59 



Poison bait sprays, in three years' extended trials in New Hamp- 

 shire, have entirely failed to insure satisfactory protection of fruit 

 from attack by the maggot. There may be some indirect benefit 

 from ordinary orchard spraying, probably in part through lessening 

 the number of dropped fruit. In many New Hampshire orchards 

 in which thorough spraying for codling moth was done, attack by the 

 maggot on certain trees persisted undiminished, if the conditions, as 

 regards a susceptible variety and neglect of the dropped fruit, were 

 favourable to it. The critical point in the larval stage lies in the fact 

 that fruit must drop and reach a certain degree of mellowness before 

 the larva can mature and leave it, and a successful measure which 

 takes advantage of this fact is the collection of dropped fruit at sufficient 

 intervals to prevent them from decaying on the ground. Satisfactory 

 use has been made of pigs, sheep and cattle for this purpose. Poultry 

 may be employed successfully, if confined to a limited area in sufficient 

 numbers ; their value lies, in part, in their ability to destroy pupae 

 already in the soil. Experiments with applications to the soil of 

 kerosene emulsion, " black leaf 40," CUft's Insecticide, commercial 

 lime-sulphur, and Phinotas oil, failed, to produce satisfactory results. 

 Emergence of the adults cannot be prevented by burying the pupae 

 by ploughing, or cultivating the soil. The small, home orchard, wluch 

 often consists of susceptible varieties, is frequently a danger to the 

 community, as it is not well looked after, and is often closely adjacent 

 to neglected, infested wild apples, while trees in a large commercial 

 orchard are generally free from this source of trouble. With winter- 

 fruit showing egg-punctures when picked, prompt cold storage is 

 advisable, as delay will result in rapid deterioration. 



A ground beetle, Agonoderes pallipes, F., was found in considerable 

 numbers in soil where, in a field experiment, pupae of R. pomonella 

 had been buried, but although pupae were found partly eaten in 

 confinement, the beetles were never actually observed to destroy 

 them. A bibliography of 66 references is appended to this elaborate 

 paper. 



Patti (M.). Un pericoloso nemico del cereali e degli orti. [A danger- 

 ous cereal and garden pest.] — II Rinnovamento Economico- 

 Agrario, Trapani, viii, no. 7, July 1914, pp. 132-134. [Received 

 9th January 1915.] 



Against Agriotes lineatus, which has injured onions, tomatoes and 

 cabbages in the Trapani district, the following control methods are 

 recommended : — Heavy green manuring with mustard ; the injection 

 of carbon bisulphide (40 cubic centimetres per square metre) ; 

 the use of chemical manures, such as nitrate of soda and sulphate of 

 ammonia and of superphosphate mixed with 5 or 6°/^ of its weight of 

 petroleum. Potato bait-traps, poultry, lime (about 6 cwt. per acre), 

 and the working into the soil of sand mixed with heavy tar oil are 

 other remedies. A mixture of water and tar oil is also mentioned as 

 efficacious in protecting beans against this wireworm, the rows of 

 beans being watered with this solution before being covered with 

 earth. 



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