Sunday Washington globe., 1902-06-29
A $25,OOO,OOO MOTH, THIS
r Eats A THIRD Of THE APPLE
ANo PEAR CROP YEARLY.


Although it costs the farmers Of
New York state .one-third Of their
apple and pear crop every year." said
an entomologist, in the New York sun,
(which means in money at least S3'-
100000, and that is less than One-eighth
Of what it costs the farmers and fruit
growers annually in the country at
large, scarcely one farmer or fruit
grower in ten ever saw a codling moth.
Yet the insect during it's breeding sea
son is busy by tens Of thousands in
every orchard.
"The reason why the codling moth
Is seen so rarely is that it alone among
the many varieties of moths, has not
the habit of being attracted at night ny
a light or fame. and it has the faculty
of secreting itself so completely during
the day that the most violent disturb
ance of its retreat does not cause IL
to take wing OF move from its lurking
places in the orchard trees, the rough
scaly bark Of which it so closely re,
sembles that even if one Of the insects
were resting on the exterior Of the
bark it would defy the sharpest of eyes
to detect.
"A flaming torch placed at night
urder every tree In an orchard would
iall to draw a single cOdling moth
from it's work Of egg laying in the
trees, although its cousins Of all vari-
cites would be Fastening from all di-
rections to meet destruction in the
fascinating flame.
"rhe average lay person knows moth
ing about the codling moth in its rela'
tion to the worm he finds so frequently
in the apple he bites into. and, as a
matter Of fact, it is only within recent
years that entomOlogists even have ac-
quainted themselves with the entire
LIE history Of the insect.
1.-THE codling moth emerges from Its
cocoon about ten days after the apple
blossoms have fallen from the trees
in the spring and the young fruit is
grown to perhaps an inch in diameter.
The cocoOns lie beneath the scaly bark
of the apple tree trunks.
"rhe moth is about half an inch long
and has four wings. 1t comes from
the cocoon at night and at once begins
deposltlng its eggs. A codling moths
egg is nearly nat, and not larger than
a small pinhead. So small is it that,
although the moth has been known to
naturalists for nearly three centuries.
1t was only four or five years ago its
egg was discovered positively and de-
scrbed
THE egg is deposited and glued to
the surface OF the apple, only a single
egg on an apple If one codling moth
| finds mat another one has already fas-
tened an egg on an apple, it will not
leave an egg Of its own there, but will
seek unpreempted fruit
Each moth lays from eighty to 100
eggs. The egg matches a tiny worm at
the end of perhaps ten days, always at
night
"The worm at once crawls to the
blossom end of the apple. enters the
cavity there and tunnels down to the
core, where it feasts and grows and
fattens on the heart of the fruit, and
at the end OF the month tunnels it's way
back to the surface, emerging a plump
pinkish caterpillar, three-quarters of an
inch long, always coming out at night
In truth. this creature, at all stages
of it's existence, seems to love dark
ness better than light.
1t makes its way without delay to
the trunk Of the tree, where it wraps
itself about with its cocoon beneath a
sheltering scale of bark, and remains
there in hiding until it in turn develops
into moth the next season. or. if the
fruit in which it had its home oe an
early variety the same season. in which
case the caterpillar undergoes q double
metamorphosls.
Tiny as the codling moths egg is
there is a fly so small that it can de.
posit as many as four of its own eggs
into a single egg Of the moth. This
hys eggs hatch worms that devouI
the embryo of the moth in the egg
and thus hosts of the moths ravenous
progeny are destroyed before they have
begun active life.
"Other parasitic enemies Of the cater
pillar make away with untold numbers
Of the insects, and vast numbers OF
the socoons are uncovered and theii
contents devoured by wOodpeckers and
other insectivorous birds. but enough
come to maturity to assess a bounty OF
$25. 5.OOO,0O0 year on the farmers Of
the country to keep them in board and
lodging.
Nothing but spraying the trees with
q solution Of Paris green during the
period when the worms are on theii
way from the egg to tunnel into la
nuTle at the blossom end checks the
-1vages OF the pest, and this the farm
srs as rule resOlutely persist in not
doing
'rhe codling moth was first known
rs such in this country in Massachu
setds in 1919, although its worm had
been working disastrOusly on the New
England orchards for seventy.fve
years, th, work oeing charged to the