Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1908-02-20
THE COOLING MOTH.

The legislature last year passed a |
law by which it became unlawful
to sell or give away any worm
marked or scale marked fruit; and, |
realizing the great loss that this
means to all orchard1sts here, l be-
gan a close study of the cooling
moth by which 1 hope to determine
the best method and the time for
spraying them
| found that not all moths come the
same time from their winter quar-
tiers, there being difference OF
over three months. l found my
first MOTION the south side OF
the trec-April 80. The moth on
the north side of the tree is three
weeks later in coming out. Where
a tree with smooth bark sets in
low flat place the worm finds his
best hiding place for the winter on
the trunk of the tree beneath the
surface of the ground, and this mill
Ter will come out two months later
than the miller on the south side of
the rough barkcd tree. And from
the worm that hides away under
the floor of the packing house the
miller docs not come out until three
months after the one spoken of.
The greatest number of millers of
the first brood came out May %.
consider that 90 to 95 per cent
of the eggs of the first brood of mill
lers are laid on the leaves clustered
around the apple On the last day
of May, when the worms were be-
ginning to go into the apples l took
81 clusters of apples and leaves and
counted the eggs on them. l found
on the leaves 40 eggs and on the
apples five, making practically 80
per cent on the leaves and eleven
per cent on the apples. AT various
times during the summer, upon
examining the relative number OF
eggs laid on foliage and apples,
found that fully 80 pei cent are laid
on the foliage.
Making a note of where the
worms entered the apples, l found
that in 81 clusters, the distribution
was as follows: Nine had entered
the calyx; 21 had gone into the side
of the apples, and II had entered
the apple where it rested agains
another. On July 10 l pick d al
the wormy apples off one tree ir
the center of a 70-acre tract OF ap
pie orchard. l found that 29I
worms had gone in the calyx anc
that 22S had gone into the side o
the apple or where the apples
touched
In August in a 1O-acre orchard
4
that had apples on them and thos'
had only a few, l found that a
many as IL worms would enter III
side of one apple and two in tn
calyx of the same apple. In m
study CT this phase of the question
during the summer and l came I
the conclusion that about 50 pc
cent entered the calyx of the appl
and that 40 per cent entered tn
side of the apple.
After the eggs have been laid o
the foliage and the apples have a
been removed from the tree some {
the worms have been found to ente
the end of the fruit spur where tn
leaf buds start and remain there ur
til full grown.
In studying the habits OF IN
worms l found that from ID to 2
days after he enters the apple h
comes to the surface Ell her wher
he went in or at some other place
He does not leave the apple at tn
time, but goes back in until til
SIND day from the time he cntere
it. The Dight of the 32nd day h
leaves the apple and comes dow
the limb to a hiding place.
At first found it hard to deter
mine just now long they stayed
the apple, as l put over 500 worn
onto apples and found the tim
they remained in the apple varie
from g to 81 days; but after ccs
siderable experimenting l found IL
trouble was that some of my worn
were two weeks old and some wei
just Matched. They seem to gro
very slowly the first week of the
lives and SO it it hard to distinguis
the youngest ones. l cut 100 appl,
and took four of the smallest worn
out of these and placed them on al
pies and they all came out the nigI
of the 31st day. / repeated this c,
pertinent and found that it vor Ike
out the same each time and, coun
ing that they must at least ha'
been day old when l cut the