1912. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
36S 
FIGHT AGAINST CODLING MOTH. 
PART I. 
Though one of the oldest fruit in¬ 
sects, the apple worm or Codling moth 
must be considered a most injurious 
pest to orchard interests. A recent esti¬ 
mate places the annual loss in the Unit¬ 
ed States, caused by this insect, at 
twelve million dollars, while the cost of 
spraying (much of which is compara¬ 
tively inefficient) amounts to an addi¬ 
tional three million dollars. Wormy ap¬ 
ples are altogether too abundant; 25 to 
50, or even 75 per cent, of the picked 
fruit may be injured in this way. Is 
a continuation of these conditions nec¬ 
essary? 
The habits or the life history of this 
insect is rather generally understood. 
It is known that the Codling moth win¬ 
August and September. Comparative 
tests were made to ascertain the value 
of one spraying just after the blossoms 
fall, with a similar treatment supple¬ 
mented by a second application about 
three weeks later, at the time when the 
young Codling moth larvae enter the 
fruit. A third plot received, in addi¬ 
tion to the two sprayings described 
above, a thorough application the lat¬ 
ter part of July, designed especially 
to check the second brood. One plot 
was sprayed only once about three 
weeks after the blossoms dropped, for 
the purpose of testing the relative value 
of this treatment. Unsprayed or check 
trees were left for comparison in each 
of the series. 
The poison used throughout the ex¬ 
periments was arsenate of lead (about 
15 per cent arsenic oxide) at the rate of 
SPRAYED ONCE, 2,279 SOUND FRUIT; 84 (4%) WORMY. Fig. 127. 
ters as a whitish caterpillar in silken 
cocoons under the bark of the tree, 
and usually in oval cavities some half 
an inch long. The caterpillar changes 
to the pupa with the approach of warm 
weather, and we have the grayish brown 
bronzy, retiring moth appearing a week 
or two after the apples bloom and de¬ 
positing eggs shortly thereafter. The 
majority of the moths are abroad ap¬ 
proximately two or three weeks after 
the blossoms drop. The eggs are de¬ 
posited on the foliage or fruit and ap¬ 
pear to the unaided eye much like a 
minute drop of milk about the size of 
a pin head. These may be found any¬ 
where from a few to 16 or even) 28 
inches from any fruit. The duration of 
the egg stage depends upon tempera¬ 
ture conditions and is approximately 11 
days. The young apple worm feeds 
first upon the foliage, mining into the 
leaves at the angles of the midrib and 
branch veins, and gnawing the softer 
portions of the surface. Soon it starts 
in search of an apple, some two-thirds 
of the first brood entering at the blos¬ 
som end, feeding for a time in the calyx 
cavity and then making a more or less 
direct path to the core. This predilec¬ 
tion for the blossom end indicates at 
once the great importance of thorough¬ 
ly poisoning the upturned tips of the 
young apples. The apple worm requires 
two to four weeks or even longer, much 
depending upon temperature conditions, 
to complete its growth, at which time 
it deserts the apple and large numbers 
crawl down the limbs or trunk in 
search of proper shelter where the 
transformation to the moth may take 
place. The second brood of moths ap¬ 
pears late in July or during August, and 
caterpillars hatching from the eggs are 
much more likely to enter the fruit at 
two to three pounds per 50 gallons. Bor¬ 
deaux mixture or a dilute lime-sulphur 
solution was also added for the purpose 
of checking fungus troubles. The outfit 
was invariably the spraying equipment 
on the place, the entomologist content¬ 
ing himself with supervising in an ef¬ 
fort to secure thorough treatment, es¬ 
pecially of the upturned blossom ends of 
the young apples during the first spray¬ 
ing. Special pains were exercised at 
blossoming time to lay out plots so as 
to secure a nearly uniform setting of 
fruit on the experimental trees. That 
we were fairly successful is evident by 
the yields of three plots in 1911, which 
produced, respectively, 16,638, 19,994 and 
20,926 apples. In no instance did wq 
adopt measures so far as spraying oper¬ 
ations were concerned, which could be 
considered unprofitable or impractical. 
