458 



THE MONTHLY HHU.ETIN. 



FALL WORK IN INSECT CONTROL. 



By Hahky H. Ladd, County Horticultural Commissioner, Stockton, Cal. 



A fall clean up of weeds and grasses in the avenues and around the fences is a 

 factor in pest control the importance of which is not generally appreciated. In San 

 Joaquin County there are several pests which can be partially if not entirely 



controlled by cutting down the weeds on which they 

 spend the winter and by cultivating the ground to kill 

 those that hibernate in the soil. 



No matter how carefully a fanner watches his 

 insect pests, if weeds are allowed to stand throughout 

 the winter there will be a number which will succeed 

 in hibernating and will make trouble for him in 

 the spring. 



I think it is much better to do away with fences 

 entirely around the farms if stock is not being 

 raised near the farm. A real estate dealer bought 

 an orchard for $o00 per acre and by tearing down 

 the front fence and cleaning away the weeds to the 

 road he improved the looks of the place so much that 

 it sold for $500 per acre in a short time. 



It is very important in carrying out the clean-up 

 idea, not only to do away with weeds and cultivate 

 the soil, but to clean out all the trash in and around 

 the packing sheds and to take up all old sacks and 

 rubbish and burn them. The codling moth, the worst 

 pest of apples anil pears, finds a home in packing and 

 cutting sheds and under trash and leaves, and it is difficult to control it without 

 starting in by cleaning up in the fall. 



If we hope to rid our places of the brown mite the best way to start is by 

 cleaning up the weeds, especially sunflowers and morning-glory, since they carry 

 enough red spider or brown mite to infest the orchard even though the farmer were 

 careful to spray his trees and vines in the spring. 



We have helped to get rid of the potato tuber moth to quite a large extent by 

 having the camps where seed potatoes are cut cleaned up and the refuse burned in 

 the fall to destroy the overwintering eggs. Seme kinds of aphids en 1 be found on 

 mustard all through the winter. Thrips. the great pest of prune, pear and cherry 

 trees, spend the winter in the ground in the young stages and many may be 

 destroyed by cultivation. The brown day moth spends the winli r in trash and 

 sometimes gives trouble in the spring. The cutworm, which is one of the first to 

 start work on the tender buds of the grape vine, spends the whan- in the ground 

 around the vine and hoeing will tend to get rid of it. The vine hopper, which has 

 been a very troublesome pest this season is dependent on the weeds and grasses for 

 a winter home and if these are cleaned up in the fall there will not be likely to be 

 as many to tight with sprays the next spring. Grasshoppers lay eggs in the soil 

 in uncultivated corners and may be reduced in numbers very appreciably by plowing 

 such places during the winter. The grape root worm lives under the soil throughout 

 the winter and may be greatly reduced in numbers by cultivation. The sphinx moth 

 was so abundant in one of our vineyards a few years ago that vines were defoliated, 

 but by plowing the pupa 1 of the moth under in the fall further trouble during the 

 following spring was avoided. Among the garden pests the cabbage bugs and squash 

 bugs depend on trash for protection during the cold season. 



A clean-up week on the farms, as some cities have had, i.* greatly to be desired, 

 since there is nothing that makes a county look so prosperous as having one farm 

 after another along the road well cleaned up in the fall an J the new grass coming 

 up without having lo grow through a lot of old dead weeds. 



