The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-08-28

| $500. 900. Although many New York
growers are fighting this insect with
| modern methods, we think that the
wormy apples would constitute at least
one-third of the total crop That is,
New York fruit growers yearly furnish
$2,50O.00O worth of apples to feed this
insect, and there must be added to this
at least 100000 worth of pears Certain
ly low estimate for New York; which
the same insect renders worthless. This
makes tax of 100000 which a single
insect levies and collects each year
from the fruit growers of our state"
occasionally this pest attacks wild
haws, crab apples, ounces and stone
fruits.
Like all moths. the codling moth has
four distinct stages, known as the egg,
larya, pupa and moth. The moth lays
the egg on the surface of the apple,
very soon after the blossom falls, pay
ing little attention to where she places
1t, although until quite recently it was
believed that she deposited it between
the calix lobes of the apple, or in the
so-called blossom end. The young larva,
which is scarcely visible to the naked
eye, after Matching wanders about on
the surface of the apple and takes its
first meal from the skin of the apple,
eating place about the size of a pins
mead. 1T often eats out a number of
these holes before it begins it's journey
inward toward the core. 1t usually en-
tiers the apple near or between the calix
lobes and reaching the core, the larva
eats the pulp surrounding the seed cap
sule, often blackening the core. 1t con-
.tinues to feed until it has reached it's
full growth. when it eats it's way ito the
surface and, leaving the apple, seeks
place in which to make it's cocoon and
undergo its future transformation. This
cocoon is often made in crevices in the
to xt1A - IL.
der boards, chips, etc. The cocoon which
the larva spins is composed of a silky
secretion from glands near it's mouth
mixed with particles of surrounding
substance. In this cocoon it lives until
the following spring, when it trans
forms to pupa, from which, after two
or three weeks, the moth energies ready
to lay eggs on the new crop of fruit
single moth may lay only a few
eggs. or 1t may lay nearly a hundred
and one or several on a single apple.
In more southern ranges in the
United States two broods, or sometimes
three, are produced in a single year.
Larvae of the codling moth often reach
their full growth while being. trans
ported from one place to another, and
leaving the apple form their cocoons in
corners Of the barrels or boxes. This
Is why the rules and regulations of the
board of horticulture provide that all
1rult boxes snail be destroyed, for it
would be an easy matter in many local
tiles of the state for the insect, when it
reaches the winged stage, to start
colony of the pest on any apple or pear
trees in the vicinity. A very large pro-
portion of the loss to fruit growers
from this insect may be prevented by
spraying with a poison just before the
eggs hatch. The first meal of the young
larva is then his last meal.
The San Jose scale, aspdiotus per-
niceosus, first received mention in lit
erature by Professor Comstock, who,
in the report for the United States de-
partment of agriculture for 1880, de-
scribed and figured the insect, stating
that he believed it to be the most per-
nicious scale insect known in this coun-
try, and this early impression has been
borne out by experience. The insect
belongs to a group little known to the
public, yet a very important one.
There are nearly a thousand species
Of scale insects, small proportion of
which are of economic Importance. The
economic status of a scale insect de-
ponds upon the value of the plants
which it habitually attacks, and upon
it's power of multiplication and ability
to Withstand hardships of weather and
natural enemies One adult female of