35 



USE IN REFORESTATION. 



The koa is a suitable tree to use in reforesting denuded areas 

 where good drainage and favorable soil and moisture conditions 

 obtain. The seedlings are easy to handle in the nursery, and 

 young trees reach in two months 'a height of from 6 to 8 inches 

 and are then ready for planting out. The koa has a compara- 

 tively rapid growth during its earlier years. In favorable locali- 

 ties it will attain a height of 30 feet in five years and, if planted 

 15 by 15 feet apart," will during the same time form a complete 

 crown canopy over the ground. 



New Pests on the Mainland 



By E. M. Ehriiorn, Chief Plant Inspector. 



THE JAPANESE BEETLE OF THE EASTERN 

 STATES. 



During the last few months newspapers have published arti- 

 cles about the appearance of the Japanese beetle in New Jersey. 

 From letters and specimens received from New Jersey, the pest 

 is not the common Japanese rose beetle that we have in these 

 Islands, but is closely related to the Anomala beetle and feeds 

 on many plants during the daytime. This pest {Popilia ja- 

 ponica), it is claimed, was introduced some seven or eight years 

 ago in soil with imported iris roots from Japan. From all ac- 

 counts this beetle does considerable damage to grapes, peach, 

 plum, apples, cherry and many ornamental shrubs, w^eeds and 

 various truck crops, especially sweet potatoes and sweet corn. 

 In the case of corn the beetle penetrates the tips of the ears, 

 working in a similar way as does the corn ear worm, and as 

 it remains in these ears for an indefinite time, it could be trans- 

 mitted in shipments of green corn to various markets; fortu- 

 nately we are too far away from the eastern states for green 

 corn shipments. 



The Federal Horticultural Board of Washington, D. C, has 

 placed a quarantine on certain portions of New Jersey, and the 

 Bureau of Entomology and the State of New Jersey are coop- 

 erating in trying to eradicate this pest. 



FLAG SMUT AND TAKE-ALL DISEASES. 



These diseases have appeared on the mainland in the States 

 of Illinois and Indiana. 



Flag smut affects the leaf blades, leaf sheaths, stems and, at 

 times, the spikes of wheat. The losses to crops from this disease 

 run from one-tenth to one-half of the crop. The spores are 



