conclude that this crop
can out-number from fifty to one hundred
times the spring crop. We have now
reached about the middle of July, or the
first Of August, when the fruit bitten by
the first crop Of the larve are falling on
the ground, and some of the early varie-
ties beginning to ripen. A fair crop of
early fruit may be expected, for they es-
cape the later broods of this sweeping
pest.
In August and September VIC shall find
issuing from the blossom end of many of
our fine smooth apples, dark liquid mat
ter, indicating that another brood of this
insect has commenced its work of dcstruc.
ton. You will also see small red spots on
the fair, perfect fruit, showing that another
brood Of these larvae are cutting their way
through to the completion of their work
Thus one brood succeeds another, until in
many cases. nearly our entire crop of win
ter fruit is pierced with holes and lies
withered on the ground.
The worm, when SMALL is dark, and has
black head; when about half an inch
long it moults, after which it grows rapid
ly and soon completes its work of de-
struction; when of full size. the worm
yellow or reddish, with a copper colorcd
head prompted by instinct, leaves the
apple and hunts place Of conccalmcnt to
Wind into cocoon, and pass it's transpor
tation to the perfect moth.
The larvae is seldom seen outside of tho
fruit by daylight; but in the dark hours
it is quick in its motions, and travels from
one apple to another; it travels up and
down the branches and trunk, either to
enter new fruit or a place of concealment
When it reaches maturity, it hunts hid
ing place TO pass from the worm to the
perfect moth ; a period, in very hot weather
which does not exceed ten or twelve days
Should the worm fall with the apple te
the ground, it will on reaching maturity
in most cases return to the tree.
Now we invite the attention of apple
orchardists to simple, practical met hod
of cxterminating this pest from any given
locality, at an expense which will not cx.
coed 81 so per acre. About the first OF
en-, woOlen preferred, which will wrinkle
|
size of sleeve doubled-and place these
rags in the lowest forks of the apple tree
or wind several thicknesses of rags abou,
the base of the tree, or both. All the
worms descending and ascending will
crawl in and remain. Now we know
where the apple worm is. How shall W.
kill him?
Take clothes wringer, place it on q
light frame, then carefully remove the
rags from tree, for some Of the worms
will bc attached to the bark, place an end
in the jaws of the wringer, and run the
rags through every worm is annihilated
after this replace the rags.
This work should be repeated every ter
or twelve days during the season, and un
til the fruit is gathered, varying according
to the heat of the season. The mgsshoulC
not be used unless the wringcr is also; fol
| unless the worm is destroyed, you have
only given it II comfortable and convenient
concealment, close to the favorite fruit il
greedily destroys.
Various methods are recommended tC
aid the orchardist to defend himself against
this most formidable destroyer; among
them is that which turns our orchards in
to hog yards This is not practicable; tol
many ofour orchards are open to corn and
potato fields, and to our strawberry and
vegetable gardens. have for the last two
or three years considered it as necessary to
destroy the apple worm as to look attel
any other interest. We often find from
fifty to one hundred at a time in our sim.
pie rag traps. One of my neighbors killed
from single tree over four hundred in
one season. Another of my ncighbors,
with the rag traps, slaughtered, in his
orchard of few hundred trees, from tif-
teen to twenty thousand.
jenny Jones was very pretty little
pirl and it, WAS the first time shr had ever