REPORT OF THE EXTOMOLOGISr AXD BOTANIST 75 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



on account o^* its uoctunial and secretive habits. The white or pinkish caterpillars, 

 f of an inch in length, which feed in the heart of apples of all kinds are far better 

 known, and under the name of ' Apple worm ' are recognized by all fruit growers. 

 The eggs are laid upon the outside of young apples about a week after the blossoms 

 fall and also upon the foliage. These eggs arc flat, like a very small fish's scale, and 

 are very inconspicuous. The eggs hatch in about a week and the young caterpillars 

 find their way into the fruit .through the calyx or upper end. They feed for a few 

 days on the outside of the apple or inside the calyx. This gives an apportunity of 

 destroying them by spraying the trees with poisonous mixtures. In Canada east of a 

 ixiiut about Toronto there is only one regular annual brood of the Codling moth, and 

 the insect can then be controlled almost entirely with c ireful and regular spraying with 

 the poisoned Bordeaux mixture. West of Toronto there are two broods, the second of 

 which is by far the more destructive and dilficult to cope with. It has been found 

 that in this latter district it is necessary to supplement the spring spraying by wrap- 

 ping the trees with loose bands of burlap or some other material which will serve as 

 a refuge in which the caterpillars will spin their cocoons, these to be removed at short 

 intervals after the middle of July, when the caterpillars begin to spin up. Care must 

 be taken to scrape or brush the bark beneath these bands w-ith a stiff brush or some 

 other implement so as to remove all of the cocoons which are frequently sunk into the 

 substance of the bark by the caterpillars gnawing away the surface. The insects in 

 the bands may be killed by dropping the latter into boiling water or by crushing the 

 cocoons. The poisoned Bordeaux mixture made with 4 lbs. of fresh lime, 4 lbs. blue- 

 stone and 4 ounces of Paris green, in 40 gallons of water, we have foimd to be a sure 

 remedy against the Codling moth, if applied every year. Three applications are neces- 

 sary, the first one applied a week after the blo.ssoms have fallen, and the others after- 

 wards at intervals of fifteen days. In orchards which have not been previously treated 

 for a year or two, four sprayings should be given. 



The Plum Curculio (Conotrachelus nenuphar, Herbst.). — One of the worst ene- 

 mies of the fruit-grower is only too well known under the name of the Plum Curculio. 

 The female lays her eggs in the flesh of plums and apples when these are about as large 

 ae pease. The female makes a characteristic mark, which is shaped like a crescent, 

 and almost surrounds a little flap cut out of the side of the fruit, and in which the 

 single egg will be found. Although called the Plum Curculio this insect is frequently 

 n serious enemy of the apple, particularly in orchards which are grown in sod. Occa- 

 sionally whole crops will be ruined and drop from the trees in the end of June. Owing 

 to what is knovv'n as the June drop, by which the overplus of young apples beyond 

 what the trees can mature properly, drop from the trees in the end of June or the 

 beginning of July, this' injury to apples is frequently overlooked by fruit-growers, but 

 by cutting into the apple the inside will be found to be burrowed in every direction and 

 to contain two or three dirty white grubs with brown heads, about a quarter of an 

 inch in length. The perfect beetle is a weevil with its mouth parts at the end of an 

 elongated beak. It is less than a quarter of an inch in length, brown and rough with 

 black and grey mottlings, which give it a remarkable resemblance to a small piece of 

 bark and make it difiicult to distinguish. There is only one brood in the y^ar, but 

 perfect beetles may be found at all times. Tbe beetles of the summer brood emerge 

 during August or September of one year, pass the winter as perfect insects under dead 

 leaves, &c., and feed on the leaves and buds of plum trees early in spring. Later in 

 tlie year they attack the leaves and fruits of various kinds, and the old insects of the 

 year before may often be collected with tbose of the newly-emerged brood. The peach, 

 apricot, cherry, apple and pear are all injured by the Plum Curculio. The injury 

 1o plums is most conspicuous because they fall from the trees soon after the grub 

 begins to bore through them. Apples also fall in large numbers when there are seve- 

 ral grubs. The peach, apricot and cherry do not fall to any extent. By midsummer 

 the grubs are full grown and then burrow a short distance into the ground, where they 

 turn to pupa?. 