The equipment in each instance was a 
good type of power sprayer with two 
lines of hose (the hose was tied to poles 
and the spraying done entirely from the 
ground in one orchard, while in the 
other a tower was available), and the 
pressure was maintained at about 125 to 
145 pounds. The blossom ends were 
well sprinkled, though there was prac¬ 
tically no penetration of the poison to 
the inner calyx cavity. The leaves were 
well covered with the poison and rarely 
flooded. Only three gallons of spray 
and a minute of time was used on the 
smaller trees. This does not sound much 
like 10 to 30 gallons of mixture per 
tree and spraying irrespective of drip¬ 
ping until every small apple has a dose 
of poison in the blossom end, a method 
recommended in a recent issue of a hor¬ 
ticultural paper by a Nebraska man. 
A comparison of the returns obtained 
in 1909 show practically no difference be¬ 
tween a coarse and a fine spray, while 
CHECK TREE UNSPRAYED, 1,869 SOUND; 225 WORMY. Fig. 128. 
the side than is the case with the first 
generation. It is well known that ap¬ 
ples touching each other or partly cov¬ 
ered by a leaf, are much more likely 
to be injured by this second brood than 
free-hanging fruit. 
The past three years we have been 
making practical tests in commercial 
orchards, taking special pains to secure 
uniformity in varieties, fruitage and in¬ 
festation on enough trees so that there 
could be no question as to the value of 
the results. The plots almost invari¬ 
ably consisted of 42 trees in rows, six 
trees one way and seven the other, the 
central six being the test trees and . all 
fruit produced by these were subjected 
to careful examination. This applied 
even to the small apples dropping in 
an examination of the young fruit just 
after application, demonstrated that 
there had been comparatively little pene¬ 
tration of the spray material to the inner 
calyx cavity. With this data before us 
we were unwilling to insist on the ne¬ 
cessity of high pressure and coarse 
sprays in order to obtain this penetra¬ 
tion, though we are ready to admit that 
a high pressure and excellent distribu¬ 
tion immensely facilitates the thorough¬ 
ness and the rapidity of the work, both 
extremely important factors, e. p. felt. 
“See here, you old rascal, why didn’t 
you tell me this horse was lame before I 
bought him?” “Wal, the feller that sold 
him to me didn’t say nothin’ about it, 
so I thought it was a secret.”—Life. 
T WENTY years ago the oil lamp 
had already been driven out of 
the city into the country home, 
Where gas could not follow—so we 
thought. 
In those days we would have laughed 
at the idea of a country home lighted, 
with gaslight. 
But like the telephone and free mail 
delivery gaslight has finally left the 
city to become a common rural con¬ 
venience. 
In the year 1911, the up-to-date vil¬ 
lager or farmer not only lives in a gas- 
lighted house, same 
as his city cousin, 
but when he drives 
home on a cold, 
wet fiight he actu¬ 
ally lights up his 
barn, his barnyard 
or porches on his 
house with this 
gas-light by simply 
turning an “igni- || 
tiou” button on a 
post or wall. 
-. 
100 LBS 
CRUSHED ST0N8 
And this change 
seems quite like 
magic when you 
consider that this ^ 
rural gas-light is 
home-made— made 
by the family it¬ 
self right on the premises. 
Take fifteen minutes once a month 
to make all that can be used in a 
large house. 
The magic is all in the curious manu¬ 
factured stone known commercially as 
“Union Carbide.” 
' This wonderful gas-producing sub¬ 
stance, “Union Carbide,” looks and 
feels just like crushed granite. For 
country home use it is packed and 
shipped from warehouses located all 
over the United States in sheet steel 
cans containing 100 pounds. 
Union Carbide won’t burn, can’t ex¬ 
plode, and will keep in the original 
package for years in any climate. For 
this reason it is safer to handle and 
store about the premises than coal. 
* * * 
All that is necessary to make 
“Union Carbide” give up its gas is to 
mix it with plain water—the gas, which 
is then instantly generated is genuine 
Acetylene. 
When piped to 
handsome brass chan- 
deliers and fixtures 
Acetylene burns with -7 
an intensely brilliant, Jr 
stiff flame, that the ~ 
wind can’t affect. 
