]22 ANNUAL IlKPORT OF Till-: Off. Doc. 



CANKER WOKMS 



Canker worms (measuring worms, span worms or loopersi are 

 leaf-eating insects of tlie most destructive kind, attacking fvr.it trec»s 

 early in tlie spring, while the leaves are small. The adult uiales 

 are thin-winged moths, expanding about an incli. The females are 

 wingless, and crawl up the tree, laying their eggs under shreds of 

 barks, around twigs, or on expanding buds. Tlie liatching of the 

 eggs covers a period of several weeks. 



Treatment: Spray infested trees with arsenate of lead, as for cur- 

 culio or codling moth just as soon as the young worms appear. 

 Trees can be ])rotected by applying about the trunk a bjindage of 

 tar, printer's ink, sticky fly-paper, wool or loose cotton, very early 

 in the spring (February) thus jjreventing the ascent of the female 

 moth. 



H. A. SURFACE. 



CURCULIOS 



The Cu.rculios are Snout Beetles or ''Bill Bugs," — so named from 

 the long snont. There are several species of curculios, and they 

 attack apple, jjear, quince, peach, plum, apricots, clierry and nec- 

 tarines, while others attack nuts, acorns, and variuos parts of grow- 

 ing plants. The most injurious of these is the Plum Curculio, so 

 called because it was believed to infest only the plum. These in 

 sects are grajish black "snout beetles" or weevils, measuring about 

 one-fifth inch in length, and bearing several bumps on their back. 

 The beetles spend the winter concealed about the orchard beneath 

 the rough bark, f)r under rubbish. The}' emerge from their hiding 

 place following the blooming of the fruit trees, and soon begin to feed 

 upon the young leaves and fruit, upon the latter of which they make 

 their characteristic punctures. Two kinds of injuries are made, the 

 round holes into which the eggs are deposited by the fenmle, with 

 the crescent shaped cut beneath, and the crescent cut alone, Avhich 

 indicates a feeding puncture. Peaches, plums and cherries are first 

 attacked, while apples are stung when the size of a pea or larger. 



The eggs hatch within ten days, into a tiny, yellowish-white, leg- 

 less grub with a brown head, which bores minute irregular channels 

 toward the core of pome fruits, but feeds about the pit in stone 

 fruits. After from three to five weeks the larvae leave the fruits, 

 and pupate in an earthen cell about two inches beneath the surface of 

 the ground, maturing during midsummer. There is but one brood 

 each season. While a few of the curculio eggs deposited in the 

 apple ever hatch, and less larvae come to maturity, the injury to 

 the fruits from egg-laying and feeding punctures causes knots and 

 gnarls, and thus damages the appearance and reduces the market 

 value of the crop. 



Treatment: There are two methods of treatment available. Owing 

 to the habit of these insects to feign death when disturbed, they can 

 be jarred from the tree in the early morning upon sheets spread be- 

 neath it and gathered and destroyed; but the better method is to 



