Control of the Codling Moth. 261 



CONTROL OF THE CODLING MOTH. 



By Prof. C. W. WoodwoetHj Entomologist University of California, Berkeley. 

 Read before the Northwest Fruit Growers' Association, Portland, January, 

 1904. 



At the Spokane meeting of this Association the writer gave a brief account 

 of the results of an investigation of one of the lesser known fruit pests, the 

 peach worm, which was undertaken by the Experiment Station of the University 

 of Califoi'nia in co-operation with the peach growers of Placer County, California. 

 Today we will review some of the results of another co-operative effort — this 

 time against the best known and most dreaded fruit pest, the codling moth, in 

 which the apple growers of the Pa.iaro Valley have participated. 



The plan of the co-operative work in entomology has proven so satisfac- 

 tory from every point of view that it has come to be the regular policy of the 

 California Experiment Station. When we receive requests for assistance in 

 lighting insects, if the ordinary remedies have not proved satisfactory, we must 

 believe that there is a lack of knowledge somewhere that must be supplied 

 before the insect will be controlled. Where the losses are great enough to 

 ju.stify an investigation we reply that if the grower or community considers 

 the matter of sufficient importance to make them willing to co-operate with us, 

 we will place a man in the field and endeavor to ascertain the facts necessary 

 for a mastery of the insect. 



The usual arrangement is for the University to pay the salary, traveling 

 and publication expenses, and to furnish microscopes and other scientific ap- 

 paratus necessary for the work, while the locality provide the entertainment and 

 local expenses of the investigator, including a laboratory, conveyance and the 

 use of orchards, spraying outfits, labor, etc. 



Many problems are comparatively easy of solution and do not require ex- 

 penditure of time or money, but others, like that of the codling moth, in our 

 Southern localities present difficulties that are not so easily handled. 



The past season's work has involved the expenditure of about .$.3,000. con- 

 tributed by the people of Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, not including the 

 use of hundreds of acres of apple orchards and the cost of the spraying opera- 

 tions therein. A great deal has been accomplished this season and the work 

 will be continued for another year. 



It will be impossible to present in a brief paper like this the detailed 

 results of this work. They will be given in a series of bulletins soon to be 

 published by the California Experiment Station and can be obtained by fruit- 

 growers upon application. A preliminary account of the work has already been 

 presented at lue Fresno meeting at the California State Fruit Growers' Con- 

 vention. A copy of the proceedings of this convention can doubtless be had by 

 applying to the State Commissioner of Horticulture at Sacramento. 



The Pajaro Valley, as you are all aware, is by far the most important apple 

 growing section of the State of California and furnishes the ideal location for 

 «uch delicate varieties as the Newtown Pippin and the Bellefleur, which two 

 varieties constitute about three-fourths of the acreage of that region. The 

 valley proper is a small triangular, wonderfully fertile, alluvial plain at the 

 foot of the Santa Cruz mountains, somewhat protected from the sea by a low 

 range of sand nil Is, and lying at the point where the air drainage into the San 

 Joaquin Valley, by way of the Pacheco Pass, profoundly modifies the local 

 climate. Next to the break in the Coast range at the Golden Gate this is the 



