38 



its companion, the first tree bearing, all told, 1,706 apples and the 

 second 1,825. The effect upon the codling moth of treatment with 

 lime was, consequently, absolutely nothing. 



With respect to the curculios, however, the case was slightly 

 different, the lime having apparently some perceptible effect on the 

 numbers of these insects. Almost exactly one third more apples 

 had been damaged by the curculios on the trees not treated than 

 on those sprayed with lime water, — the ratios being respectively 

 '29.6 and 38.8 per cent, for the picked apples, and 31 and 40.6 per 

 cent, for all the apples of the season taken together. By a very 

 remarkable coincidence, the two ratios representing all descriptions 

 of injury to the fruit of these two trees were precisely alike, — 72.6 

 per cent, for each. As the final result of this experiment, we must 

 conclude that time spent in treating the apple orchard with lime 

 for the codling moth would be wholly thrown away. So much for 

 the first tree. 



When I came, however, to tabulate and inspect the record of the 

 second, I was astonished and puzzled by a totally different exhibit 

 of results. Of the ripened fruit of this second tree sprayed with 

 lime water, only 4.5 per cent, was wormy, while of the check selected 

 for comparison, 71 per cent, had been affected by the codling moth, — 

 an enormous and surprising difference. Taking together the fallen 

 fruit and that harvested at the end of the season, the ratios for the 

 lime-water tree and its mate were, respectively, 25.5 and 67.5 per 

 cent., — facts which seemed altogether iireconcilable with the conclu- 

 sions drawn from the preceding table. A closer inspection of the 

 history of this experiment brought out, however, some interesting 

 points, which not only serve to explain this discrepancy, but also 

 give us some unexpected information upon a sabject not taken into 

 account in planning these experiments. Owing to the limited num- 

 ber of trees from which the selection was made, it was impossible 

 to find a proper mate for the tree last treated with lime, the check 

 used being of a different variety and containing only a small num- 

 ber of apples, while the tree treated was much the most heavily 

 loaded of any covered by these experiments. From the latter 3,555 

 apples were taken ; from the former only 820, the lime-water tree thus 

 bearing more than four times as many as its fellow. A great quan- 

 tity of these limed apples, 2,869 in number, fell during the summer, 

 leaving only 686 apples (about two bushels) upon the tree at the end 

 of August, and nearly half of these fallen apples were dropped without 

 apparent injury. Clearly, the other tree, starting with so small a 

 number of apples and dropping only a little more than half of them, 

 was totally unfit for a check upon this. Now, besides the differences 

 between these two trees with respect to the lime-water treatment 

 and the number of apples borne by each, the only other perceptible 

 difference was in the variety of apple. Both were early apples and 

 of similar texture, l)ut evidently not of the same kind. It is not 

 supposable that a mere difference in variety, not involving a difference 

 in season or important difference in quality of fruit, could have any 

 influence on injuries l)y the codling mo'h; neither have any obser- 

 vations to this effect been made by either entomologists or fruit 

 growers, so far as I am aware, all varieties of similar quality being 

 equally subject to injury by this insect. (Taschenberg reports, how- 



