472 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 3 



Besides the smaller experiments many tons each of such good 

 commercial brands of arsenate of lead as Swift's, Lavenburg's and 

 Sherwin-Williams' have been tried in the Valley and in each case 

 with disastrous results. 



Not only does the control of the codling moth require a special 

 kind of lead arsenate, but the spraying program presents striking 

 peculiarities. 



At this time when such good results are reported as coming from 

 a return to the old idea of a single thorough blossom-cup spraying, 

 and some entomologists are contending that all later sprayings should 

 be ehminated, it may come as a surprise to some that the Watson- 

 ville spraying program, which, in the hands of our best orchardists 

 gives as good results as are obtained anywhere, absolutely ignores 

 the blossom-cup work. 



A small portion of the valley is naturally immune. The portion 

 between Watsonville and the sea is affected so early by the cold ocean 

 winds that the moth rarely flies. At Watsonville often for a month 

 at a time no insects of any kind are seen about electric lights. These 

 cold winds make the Pajaro Valley produce winter apples along the 

 seashore side by side with oranges, grape-fruit and lemons. While 

 in most of the valley the codling moth flies often enough to lay its 

 full quota of eggs, still its life history and the growth of the tree are 

 profoundly modified. Thus the blossoming period extends over 

 such a long period that the first fruit set usually are advanced so far 

 as to render the poisoning of the cup impossible before half of the buds 

 are open. At least three sprayings would be necessary if one wanted 

 to fill all the blossom cups. Likewise the moth is very irregular in 

 appearing in the spring, the emergence of overwintering individu- 

 als requiring three months from the first to the last, — more than enough 

 time for a full generation of the more precocious to develop. 



The delayed appearance of the moths in the spring results in the 

 great majority of individuals attacking the fruit after it is already 

 well advanced, and a very small per cent of the entrances are in the 

 blossom cup. No real blossom-cup spraying has ever been done in 

 the Pajaro Valley except in our experiments and they showed no 

 results sufficient to justify the recommendation of the method. 



The spraying program usually begins with an application about 

 the time the last blossoms appear. This is usually long after the 

 calyx lobes of all the fruit that will set have closed. This spray 

 may be followed by one or two appHcations at intervals of a month 

 or six weeks, the number varying with the season and the portion of 

 the valley. 



These sprayings simply reduce the number of worms that may 

 attack the crop later. The first generation of worms are not con- 



