1883.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



tineiit, and lik« nearly all forpiirn sppcips ae- 

 cliiuatetl and localized in this uountry, il 

 seems to be more destructive here than it is in 

 the country from which it was imported, 

 although it has occasionally been known to 

 have been very destructive even there. It is 

 said to have been introduced into Anierica 

 about thebeginingof the present century, and 

 may have been here much earlier — I can re- 

 member it sixty years at least, in Lancaster 

 county. In the Western States it was not 

 noticed so early — perhaps because sixty years 

 a^o many of the \\'esteru (new) States were 

 not settled up, and had no apple trees to work 

 upon. There is one aspect of its history upon 

 which there appears to be a general agree- 

 ment, and that is, where there are no apples, 

 pears and quinces you will find no Codling 

 Moths, for so far as known they confine 

 themselves to what is termed "pip-fruit.'' 

 There is certainly some consolation in this, 

 because if it ever becomes necessary to sacri- 

 fice the apple onacco ^ntof the moth, we may 

 have some hope of exterminating it. This is 

 not the case with many other insects, espe- 

 cially the "Curculio," and the "Colorado 

 Potato Beetle," insects that although liaving 

 a choice of food, yet can " make a living" on 

 a great variety. It is also pretty generally 

 conceded that in the Middle States there are 

 generally two broods, and in the Southern 

 States perhaps three, if not more. In the 

 north there is probably only one brood, except 

 nnder extraordinary circumstances, at least 

 Dr. Harris thought this was the case in Mas- 

 sachusetts. It is difficult to define and limit 

 broods nnder artificial breeding. The first 

 moths of the season make their apperance 

 about the end of May or begining of June, or 

 when the young apples are the size of an ox- 

 heart cherry; of course there periods will differ 

 according to temperature and latitude. The 

 brood that hibernates during the winter is not 

 transformed to a chrysalis until the advent, 

 of genial spring, but remains a worm under 

 its silken covering all winter, and in that state 

 it forms a "toothsome" morsel for "Sap- 

 suckers" and other birds of the woodpecker 

 family. As every female moth is capable of 

 depositing two hundred eggs or more, we can 

 easily imagine their destruction if all siu'vived 

 the winter. Those that are boxed and barreled 

 up in the apples all winter have no enemies to 

 contend witli, but are protected, and of course 

 when their season arrives they issue forth on 

 their pernicious mission among the apple, pear 

 and quince trees. 



Although the first brood is not as numerous 

 as the second, it is perhaps more destructive, 

 inasmuch as it attacks the fruit when it is too 

 young to bear the ellects of the attack. One 

 worm is almost a sure extinguisher of a j'oung 

 apple, whereas, later in the season, a nearly- 

 grown, or fully developed apple, may survive 

 its attacks with comparative impunity. Sum- 

 mer or early apples usually suffer most from 

 the codling moth ; only because they furnish 

 an earlier nidus for the egg of the parent ; for 

 when the period arrives for the discharge of 

 her "esrg-battery," the female cannot resist 

 the impulse to "fire," and therefore cannot 

 wait for a later crop.- These eggs are usually 

 deposited during the monthof June— earlier or 

 later according toteraperature--in lliei-a?iy.i-,at 

 the lower end of the apple, and rarely in the 



.stem cavity at the upper end. The male is 

 supposed to die, very soon after fertilizing the 

 female, and she does not long survive the de- 

 position of her eggs, hence, not one sufferer out 

 of twenty has ever Seen the moth, or would 

 recognize it if he did see it ; although the 

 worm may be as familiar to htm as a ounmon 

 "house-fly." Usually also, but one egg is 

 depo.sited on an apple— at least it is iisuaj 

 for only one worm to enter it — especially 

 when the apples are small, whereas in later 

 and larger apples two, or even three, are 

 occasionally found. Prof. Riley records a 

 case that came under his own observation, 

 where a female, confined in a breeding cage, 

 deposited her whole brood on a single apple, 

 and they all hatched and penetrated it, of 

 conrse, making short work of it, as well as of 

 themselves. An unrestrained female would 

 not make such a mistake, for it would defeat 

 her end in perpetuating a family. The cod- 

 ling moth belongs to the Tortrix family, 

 allied to the Tixia family, and although dif- 

 fering very materially in their habits and 

 transformations, yet I think they agree in one 

 thing, and that is they do not seem to feed 

 on any substance, as a moth. After prolifi- 

 cation the females are restless until they have 

 oviposited, and then they die of their own 

 aci;ord. On one occasion I received over a 

 thousand insects captured in wide mouthed 

 bottles, containing sweetened water hung on 

 apple, cherry and plura trees, the larger num- 

 ber of which were moths of different species ; 

 but the codluig moth and the curculio were 



conspicuously absent — at least there were none 

 that I could distinctly identify as such. 

