The Codling-Moth. 119 



in June. V^c found the first eggs in the orchard on May 28 in 1896, and 

 recently-laid eggs, evidently of the first brood, were seen as late as 

 June 27. 



Compared with the I'/osso/ninj^ period of apples. — The dale of the 

 opening of ap[)le-bloss()ms varies considerably in the same localities in 

 diflert^nt years, depending upon the earliness or lateness of the opening 

 of spring. 



At Ithaca in 1S96, tlic petals had fallen from most varieties by May 10, 

 and by May 28 the fruit was as large as shown at a and h in figure 131. 

 In 1897, however, early varieties of apples were not in full bloom until 

 May J. I, and the petals had not fallen from the later varieties until May 20. 

 In the same locality in 1892, Lodeman found that the petals wore not off 

 until June 6 ; in 1893, he found that the first blossoms opened on May 19, 

 and a few blossoms remained on June 8. In 1892 the blossoms were off 

 by May 20 in Pennsylvania. It is recorded that at Benzonia, Mich., the 

 season was so late in 1888 that there were no appie blossoms for Decoration 

 Day, May 30 ; while the same year in California, the apples were in 

 bloom March 17. In 1889, the petals had fallen in Iowa by May 15, and 

 in 1891, Munson records that the last blossoms were falling in Maine on 

 June II. In New Hampshire, th2 blossoms had fallen by June 9 in 

 1894. In 1897, Card reports that the season was later than usual in 

 Nebraska and the petals fell about May 8. In 1888, a calendar was kept 

 of tii.c date of blooming of different varieties of apples in Kansas (First 

 Rept. Kan. Expt. Station) ; the calendar shows less than a week's dif- 

 ference in time of blooming of the earliest and latest varieties, most of 

 them being in full bloom about April 21. 



The above evidence in regard to the blossoming time of apples as 

 compared with the dates of the emergence of the codling-moths, indi- 

 cates that the moths may begin to emerge about the time the apple-trees 

 are in bloom. But our breeding experiments and what little definite 

 evidence ihtre is on this point, indicate that the majority r>f the moths 

 do not emerge until several days after the petals have fallen. Then 

 allowing a few days for the preparation for oviposition, we should not 

 expect, and, in fact, do not find eggs until a week or more after the 

 petals drop. Another week must elapse before the eggs hatch, so that 

 theoretically, we should find but few worms until after the blossoms 

 have been off for two weeks or m- re on most \aiieties ; and this agrees 

 with our observations and with the definite evidence recorded by 

 Atkins, Gillette, Washburn and Card. There is no definite evidence 



