THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 203 



be maintained as will lead to the elimination of worthless roadside 

 fruit trees that may be a constant source of devastation and which 

 will bring- pressure to bear on thoughtless citizens who do not 

 spray. Such a public sentiment also tends to make easier the en- 

 forcement of horticultural laws intended to reduce the injuries done 

 by insects. 



ENFORCEMENT OF THE HORTICULTURAL LAW. 



Every citizen, whether a fruit producer or not should use his 

 influence to have just and suitable inspection laws enfoced in Mon- 

 tana. A successful horticultural industry in Montana will have a 

 beneficial influence upon every branch of industry. The prospec- 

 tive settler or investor cannot but be favorably influenced by a repu- 

 tation in Montana for producing large quantities of clean apples. 

 A reliable law conscienciously enforced will do much to prevent 

 the introduction and spread of the pests and diseases of fruit of 

 which the codling moth is probably the most injurious in Montana. 



USE OF SECOND-HAND BOXES. 



The owner of a young orchard not having been in the habit of 

 securing apple boxes is very liable to harvest his first small crop 

 wholly or in part in second hand boxes bought from merchants in 

 nearby towns. We have already indicated that these boxes are 

 very likely to contain cocoons of the codling moth. Thus tak- 

 ing these boxes into the orchard particularly at the time of the year 

 when summer varieties are harvested, the Codling moth ma)^ be lib- 

 erated in the place where it is most to be feared. In harvesting 

 fall or winter varieties in such boxes the danger is very much less 

 as moths set free in the orchard after all or part of the apples are 

 picked have very much smaller chances to deposit eggs that will 

 mature moths. 



SPRAYING. 



It has not been shown precisely where the codling moth gets 

 the fatal dose of arsenic on sprayed trees that makes spraying a 

 profitable practice. The habit of the young larva of rejecting from 

 the mouth the skin taken from the surface of the apple is interesting 

 in the extreme. It is supposed that in making its way through the 

 surface of the apple the larva gets enough of the poison to kill it 