This flame makes 
light so white in 
color that it is com¬ 
monly called * ‘ Artificial 
light. ’ ’ 
Experiments conducted by Cor 
nell University have proven that it will 
grow plants the same as sunlight itself. 
Physicians recommend Acetylene as 
a germicide and a remedy for eye- 
strain, and it is used as an illumi- 
nant in fifty-four hospitals in New 
York City alone. 
Then, too, Acetylene is so pure that 
you might blow out the light and sleep 
all night in a room with the burner 
open without any injurious effects 
whatever. 
On account of its being burned in 
permanent brass fixtures attached to 
walls and ceilings, Acetylene is much 
safer than smoky, smelly oil lamps, 
which can easily be tipped over. 
For this reason the Engineers of the 
National Board of Insurance Under¬ 
writers called Acetylene safer than 
any illuminant it commonly displaces. 
In addition to all these advantages, 
Acetylene light is inexpensive. 
An Acetylene light of 24 candle- 
power costs only about 4 cents for 
ten hours’ lighting, while for the same 
number of hours regular oil lamps of 
equal volume cost about 6 cents in ker¬ 
osene, chimneys and wicks on the 
average. 
* * * 
Consider this carefully and you will 
hardly wonder at the fact that there 
are today no less than 185,000 town 
and country homes lighted with home¬ 
made Acetylene, made from “Union 
Carbide.” 
Once a month some member of the 
family must dump a few pounds of 
“Union Carbide” in a small tank-like 
machine which usually sets in one cor¬ 
ner of the basement. 
This little tank-like machine is auto¬ 
matic—it does all the work—it makes 
no gas until the burners are lighted and 
stops making gas when the burners are 
shut off. 
The lights located in every room in 
your house, on your porches, in your 
horse and cow barns, or barnyards and 
chicken yards if you like, will all be 
ready to turn on with a twist of the 
wrist or a touch of the button at any 
time of the day or night. 
No city home can be "as brilliantly or 
as beautifully illuminated as any one 
of these 185,000 homes now using 
Acetylene. 
* * * 
If you want to be up-to-date, enjoy 
modern conveniences, 
and keep the young 
folks at home, write 
us how many rooms 
and buildings you 
have. We will send 
you free an intensely 
interesting lot of 
facts, figures and 
booklets. 
Just address Union Carbide Sales 
Company, 157 Michigan Ave., Chi¬ 
cago, Ill. Dept. A.—38. 
in Never Rust 
Sides 6 
Send for FREE 
Roofing 
Catalog 
Ask About 
Low Prices 
to.Agents 
Edwards “REO” Steel Shingles 
“Tightcote” Galvanized 
LAST FOREVER because all four edges as well as the weather side and tinder 
sideare galvanized by the famous Edwards“Tightcote” process. Each and every 
Edwards “REO” Interlocking Steel Shingle is dipped in molten zinc —after the 
shingle is made. Not a particle of the shingle but that is thus protected by the 
heavy coat of galvanizing. The lowest priced roof NOW and for years to come. 
We Have a Special Cash Money-Making Proposition for One Man in Your Community 
If any of your buildings need roofing, you are over wood shingles or on sheathing 12 inches upart. 
$10,000 Ironclad Bond Lightning Insurance 
Wo agree to refund the amount paid inevery case 
the man. Send dimensions of your buildings 
and wo will quote you cost of an Edwards roof. 
freight prepaid. You get your roof at agent’s 
price. Write for the offer today t 
The shingles are made of high-grade Besse¬ 
mer steel in sheets 6 to 12 feet long and 24 
inches wide. Either painted or galvanized. 
Beady to put on. Hammer and nails all that 
is required. Anyone cun do it. Can be applied 
Ask for Free Roofing Catalog No. 373 
THE EDWARDS MANUFACTURING COMPANY 
323-373 Lock St., Cincinnati, Ohio 
Largest Manufacturers of Sfeol Roofing Material In the World 
where ~a roof covered with 
*‘Reo”Steei Shingles 
is destroyed by light¬ 
ning. This guaranty 
is backed by our $10,- 
000 Ironclad Bond 
and stands forever. 
Edwards Interlocking 
