THE CODLIN MOTH.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2105, 5 January 1886, Page 4

THE CODLIN MOTH.

A deputation lately waited on the Commissioner of Crown Lands, South Australia, to urge that legislative action be taken to pieveut tlio introcluctiou of the Codlin moth from Victoria ami Tasmania. It was suggested the Icgi-^U tioii should deal with other insect pusts but the names of pests referred to except phylloxera are not stated Experience in California has shown that the appli ninth is the most destructive insect \ut ■ which 01 chai (lists have to deal In average seasons its effects upon the appl» crop are to reduce it by hilly one half and in seasons specially favourable for the insect, the crop m many distucts h;imlleral to the extent <i 7"> per cen» In Tasmania and in Victoii*. the motit Lasbecu making gieat progress of htt yens. Like the rabbit an 1 the spauow, it finds iv our genial climate conditionwl)ich enable it to reproduce its specie several times in one year. In the cooler climate of Great Britain it takes a uholi ycai to piss through its various stages ; during the greater portion of the year it is, howe er, in the chrysalis foim, th" date of the escape of the moth being det. 1 mined by the character of tin weather. In favourable locations in California the moth appears about the middle of April, but more generally from the Ist to the 20th of May. It is believed that each female lays from 200 to 500 eggs, but taking 200 as the lowes-t number, 12 moths in one orchard would produce 2,400 caterpillars, if one-half of these were females, they would give in the next generation 540,000, and bo on in proportion ;n; n imecesmvo generations, j Tha rapid increase of the moth when it i» once introduced is thus clearly explained. The proposal to attempt legislition against the moth demands very careful consideration. The first question for consideration is by what possible means can tho moth be deatroyod ? The second, how could a law to that end be enforced ? Experience has shown that the insect can be m<j*,t readily dealt with in the caterpillar stage, but that it may al-o be captured and killed in the uhry«alis form. Attempts to catch the moths have, as a rule, not been attended with any marked success. The steps tdketi to mitigate the evil are, first, that of gathering up in an iron bucket all fallen apples day after d.iy, and picking all fruit* on the tree which contain the grub. The.se are either by boiling them for a few minutes or by putting them into a hog-tn>>, when the insects will be drowned. PI m 2 is th it of placing a woollen band mound the htem of each tree, and visiting them at iutervals of from three or four days to a week, slipping the bands both upwards and downward*, and removing the insocts concealed there. Where theso two plans faithfully carried out by every owner of an apple, pear, or quince tree, much would be done in the course of two years towards relucing the pest within comparatively h tunicas limit*. Such uction inu&t, however, be carried out by all. If one grower iv a district negleoted his share of the work tbi« lubour? of the rest would be frustrated The question then arises how could a Ihw requiring growers to take the j measures above described be enforced ': j Band* might be put on all trees, but who is to bee that tho periodical vi-it is paid, and that the concealed insects are removed and destroyed ? Some idea of the difficulty that would be experienced is nfforded in the evidence of Mr Joseph Cronley, of Tasmania, published in The Australasian of July 12, 1879, who spoke to the Commission as follows : " I have taken as rauny as 27 fiom under the old bark of one tree, and I believe thoie were many other such treo^ in the garden. The old bark (every crack and crevice) should be searched for the grubs. As soon as tlie apples are seen affected on the trees they should be taken off aud destroyed. A good large haybind should be tied around the trunk of the tree while the apples jire arrowing, at the height of about one foot from the ground ; the grubs will ".heltei 1 in the bundf, which should be taken off every two or three weeks, and burned. I believe the grubs will be lessened very much by this mean?, as they certainly make for the tree for shelter. I believe it would be a good way to burn naked lights on a fine night in the garden — see how many moths are destroyed by rushing into the glare of a candle. I know from ; visiting many gardens about Hobait Town that some men have lo«t one-half, and many have lost oue-third of their crops of fruit this year by the grub. I know one man who I believe had fully 100 bushels of apples destroyed by the grub ; one-hrilf of these or more he gathered off the trees or the ground and threw them in tho street, the remainder he put in a heap in an adjoining paddock. Now, this is not tho wiiy to keep the grub under. I asked another man why he did not get those grubby apples off the trees ? He sud, ' I don't keep them as a source of revenue.' Another man, in answer to a similar question, said, ' I cannot bother with them — if th«y leave me enough for my own use I don't care.' Now these are tho kind of men that the industrous fruit-grower fceeks piotection agaiubt. If the guib gets to Huon. it is my opiniou the Huon people will never rid themselves of it." The Taamanian experience is bemj repeated in Victoria. A fnw of those engaged in the business of fruit-growing take steps at all .season;' to destroy the pest, but the men who " don't keep »pple trees aa a source of revenue," or those who " cannot bother with them," frustruto all the attempts of the commercial growers to combat the moth, and w e confess that v\ c are unable to imagine a law under whi<:h thi-. gieat and growing evil could bo effectively dealt with. Growers might do much by meeting together and educating public opinion on the subjtct. They might compile aud place in tho hands of every owner of a garden, however small, a pamphlet showing clearly the magnitude of the evil and the mo->t leady modes of dealing with it, aud settiug forth also the imperative necessity for combined and simultaneous action. This is the only course that appears possible under the circumstances. The notion that the codlin moth may be kept out of SoMth Australia by legislating ugamst tho importation of apples and npple trees is, we fear, not well founded. If South Au.sti ilia were an Island, the ca-e would be different. Uulet-s Victoiia is freed from the moth, it will soon go acioss the border ; fruit-tree planting- has become extremely common even iv remote comei? of the colony.

A writer in a Fmich journal contributes the Bulgarian version of a legend which, in one shape or other, has a place in the traditions of almost every people with whom we are acquainted. Nine master masons, who were engaged in building a citadel in the time of the Voivoul NeagoC, found, on leturning to their work each morning, that the portion of the wall which th'-y had competed the previous d.i,) had Jallcn co ruins during the night, and was lying a he"p of ruins in the ditch. Manol ot Luitea — the head mas m — informed his cormades one morning tli u a voice from heaven had warned him in his sleep that their labours would continue to come to nought unless they all swore th.it morning to immure in the structiue the first woman, wife or sibter, who should arrive with tLe morning meal of one or cither of thuii. They all took the oath, and the la^t man had hardly been sworn when Mauol'd own wife appeared, bringing her husband's breakfast. Manol kept the oath, and "Flora of the Fields'' disappeared in the mass of the rapidlyrisiug masonry. A curious practice of the Bulgarian masons, which survives to this day, testifies to the vitality of the legend. To insure the solidity of the houses they build, they measure with a reed the shadow of the first person uho passes after they have dug the foundation, and are about to lay the first •tone, and then they bury the reed under the fonndation-stone.