WESTERN SLOPE FRUIT INVESTIGATION 
Report of Field Entomologist* 
SEASON OF 1998 
E. P. Taylor, Grand Junction, Colorado 
The principal lines of work for the season have been— 
(1) Experiments upon practical methods of controlling the prin¬ 
cipal insect pests of the orchard. 
(2) Collection and study of other economic insects. 
(3) Visitation of orchards by request or otherwise. 
(4) Attendance at fruit growers’ association meetings, farm¬ 
ers’ institutes, county fairs, horticultural society meet¬ 
ings, etc., where questions relating to the work of this 
office were being considered. 
The experiments carried on with injurious insects have been 
in cooperation with orchard men whose loss from these pests has 
invited tests of measures of control. The experiments have served 
as practical demonstrations in each neighborhood in which they were 
carried on, and have served as object lessons at the same time they 
were revealing new facets. They have been the objects of the 
deepest local interest. The territory covered by the demonstra¬ 
tive experiments has been thus far limited to points lying in the 
lower Grand Valley, principally in the orchard sections surrounding 
Grand Junction, Palisade, and Fruita. 
CODLING MOTH. (Cydia pomonella Linn.) 
Introductory —The codling moth has received the greatest share 
of attention. Spraying experiments have been completed in five 
orchards of the locality and the results successfully answer the prin¬ 
cipal questions relating to the control of the insect. 
Probably no district in the United States is better equipped with 
modern spraying apparatus than the orchard district of Grand Valley. 
Nearly $100,000 are invested in spraying apparatus in the county of 
Mesa alone, but in spite of this fact, codling moth ravages have 
injured the fruit to the extent of a great many hundreds of thou¬ 
sands of dollars annually for some years past, and in spite of the 
fact that some orchardists have applied as many as ten or more 
sprayings per season. The past season has cost the growers, by 
careful estimate, over $36,000 for material used in making up their 
*This bulletin is a companion to Bulletin 118, which gives the report 
of the Field Horticulturist for 1906, Western Slope Fruit Investigation. 
The general plan for the entomological investigations were made by 
Prof. C. P. Gillette, and the work was under his direction. 
The work was rendered possible by other funds than the government 
appropriations for the Experiment Station, a considerable portien from 
the fruit associations of Mesa County, and the remainder from the State 
Board of Agriculture. 
