20 FRUIT INSECTS 



a tight roof over the cavity and prevent the rain from washing 

 away the poison. To be most effective this first spray should 

 be appHed as soon as possible after the larger part of the petals 

 have fallen. Great care should be taken to hit each apple, the 

 spray should be directed downward directly into the blossom 

 end of the fruit and sufficient power should })e used to give a 

 strong spray. In commercial orchards the best results are 

 obtained where a good power sj^rayer is used and where the 

 nozzle, on the end of a light extension rod, is handled by a man 

 standing on an elevated platform or tower. In the Eastern 

 states a fine, mist-like spray is most commonly used, but in 

 the Far West remarkable results have been obtained by the 

 use of a coarse driving spray, such as is produced by the Bor- 

 deaux nozzle. 



Not all the larvae are killed in the calyx cavity, for quite a 

 number always enter the fruit at some other point. A large 

 part of these are killed by the poison on the leaves where many 

 of them feed slightly before reaching the fruit, while others are 

 doubtless destroyed by the poison adhering to the surface of 

 the apple, although the number killed in this way is not large. 



This first spraying immediately after the petals fall is the most 

 important operation in the fight against the codlin-moth, and 

 no pains should be spared to make it as effective as possible. 

 Not only does it control the injury by the first brood larvae, but 

 it also prevents in large measure the losses occasioned by the 

 later broods. In the Far West, where two full broods develop, 

 some remarkable results have been obtained from this spraying 

 alone when the application was made with great thoroughness, 

 using a coarse driving spray and suflficient pressure to place 

 the poison deep in the calyx cavity. In some cases as high as 

 95 or 99 per cent of the crop has been protected in this way 

 without the necessity for any later spraying. Attempts to 

 control the codlin-moth in the East by the one-spray method 

 have not as yet shown it to be superior to the more common 



