22 THE REPORT OF THE No. 19 



even at this late day. Paris green mixed with lime or land plaster is also 

 widely used as a dust application. It is only within the last year that I 

 heard of three field sprayers, spraing four rows at a time, being purchased in 

 this section, although the growing of Irish potatoes is a leading industry in 

 many localities. Some few of the growers have knapsack pumps, but the 

 universal complaint is that hands are not to be had who will honestly and 

 carefully do a day's work with them. 



The Harlequin Cabbage Bug, Murgantia histrionica, (Eig. 8), while com- 

 mon enough in all the state east of the mountains, is much more abundant 

 here than further west. It is one of the Stink-bug family (Pentatomidae), 

 and is a destructive enemy of cruciferous crops, especially cabbage and collards 

 in this region. Hand-picking and late planting are the principal remedies. 



Fig. 8. Harlequin cabbage bug. 



In the strawberry section the Strawberry Weevil, Anthonomus signatus, 

 is the most important enemy. So far as I have been able to learn this is 

 the southern-most region for this pest on the Atlantic seaboard, but surel"^ 

 it is very destructive here. It lays its egg within the bud and then cuts the 

 pedicel. The staminate varieties are chiefly attacked, and by the use of 

 a large proportion of pistillate varieties the growers are able to secure the 

 greatest degree of immunity. The insect also breeds in abundance on the 

 blackberries (Ruhus sp.), which grow wild in that region, and the use of fire 

 to burn out these vines as well as to run over the berry fields as soon as pick- 

 ing is over, is coming into favor, as many of the developing larvae, pupae, 

 and fresh adults are still in the fields after the last of the crop is removed. 



Insects of Oechard Fruits. The Codling Moth is abundant and de- 

 structive in this section, good crops of apples being a thing almost unknown in 

 recent years. Within the last few years, however, spraying is becoming more 

 popular in the orchards, especially as these are generally small and the owners 

 m many cases do their work with their own hands. The Plum Curculio 

 throughout this region is as destructive to the peach as to the plum. Thg 

 jarring method is being widely used in commercial orchards, as it is a purely 

 mechanical process which can be done by even the most ignorant laborers, 

 for even they can soon be taught to recognize the adult beetle. The largest 

 peach and plum section is in the western part of the Eastern Eegion, at South- 

 ern Pines. Here the San Jose Scale has been well known for the last ten 

 years, yet I know of many thousands of trees which have been known to be 

 rriore or less infested for eight years, and which this year brought forth the 

 sixth consecutive profitable crop, a tribute to the efficacy of careful, persistent 

 spraying. In these orchards oils and soaps were relied upon until about 

 three years ago, since which time the Lime-Sulphur-Salt wash has held sway. 

 One large orchard has been treated principally by the fumigation method, 

 and is in excellent condition, and the owners are now undecided whether it 

 will be better to renew their outfit of tents or resort to the wash. I think 

 that the tendency is, and will continue to be, to avoid the use of self-cooked 

 mixtures or chemical substitutes, and use only ;he wash matlc of lime, sul- 

 phur and sa7«, boiled with artificial heat for not less than one hour. In this 

 particular region white labor is quite obtainable, hence conditions are more 

 favorable for the use of such washes as require care in their preparation and 



