Weekly commercial herald., 1886-06-04

CODllNG MOIH AND WORM.
The moth, F and G., is accurately repre-
sented in the picture in form and size. The
main color is gray 1eclled with darker dots
and bars, and with a characteristic copper
colored spot at the end of its front wings.
This spot will always enable one to distin-
guish this moth. Every apple grower should
put wormy apples in a small box and rear
the moths, that there may be no doubt
about the species In May, about two weeks
Rafter the blossoms appear, the female moth
Commences'to lay eggs in the calyx Of the
blossoms, B. These soon hatch, when the
minute larva Shown full grown, E. eats into
the apple and feeds upon the pulp about the
core, filling the space with its fecal filth.
These spring moths continue to come from
cellar or apple house till July. ! have taken
such moths July on the screen of my cellar
window The whitish larvae attain their full
growth in about four weeks This period
will be heightened by cold and shortened by
heat When mature the larva leaves the
apple, which may have fallen to the ground,
and seeks a secluded place in which to spin
its cocoon N and pupate The pupa or
chrysalis (D) Is much like those of other
moths The pup@ of the June and July
larvae are found in the cocoons soon after the
latter are formed, while those of the autumn
larvae do not pupate till spring, but pass the
winter as larvae in the cocoons The eggs of
the second brood are laid in July, August
and September. The larvae feed in autumn,
and often till mid-winter, while as just stated
they do not pupate till spring
Professor Cook prefers London purple to
Paris green because it is cheaper and easier
to mix in the water The mixture is as fol-
lows: mix the powder one pound to fifty
gallons of water 1t is best to wet the pow
der thoroughly and make paste before put
sing it into the vessel of water, that it may
III mix, and not form humps. For few
trees we may use a pail and Whiteman's
Fountain pump, always keeping the liquid
we'll stirred. One common pail Of the liquid
will suffice for the largest tree. A teaspoon.
full of the poison is enough for pailful of
water For q large orchard common barrels
should be used, drawn in a wagon prefer
to have the barrels stand on end with close
movable float with two holes through it, one
for the pipe or hose from the pump and the
other for stirrer If very large orchards
are to be treated good force pump should
be fastened to the barrel. In western
New York the handle Of the pump
is attached to the wagon wheel, so that
no hand power is required other than
to drive the team and manage the pipe
which carries the spray. The spray may be
caused by fine perforated nozzle or a
cyclone nozzle. The finer it is the less liquid
will be required The important thing is to
scatter the spray on all the fruit, and get
just as little on as possible The larva is
killed by eating the poison, and we find that
the faintest trace suffices for the purpose
Again, the poison should be applied early,
by the time the fruit is the size of small
-ea. | have found one such application to
work wonders There is no doubt but that
he first application, followed by one or two
thers at intervals of two or three weeks,
lould be more thorough, yet l have found
= one application, made early, so effective that
have wondered whether it is best or neces-
sary to make more than one application. |
do think, however, that it must be early.
In May and June the calyx of the apple is
up, and so the poison is retained sufficiently
long to kill most all of the insects.
One more count in favor Of this treatment
is the further good we receive by killing the
several phytophagous larvae that attack the
foliage of the apple at this early period when
defoliation is so harmful. Thus the terrible
canker worm the several destructive leaf
rollers which even eat out the very buds. and
that old pest, the tent caterpillar, are all
made TO bite the sod Very likely, too, the
plum gouger, which so deforms the apple in
Wisconsin, may also find in this remedy its
death warrant
The danger from this practice have
proved to be nothing at ALL The microscope
and chemical analysis have both shown that
all the poison has been removed long before
we wish to eat the fruit. The wind no les;
than the rain helps to effect this removal, as
have shown by putting the poison on plants
sheltered from all rains. OF course we
should not turn stock into an orchard till o
heavy rain has washed the poison from al
y heybage under the trees.
Where one farmer did not feel able tt
y afford the pump several might buy one il
partnership and use it turn about Spray
ing once week for month, beginning jus
as the apples go out Of bloom, will cure th,
worst orchard that grows, not only Of tn
codling moth, but also Of the caterpillar ant
other rests. Its use has such marked effec
that where one side Of tree has beel
sprayed and the other side left, as an expert
ment, the sprayed side bore sound apples
the other side wormy ones