BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY. 639 



OTIIEK INSECTS. 



Studies of the grape berry moth, which liave been in progress for 

 several seasons, have been practically concluded and a full report on 

 the subject is now in press. AVork against the fruit-tree leaf -roller 

 has been carried on, with headquarters at Canyon City, Colo., where 

 the pest is especially troublesome. An experimental orchard has 

 been planted lor the study of apple-tree borers in a region where 

 these insects are abundant. Considerable work has been done with 

 the parasitic and predatory enemies of deciduous fruit pests. ' The 

 peach bud mite and the peach Lecanium have been subject to especial 

 study, and some careful work has been done with the most economical 

 and effective insecticidal sprays. 



CEREAL AND FORAGE-PLANT INSECT INVESTIGATIONS. 



The work of the section of cereal and forage-plant insects, carried 

 on under the immediate supervision of Prof. F. M. Webster, was en- 

 larged in its possibilities by the appropriation of additional funds, 

 largely owing to the urgent need for extensive work against the 

 alfalfa weevil, and several other problems of economic importance 

 have come up in the course of the general work of the section. 



THE ALFALFA WEEVIL. 



Owing to the appropriation of additional funds, the work against 

 the alfalfa weevil has been carried on much more extensively than 

 has been possible heretofore. Additional men have been added to the 

 force of investigators, and the insect has been carefully followed 

 through the entire year and through its annual life cycle. Not only 

 has this work been carried on in the laboratory and in the fields ad- 

 joining headquarters, which are at Murray, Utah, a short distance 

 south of Salt Lake City, but they have been duplicated to a large ex- 

 tent in higher altitudes, in order to obtain a thorough knowledge of 

 the insect throughout the territor}^ over which it has become dis- 

 tributed. 



Much experimental work has been carried on in the fields, both 

 with parasitic insects and with parasitic fungi. Other experiments 

 have been conducted with reference to the treatment of the infested 

 fields by different cultural methods, including irrigation. Still other 

 experiments have been carried on, in cooperation with the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry, with reference to the determination of a possible 

 partial immunity in certain strains of alfalfa. In cooperation Avith 

 the Utah experiment station, field experiments have been carried out 

 in the way of combining alfalfa with other crops in order to reduce, 

 if possible, the intensity of the weevil attack. There seems to be a 

 disinclination on the part of the weevil to work in shaded places, 

 and experiments are being carried on in growing alfalfa mixed with 

 grains and grasses in order to determine if a mixed crop of hay can 

 not be obtained, the value of which will be equal to that of clear 

 alfalfa, and thus evade some part of the weevil damage. 



Very good results have been obtained by the use of a modified 

 cultivator, in whicli the shovels of the cultivator are displaced by 

 steel-wire brus-hes, and also by attaching these brushes to a spring- 

 tooth harrow. 



