INSECT PESTS.--Of the many insects which affect either the tree or the
fruit of the apple, the nine selected probably inflict the most damage
and are the most difficult to control of all those in the Northeastern
States. According to their method of attack all insects may be divided
into two classes: biting and sucking. Biting insects are those which
actually eat parts of the tree, as the leaves or fruit. These are
combated by the use of stomach poisons as we shall see in the
following chapter. Sucking insects are those which do not eat the tree
or fruit directly, but by means of a tubelike proboscis suck the
juices or sap from the limbs, leaves or fruit. Of the biting insects
the five which we shall discuss are: (1) codling moth, (2) apple
maggot, (3) bud moth, (4) cigar case bearer, (5) curculio. The four
sucking insects discussed are: (6) San Jose scale, (7) oyster shell
scale, (8) blister mite, and (9) aphis or plant louse.
1. THE CODLING MOTH, the most insidious of all apple pests, is mainly
responsible for wormy apples. The adult is a night flying moth with a
wing expanse of from one-half to three-quarters of an inch. The moths
appear about the time the apple trees are in bloom. Each female is
supposed to lay about fifty eggs which are deposited on both the
leaves and fruit, but mostly on the calyx end of the young apples. The
eggs hatch in about a week and the young larvae or caterpillars begin
at once to gnaw their way into the core of the fruit. Three-fourths of
them enter the apple through its blow end.
After twenty to thirty days of eating in the apple, during which time
they become full grown and about three-quarters of an inch long, they
leave the apple, usually through its side. The full grown caterpillar
now secretes itself in the crevices in the bark of the tree or in
rubbish beneath the tree and spins a tough but slight silken cocoon in
which the pupal period is passed. This lasts about a fortnight, when
the process is sometimes repeated, so that in the Eastern States there
are often two broods each season.
The most vulnerable point in the career of this little animal is when
it is entering the fruit. If a fine poison spray covers the surface of
the fruit, and especially if it covers the calyx end of the apple
inside and out, when the young larvae begin to eat they will surely be
killed. It is estimated that birds destroy eighty-five per cent. of
the cocoons on the bark of trees.
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