New Yoke: Agricultural Experiment Station. 325 



proximity of weeds and brush to an orchard favor the propagation 

 of invitus and encourage its presence on pear trees. With this point 

 in mind a careful study has been made of a number of orchards 

 subject to attack by this insect, but the evidence so far has been 

 quite contradictory, as the following observations show. 



In 1908 a few trees in one orchard were much infested with the 

 false tarnished plant-bug, but the damage was practically confined 

 to the sides of them that were nearest to considerable undergrowth 

 or brush. The desirability of clean culture to destroy the origin of 

 the infestation seemed plain, and this was put into practice. But in 

 spite of this measure injuries to the fruit have continued to appear 

 on the trees in the original area of infestation as well as in other 

 portions of the orchard. 



In another orchard the insect has caused more or less losses to the 

 yields for a period of over twenty years, and since 1910 the planting 

 has been very much neglected and is now grown to grass and weeds. 

 For the past two seasons the crop has hardly been worth harvesting 

 because of the work of invitus. Adjoining this orchard there is 

 another planting of pears which is given careful cultivation, and the 

 crop has now for two years been quite free of injury with the excep- 

 tion of the fruit taken from trees adjacent to a fence overgrown with 

 weeds and brush. 



In Orleans county there is an orchard which is close to a small 

 belt of timber, and in 1911 all the trees for a width of several rows 

 which were nearest to and parallel with the woods showed con- 

 siderable injuries to the crop. In the more remote portion of the 

 orchard deformed fruit occurred to only a slight extent. 



Quite contradictory to the foregoing is the experience of Mr. S. 

 Wright McCollum of Lockport. His pear orchards, three in number, 

 are among the best managed plantings in Niagara county. Each 

 year his crops are damaged by this insect, and during some seasons 

 he has experienced severe losses. Originally invitus confined its 

 attacks to a corner of one of his plantings which was near a row of 

 wild berries and sod. Of late years, in spite of clean culture, the 

 insect has spread throughout all the orchards and apparently has 

 found in these plantings the essential conditions for its maintenance 

 as a permanent pest. 



From the present knowledge of its habits invitus breeds most 

 abundantly on pears, wild grapes and sumach, and in all probability 



