The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1901-1901, 1901-08-07
THE COOLING MOTH.
Secretary Edwards Of the State Board
Of Horticulture Talks
About H.

Of Horticulture Talks
About It.
G. H. Edwards, secretary of the
board of horticulture for the state of
Montana and inspector for the Butte
district, has been busy during the
past week looking after fruit ship
ments in the Butte markets. He has
destroyed by burning about 100 crates
of fruit that were tainted with the
codling moth and other fruit pests.
"The work of the fruit inspectors
is a very necessary one," said Mr..
Edwards to an Independent reporter
recently. 1T is the only protection
Montana orchards have against in
sects and pests and must be kept up.
The history of the codling moth is
an interesting one and fruit growers
should be informed concerning this
pest.
For more than a century the cod
ling moth has preyed upon the fruit
interests of the orchardists of Amer
lea. In fact it is one of the most SER
ious drawbacks to the profitable grow
ing of apples. 1t is estimated that
from one-fourth to one-half of the ap-
pie crop in the United States is ruined
annually through the ravages of this
insect.
Zone would have to go back long
way to find the origin of the codling
moth. 1t is said that Cato speaks of
"wormy apples" in his treatise on agri-
culture, written nearly 200 years be-
fore the Christian era. But the aver
age fruit grower cares not for the an
cient history of this pest; he wants
to know something of it as 1t is found
today, and his efforts are directed to
learn all he can concerning it and
thus be capable to combat it should
occasion require.
"The parent insect is a small, choco-
late brown moth, scarcely half an
inch long, which appears among the
trees in spring about the time the ap-
pies are forming from the blossom.
In the cavity at the upper end Of the
unripe fruit, the female moth deposits
an egg. In a short time this egg hat
ches into a small whitish worm, which
nibbles at the skin of the young fruit,
finally biting through and eating it's
way to the core. Here it continues
feeding as the apple develops, grad
ually increasing in size until at the
end of three or four weeks it is about
three-fourths of an inch in length.
Finishing it's caterpillar growth, it
leaves the apple and seeks some Gre
vice in the bark of the trees. or in
crevices of bones or barrels, where it
spins silken cocoon, in which it
changes to the pupa state.
1.-TWO or three weeks after the CO.
coon was made, the insect comes out
a moth, like the one which laid the
egg in the blossom end of the young
apple.
ut was probably introduced into
the United States from Europe in
packages containing apples or pears.
When it was introduced is hard to
say. 1t is now recognized as a pest
in nearly every section of the United
States. The chief manner in which
it is carried is in apple boxes and
barrels. Fruit packed in moth infect
ed districts, is bound to contain the
insect. 1t is developed while in tran
sit, and thus carried to regions which
may have been entirely free. Once it
secures foot hold, it is hard to
eradicate.
1.-The annual loss due to this insect
in the state of Illinois alone is placed
at $2,3l5,OOO. In 1892 it is said to
have caused loss to Nebraska of
100000, and New York state pays
tribue to the extent of $3,OOO,OOO
These are among the chief apple
growing states, which have taken up
systematically the study of the insect
But other states raise immense guam
titles of apples and the total annual
loss in the United States might not
fall short of $5O,OOO.OO0. The orchards
of Montana are as yet comparatively
free.
1.-The department of agriculture has
taken up the work OF investigating
methods of saving this immense slm
to the orchardists CT the country, ard
it's work has been mighty gratifying.
Spraying with Paris green is the
most common way of fighting the cod-
ling moth. The trees are sprayed with
a strong solution of the Paris green,
just after the blossoms begin to fall
in the spring, and at intervals of one
or two weeks until the apples grow to
be of good size. The object is to have
the poisoned spray settle down into
the blossom end Of the young fruit