92 THE APPLE-TREE 



the calyx closes (Fig, 7), there will be small chance of 

 reaching the worm. The best way to reach the second 

 brood is to destroy all the first brood. The standard 

 practice, therefore, is to spray the trees soon after the 

 petals fall, with the idea of depositing arsenic in the 

 blossom end. 



But the season of egg-laying is long, often extending 

 over a period of three or four weeks, for the moths do 

 not all emerge from the cocoons simultaneously. It is 

 customary, therefore, to spray again about two weeks 

 after the first application, with the hope of catching the 

 young worms on their way to the fruit. 



There is no question about the efficacy of spraying. 

 Its value has been demonstrated time and again. The 

 methods and the materials may be learned from the ex- 

 periment station publications in any State, wherein the 

 advice is kept up-to-date. 



In the days before the perfecting of the spraying pro- 

 cesses, the codlin-moth was controlled by catching the 

 pupating larvae. Taking advantage of the habit of the 

 worm to find lodgment under the bark on the trunk, it was 

 the practice to scrape the loose bark from bole and large 

 branches to destroy the hiding-places and then to tie a 

 band of cloth around the trunk. Under this band the 

 worms were taken, as they spun themselves up in the 

 cocoons. This is a lesson taken from the industrious 

 woodpeckers, who, in the winter, search the trees for 

 the pupse and make holes through the flakes of bark to 

 get them. The scraping of apple-trees is not much re- 

 commended now for the reason that this special necessity 

 is passed, and because the better tillage and care together 

 with the soaking of the branches and trunk in the spray- 



