REPORT OF STATE HORTICULTURIST. 4 1 



Green Aphis. The aphis infestation has seemed to be rather 

 below normal and the growers have not experienced as much 

 trouble with this pest as during the past few seasons. This 

 was especially noticeable with the young trees. 



Borers. In a recent bulletin on the Round Head Borer, a 

 government expert has recommended as a remedy the use of a 

 rather heavy lead and oil mixture applied to the butt of the 

 tree to the height of eighteen to twenty-four inches. If thii 

 method does not result in any harm to the tree itself, it would 

 seem to be the simplest and most efficient thus far advocated. 

 The painting would have to be done each year. We know, of 

 course, that tarred paper or any similar material, if kept on 

 for the entire year, stifles the evaporation from the bark and 

 does not give a free circulation of air so that we have first 

 a blackened condition, usually followed by disease infection. 

 If the paint does not give a similar result, it is surely a wel- 

 come remedy. The best remedy in operation at the present time 

 is the fine mesh galvanized wire wrapped around the tree, 

 carefully, that it may not brush the tree in any part, with one 

 end well covered in the ground and the other stuffed with 

 cotton or waste. In some cases the borers will lay their eggs 

 at the top of the wire, but the number is small, and the infes- 

 tation is easily noticed. The reason for so much care in not 

 allowing the wire to touch the tree is because of the tendency 

 on the part of the female borer to insert the egg through the 

 mesh of the wire. 



Leaf Blister Mite. This exceedingly active mite is making 

 its presence known in orchards where there is no spraying done, 

 or, if done, where the application has been carelessly applied. 

 The only time during its life history when it is vulnerable is 

 when migrating from its winter home between the folds of the 

 leaf-bud to its summer home between the surfaces of the leaf. 

 It does not begin to move about until the leaf-buds have begun 

 to swell appreciably, so that it is very necessary in order to 

 control this pest to apply the dormant spray of lime-sulphur 

 rather later than is commonly practiced. The tips of the leaf- 

 buds should show a decided green, and little or no harm will 

 be done if they have become a quarter of an inch in length. 



It is a sad sight in the fall to see apple trees, particularly 

 the Baldwin, with their leaves all turning yellow and dropping 



