216 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



FRUIT CROPS. 



7-8 EDWARD VII., A. 1908 



The fruit crops of the Dominion were very irregular, variable both in quality and 

 in quantity according to the local conditions which prevailed. The apple crop was the 

 one most affected by injurious insects. This important crop in the Maritime Provinces 

 was poorer than usual. Father Burke speaks of the Codling Moth as very abundant in 

 Prince Edward Island. In Western Ontario the ravages of the Codling Moth were 

 extremely severe, and probably owing to the short plum crop the Plum Curculio did 

 more harm to apples than in any year of which we have statistics. Plums were very 

 short in quantity everywhere, except in British Columbia, owing to inclement weather 

 which affected the buds and blossoms. In Ontario, sweet cherries were much reduced 

 by the winter-killing of the buds and by the falling of the fruit after setting. Sour 

 cherries gave an excellent crop in Ontario, quite free from insect injury. Small 

 fruits were abundant in all provinces with the exception of strawberries, which were 

 very much v,-inter-killcd in Ontario and Quebec, owing to the lack of snow and the 

 mild changeable winter with one or two snaps of intense cold. 



The Codling MoTii, Carpocapsa pomonella, L. — Mr. George E. Fisher, of Free- 

 man, Ont., writes : ' The remarkable increase of the San Jose Scale and Fall Web- 

 worm and the unprecedented injury by the Codling Worm upon the apple crop v.ere 

 the most conspicuous features of the past season.' And Mr. A. MclSTeill, in his Sep- 

 tember, 1906, Fruit Crop Eeport, writes : ' The marked feature of insects for this 

 month is the pronounced appearance of the work of the Codling Moth. No doubt the 

 crop of this year v/ill be more affected by Codling Moth than any of the last four or 

 five years. The Fall Webworm is the only other insect of which serious complaint 

 is now made.' Mr. Fisher also, in his report as Director of the Entomological Society 

 of Ontario, for the Hamilton district, states : ' There is no insect so v* idely distri- 

 buted and so destructive to the fi'uit crop of the country as the Codling Moth, which 

 causes the loss of many thousands of dollars annually. 1906 was pre-eminently a Cod- 

 ling Moth year, the worst on record. In many apple orchards one-half of the crop was 

 wormy, and in some the proportion of injury was even greater. How to lessen the 

 ravages of the Codling Worm is an intricate problem for apple and pear growers, who 

 resort to various means. The most popular remedies are spraying with arsenites, 

 bandaging, and keeping hogs and sheep in the orchard. Spraying will reduce the first 

 brood. Bandages should be applied early in July after the rough bark has been scraped 

 from the trunk and large limbs. If at intervals of ten days these bandages be removed 

 and. after the worms have been destroyed, the bands are put back on the trees, con- 

 tinuing the work throughout the season until the crop is harvested, the evil will be 

 materially lessened.' 



Remedies. — Great stress has been laid in the past on the importance of spraying 

 apple orchards while the calyx remains open and before the fruit turns down owing 

 to its increasing weight. I think that possibly this feature of the case has been some- 

 what overdrawn. It is true that a large proportion of the young larvae gain access to 

 the apple through the calyx end ; but the eggs are laid mostly on the sides of the apple 

 and also in large numbers on the foliage. The young larva;, on hatching, feed on the 

 foliage to some extent, as was observed by the late Mr. Simpson of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, who pu.blished a very complete treatise on his experiments 

 with the Codling Moth. If spraying has not been done before the apples turn down, 

 there is still ample time to do much good for some time afterwards, as the calyx 

 lobes do not close sufllciently to exclude the young larvae for some time after that. I 

 have found freshly laid eggs on crab apples that were half an inch in diameter, and 

 good results followed from spraying the orchard in which they were growing, even at 

 that time. The remedies for the Codling Moth must be devised in accordance with its 

 life history. Those founded on our Ottawa observations and experiments, are given 

 below and, where applied regularly year after year, have given perfectly satisfactory 

 results. As in Canada east of a point about Toronto there is only one regular annual 



