December, 191 1 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



279 



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through the flesh of the apple. It may 

 wander near the skin and work just be- 

 neath the cuticle, giving rise to tihose 

 external grooves so commonly seen on 

 infested Spy apples. It is very interest- 

 ing to know that the rate of growth of 

 the larva keeps pace with the maturing 

 of tftie fruit. When the maggot is full 

 grown, the apple is almost invariably 

 in an over-ripe to a rotten condition, 

 and is usually, of course, on the ground. 

 The full grown larva leaves its apple 

 abode and works its way into the soil 

 to a depth ranging from one-half to two 

 inches, and pupates there. A few larva; 

 may go deeper than this and others may 

 pupate immediately beneath the decay- 

 ing fruit. The insect then remains at 

 this stage in the soil over winter, and 

 emerges as a fly the following summer. 



SPREAD 



The sluggish nature and stay-at-home 

 tendencies of the fly make it a very poor 

 immigrant — it spreads very slowly on its 

 own initiative. It may confine its attack 

 to a single tree in an orchard for a few 

 venrs before spreading to the neighbor- 

 ing trees. As to how the insect has ex- 

 tended its range in Ontario, I can only 

 offer theories. A considerable amount 

 of Apple Maggot infested fruit is bar- 

 relled and shipped every year. Maggots 

 emerging from such fruit naturally pu- 

 pate in the barrels r>nd so most probably 

 the pest has been disseminated to a very 

 arge extent as pupae in barrels. 



Housewives may be held responsible 

 for the introduction of the Railroad 

 Worm in some orchards in the follow- 

 ing way: Infested apples are bougtht at 

 tihe market, taken home, many of them 

 on account of their "woody" nature 

 prove to be worthless and are thrown 

 into the back yard and there they b ■- 

 come a source of infection to the trees 

 in the neighborhood. Strong winds may 

 be instrumental in the spread of this 

 est, but I can only base this belief on 

 urely circumstantial evid.ence, wihich I 

 ave not time to give now. 



METHODS OF CONTROL 



The most reliable remedial measure is 

 the gathering and destroying of the 

 fallen fruit. This does not mean that 

 drops ha\e to be picked up every day . 

 If the summer apples are picked up 

 twice every week, the fall apples every 

 week, and the later varieties once every 

 two or three weeks an infested orchard 

 will be freed from this pest. 1 ha'vc 

 found that a very higth percentage <f the 

 larva- in early anples mature and leave 

 the fruit, and also that an exceedingly 

 high percentage of them in the winter 

 varieties perish in the fruit, so my ad- 

 vice to ail who are troubled with this 

 pest is to attend very carefully to the de- 

 struction of summer and fall "drops." 

 In the eastern counties this work need 





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Lambton's Great Exhibit at the Ontario Horticultural Exhibition 



The fruit growers of Lambton County, Ontario, proved their claim that Lambton is one of 

 the best fruit growing counties in the province by the display of fruit they made last month at the 

 Horticultural Exhibition in Toronto. The fruit, which was of excellent quality, was arranged to 

 show the map of the county. The exhibit attracted general attention, and was highly praised by 

 all who saw it. It contained 350 boxes of fruit. 



not be commenced until about the second and convert it into a poultry run. 

 last week of July. Shallow cultivation has often been re- 

 This control work can, of course, be commended as a remedial measure. It 

 done by keeping ihogs, sheep or other was given a trial this year, but did not 

 stock in the orchard, but now, when , yield very satisfactory results. How- 

 evaporators are paying as much as forty ever, I shall give it another trial before 

 to sixty cents per hundred for "drops," I lo.se faith in it altogether. 



even fallen apples are too valuable to be 

 given to stock — pick them up and take 

 them to the evaporator. In this connec- 

 tion I might say that I believe that the 

 owners of evaporators are unconsciously 

 doing a magnificent work in the control 



SPRAYING 



A certain investigator in the United 

 States puts forward the claim that he 

 has had splendid success in controlling 

 this pest with a sweetened poisonous 

 spray mixture ; Ihowever, I do not want 



of Shis pest. Fruit growers are finding t,, advocate spraying until it has been 



thoroughly tested. The department 

 hopes to try several spray mixtures next 

 year, and its success or failure in this 

 connection will be found in the Railroad 

 Worm Bulletin which Mr. Caesar hopes 



that the trade in ".drops" and "culls" 

 is sufficiently remunerative to mere than 

 pay for the time and labor expended in 

 picking up apples. The result is that 

 thousands of infested apples, which 



othcrwi.se would have propagated and to publish next season 

 spread the trouble are being destroyed 

 every year. I have on different occa- 

 sions gone into evaporators in Durham 

 and Hastings coimties and have found 

 "railroad" apples. 



USE OP POULTRY 



Chickens are remarkably fond of Rail- 

 road Worm pupa'. In the ca.se of a 

 small infested orchard, it would be an 

 excellent plan to cultivate the orchard 



In regard to the varieties attacked 

 and their degree of infestation, I would 

 say that Harvests, Tolman Sweet, Sep- 

 tember, .Snows and Spies are probably 

 the worst attacked in Ontario. I have 

 listed over thirty varieties wlhich I have 

 found pest-ridden, and I am inclined to 

 (hink that no variety is exempt from at- 

 tack. Any insect that would feed on 

 Hen Davis, as this one does, is liable to 



