152 ANNUAL REPORT OP THE Off. Doc. 



During the manj jears that this has been used by thousands of 

 persons we have received but one complaint, and when we replied to 

 the correspondent (elling him to pour the liquid into the strainer 

 rather slowly, and in such a way that it would strike the top of the 

 cone and wash the sediment down into its angle from which it could 

 be thrown out, he replied that he was having no further trouble with 

 it, as this was due solely to his not knowing how to use it. 



(e) The Peach Bud Mite. In the investigations of this office we 

 took up and investigated the important subject of the Peach Bud 

 Mite, with the assistance of our Inspector, Mr. Francis Windle, and 

 brought forth the following facts: (See Fig. 1.) 



During the summer of 1911 a trouble was found in nurseries in 

 the eastern United States which affected the groAvth of both seedling 

 and budded stock of peach trees. Large numbers of trees were 

 dwarfed, abnormally branched, short, and unshapely. The color of 

 their foilage was an unnatural, deep green. In these trees the tender 

 terminal buds of the early growth had been killed, and successively 

 as they branched from buds below the growth of the leading twig 

 would be largely checked in a similar way resulting in short, semi- 

 broomlike trees. 



This condition had been noticed to some extent for many years, 

 but as it had not caused serious loss, little or no attention had been 

 paid to it. As this trouble had been observed only in spots it was 

 at first attributed to poor soil or some undesirable soil condition. 

 This year the condition of the peach stock was really serious in 

 some nurseries. It affected many acres or whole fields, causing heavy 

 loss. Various experts were called upon to investigate the cause or 

 causes, soils were analyzed and trees were critically examined. Dif- 

 ferent views were expressed, some thought it was due to an insect 

 called "Thrips" and another thought a small plant bug was the mis- 

 chief-maker, while as an additional basis of suspicion a fungus was 

 found in the dead buds. Finally it was found that the cause of the 

 existing condition was a very small mite feeding on the tender 

 terminal buds and stopping their growth. A careful examination of 

 the injured buds was made in several nurseries and very small mites 

 were found in numbers. We also occasionally found a Thrip on the 

 buds which doubtless did some injury, and a fungus was also present 

 in most of the dead buds or tips of twigs. It later became apparent 

 that this fungus followed the injury caused by the mites rather than 

 preceding it. 



Further investigations showed that the mites were invariably 

 present in these injured buds. Numbers of the buds were placed in 

 small bundles and kept at the temperatures of a living room where 

 they bred and multiplied considerably, and where they continued to 

 do so during the winter as long as kept warm. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE MITES 



Some are probably one three-hundredth or one one hundred and 

 fiftieth of an inch long and half as wide. It is elliptical oblong, but 

 varies considerably in shape according to its age. The adult is amber 

 colored. The young larvae are nearly white with intermediate shades 

 toward amber according to age. The adult has four pairs of legs. 

 The two front pairs are grouped near the head and the two posterior 



