522 
the writer has seen the entire fruit crop 
ruined by the larvae, and the trees com- 
pletely defoliated so that not a green leaf 
eould be noticed. When trees are so de- 
foliated it is hardly possible for them to 
produce fruit buds for the following sea- 
son. 
Distribution 
The fruit tree leaf roller is generally 
distributed throughout the United States. 
Stedman, in Bulletin No. 71 of the Mis- 
souri Experiment Station, page 7, states 
that “this insect is found in damaging 
numbers practically all over the United 
States from Maine to the Gulf and west- 
ward to the Pacific coast and up as far as 
Oregon.” 
Food Plants 
The insect is a very general feeder 
and consequently has been reported on a 
large number of plants. It appears at 
times in injurious numbers on apple, 
pear, plum, cherry, apricot, quince, peach, 
rose, currant, raspberry and gooseberry. 
Character of Injury 
As the manner in which the larvae at- 
tack the various host plants differs to a 
certain degree, it seems advisable to give 
a rather full discussion of the more im- 
portant injuries, especially those occur- 
ring on fruit trees. 
In the spring, just as the buds are 
bursting, the larvae begin to gnaw their 
way out of the eggshells and hard pro- 
tective covering of the egg masses. The 
young caterpillars at once migrate to the 
developing buds and begin feeding on the 
unfolding leaves. At first they eat small 
inconspicuous holes in the unfolded 
leaves, and at this time the average or- 
chardist is not aware of their presence. 
After feeding in this manner for a few 
days the larvae become quite conspicu- 
ous as they begin to spin fine silken 
threads from leaf to leaf. Eventually 
they fold or roll up a single leaf or a 
cluster of leaves and here they feed for 
the greater part of the time, though 
occasionally straying out of their conceal- 
ment to feed in the open. Before the 
blossoms are fully out, or even before the 
cluster buds have separated, the “worms” 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
can be observed webbing them together 
and feeding voraciously. Very often seri- 
ous injury results before the trees come 
into blossom. Later in the season the 
webs produced by the larvae are often 
quite conspicuous. 
As soon as the young fruit has set the 
larvae cease feeding on the foliage to 
a large extent, and now fasten one or 
more leaves to the fruit and within this 
protection feed greedily, at first eating 
the skin only, but shortly consuming the 
pulp and the seeds or stone, depending 
on the kind of fruit attacked. Some. 
times young apples are completely de- 
voured except for the stem and a portion 
of the calyx end. Cases have been 
noticed where the larvae have complete- 
ly gnawed through the stems, thus caus- 
ing the fruit to fall to the ground or re- 
main suspended within the feeding nest. 
Damage done to apples as well as other 
fruits is usually so severe that the fruit 
can not outgrow the injury, thus caus- 
ing a large percentage of unmerchantable 
or second-class fruit at picking time. 
Much fruit is also caused to fall prema- 
turely on account of the serious injury 
inflicted on it when young. 
Life Habits 
The Egg 
The female moth deposits her eggs in 
compact oval clusters of about twenty- 
five to more than one hundred, anywhere 
upon the bark of the fruit trees that serve 
as its food supply. As soon as the egg 
mass has been deposited, the female moth 
smears the eggs over with an impervious 
material which is thrown out from the 
extremity of the abdomen, and which pro- 
tects the eggs from the inclemencies of 
the weather and the attacks of predace- 
ous insects for nearly ten months, or un- 
til the buds begin to open the following 
year. So there is but one brood of the 
worms each summer. 
The eggs are stuck so tightly to the 
bark when they are deposited that they 
often remain for several years. The old 
egg patches are readily recognized by the 
numerous small punctures from which the 
larvae or worms escaped. 
