REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 239 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



October 10. — It is only my old orcliard, which has been replanted at different 

 times, that is badly affected. I have pigs there eating up the fallen fruit. I do not 

 notice the maggots affecting any other variety than Fameuse, and in that orchard 

 there are St. Lawrence, Mcintosh Red, Scott's Winter, and other varieties. I noticed 

 this injury last year for the first time, when the Shiawassee Beauty was affected. At 

 that time I thought it was a fungus affecting the inside of the apple. 



' October 20. — I am glad it was right to put pigs in the orchard ; and, as they do 

 not eat up the apples fast enough, I have given instructions that a herd of cows should 

 be put in every day to make sure that all the fallen apples are done away with.' — R. W. 



SHEPnERD. 



' Como, Que., October 25. — I thank you very much for your annual report. I am 

 glad to have it, and hope to profit by your suggestions. Last year was the first time 

 we noticed the Apple Maggot in our fruit; but it has increased a good deal this year. 

 The Mcintosh Red does not seem to have been troubled like the Fameuse, but Rus.« 

 sets have.' — M. L. Gibb. 



In addition to the above occurrence, apples from St. Hilaire, another celebrated 

 locality for the production of first-class Fameuse apples, showed slight infestation. 

 Como is thirty miles west of Montreal, and St- Hilaire twenty-three miles east. 



Early and subacid varieties of apples seem to be preferred ; but all varieties are 

 said to be liable to attack, including late and winter varieties. When the late varieties 

 are infested, the maggots do not emerge until some time during the winter after the 

 fruit has been stored, the larvae emerging and the pupse forming inside the barrels or 

 bins. The destruction of these pupae and of all fruit when it falls to the ground dur- 

 ing the summer and autumn constitutes the most reliable remedy for this injurious 

 insect. The fallen fruit may be collected by children and fed to stock; or sheep and 

 swine may be turned into the orchard from about the middle of July. Poultry will 

 destroy many of the maggots and puparia beneath the trees. Late autumn ploughing 

 will throw up many of the puparia to the surface of the soil, where they will be des- 

 troyed by birds, &c. Although the Apple Maggot has never done very much harm in 

 Canada, the losses in Vermont, Maine and parts of New York State are sometimes 

 extensive, occasionally amounting to 50 per cent of the fruit ; and, as the injury does 

 not show much on the outside, the uncertainty as to whether fruit is attacked or not 

 renders it useless for sale. It may be well to point out here that, as the egg is in- 

 serted beneath the skin of the apple by the female fly, spraying with arsenical mix- 

 tures is quite useless as a remedy for this insect. 



Codling Moth (Carpocapsa pomonella, L.). — One of the striking characteristics 

 cl the season of 1904: is the absence of injury by the Codling Moth, and this seems to 

 be the case in all the fruit-growing districts of the country, I fear that this state of 

 affairs may have an injurious effect by inducing many to give up spraying their or- 

 chards for the control of this pest. The absence of the Black Spot disease of the 

 apple in 1903 had just this result during the past season. In some orchards which 

 were free from disease in 1903, no spraying was done this year, and, as a consequence, 

 what might have been beautiful crops have been ruined. Fungous diseases, although 

 not caused by climatic conditions, are checked or developed enormously in accordance 

 with favourable weather conditions or the reverse. Tlie fruit-grower w'ho is a good 

 business man, has learnt before this that there is no longer any question as to whether 

 spraying pays or not That it does, is manifest every year by the predominant excel- 

 lence of the fruit from all orchards which are sprayed, both as to insect presence and 

 as to injury by fungous diseases. Mr. R. W. Shepherd, of Como, Que., and other buyers 

 of the very best apples for the European market, assure me that, when purchasing the 

 high quality fruit they require for that purpose, they cannot afford t-o waste time even 

 in looking at orchards which have not been sprayed. 



Although the Codling Moth was less destructive than usual this year, the presence 

 of the eggs on apples and of the larvae in fruit could be detected if closely looked for. 



