TKe Codling' MotK and How^ to Combat It 



Dr. C. J. S. BetKune, Ontario Agricultural College, CuelpK 



AT the last annual meeting of the 

 Untomological Society of Ontario, 

 held in Guelph, with Dr. I-letcher 

 as chairman, an interesting discussion 

 took place upon the Codling-worm, in 

 which a number of practical entomolo- 

 gists took part. One of the important 

 points brought out in connection with the 

 life history of the insect is the fact that 

 east and north of Toronto there is prac- 

 tically only one brood per annum, 

 while west of Toronto, throughout the 

 Niagara peninsula and the southern 

 counties of western Ontario, the insect is 

 double brooded. A different treatment 

 is therefore necessary in the two sections 

 of the province. Where there is but a 

 single brood a sufiicient remedy will be 

 found in the spring spraying with Paris 

 green, which should be done a few days 

 after the blossoms fall, and before the 

 calyx closes, and again about two weeks 

 later. As all varieties of apples do not 

 come into bloom or shed their blossoms 

 on the same day, the fruit grower should 

 be careful to note those trees that are 

 later than others and treat them at the 

 proper time. Subsequently all fallen 

 fruit should be destroyed. If these meas- 

 ures are properly carried out at least 

 75 per cent, of the crop, and possibly 

 a larger proportion, will escape injury 

 from the insect. 



About Toronto and westward the 

 fruit grower should watch his trees and 

 find out whether there are two broods 

 or not. At Guelph it is found that about 

 fifteen per cent, of the first brood com- 

 plete their transformations in the sum- 

 mer and produce a second brood. Fur- 

 ther north this proportion would be 

 smaller, but to the south it would be 

 greater and a more serious matter, in- 

 volving a different treatment. If the 

 spring spraying is properly carried out, 

 and the fallen fruit destroyed, the second 

 brood will not amount to very much, 

 but if these measures are neglected or 

 carelessly performed, the second brood 

 will be most destructive. These second 

 brood caterpillars enter the fruit any- 

 where that they can find a convenient 

 place, for instance where two apples 

 touch each other, or where there is any 

 rough spot on the skin; the tiny worm 

 seems to require some support to enable 

 it to bite its way through the skin and 

 penetrate the fruit. It will be necessary 

 to maintain a close watch and to spray 

 the trees as soon as any entrance holes 

 are to be found. No date can be speci- 

 fied as the time varies with the season 

 and the locality. 



It will not do to rely upon spraying 

 alone. The trees should also be band- 

 aged, beginning as soon as wormy fruit 

 falls from the trees. Bandages can be 

 made of burlap or sacking, or any thick 



material, and tied with twine around the 

 middle, leaving the portion above and 

 below the string somewhat loose. The 

 object of the bandage is to provide an 

 attractive shelter for the worms to 

 come to when they want to form their 

 cocoons. It is absolutely necessary to 

 take off the bandages and kill the worms 

 V^eneath them at least every 10 days, 

 otherwise the bandages become an actual 

 aid to the insect. Before beginning, all 

 loose bark should be scraped off the 

 trunk where the bandage is to be applied 

 in order to leave no hiding place for the 

 worms except the burlap. When the 

 bandage is taken off all worms and co- 

 coons should be destroyed and the band- 

 age replaced. Most of them will be 

 found in the burlap and can easily be 

 crushed, others burrow into the bark and 

 are not readily seen, but they also can 

 be quickly destroyed with a wire brush. 

 This is no doubt a troublesome and ex- 

 pensive remedy, but it will be found to 

 pay. The second brood is by far the 

 most injurious to the fruit, causing large 

 quantities to fall prematurely, and 

 rendering some of the finest apples 

 unsaleable. The benefit may not be 

 entirely reaped during the first season, 

 but it surely will during subsequent 

 years, if faithfully persevered in. 



To destroy the fallen fruit, Mr. Geo. 

 E. Fisher, of Burlington, recommended 

 turning pigs into the orchard, and 

 described their effective work. This 

 may not in all cases be practicable, but 

 it is absolutely necessary that the apples 

 should not be left lying on the ground 

 till the worm has had time to come out 

 and crawl away to some convenient 

 shelter. 



The subject of parasites was intro- 

 duced by Dr. Brodie, of Toronto, who 

 read a valuable paper on the subject, 

 and the discussion was shared in by 

 many of those present. There is evi- 

 dently no parasite in Ontario that can be 

 relied upon to keep the insect in check, 

 but efforts should be made to ascertain 

 what parasites we have and to what 

 extent they can be bred and multiplied. 

 Dr. Brodie has been studying and ex- 

 perimenting upon them for years, and 

 finds that the parasites we have are them- 

 selves kept in check by secondary 

 parasites, and are not sufficiently abund- 

 ant to effect any appreciable reduction 

 in the numbers of the codling-worm. 



Since the meeting the writer has 

 learned from Mr. E. M. Ehrhom, Deputy 

 Commissioner of Horticulture for the 

 State of California, that they have there 

 a parasite imported from Europe, which 

 they hope will materially aid in checking 

 the colding-moth. Thej' have it estab- 

 lished in orchards, but it is too soon yet 

 to tell definitely how far it is likely to 



294 



prove efficacious. Should the experi- 

 ment prove a success, every effort should 

 be made to introduce the parasite into 

 this country. 



Mulching Stra-wberries 



J. C. Black, Truro, Kova Scotia 



As soon as the ground is frozen hard, 

 strawberry plants should be covered to 

 protect them during the winter from 

 alternate thawing and freezing. This 

 may be done with any material at hand 

 or the cheapest that can be procured. 

 This may consist of straw or old hay, 

 or evergreen boughs. The latter is the 

 best for a small patch, but on a large 

 field they would be expensive to gather 

 and haul. 



Be careful not to put the material, 

 especially the straw, on too heavy. 

 Enough to cover the green is plenty. If 

 thrown down in bunches and not evenly 

 spread it will smother the plants and 

 be worse than none. There is no better 

 covering for strawberries in winter than 

 plenty of snow, but this cannot be de- 

 pended upon in our climate. 



Protection rrom Mice 



A simple but effective method of 

 protection against mice is the use of a 

 decoy. Mice prefer young wood. They 

 do not relish the bark around the base 

 of a tree, when they can get at the young 

 limbs and twigs. These they cannot 

 reach without the aid of man. It is 

 well, therefore, to feed them with young 

 bark. Prune a portion of your trees 

 in late fall or early winter. Leave the 

 branches on the ground, but in the mid- 

 dle of the space between the trees. The 

 mice will enjoy them, and leave the 

 trees alone. Try the experiment, and 

 tell The Caxadi.'vn Horticulturist 

 the result. 



There ar^ several other methods of 

 protecting o'rchard trees from the depred- 

 ations of mice. In localities where the 

 snow falls early and remains on the 

 ground all winter, the simplest preven- 

 tive is to tramp the snow firmly about 

 the base of each tree early in the winter. 

 In places where the snow is not continu- 

 ous, a mound of earth thrown around 

 the base of the tree in the fall is gener- 

 ally effective. Another method that is 

 cheap and satisfactory is to bind the 

 tree to a height of about one foot with 

 building paper or veneer before snow falls. 



f 



We try to manure our bearing trees 

 while the snow and frost is in the ground, 

 so as to keep them back in the spring. 

 It keeps them back about two weeks, 

 so the late frost does not kill the blooms. 

 I have found this practice a success. — 

 Isaac Smith, Northumberland Co., Ont. 



