1912. 
THE RURAL* NEW-YORKER 
3 
THE FRUIT TREE LEAF-ROLLER. 
A New Pest of the Apple in New York. 
In his eleventh report in 1896, Dr. J. A. 
Lintner gave a list of 356 species of insects 
that were enemies to the apple, among which 
was the apple leaf-roller. It was so unim¬ 
portant. however, that it was hardly worthy 
of mention. Fifteen years have elapsed 
since the list was made, and during that 
time nothing was heard of the leaf-roller 
until in 1911, when it suddenly came into 
prominence as a serious pest to apples and 
a minor one to pears. It furnishes simply 
another instance in which an insect, pre¬ 
viously unimportant, suddenly and inex- 
FIRST WORK OF LEAF-ROLLER. Fig. 91. 
plicably multiplies to an enormous degree, 
and reaches the rank of a serious pest at 
a single bound. 
For many years the growers of Colorado, 
Missouri, and other Western States have 
had to contend with this leaf-roller. Re¬ 
ports from Colorado last Fall say that the 
trees in some orchards are covered to the 
tips of the branches with eggs, and the 
prospects are grave for even more severe in¬ 
jury next year. In the Spring of 1911, the 
larvse of this insect appeared in enormous 
numbers in the orchards of Mr. W. O. Page 
at Bethany Center, N. Y., and to a consid¬ 
erable extent in neighboring orchards. In 
the orchards of Mr. Page they proved a very 
serious pest. Moreover, the apple leaf-roller 
was not confined by any means to a small 
and limited area, but the larvse were found 
in many orchards of New York in varying 
numbers. Whether this thin but rather 
wide distribution among the apple orchards 
of the State means a general and rapid in¬ 
crease of the pest or not remains to be seen. 
Habits and Injuries. —The larvae appear 
as the buds are bursting and begin to at¬ 
tack the unfolding leaves. They bend the 
leaves over and tie them together with silk. 
Within this sort of a nest the larvse live 
and eat the leaves. As soon as the blooms 
appear they begin to eat off the blossom 
stems and tie them together with silken 
threads along with the leaves surrounding 
the blossom cluster. This webbing and 
tying together of the blossom clusters is a 
most pernicious habit, because it interferes 
seriously with spraying for the Codling 
moth. As soon as the young apples or 
pears begin to set they are tied together 
with silk (Fig. 91) while the larvae live 
inside and gnaw cavities into the sides of 
the young fruit (Fig. 94). It is certain that 
a very large number of pears and apples 
were totally destroyed by the larvae, and 
EGGS OF LEAF-ROLLER. Fig. 92. 
many others seriously marred and deformed 
during the past season in New York or¬ 
chards. The larvae also work on the leaves, 
rolling them and living within the roll. 
Here, effectually hidden, they feed upon the 
tender tissues of the leaves. When dis¬ 
turbed, they drop down out of their hiding 
places and remain suspended by silken 
threads like canker worms. When all is 
quiet they climb back to their hiding places 
and begin their work again. Their injur¬ 
ies to the leaves are often very serious, es¬ 
pecially when the larvffi are abundant. Pro¬ 
fessor Gillette of Colorado says, “I have 
seen small orchards entirely defoliated by 
this species so that not a green leaf could 
be seen.” 
Life Histort.- —The eggs are laid by the 
moths in June, the major number during 
the middle days of this month. They are 
deposited in small oval, convex patches 
(Fig. 92), upon the bark of the smaller 
twigs, fruit spurs, etc. The masses are 
heavily varnished over and remain on the 
branicheS' unhatched until the following 
Spring. In 1911 the eggs hatched from 
May 4 to May 9. After the eggs hatch the 
masses are light gray in color, and full of 
tiny holes through which the caterpillars 
have emerged. All of the caterpillars of a 
single mass of eggs seem to emerge at about 
the same time. The young caterpillar is 
about one twenty-fifth of an inch long, light 
green in color, with a very large black head 
and a wide dark-colored protliorax. When 
full grown the caterpillars measure from 
seven-eighths to practically an inch in 
length. In general they are light green in 
color with a black head, and in some the 
segment just behind the head is dark brown. 
It requires from 22 to 30 days for the 
caterpillars to become full grown. When 
they become mature they spin their flimsy 
webs in rolled leaves or between leaves 
that are tied together and change to 
pupae. The pupae are light brown and a 
little over half an inch long. This stage 
lasts from nine to 12 days. The moth 
(Fig. 93) is, in general, rusty red with 
two bright silvery spots along the front 
edges of the anterior wings. They vary 
from three-quarters of an inch to an inch 
in expanse of wings. Our records during 
the season of 1911 show that the moths 
were emerging nearly every day from June 5 
to the 21st with the greatest number appear¬ 
ing in the field about .Tune 13. The moths 
soon begin laying their eggs which remain 
on the branches until the following Spring, 
there being only one brood of the moths in 
a season. 
Natural Enemies. —This leaf-roller has 
a number of natural enemies, mostly para- 
MOTH OF LEAF-ROLLER. Fig. 93. 
sites. We reared, altogether, six species 
wasp-like parasites and one fly parasite 
from this apple pest. We thought, at first, 
from the great number of parasites appear¬ 
ing that the insect would be almost ex¬ 
terminated. As a matter of fact, the para¬ 
sites seemed to have little effect in dimin¬ 
ishing the number of emerging moths. 
