STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 87 



THE CODUX MOTH, BORERS AND CURCULIO. 



A DISCUSSION. 



Prof. PIarvey. Mr. Pope has had a ;^ood deal of experience iu sprays 

 iog for this codliu moth. Will you tell us, Mr. Pope, at what time you 

 spray? 



Mr. Pope. Just as soon as the petals drop, wheu the calyx is open. 



Prof. Harvey. These codliu moths of course show themselves very 

 much more proiuineutly iu a sparse bearing year. Mr. Whittier, the 

 largest Baldwin grower iu the State, said he thought sometimes they 

 were beneficial as they helped him thin the fruit in a year when the trees 

 were too full. But I do not think that is the way to look at it. If 

 you allow them to make their inroads when the fruit is plentiful you 

 increase their numbers, so that the next season if it is an oft" year you 

 have a great many more of them and almost all of the apples will be 

 infested. It is generally in the oft'j'ear that the apples bring a better 

 price, and that year these moths will do the most damage. If you spray 

 ever3' year and keep them back and thin your orchards by hand you will 

 keep these insects in check, and have, from year to year, better results. 



Mr. Pope. It is the eating of the canker worm, leaving the skeleton of 

 the leaves, which makes the tree look brown. 



Prof. Harvey. It is not the winged stage of the codliu moth but the 

 caterpillar stage that damages apples. In the caterpillar stage it has 

 a mouth adapted for gnawing, and a stomach that nearly fills the body 

 and runs the whole length of it. The moth, so far as I know, would 

 suck nothing from the fruits, but, like butterflies, live on the sweets 

 from flowers; in fact, a good many moths have no mouth at all. They 

 are born for the simple purpose of laying eggs and nature has not given 

 them even the privilege of a good meal. They live only long enough to 

 lay eggs. In the case of the canker worm the female is not provided 

 with wings, while the male is. That very fact, — that the female insect 

 which lays the eggs is not provided with wings, is a weak point that is 

 taken advantage of in coping with it. 



There are two species of borers that infest the apple trees of Maine, — 

 two ordinary species and occasionally some others. The first one of 

 those species is known as the round-headed apple-tree borer. You may 

 know it readily by the two white stripes that run down the length of 

 the body. This is an insect that comes around in the night. It loves 

 darkuess because its deeds are evil. As it does its work by night it is 

 rarely seen. I have been in the State ten years, and I have not seen 

 during that time (and I am looking out for insects) more than half a 

 dozen specimens. And yet there is not an orchard, I presume, in Maine, 

 but what is more or less infested with them. They hide in tlie day time 

 and do their work by night. Mr. Pope, do you see many of [the beetles? 



