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As these insects are difficult to deal with 

 when once they have curled the leaves we 

 must look to their life history to find out 

 some other stage at which they can be 

 attacked. The winter is passed in the egg 

 stage, these are minute shiny, black 

 bodies and may be found at the base of 

 the buds and on twigs. The same method 

 should be adopted as for the apple sucker. 

 Lime and salt for the eggs and nicotine 

 for the aphis. By this means we kill two 

 birds with one stone. Soft soap and 

 quassia may be used, and is perhaps con- 

 siderably cheaper, but by using nicotine 

 we also destroy the young larvae of the 



Winter Moth. — This is another of the 

 common apple pests. The male is a 

 greyish winged moth, while the female 

 has only rudimentary wings. The moths' 

 commence to emerge from the ground in 

 October, and the wingless females at once 

 climb the tree to deposit their eggs. If a 

 band of specially prepared grease be 

 placed round the tree trunk by or before 

 the beginning of October these females 

 will be caught on their way up the tree. 

 Fallen leaves, and even the bodies of the 

 moths are capable of being used as 

 bridges over the grease, so the bands 

 should not be neglected when once on. 

 All leaves, etc., should be moved. If this 

 method has not been resorted to and the 

 eggs have hatched into little green 

 " looper " caterpillars, a nicotine wash 

 will kill them if applied when the buds are 

 opening, and before the caterpillars are 

 large. " Winter Moth " is a term now 

 apparently used for all moths with wing- 

 less or semi-wingless females hatching out 

 between October and February. Besides 

 the true winter moth we often find 

 another looper caterpillar which is the 

 larva of the 



Mottled Umber Moth, which also does 

 a large amount of damage. The cater- 

 pillar is rich brown in colour on the back, 

 yellow on the sides and underneath. As 

 the female moth is quite wingless it also 

 has to climb up the tree before depositing 

 its eggs, so they can be caught on the 

 same grease band. 



The Lackey Moth. — The larvse of this 

 moth live in colonies for two-thirds of 

 their existence under cover of " Tents " 

 made up of masses of web. As they 

 devour the foliage they move along the 



branch, and when particularly abundant 

 clear off all foliage and young fruit. 

 When full grown they are about two 

 inches in length, slightly hairy, and 

 striped with blue, black and orange. At 

 this period they leave their " tents " and 

 spread over the trees. When full grown 

 they spin up amongst any remaining 

 leaves and in due course hatch out into 

 foxy red moths often with a darker band 

 of the same colour across their wings. 

 The females lay their eggs in compact 

 rings round the twigs of the food plant. 

 These egg " rings " are often found dur- 

 ing pruning operations and should then 

 be destroyed. If any remain, they will 

 hatch out, the caterpillars forming their 

 conspicuous tents. These nests of cater- 

 pillars should be cut out and destroyed 

 as soon as they appear. If left the in- 

 mates will scatter over the tree and wash- 

 ing with an arsenical wash must be 

 resorted to. 



Codling Moth. — In some localities the 

 larva of this moth does considerable 

 damage to the apple crop. The egg is 

 laid in early summer on the small fruitlet, 

 on hatching out the larva makes its first 

 meal off the eye of the apple, and then 

 burrows in, tunnelling round the core. 

 When full fed it leaves the apple and either 

 crawls down the trunk in search of a 

 piece of rough bark or lets itself down by 

 a thread from the apple to reascend the 

 tree in search of a suitable place to spin 

 up. This takes place in May. In order 

 to help them in their search tie a piece of 

 sacking round the trunk of the tree. They 

 will spin up under this, and may be des- 

 troyed in the winter. Should this not have 

 been done an arsenical wash should be 

 used. Drops of spray will collect on the 

 eye of the apple, and thus the first meal 

 of the caterpillar will be poisoned. Poul- 

 try and pigs do much good in orchards by 

 checking this pest. 



The Apple Blossom Weevil. — There has 

 been a considerable increase and conse- 

 quently a considerable amount of 

 damage done by this beetle of late. As 

 soon as the fiower bud begins to show 

 colour the female comes out from her 

 winter quarters and bores through the 

 petals of the bud and deposits a single 

 egg. The egg soon hatches into a yel- 

 lowish footless grub, which at once com- 



