The Bud Moth. 



Tmetocera ocellana. 



Order Lbpidopteba ; family Grapholithid^. 



Nearly every year some injurious insect makes its appearance in 

 sufficient numbers to alarm the fruit growers of this State. In 1801, 

 not only did the pear growers suffer severely from the Pear Psylla,^ 

 but the apple growers also had much of their fruit destroyed while yet 

 in the bud by an insect known as the Bud Moth. 



During May and June, 1891, this Department of the Station 

 received a large number of inquiries regarding the pest which was then 

 at work in many counties of the State. The letters indicated that the 

 pest was the most prominent apple pest of the season. 



As the insect attacks the opening leaf and flower buds, the destruc- 

 tion wrought is often very great. The reports from some localities in 

 the great fruit growing districts in the western portion of the State 

 showed that nearly the whole crop on many trees was destroyed while 

 yet in the bud. The pest v/as also especially destructive when it 

 attacked recently budded or grafted trees and young nursery stock. 

 The attack was not confined to the apple alone, but pear, plum, cherry, 

 quince, and peach trees also suffered. 



Thus the fruit growers have to fear, in the Bud Moth, a pest which 

 is capable of literally " nipping in the bud " a prospective crop of fruit, 

 a graft, or a budded stock. 



The Past His tort of this Pbst. 



This insect had bef n known for more than half a century in Europe 

 before it was recordrjd in this country. The Bud Moth, therefore, like 

 many of our worst insect pests, was no doubt an importation from 

 Europe. The insfct is common in nearly all parts of Europe and there 

 became of econoraic importance about 1840, or about the same time it 

 was recorded here as injurious by Dr. Harris. 



*This pest was disciissed in Bulletin 44, Cornell University Agricultural 

 Experiment Station. 



