COMPARATIVE LESSON ON VARIETIES OF WINTER APPLES
KING, BALDWIN, NORTHERN SPY
Discuss the names, keeping and cooking qualities of the apples, and bearing qualities of the trees.
Provide each member of the class with a typical representative of each of the above varieties of apples.
Compare the three apples as to size, form, colour—including marks; hardness, length, and thickness of stem; depth of cavity at the stem end; depth and shape of the cavity at the calyx end.
Split each apple from stem to calyx and compare as to the thickness and toughness of the skin, the colour of the flesh, the size of the core, taste and juiciness of the flesh.
To the teacher.—All three are apples of fair size, the Baldwin being on the average the smallest of the three. All three are roundish, but the King is somewhat oval-round, and the Spy, conical-round. The Baldwin has a yellowish skin with crimson and red splashes dotted with russet spots. The King is reddish, shading to dark crimson. The Spy has a yellowish-green skin sprinkled with pink and striped with red.
The beautiful colours make all these apples very popular in the markets of American cities and in those of the British Isles; but the soft and easily damaged skin of the Spy makes it the least desirable as an apple for export.
All keep well and in cool cellars remain in good condition until April. They may be kept much longer in cold storage chambers, where the temperature is uniformly near the freezing point of the apple.
The Baldwin apple tree is reasonably hardy within the ordinary range for apple trees, and its yield is a satisfactory average. The King apple tree is not a hardy tree, nor is it a satisfactory bearer except in the best apple districts. The Spy is a fairly hardy tree and thrives and yields well throughout a wide range; but it does not begin to bear until it is about fifteen years old.
A comparative lesson may also be based on selected varieties of autumn apples, such as Fameuse, McIntosh Red, Wealthy, Gravenstein, and St. Lawrence.
CODLING MOTH
Begin the study of the codling moth in August by examining wormy apples. Find out, by asking the pupils, which orchards of the locality had been sprayed in the spring.
Ask the pupils to count out at random one hundred apples and to select from these the number that are wormy. What percentage of the apples are wormy? Compare the percentage of wormy apples in unsprayed, with that in sprayed, orchards. The results will afford evidence of the benefit of spraying.
Find out, if possible, the dates on which, and the conditions under which, the spraying of the orchards with the least number of wormy apples was done.
Ask the pupils to bring to the school-room a number of wormy apples. Have the pupils cut these open and note the nature and position of the hole, or burrow, and the amount of damage done to the apples.
Have the pupils observe the larva and note the size, colour, shape, and number of legs.
To the teacher.—The apple maggot is a less common insect larva and may be distinguished from the larva of the codling moth by the fact that the former has no legs and has the habit of burrowing in all directions through the pulp of the apple, while the larva of the codling moth works almost entirely in the core.
The cocoon and pupa phase of this insect may be obtained by keeping the wormy apples in a box containing loose paper on which the cocoons will be placed, or by searching under the bark scales of apple trees in October.
Describe the cocoons. Open some of them and describe the contents. Keep the remaining cocoons in a box or vivarium in a cool place during the winter.
What birds are seen tapping at the bark scales of the apple trees during winter? Examine the bark scales when a downy woodpecker has been at work and note that the cocoons have been destroyed.
Should we encourage the visits of woodpeckers to the orchards?
By hanging up a beef bone in the orchard, various birds, including woodpeckers, will be induced to visit and perhaps to make their homes in the orchard.
REFERENCES
Common Insects Affecting Fruit Trees, Bulletin No. 158, Department of Agriculture, Parliament Buildings, Toronto.
Bulletins Nos. 158 and 171, Ontario Department of Agriculture, deal with many insect pests and their remedies.
In May look for the adult moths as they emerge from the cocoons. Observe the colour, size, shape, and the bright copper-coloured horse-shoe on the front wing—the "brand" of the codling moth.
Examine the little apples when the blossoms are falling. Note the tiny, flat, oval-shaped egg at various places on the surfaces of the apples and a few days later the tiny worm which emerges from the egg. This soon eats its way into the apple, entering usually at the calyx end. If spraying is done after the petals have fallen and just before the calyx end closes up, a drop of poison is inclosed, and when the larva enters it and begins eating its way into the apple, it gets the poison.