THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



be "only adapted for laying eggs on the 

 surface," it being of such a shape that it 

 could neither pierce the calyx lobes nor 

 be inserted in any way into the covered 

 basin. He learned that in fact the eggs 

 are laid " on the smooth surface of the 

 fruit without much choice as to location," 

 that they " may be glued anywhere it 

 happens to the surface of the fruit, to 

 the stem, or even on the adjacent 

 leaves," and says that though he has 

 " seen hundreds of the eggs during the 

 past two years on apples," he had " never 

 yet seen one on or doivn in between the 

 calyx lobes." 



Notwithstanding these facts theworms, 

 to the extent of seventy-five per cent, or 

 more, were found to enter the apples at 

 the blossom end. They began to 

 appear about a fortnight after the trees 

 are out of bloom, and having found their 

 way into the blossom end " spend several 

 days feeding around in the calyx cavity," 

 reaching "the core in about a week." 

 The worm is "from twenty to thirty 

 days of its life feeding inside the fruit," 

 and when nearly full grown " proceeds 

 to eat a passage way, usually by the 

 shortest route, toward the exterior." 



We have therefore learned, thanks to 

 Mr. Slingerland, First, that though the 

 mother moths do not lay their eggs in 

 the basin of the blossom end as was 

 supposed, yet the tiny worms, not longer 

 than the sixteenth of an inch, to the ex- 

 tent of not less than three fourths of 

 them enter the apple by way of the calyx 

 basin, where they tarry for several days 

 " feeding around." 



Second, that in about eight days after 

 the petals fall, the calyx segments are so 

 closed over the basin that it is very 

 difficult or quite impossible to place in 

 the basin a poison that the worm might 

 swallow with its food ; a fact that accen- 

 tuates the necessity of the poison being 

 put there within the few days that elapse 



between the fall of the petals and closing 

 of the calyx segments. 



Third, that somewhere about a fourth 

 of the worms get into the apples by 

 some other way than through the blos- 

 som end. Whether any considerable 

 eating of the parenchyma of the leaves 

 is done by the worms that are hatched 

 from the eggs laid on them, has not yet 

 been ascertained. If they do feed on 

 the leaves for a time, we might be able 

 to poison the most of them. Be that 

 as it may, there will be a number for us 

 to kill that we have not been able to 

 poison. If the fruit grower is prompt 

 and thorough he may, by spraying 

 immediately after the fall of the petals, 

 and again before the calyx lobes have 

 closed so much as to exclude the spray, 

 deposit in the basin sufficient poison to 

 make it very probable that the worms in 

 feeding there will eat enough to kill 

 them. The best poison is pure Paris- 

 green ; London-purple is both cheaper 

 and lighter, but its strength as a poison 

 cannot be relied upon. One pound of 

 Paris-green in two hundred gallons of 

 water, which is a quarter of a pound in 

 a fifty gallon barrel, is the quantity to 

 be used, first making it into a thin 

 paste with a small quantity of water, 

 and as it is slowly poured into the bar- 

 rel having the water constantly stirred 

 so that the poison may be evenly distri- 

 buted. If added to a barrel of Bordeaux 

 mixture it can be used immediately, 

 otherwise it will be necessary to stir in 

 half a pound of freshly slaked lime. In 

 order to make sure of having the calyx 

 basins all well supplied with the Paris- 

 green it will be necessary to spray twice, 

 once as soon as the petals are fallen, 

 again just before the calyx segments 

 interfere with the spray getting into the 

 basin. The almanac is no guide in this 

 matter, but the time must be ascertained 

 each season by watchful observation of 

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