THE PINE-SHOOT MOTH 



639 



Branxh Infected by Pixe-Shoot Moth 



buds that it can not be reached by any 

 insecticide, and the only method of 

 combating it is that used in Europe for 

 more than a hundred years, namely, 

 the pruning and destruction of the 

 infested buds and twigs together with 

 the larvae they contain. vSuch hand 

 picking is practiced every year in the 

 government-controlled forest reserves 

 of Europe. 



This pruning must be done while the 

 insect is within the twigs, and while it 

 may be done throughout the entire 

 year, except during the midsummer 

 months when the insect is in the adult 

 stage, it can be most profitably done 

 in the fall and winter months while the 

 young larvae are yet within the un- 

 developed buds, because the pruning 

 at this time will enable the secondary 

 set of buds to develop in the spring 

 without delay. The only drawback to 

 the collecting of the larvae in the fall 

 and winter is that the infested buds are 

 then less noticeable than in the spring 

 when the injury is further developed. 



A little practice, however, soon enables 

 instant recognition of the infested buds, 

 even by an unskilled laborer; the slight 

 exudation of pitch at the base of the 

 bud covering the entrance hole of the 

 larvae is very characteristic and easily 

 recognized when once known. 



In the spring, when the buds develop 

 into young shoots, the injury is very 

 much more apparent, and anybody can 

 then distinguish the infested twigs at a 

 glance. For this reason it is advisable 

 to have the trees gone over again in the 

 spring, so as to remove any infestation 

 which has been overlooked in the fall. 

 In America the work of the larva in 

 the fall has progressed far more and is 

 much more easily discovered than is the 

 case in Europe, where the larvae have 

 attained very small proportions and 

 have attacked only one or two buds 

 before the winter resting period inter- 

 venes. 



The fact that this species is stationary 

 during^the greater part of the year, and 



