96 THE REPORT OF THE No. 19 



golden eyes. The female punctures the fruit with her ovipositor and inserts 

 the egg beneath the skin, consequently spraying with any poisonous mixture 

 is of no avail. The emergence of the parent flies and their egg-laying 

 is very irregular and may take place at any time during the summer and 

 even when the fruit is fully formed. When this is the case apples appar- 

 ently sound when picked may later on become worthless from the working 

 of the unsuspected maggot within. Thus it may be seen that this is a very 

 serious pest and most difficult to deal with. The only remedy so far known 

 is to destroy all fallen fruit without delay ; this should be done daily in 

 order to give no time for the maggots to escape into the ground. The cheap- 

 est and most effective plan is to let growing pigs have the run of the orchard : 

 they will keep the ground clear of fallen fruit and will thus devour both 

 these maggots and the codling-worm as well 



Scale Insects. An unusually large number of enquiries have been made 

 this year respecting scale insects and a number of different kinds have been 

 received for identification. This does not necessarily mean that these in- 

 sects have been more abundant than in previous years, but rather that fruit- 

 growers have paid more attention to them and are realizing what dangerous 

 enemies many of them are. The Oyster-shell Bark-louse (Lepidosaphes 

 vim/i) was the species most commonly sent in; its range extends all over the 

 province and its injuries are so apparent that they cannot escape the notice 

 of the most careless owners of orchards. Twigs completely encrusted with 

 the scales were received from many correspondents, showing the severity of 

 the attack and the failure to employ any remedy. Not only do these scale 

 insects drain out the life of the tree through the beaks of innumerable hosts, 

 but they at the same time so weaken the vitality of the twig or branch, and 

 eventually the whole tree, that it readily becomes a prey to canker and fun- 

 gus diseases and the onslaughts of borers which only affect the sickly and the 

 dying. Happily the remedy is simple, cheap and easy of application — lime- 

 wash (one pound and a half of quickly slaked lime to a gallon of water) 

 should be applied to the trees after the leaves fall in the autumn. The 

 spraying must be thoroughly done from the highest twig to the base of the 

 trunk so that every portion will show up white, 



A second application a week or two later or before the buds open in the 

 spring will complete the job and clear the tree. As a matter of precaution 

 it will be well to repeat the operation during the following year. We have 

 found many scales destroyed by a minute parasitic insect, and in some in- 

 stances a fungus growth has killed the whole colony. 



The San Jose scale is gradually spreading from its original centres of 

 infestation in the Niagara district and Kent and Essex counties. In the 

 former it is extending its range westward along the lake shore country to- 

 wards Hamilton, and in the latter it has been found as far east as Aylmer in 

 the county of Elgin. This spread of the insect is entirely due to the care- 

 lessness, indifference or ignorance — and perhaps indolence — ^of a large num- 

 ber of owners of fruit-trees who will not take the trouble to cut down and 

 burn dying trees or to spray all those that are in any degree infested. The 

 lime-sulphur wash- is a complete remedy, but it must be properly made and 

 thoroughly applied. If universally employed wherever the San Jose scale 

 is to be found, it would not take many years to entirely get rid of the pest. 



Several other scale insects have attracted attention, but none of them 

 have become serious pests. There is always, however, a danger that some 

 one or more of them may develop, if neglected, into a menace to the fruit- 

 irees they attack. The Scurfy, Terrapin, Putnam and Forbes scales are 

 those which have been chiefly noticed. The lime-sulphur wash, followed 

 liy kerosene emulsion when the lice are moving in early summer, will keep 



