404 State Horticultural Society. 



causing the foliage to drop much more quickly than usual in the fall. 

 But when the disease is abundant, the foliage will often drop in mid- 

 summer, especially upon young trees or those in the nursery. It is upon 

 these that the injury is most apparent, preventing a good growth and, 

 when occurring year after year, quite seriously stunting the tree. It 

 must always be remembered that a tree's leaves are as necessary to its 

 growth as are the lungs to a person, and the moment it is deprived of 

 them, just that soon growth must cease. 



The blisters are caused by a very small mite, invisible to the unaided 

 eye, somewhat nearly related to the common red spider. It lays its eggs 

 within the blister and upon hatching the young mites first enlarge their 

 home cavity and then migrate to other portions of the leaf or preferably 

 to the more tender leaves of the new growth, where they form other 

 blisters. Thus the blisters, or galls, are rapidly multiplied during the 

 summer. As the leaves commence to drop, the mites leave them and 

 hide under the scales of the fruit buds, where they remain over winter. 

 it is at this time that they may be successfully attacked by spraying the 

 trees with strong kerosene emulsion or a mechanical mixture of kerosene 

 and water as made by the "kerosene attachments" of the newer pumps. 

 Careful experiments made by Prof. M. Y. Slingerland at Cornell Univer- 

 sity have shown that kerosene emulsion diluted with from five to seven 

 parts of water will be entirely effectual against this pest. This would be 

 equivalent to from fifteen per cent to twenty per cent of the kerosene 

 and water mixture. Trees should be sprayed from all sides, using special 

 care on the terminal buds. 



LADY-BIED BEETLES VS. THE SAX JOSE SCALE. 



The value of common Lady-bird beetles as destroyers of injurious 



plant lice and scale insects is not appreciated as it should be, for very 

 frequently they are killed by persons who think them injurious. 



Besides the little orange or red beetles, spotted with black, which 

 are ordinarily known as "Lady-bird" or "Lady-bugs," there are a number 

 of forms included in this family of beetles, the Coccinnellidae, which 

 are colored exactly opposite to the others, being of a brilliant black, 



