The More Important Apple Insects. 7 
applications against the first brood should be made so as to provide a fresh 
covering of poison during the period when these worms are attacking the fruit 
in large numbers. It is highly important to spray thoroughly against the first- 
brood worms so as to reduce their number to a minimum, since this brood is 
the sole progenitor of the later generations. 
The second-brood worms begin to hatch about 8 to 10 weeks after the petals 
have dropped. In some of the Northern States there may be so few of these sis 
to render it unnecessary to make a special application for them. In most fruit 
districts, however, it is essential to spray at this time, and in heavily infested 
regions an additional application for the second brood should be made in time 
to have the fruit covered with poison when the worms are hatching in maximum 
numbers. Additional spray applications will usually be necessary where there 
are three and four generations, but care should be taken that spraying is not 
done too close to the harvest season, so as to avoid the presence of spray residue 
on the marketed fruit. ‘ 
Arsenate of lead at the rate of 1 pound of the powder or 2 pounds of the 
paste to 50 gallons of water or fungicide is recommended for the control of the 
codling moth. The powdered form is preferable to the paste. since it is more 
convenient to use and can be kept more easily from one season to another without 
deterioration. It is usually desirable in commercial practice to combine arsenate 
of lead with a fungicide such as dilute lime-sulphur or Bordeaux mixture, and 
often with a contact insecticide, like nicotine sulphate, for the simultaneous 
treatment of chewing and sucking insects and the prevention of the common 
fungous diseases. (See spray schedules, pp. 86 and 90.) 
A power sprayer having sufficient capacity and pressure is essential for com- 
mercial orchards. This should be equipped with well-made hose and couplings. 
and if the trees are large should be provided preterably with a spray tower 
(fig. 178), so that the higher parts of the trees may be treated thoroughly. 
In badly infested regions spraying is sometimes supplemented with the so- 
ealled “ banding method,” which consists in placing around the tree trunk a bur- 
lap band under which many of the worms will collect after they leave the 
fruit. These bands should be examined at regular intervals and the insects 
found beneath destroyed. The orchardist should bear in mind that many of 
the worms beneath the bands soon become moths and that unless they are de- 
stroyed before they reach this stage the moths will escape and deposit more 
eggs, 
During the harvest, many worms leave the fruit while it is being handled in 
the packing house. These worms spin up for the winter in field boxes and other 
containers and in cracks and crevices of the packing house. By early summer 
they will have become moths which, if not confined, will fly to the orchard and 
deposit eggs. If feasible, the escape of the moths should be prevented by 
screening the windows and closing up any other possible exit. 
PLUM CURCULIO.’ 
The plum curculio probably ranks in importance next to the codling moth 
as an apple pest and is responsible for much of the misshapen and gnarly 
fruit (fig. 6) that is commonly found in orchards. It is a native species and 
feeds upon plums, haws, etc. While the plum curculio attacks the apple and 
other pome fruits, it is especially injurious to the stone fruits, and in addition 
to these is also reported from other hosts. It is widely distributed in the 
States east of the Rocky Mountains, but is not known to occur farther west. 
2 Conotrachelus nenuphar Herbst. 
