306 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



INSECTS OF THE CHERRY. 



Besides the pear-tree slug, spoken of above, the worst insect npon the 

 leaves of the cherry is 



THE BLA.CK CHEREY-TREE LOUSE (Myzus cerasi Fabr.). 



Frequently these lice so completely cover, distort, and smear with excre- 

 ment the cherry leaves that they are disgusting to behold; they not only 

 stop the growth of the tree, but take much of the nourishment that should 

 go to the fruit while maturing. As with all plant lice, they winter in the 

 egg stage, hatching early in the spring into females, which soon commence 

 producing young, and by the time cherries are ripe we have several genera- 

 tions, each individual of which is producing several young each day. 

 About July the lice disappear to the roots or to other plants. In the fall, 

 winged males and females are produced and the females return to the 

 cherry trees, there depositing their eggs around the buds for the next 

 year. 



Remedy. — If kerosene emulsion is used on the lice before they roll and 

 knot the leaves around themselves, they can be very easily killed, but 

 when protected by the leaves it is difficult to reach them with any remedy. 



PLUM CUECULIO {Conotrachelus nenuphar Hbst.). 



To the cherries the plum curculio is fully as injurious as to the plums, 

 though the cherries do not drop as the plums do when stung, consequently 

 we do not notice so great damage until we pick a luscious red cherry, 

 apparently sound, and bite into it when we are very likely to meet disappoint- 

 ment. The cherry will grow around and cover up the crescent cut made 

 by the curculio, while the plum will rot from the cut. 



Although there is only one brood, the beetles do not all appear at once, 

 and we must fight them (this little, hard-shelled beetle) for several weeks 



after the blossoms fall, if we save the fruit. If 

 the cherries and plums are a full crop, and the 

 curculio are not too numerous, we can save 

 what the trees will mature by spraying with the 

 arsenites. Spray as soon as the blossoms are 

 all off, and this should be followed by two or 

 three other sprayings at intervals of about ten 

 days. The arsenites should be used with the 

 Bordeaux mixture, as rains will be less likely 

 to wash off the arsenic, and the plant diseases 

 that attack the cherry and plum will be 

 ^ i checked by it. If prospects are that this will 



Fig. 24.— pinm Cnrcniio, o, larva; b, uot savc the crop, jarring the trces by means 

 pnpa; c, beetle. q£ ^ padded mallet and collecting the curculio 



on a sheet should be resorted to. The arsenites are so slow in acting on 

 the *curculio that after one has eaten of a poisoned leaf or of the fruit it 

 will still live two or three days, and in the meantime sting quite a number 

 of cherries and plums. 



