462 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



efficient aids in controlling the codling moth. Of the work of birds 

 the author says : 



"In our experience it was almost impossible to find anything but empty cocoons 

 on any part of the tree in the spring except on the trunk at the surface of the gF-mml 

 and for a distance of from six inches to a. foot above. One finds such an astonish- 

 ingly large number of empty cocoons that it would seem as though the birds must 

 get the larger percentage of the worms which go into hibernation in the fall. 

 Among the birds which thus include the apple worm in their menu arc the downy 

 woodpecker, nuthatch, black-capped titmouse, bluebird, crow blackbird, kingbird, 

 swallows, sparrows, wrens, chickadees, and jays. It is probable that most of the 

 birds which winter in any locality include the apple worm in their dietary." 



A recent suggestion to import a bird which in Germany is an enemy 

 of the codling moth is discouraged, the results of the importation of 

 the English sparrow being cited as a warning. The author expresses 

 the opinion that the larval stage is the most vulnerable of all the stages 

 of the insect's life. The pupa stage is very short. The moths can not 

 be entrapped by lights, and it is doubtful if the egg can be destroyed by 

 any means which can be ordinarily employed. As to the ways of com- 

 bating the larva 1 the author discusses jarring and picking infested 

 fruit from the trees, the destruction of windfalls, trapping worms on 

 tree trunks by banding, and spraying. Windfalls must be destroyed 

 promptly since the larvae have been shown to leave the fruit soon after 

 it falls. Bands must be examined every 10 days from June until the 

 latter part of August. After that it will not be necessary to disturb 

 the bands again until late in the fall. The cost of this method of treat- 

 ment during the season is considered to be about 4 cts. per tree. To 

 show the reason for spraying soon after the blossoms fall, young apples 

 and pears are figured. It is suggested that the greater success com- 

 monly observed in spraying apples than in spraying pears may be due 

 to the fact that in the former the calyx lobes close up and hold any 

 poison the calyx cup contains, while in the latter the lobes remain open 

 and allow the poison to be washed away. 



By way of summary the author says: 



" Briefly stated, no panacea for the codling moth has yet been found, but by 

 thorough work by a Paris-green spray, we can often save at least 75 per cent of the 

 apples that would otherwise be ruined by the worms. Where more than 2 broods of 

 the insect occur during the season, as in Kansas, Nebraska, Oregon, New Mexico, 

 and neighboring localities in the West and in the South, the poison spray is not so 

 effective, for although 75 percent of the first brood of worms may be killed with the 

 spray, the few worms left will forma sufficient nucleus for a large and very destruc- 

 tive second or third brood ; in these localities the best that can be advised at present 

 is to supplement the poison spray with the old banding system. 



"To use the poison spray the most effectually, one must understand that it is 

 necessary to fill the blossom end of each apple with poison within a week after the 

 blossoms fall, for this is where the little apple worm gets its first few meals, and it is 

 practically our only chance to kill it with a spray. Watch the developing fruit after 

 the petals fall and be sure to apply the poison before the calyx lobes close, for while 

 the falling of the blossoms is the signal to begin spraying, the closing of these calyx 

 lobes a week or two later is the signal to stop spraying. 