Either the caterpillars of the leaf-roller 
were too abundant to be sensibly lessened 
in numbers, or else there were not as many 
of the individual parasites as we thought. 
The moths issued in great abundance and 
deposited large numbers of eggs in spite of 
their enemies. 
Methods of Control. —The leaf-roller 
has not proved an easy pest to control. The 
habit that it has of rolling leaves, tying 
them together, etc., and then living within 
these protective coverings makes it is diffi¬ 
cult insect to get at. Recommendations 
have been made to crush the egg masses, 
at least all of those that could be found, 
during the Winter when other work is not 
pressing. It seems to me that this is im¬ 
practicable because the egg masses are so 
small and so near the color of the bark 
that they cannot be found with any de¬ 
gree of facility. It would take too much 
time and labor to prove at all economical. 
On the other hand, in a severely infested 
orchard, it might be entirely practicable 
and economical to prune the trees rather 
severely, especially those known to bear 
egg masses. The branches should be 
promptly burned to destroy the eggs. 
One would think that a good spraying of 
the infested trees with arsenate of lead 
added to lime-sulphur just before the buds 
break and another before the blossoms open 
would control the pest, but in this we were 
disappointed. The worst infested orchard 
was sprayed by the owner for the blister 
mite and bud-moth once about as the buds 
were swelling. At this spraying, two 
pounds of aresnate of lead were added to 
DAMAGED FRUITS. Fig. 94. 
pounds of arsenate of lead were added to 
13 Baldwin trees were sprayed again with 
200 gallons of lime-sulphur mixture to 
which eight pounds of poison had been 
added. A third spraying was given after 
the petals had fallen. We were much dis¬ 
appointed to find that the caterpillars were 
not visibly, lessened in numbers by these 
applications. It is probable that a stronger 
application of poison will be necessary to 
control ths insect. Either more arsenate 
of lead will have to be applied, or a sub¬ 
stance containing a greater per cent of 
arsenious oxide will have to be used. 
To sum up then: (1) We would advise 
a thorough drenching of the trees with 
lime-sulphur at scale strengths for a dor¬ 
mant spraying to prevent the eggs from 
hatching, provided one is going to spray 
anyhow for the San Jos6 scale. We are 
not yet ready to recommend a spraying 
for the eggs of the leaf-roller alone. This 
application should be made as late as pos¬ 
sible in the Spring before the buds burst. 
(2) We would advise a thorough spray¬ 
ing with arsenate of lead at the rate of 
2% to three pounds to 50 gallons of water 
before the buds burst, but while they are 
swelling, or just as the tips begin to show 
green, and again before the flower buds 
open. These applications will also catch 
the bud-moth larvse, which are serious pests. 
GLENN W. HERRICK. 
TREES TO BE PROUD OF 
TX 7^E are proud of them now. You will be when they come into 
* » bearing and prove themselves. We have a full line of stock; 
but the following special features are offered this year: 
McKay’s Late Peach. Better 
than Salwayin size, appearance 
and quality. There is a great 
demand for a peach that will 
ripen with Salway with the good 
qualities of that great variety 
and without its defects. We 
have it in McKay’s Late Peach 
by fair test. All other peach 
varieties in abundance. 
Dwarf Apples. Every yearthere 
are thousands who would try 
Dwarfs if they knew where 
to get them. We have just 
what you want. Our trees are 
specially grown-dwarfs in shape 
and size, but giants in vitality 
and power. 
Sweet or Sour Cherries. Cherry 
culture is reviving. No doubt 
about it—this popular fruit is 
coming back, for demand is far 
ahead of supply. This is a 
special feature with us. We 
grow cherries commercially and 
That is the kind of trees we offer. 
(This Is Picture of McKay’s Lato Poach). 
know what kind of trees will make good. 
Agricultural Lime. In carload lots at $3.00 per ton. The lime craze is on and the 
problem is where to get the lime. We have it strong and ready for business. The 
chances are 5 to 1 that your soil is falling short one-third, in its power to produce, 
because it needs lime. 
Everything That Fruits. We can fit you out in garden or field from the backyard 
to the commercial orchard. Small fruits, grapes, peaches, pears—whatever you 
need. Write us your needs, we can advise you about varieties and planting—and 
sell yon goods that we know are right. Write for catalog today. 
THE VAN DUSEN NURSERIES, 
W. L. McKAY, Proprietor. 
Geneva, N. Y. 
Your Orchard Deserves a Windbreak 
A spruce, pine, fir or arbor vitae windbreak around your 
orchard will eliminate nearly all windfalls and storm dam¬ 
age; go far to prevent frost and permit spraying and 
picking on windy days. Such a shelter-belt is worth 
three times as much as the outside row of fruit trees. 
Shelter-Belts Worth FiveTimes Their Cost 
They conserve moisture, check destructive winds, protect 
stock from rain, sleet, wind and sun and make excellent 
fences. They prevent snowdrifts on roads and 
walks, make houses and barns warmer and save paint. 
Learn How to Build Windbreaks 
Get our 56-page Planter’s Guide for 1912. We are 
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D. HILL NURSERY COMPANY 
Evergreen Sp ecialist 
Walnut Street Dundee, Illinois 
FRUIT TREES 
800,000 APPLES 
675,000 PEACH 
We grow what trees we sell direct to the planter from bearing or¬ 
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Established 26 years; 250 acres; capital$60,000. 
! MALONEY BROS. & WELLS CO., Box 10 DansviUe, /V. Y. 
