United States or Mayotte ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The organism responsible for these blemishes is less evident than the codlin-moth; yet what fruit-grower knows the eggs of the codlin-moth? But the organisms are as definite as are the insects; no longer are the fungi things without form and without positive cycles. On the ground are apple leaves, shed in the autumn.
These sprayings, variously modified, control not only the codlin-moth and the scab fungus but also scale, blister-mite, plant-lice, leaf-roller, case-bearer, bud-moth, red-bug and others. In the tropics one sees trees bearing great burdens of orchids and bromeliads and ferns and mosses, and one wonders at the strange and exuberant population.
Probably the most prominent citizen of the apple-tree is the codlin-moth. Its larva is the apple-worm, the one that makes "wormy apples," the burrows going to the core and out again. The insect is native in Europe, but has been known in North America nearly two hundred years, and is widespread in the apple countries of the world.
This one fruit has now passed the danger of the blossom-end infection by the codlin-moth and it has no blemishes. The many whitish spots characteristic of the variety are now conspicuous all over the surface. The ribs begin to show. There is a faint blush on the upper side. The fuzz has disappeared and the bloom is becoming evident.
In the days before the perfecting of the spraying processes, the codlin-moth was controlled by catching the pupating larvæ. Taking advantage of the habit of the worm to find lodgment under the bark on the trunk, it was the practice to scrape the loose bark from bole and large branches to destroy the hiding-places and then to tie a band of cloth around the trunk.
Even so and for all that, man protects his tree by spraying it with poison, and thereby again does he have dominion. The spraying for apple-scab is with lime-sulfur to which may be added arsenate of lead. This treatment, properly timed, may suffice also for the codlin-moth.
A second spraying is given just after the blossoms fall, as for codlin-moth; if the season is wet, a third application may be made ten to fourteen days later; if the fungus seems to spread, a fourth spraying may be applied in midsummer.
There is no evidence in either apple of codlin-moth invasion. The adjoining spur, not clearly shown in the photograph, is barren; it gave no flowers this year, and it shows no indication of a blossom-bud for next year. The leaves are thick and vigorous, yet they bear marks of insect injury and one of them has been extensively skeletonized.
On the young limbs and small trunks the bark is tight and close, not splitting into seams or furrows with the expansion of the cylinder but stretching and throwing off detached flakes and chips. Under the chips various insects hide or make some of their transformations. There the codlin-moth pupates. The old remains of scale insects may be found on the exterior.
Word Of The Day