Insects of Interest to Fruit Groivers. 73 



trees the chances are that the larva will be drowned. Prof. Riley then 

 referred to the fact that all along the Atlantic coast, for the last year or two, 

 there had been noticed a considerable disfigurement of fruit, especially of 

 apples. This had been traced principally to the snout wevil, the apple cur- 

 culio, or anthonornus quadrigibbus. This insect perforated the skin of the 

 apples and produced a large lump around where the perforation had taken 

 place, this constituting the disfigurement alluded to. 



The plum curculio also did much damage to fruit in the same way, but did 

 not touch apples so long as plums were around. He next called attention 

 to a trouble that had recently broken out among pears in the neighborhood 

 of Meriden, Conn., the unwelcome intruder being a member of the great 

 two-winged fly family. He called attention to this matter so that the Asso- 

 ciation, if they thought fit, might exert themselves to prevent the trouble 

 spreading beyond its present somewhat restricted area. The speaker then 

 went on to remark on 



ORANGE RUST. 



He observed that he had previously stated that kerosene emulsion properly 

 applied was an excellent insecticide, and therefore in speaking of oranges he 

 would confine himself to the chief trouble, which was outside of insects, and 

 known as " the rust." There were certain people who always insisted that 

 orange rust was the outcome of a disagreeable soil, and recommended the 

 use of a certain chemical known popularly as " German salt." But the rust 

 was not occasioned by the soil ; its cause was well-known. It was due to a 

 " mite." The working of this mite had been carefully studied by himself, 

 and by his associates and agents in Florida and elsewhere, until they now 

 knew all about it. They knew how the mite developed, how it produced the 

 rust, and how that the rust never occurred save where the mite had been. 

 The mite did not love strong sunshine nor strong shade, but loved the happy 

 medium. The rust, as was well-known, did not hurt the quality of the 

 orange, but spoiled its appearance and depreciated its market value. The 

 mite that did the injury belonged to the family of four-legged phytoptus oleo- 

 vori. The actual cause of the rust was the oxydation of the ruptured cells, 

 and a perfect remedy lay in a milk emulsion with a little sulphur added. 

 The adult mites were very delicate and succumbed immediately to this 

 remedy, but the eggs were very tough and considerable attention had to be 

 paid in applying the spray. A most useful appliance for spraying orange 

 trees was the nozzle he had before alluded to attached to a bamboo rod, the 

 center of which had been burnt out and an India rubber tube substituted. 



Prof. Riley then gave some interesting facts regarding the action of the 

 phylloxera on the vines of France some years ago, and told how the vast 

 fields fendered desert by that pest were now being recultivated with the 

 American grape vines; the two most popular kinds being the Clinton and 

 the Taylor, The speaker denounced the Treaty of Berne as being most in- 

 iquitous, and said there was no danger of the importation of phylloxera into 

 this country, which it was pretended this treaty prevented. 



6 



