THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 443 



bark of the apple, prune, cherry and apricot. The number of eggs per 

 mass vary from approximately sixty to two hundred. The use of bands 

 around the tree trunks, placed during September and October — to be 

 renewed occasionally on account of rains — will trap the females as they 

 ascend the trunks to deposit their eggs. 



MISCELLANEOUS INSECTS. 



The Alfalfa Caterpillar. 



The adults of the alfalfa caterpillar are the common yellow butterflies, 

 numerous in the alfalfa fields. The worms are green, with a white 

 stripe on each side of the body. They feed on the leaves of the alfalfa 

 plants and on the young growth. The resting stage of this insect is the 

 pupal stage. These hibernating chrysalids are to be found upon weed 

 and alfalfa stems. Renovating the alfalfa fields during the winter 

 months will not only materially benefit the alfalfa itself, but wull 

 destroy many of these pupag. Pasturing the alfalfa fields will also keep 

 down the alfalfa butterfly, by destroying the chrysalids. 



Cutworms. 



The cutworms pass the Avinter in the ground. Fall plowing will 

 destroy a large proportion of the cutworms. This is particularly true 

 in those sections of California that have a freezing temperature. The 

 writer once observed, in a field of beets of which several acres were 

 planted on soil plowed the previous fall, and the rest on land which 

 was plowed several weeks before planting, that practically 75 per cent 

 of the beets on the spring plowed laud were killed by the cutworms, 

 while on the fall plowed portion of the field the plants were practically 

 untouched. 



PLANT DISEASES. 



Peach Blight. 



In Bulletin No. 191 of the California Experiment Station it is 

 recommended that spraying, between October 25th and November 25th, 

 be performed, in order to prevent an infestation of the peach blight the 

 next .year. The spray used is Bordeaux mixture, the formula being 

 30 pounds bluestone, 35 pounds lime to 200 gallons of water. The peach 

 blight fungus begins its w'ork in the winter and the peach tree must be 

 sprayed at that time. 



The disease causes dead spots to appear on the younger shoots during 

 the winter months, particularly near the buds. The buds are killed, 

 together with much of the younger growth. 



Pear Blight. 



Pear blight is a bacterial disease. It is more conspicuous in the early 

 part of the season, when it appears in the form of twig blight during the 

 blossoming period on both pears and apples. A few weeks later, after 

 the period of pollination, the blossoms and tips affected begin to wilt 

 and blacken. This results in the complete blackening and death of all 

 affected branches and spurs upon which the flower clusters have been 

 borne. Upon the pear the blight may continue to extend down the 

 twigs into the branches, later from the branches into the larger limbs 



