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'Cbc Conservative * 9
KILLING THE APPLE WOBM.
The apple worm has come to be looked
upon by horticulturists as an almost un
avoidable evil. Frnit growers meeting
yearly with the crop of "windfalls" and
the even scattering of deformed and
bitter apples have come to regard as
inevitable the ravages of this little pest
which destroys yearly millions of dollars'
worth of apples. Nevertheless , the ap
ple worm can be fought and fought
successfully. This has been demon
strated by experiments of Kansas farm
ers and fruitgrowers last summer , under
the direction of Prof. S. J. Hunter , who
is at the head of the entomological
department of the University of Kan
sas.
Professor Hunter is best known to
Kansans as the originator of disking as
a method of fighting the grasshopper in
alfalfa.
"We have found it to be the best
policy , " said he , "only to direct and
suggest what is to be done , leaving the
farmer to do the work , report the results
and express his opinion on the treat
ment. Our fight against the apple
worm last summer was conducted in
this fashion , entirely through correspon
dence. " Now the yield has been meas
ured , and that of the treated apples
found in most oases to be greater than
those which were not. The apples
which were experimented upon have
been found to be of better quality than
the others , and the long winter evenings
will be spent by the farmers in discuss
ing the merits of the treatment. "
The Work of the Apple Worm.
The apple worm is the progeny of a
silky brown moth called the codling
moth , which lays eggs on the leaves of
the apple tree , and occasionally on the
sides of the apple , from one to two
PROPER TIME TO SPRAY.
weeks after it has developed from the
blossom. About one week is required
for the worm to hatch out from the egg.
After emerging from the egg the worm's
first move is in the direction of one of
the apples , where its work commences.
Now the skin of the apple , which is still
hard and green , makes the fruit in-
vulnerab'le at the sides to the attack of
the worm , but the soft blossom end is
the apple's weak point , and it is to this
that the little worm immediately goes.
The first few days of the apple worm's
ife are spent in eating around in the
blossom end.
This period of eating in the blossom
end is the vulnerable point in the life of
the insect , for it is at this stage that it
can be killed by the poison spray in a
manner which will be described. Leav
ing here after a few days , the worm
begins to tunnel in the apple , with the
core as his objective point. The center
once reached , the apple worm remains
there until he is fullgrown , feeding upon
the core and the seeds , of which he
TOO LATE TO SPRAY.
seems particularly fond. When he has
reached maturity the worm starts for
the outside world again , digging his
burrow straight out for the side of the
apple ; in the darkness of the night he
leaves the apple and hies himself to a
place of concealment in a hollow or
crotch of the apple tree , in the bark , erin
in some pile of rubbish nearby , where
he spins a cocoon about himself.
The first worms to spin themselves up
in June and July soon transform to
pupro , from which , in about two weeks ,
the adult moth emerges and goes about
laying the eggs for a second brood of
the worms. In the northern parts of
the country only a few of the worms
develop into moths in the same season ,
but in the West a second and sometimes
a third brood are developed. The little
worms of the second brood , when
hatched out , immediately attack the
apples this time from the side eat
their way through and out , weave a
cocoon about themselves as did their
parent , and go into retirement for the
winter. They emerge in the spring , just
as the petals are falling from the apple
blossom , full grown moths now , and
begin the work of egg laying.
The effects of the moths' occupation
of the interior of the apple on the fruit
is most disastrous. The early varieties
ripen prematurely and drop from the
tree , becoming what is called "wind *
falls , " frnit which is used only to feed
cattle and innst it be said to make
apple cider. The later varieties remain
on the tree , but. become bitter in flavor.
The destruction wrought by the second
brood is even greater. No longer does
the side of the apple soft and ripe now
offer any resistance to its progress ,
and straight in through the side the
worm goes , disfiguring and ruining the
frnit.
Spraying is Death to Them.
It is with the little worm just out of
iris shell that the horticulturist concerns
airaself. Many ways of fighting the
pest in other stages of its development
have been tried ; killing the moth by
smudges fires of green fuel built under
the trees and collecting and destroying
the pupa in its cocoon , but the moth is
wary of smudges and the time taken to
collect enough of the cocoons to have an
effect on the breeding of the worms is
worth more than the apples saved.
Spraying is the only practical way of
attacking the worm. As has been
shown by the experiments last summer
it is a successful way.
Professor Hunter's spray , which was
used in the experiments , was made from
the following formula : Paris green ,
one pound ; freshly slacked lime , two
pounds ; water , 1GO gallons. To have
an effective mixture the Paris green
must be pure , since some of the Paris
green placed on the market is made up
of colored lime , flour and other adulter
ants. A sure test for the quality of the
article is to dissolve a small portion of it
in ammonia. If the Paris green dissolves
leaving no sediment , it is undoubtedly
pure. Having been tested , the Paris
green should be mixed with the lime in
enough water to make a thin paste , the
paste stirred into the rest of the water
and allowed to stand twenty-four hours
before using. A good spraying pump
with a nozzle throwing both a coarse
and a fine spray and having an agitator
of some sort at the bottom of the tank
should be used to apply the mixture to
the trees.
The time for spraying is within a week
after the blossoms fall. The object of
the spraying is not to cover the leaves ,
the branches , not the" apple itself , but to
fill the rose or blossom end of the apple
with the poisonous mixture so that the
worm's first meals , taken while tunnel
ing around in the blossom end , shall be
largely composed of Paris green , a sub
stance which will send him to the worm
Valhalla before he has had time to com
mence his burrow towards the core.
After the apple has been set four or five
days the calyx lobes at the outer end of
the apple begin to fold up , closing up
the blossom end of the apple. If the
blossom has been sprayed at the proper
time , when the calyx lobes fold in , the
Paris green is held safe and snug from
w '
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