189 



be slaked with 18 U.S. gals, water, the addition of 36 U.S. gals, more, 

 and then 45 U.S. gals, of a solution containing 1 lb. AsgOg per U.S. gal. 

 The product should not be designated simply calcium arsenate, but 

 calcium arsenate containing other calcium compounds. 



Pennsylvania threatened by European Corn Borer. — Wkly. Press Bull. 

 Pennsylvania Deft. Agric, Harrisburg, Pa., iv, no. 6, 13th 

 February 1919. 



Pennsylvania, which produces over 60,000,000 bushels of maize 

 annually, is threatened with the European corn borer [Pyraicsta 

 nubilalis], the pest having appeared in New York within 200 miles of 

 the State borders. 



This moth Uves in both sweet maize and field maize, and infests 

 such plants as barnyard grass, pigweed and foxtail grass. It has also 

 been found feeding in dahlia stems, on oats, peppers, celery, beet, 

 spinach, potatoes, tomatoes and beans, its general feeding habits 

 making it a difficult insect to control. Burning all infested vegetation 

 is the only way to combat it. It winters as a larva in the stalks of 

 maize, changing to the adult in May, and the female deposits about 

 700 eggs which give rise to a second generation in early August. The 

 stalks attacked by the larvae are so weakened that even a light wind 

 causes them to break. 



Buxton (Capt. P.A.). Report on the Failure of the Date Crop of 

 Mesopotamia in 1918. — Agric. Directorate, M.E.F. ; Basrah, Bull. 

 no. 6, 1918, 6 pp. [Received"24th February 1919.] 



A large proportion of the date crop in Mesopotamia was ruined in 

 1918 owing to the injury caused by a Pyrahd moth, which seems to be 

 present in every date garden and in every kind of date and 

 reduces these to the condition known as " hashaf." The larva 

 eats the flesh of the date along the stone in May and June, causing it 

 to become red-brown and spherical and finally to drop. Before it 

 drops, the larva is full-fed, and leaves the fruit by a small hole bored 

 close to the base of the date, from which frass and silk project. 

 Pupation occurs in June, presumably in the ground, but this has not 

 yet been definitely determined. As far as present knowledge goes, 

 the fife-history is somewhat as follows. Hibernation occurs in the 

 pupal stage, the moth emerging in April and May and ovipositing 

 either on the female blossom or on the bunch of young dates very 

 soon after they begin to form. The young larva at once bores into 

 the date and hollows it out. No insect or fungus enemies appear to 

 hold the pest in check and until the hfe-history is thoroughly known 

 the best method of dealing with it cannot be discovered. It is found 

 that gardens that are well watered and on which vegetables are raised 

 produce excellent dates, while in neglected gardens the dates are very 

 poor. It seems obvious therefore that cultivation under the date 

 palms would do much to reduce the pest. 



Minor pests of the date are mites that spin a web over the cluster 

 in eaily July. Dates so affected develop a scaly irregular skin and 

 do not ripen ; they are used as cattle food. Affected clusters should 

 be cut out and burnt. A paraffin and soap emulsion might be used 

 on the smaller trees. A scale-insect, probably Parlatoria blanchardiy 



