REPO-RT OF THE EyTOMOLOGIST AXD BOTANIST 7? 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



Another formula is 5 lbs. of resin and 3 lbs. of castor oil for warm weather and equal 

 parts by weight for cold weather. The most convenient way to apply these mixtures 

 is to paint them on to bands of thick paper, but they may be applied to the tree with- 

 out injury. It is sometimes necessary to put on a second coating if too much of the 

 oil is absorbed by the bark. Printer's ink, 5 lbs. mixed with 1 gallon of fish oil is also 

 very much used in Nova Scotia and the amount mentioned will treat an acre of 

 orchard. 



The Eve-spotted bud-moth {Tmetocera ocellana, Schif.) — The Eye-spotted 

 Bud-moth has been so abundant during the past two years that there is an 

 unusual amount of inquiry concerning its habits. There is only one brood 

 in the year. The inconspicuous moths, dark gray in colour blotched with white, may 

 be found at rest on the trunks of trees from the middle of June until the middle of 

 July. They become active at night flying about fruit trees of various kinds, laying 

 their curious little flat eggs upon the leaves. Ten days after the eggs are laid the 

 small caterpillars crawl to the middle of the lower side of the leaf and form a siUten 

 tube close 'to one of the larger ribs. Here they feed on the tissues of the lower side 

 of the leaf and grow very slowly until autumn, remaining all the time on the leaf 

 where they were born. About September they stop feeding and crawl to the twigs 

 where they spin a close silken shelter in which they pass the winter and from which 

 they emerge early the next spring and, compared with their size, do an immense amount 

 of harm by attacking the unfolding buds, frequently destroying a whole bunch oF 

 blossoms and sometimes two or three. The best remedy is to spray the trees thoroughly 

 with a poisoned Bordeaux mixture at the time the buds are opening, covering the 

 whole tree so that every bud receives some of the poison. Experiments having in view 

 the destruction of the young caterpillars in the autumn were not very successful. It is 

 (UtHcnlt to find time to spray during the fruit season and this of course would be un- 

 wise upon bearing trees. The experiments referred to were upon early apples of 

 which the fruit had all been picked some time before. If it is considered too much 

 trouble to iLse Bordeaux mixture for the first spraying at the time the buds are burst- 

 ing, a simple Paris green mixture which is more easily made, consisting of one pound 

 of Paris green, one pound of fresh lime, and 100 gallons of water may be used. 



The Cattle Horn-fly (Hcematohia serrata, Desv.). — This troublesome pest of 

 Iiorned stock, which apijcared first in Canada in 1S92, has done much harm by 

 irritating cattle with its bites so that when it is abundant they fall off rapidly both 

 in flesh and in yield of miUc. Erom the time it first appeared in Canada this fly has 

 spread over all parts of the Dominion, reaching the Pacific coast in 1903; but is by 

 far more troublesome in the eastern provinces than in the west. The fly is a small 

 and very active dark gray species about one-third the size of the ordinary cattle fly, 

 and shaped just like that inseet with the same kind of biting, dagger-shaped beak, 

 carried projecting forward in front of the head. When in large numbers these flies 

 frequently cluster on the horns to rest. It was from this habit that they got their 

 name. Statements that they bore holes into the horns are inaccurate. The only 

 harm done by them is due to their very irritating bites on the bodies of the animals. 

 The eggs are laid by the females in freshly deposited covn droppings. The maggots 

 hatch in 24 hours and become full grown in about a week ; they then burrow down a 

 short distance into the ground and turn to brown puparia, from which the flies emerge 

 in four or five days. There are several broods during the summer, and the last brood 

 cf maggots passes the winter as puparia. 



Remedies. — 'Of the many remedies we have tried, the following have given the 

 greatest satisfaction: (1) smearing the parts most usually bitten with a mixture of 

 lard, 5 lbs., and pine tar, 1 lb. Two applications each week when the flies are very 

 bad. Mix well together and apply to the parts most attacked, brushing the mixture 

 lightly over the tips of the hair. After two or three applications the 1;reatment has 

 morp pffpot than at first. (2) Spraying the animals twice a week with ordinary ke^o- 



16— G* 



