130 AGRICULTURE FOR BEGINNERS 



crop. In the state of New York this insect causes an 

 annual loss of about three million dollars. The effect on 

 the fruit is readily seen in Fig. 122. The moth lays the egg 

 on the young apple just after the fall of the blossom. She 

 flies from apple to apple, depositing an egg each time until 

 from fifty to three hundred eggs are deposited. The larva, 

 or " worm," soon hatches and eats its way into the apple. 

 The affected apples ripen too soon and drop as " wind- 

 falls." The larva then emerges from the apple, moves 

 generally to a tree, crawls up the trunk, and spins its 

 cocoon under a ridge in the bark. From the cocoon the 

 moth comes ready to start a new generation. The last 

 generation of the season spends the winter in the cocoon. 



Treatment. Destroy orchard trash which may serve as 

 winter quarters. Spray the tree with Paris green as soon 

 as the flowers fall. Trap the worms by cloth bands 

 wrapped about the tree trunk about four weeks after the 

 blossoms fall. The following is a practical way of trap- 

 ping. Make four-inch bands of cotton flannel, burlap, or 

 heavy paper, and fasten them closely around the trunk 

 (Fig. 123). Since the moth nearly always climbs the tree 

 in search of a place to spin its cocoon, and stops under the 

 first shelter, this band will catch most of them. Collect 

 and destroy the larvae or cocoons that you secure once 

 every six days. As many as one hundred and ten larvae 

 have been thus caught on one tree in one week. If these 

 had all emerged as moths, how many apples could they 

 have destroyed? 



It is best to use the Bordeaux-Paris-green mixture for a 

 spray. This prevents fungi and insects by one spraying 

 (see Appendix). 



