1 84 THE APPLE 



As the larvae feed quite openly, this pest should be easily kept 

 in control in well-sprayed orchards. The fact that most of the in- 

 jury is done rather late in summer, after early applications have 

 been mostly washed off, suggests that a midsummer spray would 

 probably be most effective. 



Nursery trees and young orchards frequently suffer more from this 

 insect than bearing orchards, for the reason that they are often less 

 carefully sprayed. All leaf-eating insects take as kindly to young 

 trees as to old. Young trees need all their leaves in order to make 

 satisfactory growth, just as bearing trees need the full leaf com- 

 plement in order to perfect their crops. This is sufficient reason 

 for urging the careful spraying of all young trees before the need 

 becomes too urgent. 



Canker worm. There are two common species of this pest at- 

 tacking fruit trees — the spring and the fall cankerworm. They 

 differ somewhat in their history, but the general treatment is the 

 same. The larvae when full grown drop to the ground and pupate 

 in the soil. The female adult has no wings, and in order to reach 

 the branches to lay its eggs it must crawl up the trunk of the tree. 

 The fruit-grower can take advantage of this fact and place bands 

 of sticky substances, such as Tanglefoot, around the tree trunks. 

 An equally effective and perhaps less expensive remedy, since it 

 can be used for a great many leaf-eating insects, is a poison spray 

 applied early in the summer. 



Fall webworm. The fall webworm is an insect somewhat simi- 

 lar in habits to the tent caterpillar, but appears in large numbers 

 only late in the season. It spins its web at the tips of the branches, 

 covering the leaves on which the young larvae are to feed. 



This insect can be destroyed in the same way as the tent cater- 

 pillar. Since the web is at the tip of the branches, it can frequently 

 be cut off and burned. Spraying with lead arsenate or Paris green 

 is also effective. 



Palmer worm. Another fruit-eating insect, which has appeared 

 in conspicuous numbers during June throughout the fruit belt in 

 western New York and was quite destructive in unsprayed orchards, 

 is the palmer worm. It was reported that in some neglected plant- 

 ings in Orleans County as many as half or more of the young 

 apples were eaten into by these active little caterpillars. It is of 



