IO8 THE AMERICAN APPLE ORCHARD 



This insect is peculiarly difficult to fight. It cannot 

 be poisoned, as it does not eat any of the external por- 

 tions of the tree or fruit at any time during its exist- 

 ence. There has been found no effective method of 

 keeping the fly from laying her eggs in the fruit. 

 About the only practical method of checking the work 

 of this insect is to clean up and destroy very thor- 

 oughly all windfalls, dropped fruit and seconds of 

 every sort. Nothing is so effective for this purpose as 

 a flock of sheep or a herd of swine. The difficulties 

 and advantages of fighting insects by these means has 

 been discussed in the paragraph on codling moth. 



The Curculio, which really should confine its atten- 

 tion to the stone fruits, frequently attacks the apple. 

 At such times the damage is likely to be serious. The 

 young fruits are punctured on the sides, and though 

 the larvae or small worms seldom hatch and work into 

 the apple, the fruit grows one-sided or warty from 

 the effects of these punctures. This injury seems to 

 be especially common in the states of the Mississippi 

 Valley, though the writer has seen serious cases of it 

 in New England and Quebec. 



The insect usually responsible for this work is the 

 ordinary plum curculio; though there is another spe- 

 cies which is sometimes called 'the apple or quince cur- 

 culio, which also does considerable damage at times. 



Any of the curculio working on apples may be prac- 

 tically kept at bay by proper application of arsenical 

 poisons. Paris green, arsenate of lead or disparene, 

 used as recommended for general orchard practice, will 

 almost completely prevent the injury. 



Oyster Shell Bark Louse The little animal which 

 commonly receives this name is one of the scale in- 

 sects, and one of the most common and destructive of 



