848 THE FRUIT INDUSTRY ix NEW YORK STATE 



The apple worm winters in a tough, silken cocoon usually 

 located in an oval cell under the rough bark of trees. The cater- 

 pillars transform to brown, apparently lifeless pupae in late April 

 and early May, and the moths begin to emerge and continue to 

 appear throughout the greater part of June. The minute, whitish 

 eggs are deposited largely on the leaves, although under certain 

 conditions they may be found more abundant on the young fruit. 

 The eggs hatch in about a week, and consequently worms of the 

 first brood may be entering the fruit from early in June, approxi- 

 mately three weeks after the blossoms fall, until the end of the 

 month, or even later. Some of the young caterpillars gnaw a 

 small hole in the side of the fruit, excavate a circular gallery with 

 a radius of approximately one-eighth inch, and then desert this 

 cavity and make a second entrance at the blossom end. This 

 appears most likely to occur in the western part of the state 

 during late June and early July, and is there generally known as 

 "side worm" injury. The caterpillars require about four weeks 

 to complete their growth, at which time they desert the fruit, 

 wander to a sheltered place, spin a cocoon, and transform to 

 pupae. In about two weeks, namely the last of July or in August, 

 another brood of moths may appear. These in turn deposit eggs 

 that hatch in due time, and the young larvae enter the side of the 

 fruit, particularly wherever two apples touch or a leaf hangs 

 against an apple, as well as in the blossom end. 



Experiments, not only in this state but in others as well, have 

 shown that approximately three-fourths of all the wormy apples 

 are entered at the blossom end ; furthermore, that by far the best 

 results in control work are obtained by spraying with a poison 

 (three pounds of paste arsenate of lead to fifty gallons of water) 

 as soon as is practical after the dropping of the blossoms and 

 before the green calyx lobes have closed and thus made it impos- 

 sible to get poison into the calyx cup. Experiments in New York 

 State have shown that under good orchard conditions, with fair 

 and thorough commercial spraying, from 9 5 to 9 8 per cent of worm- 

 free fruit can be obtained with the above-mentioned treatment. 

 This indicates the importance of making the application at the 

 time indicated if the best results are to be secured, particularly 

 since it is also known that a second application three weeks after 



