2IO AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



ting them asked my advice regarding the lot. By examination 

 out of 500 trees 50 were infested with the galls of the woolly 

 aphis. These were laid aside and the nurserymen were notified ; 

 no notice was taken of this and a second letter was sent. The 

 only reply was that the trees were all right and no rebate could 

 be allowed. Since then I have met with several parties who 

 have been served in just the same manner. 



The state of Maine has been the dumping ground for the stock 

 of many unscrupulous nurserymen. I inspected several lots that 

 were sent in last summer and one lot of several hundred con- 

 tained one hundred second quality trees of the Stark variety 

 which were just crawling with this pest. Colonies were on the 

 roots as well as on the branches. These had been on the road 

 for some time and were late arriving so that the conditions were 

 favorable for their development. The trees were condemned 

 and destroyed. 



Last August while inspecting the fruit trees in one of our 

 leading nurseries I discovered the aphis on a block of apple trees. 

 On investigation found that it was confined to all the trees or- 

 dered last spring from a leading nursery outside the state. As 

 a matter of experiment the trees were immediately taken up 

 and exposed for 40 minutes to the Hydrocyanic treatment. The 

 trees were then reset. Another spring will tell whether the 

 treatment was a success as far as the life of the trees is con- 

 cerned. The above trees bore a certificate of inspection from 

 the state inspector. Our orchardists must learn to recognize 

 this pest so that when they receive trees for setting they can 

 know by inspection if they are infested. For this reason I here- 

 with give the life history of this insect. 



LIFE HISTORY. 



The woolly aphis is shown in its different stages in Fig. 18 a, 

 agamic female; b, larva; c, pupa; d, winged female (Marlatt), 

 in Fig. 19, a, b, work on roots ; c, a louse highly magnified. 

 (Marlatt.) 



