The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1882-10-20
Codling Moths.

IneSe insects, known scientifically a.
Cdrpocapsd pomonelld. appear to have
accompanied the cultivated apple to
every part of the known world where it
is grown. The apple worm is the cat
erpillar of a small grayish moth, the
fore-wings of which are of brownish
color, crossed by numerous gray and
brown lines, with an oval dark brown
spot near the hinder angle infinitely
edged with bright copper color. The
head and thorax are gray, the hinder
wings and abdomen yellowish brown.
The moths appear in the Northern
States about the first of June; in lower
ATTITUDES somewhat earlier. The fe-
males drop an egg in the calyx or
blossom end of the fruit; in about q
week it reaches the core, where it feeds
for about month, seldom longer.
When fully grown the caterpillar is Of
pinkish or flesh color. and. if the ap-
pie be cut open, may be seen in some
one of its burrows. from which it quick
ly escapes. If not disturbed it will
bore hole from the center of the fruit
to the surface, escaping either before or
after it has fallen to the ground, which
usually happens soon after the caterpil-
lar has reached the core, becoming
what is usually called a windfalL The
caterpillar after reaching the ground
crawls away into some sheltered place,
usually in the cracks of the same tree
upon the fruit of which it has been
feeding. and there spins thin cocoon.
in which its pupa remains few weeks
or months, depending upon the season
in which they have appeared, for it is
now settled that in some sections there
are two broods of this insect in sea-
son. The first or spring brood pass
through their four stages, egg. larva.
pupa and image. the latter copulate, and
the females deposit eggs on fruit late
in the season, the caterpillars
produced therefrom being Matched
in the winter varieties from
which many do not escape until the ap-
Piles are barrelled and sent to market,
or stored away in cellars. The cocCons
or silken cases, containing the Pupa.
are often found attached to the emptied
barrels. or hidden away in fruit rooms
or cellars. These are from the second
brood. For long time it was sup
posed that the caterpillar spent its en-
tire larva feriod in the fruit wherein
the egg was deposited, but several OBJ
servers, Independently of each other,
have detected it passing from one APP
pie to another. One of the most care
full students of the habits of this insect,
Mr.. S. B. Peck. of Muskegon. Mich,
writes on this point as follows:
Experiments have been made by my
self and others with the following re-
suits: The larva have repeatedly been
placed in contact with sound apples,
and soon found inside; they enter more
readily when shut from the light. Some
twenty infected apples taken from the
tree have been placed in box with a
few sound ones, when, after an interval
of day or two, the sound ones have
been occupied by the Larvae. A nearly
larva has been shut up with
a sound apple, one and q quarter inches
in diameter, and in less than twenty
four hours was found inside with the
whole core demolished. showing that it
does not take fellow long to use up a
specimen. A larva was also discovered
in its passage from one apple to an
other. the two being in contact, and
several cases have occurred where q
passage between apples in contact has
evidently been made by one occupant.
THE observations and experiments
thus related have been confined to the
early part of the season and to the first
brood of Larvae, not supposing that the
continued after the fruit
was nearly ripe; but it is now ascer-
tanned that they do emigrate after the
fruit has been gathered and stored.
Now, these discoveries and investiga-
tons are not merely to crafty curiosity,
but they open a new and more success
full mode of warfare; for, if true, the
daily picking off the infected fruit and
its destruction is at once suggested as
the most efficient remedy, and We may
have hopes that with this and the band
age system We must be able to save a
portion of our crop, if not eventually
TO run out this insidious pest"
The bandage system referred to
above, is the one most generally used
Tor destroying the codling moths. 1t
consists in winding about the stem of
The tree, few feet from the ground.
some kind of soft cloth. The caterpil-
ars that have fallen from or with the
iruit as they ascend the tree in search
Of a safe place in which to spin their CO.
looms find here one apparently adapted
.ostheir own purpose, preferable even
% the cracks in the bark of the tree,
and Immediately commence their
work. These bands can be readily ex-
AHMED every few days, and all cater
pillars and pupa found under them east
Y destroyed. Old rags and pieces of
;acking or ropes may be used for bands.
some prefer ropes of hay to anything
Else. because by moving them up and
Town on the stem the pupa and cater
pillars can be crushed without taking
he bands from the tree.
Several traps of complicated form
nave been invented, and one at least
has been patented, but the simple band
s cheaper and more effective.
Another method of determination is
" hanging under the trees wide
nouthed jars or bottles, in which
mixture of molasses, vinegar and water,
n proportion of one. two and four re-
ipectively, over which \ light is sus-
,ended The moth flies mostly at night,
S attracted by the light, baited by the
and finally drowned in num-
'ers surprising to those who have never
ried it
Still another plan, recommended by
'ir. j. S. Woodward at a meeting OF
he Horticultural Society of Western
lew York, is to spray al the trees in
he orchard with q solution made BY
lissolving tablespoonful of Paris
.reen in a barrel of water, to be ap-
lied when the apples are about the
iZe of cherries, or when the worm is
bout to enter the apple through the
alyx. He saws this IS entirely efficient,
nd that one sprinkling in a season is
ii that is required To do it may at
Lei I,,t 49,