CODLING MOTH 147 



The scales will continue to breed on the unsprayed areas and 

 will soon reinfest the whole tree. 



Perhaps a little experience may be worth relating here, as it 

 serves to show just where a grower is likely to get into trouble. 

 It was in spraying for scale on some old apple trees at the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College. These trees had been used 

 for years for testing new, and for the most part worthless, sprays 

 for scale. Many of the trees had become completely covered 

 with scale and were dying rapidly, and though they were not 

 very valuable in themselves, they were a constant menace to 

 other trees that were valuable. It did not look well for the 

 college to have such a disreputable orchard around, even for 

 experimental purposes. So it was decided to clean it up. It was 

 sprayed as here outlined, oil in the autumn and lime-sulfur in 

 the spring, and the work was done with a reasonable degree of 

 thoroughness. The next season tlie trees were examined from 

 time to time through the summer, and at first everything looked 

 well, and we said, "What a fine thing it was to get those old trees 

 cleaned up." But gradually we began to see a few scales, and 

 then more and more, till finally we were back about where we 

 started. Too many of the tips of the branches had been missed 

 in spraying. The next year the same program was followed, 

 only these tips were looked after, and out of thirty trees that 

 were literally alive with scale only two or three were found 

 that had any scale at all, and these had very few indeed. 



Some Varieties Injured more than Others. — A point worth 

 mentioning in this connection is the varying degree to which dif- 

 ferent varieties are injured by the scale. Any neglected orchard 

 that is suffering from scale will show this. Rhode Island Green- 

 ing trees will be found half-dead, while Kings and Baldwins, 

 under the same conditions, are in fairly good condition. 



Codling Moth. — This is the insect that is responsible for 

 the wormy apple, and no one can visit our markets without 

 having it borne in upon him what a fearful responsibility it is. 

 Simple as the treatment for this insect is, and long as the life 

 history has been well understood, the pest is still allowed to do a 

 tremendous amount of damage. 



