58 Agricultural Journal of Victon'o. 



THE CODLIN MOTH. 



By James- Tjany. 



{A Paper read before the A nntial Meeting of the Central Fruitgrowers' 

 Association, September 1902.) 



How Many Broods in a Year ? 



During' the past two years there has been an abnoi'mal increase m 

 the numbers of the Codlin moth, from all parts of the State fi'uit- 

 growers complain of its ravages. In the Harcourt district with an 

 altitude of 1 ,300 feet, we used to have only one brood in the year ; but 

 during the ])ast two years, owing, I think, to the very dry seasons we 

 have experienced, quite a new departure, as far as this district is con- 

 cerned, has taken place in the habits of the Codlin moth. I have 

 maintained for many years past, that there was only one brood during 

 the season ; but, from my experience during the past two years, I 

 have been forced to the conclusion that there are at least two, if not 

 three broods in the year. On the 12th. December, 1901, when 

 examining the bandages on the apple trees, I found that several 

 grubs had passed into the chrysalis stage, and in the course of a few 

 days would have emerged as fully developed moths. This was the first 

 time I found the chrysalis in the bandages so early in the season. 

 During the summer the bandages were examined every week, and on 

 each examination chrysalids were found. When taking off the 

 bandages towards the end of April I found some moths flyiug about, 

 and, as the moths make their appearance during the latter part of 

 September, this shows that they were about in the orchard for a period 

 of eight months, last autumn being abnormally hot and -dry may 

 account for their ap])earance so late in the season. 



Last year I stored all the empty fruit cases that had been used in 

 the orchard during the season in the empty fruit room, and kept the 

 doors closed from the first of September, and towards the end of the 

 month I caught the first moths on the windows. During October the 

 number of moths increased every week until the first and second 

 week in November, when the greatest number of moths were caught, 

 after that they decreased until the second week in December, when no 

 more were seen. The moths generally made their appearance on the 

 window during the afternoon, from 2 o'clock to 6 o'clock p.m., very few 

 during the night or early morning. I also noticed that if the weather 

 was at all cold very few moths appeared ; while on a warm day a large 

 number used to hatch out. From these observations it will be seen 

 that the first brood of grubs took nearly three months before they were 

 all hatched out, and as the second brood began to appear during the 

 third week in December, the supply of moths was thus continuous 

 right through the summer. As the later broods do far more damage 

 to the fruit than the first, it shows the necessity of growers using all 