 From this it will become manifest that there 

 is little hope to be based upon the capturing 

 of the moth : and there is still less in attempt- 

 ing to destroying the worm after it has enter- 

 ed the fruit, without [also destroying the 

 fruit ; and yet, with all this, the case in not 

 an entirely hopeless one. 



The accompanyihg cuts, illustrating this 

 insect in its various stages of development, 

 will convey a belter idea of its size, form and 

 structure, than the most elaljcjrate description 

 could possibly convey. They represent the 

 insect as nearly as any uncolored illustrations 

 possibly could. This, from the monogram 

 near the lower end of the figure i will show 

 that they were drawn by Prof. Rilev, perhaps 

 the best delineator of insects that our country 

 has yet produced, a shows the inside of the 

 apple and the burrow which the worm exca- 

 vates ; from which it will be noticed that 

 wherever it may enter or exit, its operations 

 are mainly about the seed cavities. 6 is the 



point where the female deposits her egg or 

 eggs. Several i^ggs have been noticed on this 

 part of the apple at one time, but, as a rule, 

 but one worm enters the fruit, and after two 

 weeks or fifteen days the worm makes its exit 

 through a gallery constructed for that pur- 

 pose, at the side of the api>le, which, although 

 not specifically referred to by letter, yet is 

 sufficiently apparent at the left side, d repre- 

 sents the pupa or chrysalis, which is of a light 

 brown color, and barbed along the transverse 

 margins of the segments, by means of .vhich 

 it pushes itself out of the cocoon, e illus- 

 trates the worm on the outside of the apple, 

 apparently on (he "look out" for a proper 

 idace of pupation. This is a regular cater- 

 piUar, and when first excluded from the egg 

 it is very small, and of a whitish color. It is 

 sparsely covered with white bristling hairs, 

 which become less conspicuous the older and 

 larger it grows. The white color also gradu- 

 ally changes to a flesh color, p.nd from that 

 to a deep pink when it has matured. The 

 head, first segment, and also the caudal seg- 

 ment, are dark colored or nearly black, until 

 after the last moult, when they change to a 

 light brown. / represents the moth in repose, 

 and g the same wiih the wings expanded. 

 The colors of the moth are made up of bronze, 

 gray and brown, with a conspicuous .spot near 

 the ends of the anterior wings.surrouaded by a 

 reddish or coppery margin, h represents the 

 head and first segment of the worm very much 

 enlarged, i illustrates the cocoon in a cavity. 

 All these figures except /i areof the naturalsize, 

 although there may be some variations from 

 these. Perhaps I should also have stated that 

 the worm, except after the last moult, is regu- 

 larly covered with small black dots; but this is 

 not a permanent characteristic. The moth of 

 the first brood is usually evolved in July and 

 August, from which it will be seen it must 

 have a short pupal period— only a few days— 

 and the singularity in the insect is that the 

 caterpillar of the second brood remains such, 

 wrapped up in its cocoon for many montlis — 

 indeed, the first brood, nnder favorable cir- 

 cumstances has been known to remain in that 

 condition until the following spring, a period 

 of ten months. 



The damage to the fruit crop, annually, 

 and the loi>.ses sustained by fruit-growers and 

 others by this delicate little insect, is almost 

 beyond calculation ; therefore, we need not be 

 surprised, nor yet impatient, at their utter- 

 ances of complaint, however unavailable such 

 complaints may be. As the codling moth, 

 however abundant it may be, is, perhaps, 

 known in its moth state to proportionally but 

 few of those who ought to be well acquainted 

 with it, it may be well to state, that it be- 

 longs to the great "moth family," all of 

 which, including the "Butterfly group," are 

 injurious to vegetation, woolen fabrics, coach 

 trimmings, grain, bees-wax, and other sub- 

 .stances ; there will be therefore no harm in 

 destroying all insects of this character, 

 wherever they may be found, whether codling 

 or other species : and. if in the general de- 

 struction, the codling moth is included, it 

 will be all the better. This admonition may 

 be apparent from the very necessities of the 

 case. Many orders and families of insects 

 embrace both noxious and innoxious species — 

 the latter destroying and devouring the for- 



