425 \% ^^^19 



X %/ 



De Ong (E.R.). Dried Fruit Insects. — Mthhj. BuIl.CaL State Cominissi^ /ff u s q^^ 

 Hortic, Sacramento, vii, no. 6, -June 1918, p. 429. '^■'^- — 



The insects most frequently attacking raisins, figs, prunes and 

 other dried fruits during storage are : — Plodia interpunctella (Indian 

 meal moth), Ephestia cautella (fig moth), Silvanus surinamensis (saw- 

 toothed grain beetle) and Carpophihs hemipterus (dried fruit beetle). 

 The eggs are laid on the fruit while drying or after packing, sun-dried 

 materials being particularly liable to infestation. The larvae feed 

 upon the fruit until they are mature, and breeding continues as long 

 as favourable conditions of moisture and temperature exist, so that 

 by late spring the value of infested products may be entirely destroyed. 



To control these pests the usual methods must be employed, 

 such as the preparatory thorough cleansing of storage rooms ; 

 the fumigation of infested rooms with gasoline or engine distillate ; 

 the careful sulphuring of fruit at the end of the drying season ; the 

 maintenance of a temperature of 150° F. for one hour throughout 

 the entire mass of fruit, or when this is impracticable, the use of 

 hydrocyanic acid gas or carbon bisulphide, the latter of which should 

 always be used when the moisture content of the fruit is high. 



Lees (A. H.). Miscellaneous Notes on Plant Pests and their Treatment. 



— Ann.Rept.for 1916, Agric. & Hortic. Research Sta., Long Ashton, 

 Bristol, pp. 36-38. [Received 31st July 1918.] 



The question of how late it is safe to spray with lime must be answered 

 by the consideration of three points : — ^The time the pest hatches ; 

 the sticking power of the lime wash ; the effect of the spray on the 

 host-plant. The chief insects to be controlled by lime spraying are 

 the ajDple-sucker [Psi/Ua ormli], and the losy aphis [A. kochi] [see this 

 Review, Ser. A, v, p. 173]. 



As regards the susceptibihty of crops to wireworm damage, while 

 no crop, with the possible exception of mustard, is immune, yet 

 different crops vary in their susceptibility. 



Very susceptible : Plants attacked at the fleshy collar and com • 

 pletely killed, dwarfed, or caused to go to seed prematurely : — Onions, 

 leeks, celery and lettuce. 



Rather susceptible : Gro\\i:h dwarfed, but plant not usually killed : — 

 Runner beans, dwarf beans, and to a certain extent peas. 



Slightly susceptible : — The cabbage tribe and tomatoes. 



Injured, but not so as to endanger the life of the plant : — Potatoes, 

 the injury as a rule being confined to the tuber. 



Lees (A. H.). Further Experiments on Big Bud Mite.— ^ww. Rept. 

 for 1917, Agric. & Hortic. Research Sta., Long Ashton, Bristol, 

 pp. 37-38. [Received 31st July 1918.] 



The most successful spray tested during the winter of 1915-16 

 against the big bud mite [Eriophyes ribis] on black currant bushes 

 proved to be that containing 10 per cent, soft-soap and 5 per cent, 

 crude carbolic acid. One application in December was found to be 

 insufficient, as the terminals and subterminals were often unaffected, 

 though the buds situated low down on the shoot, being older and more 

 loose in structure, were penetrated and the mites killed. 



(Co04) Wt.P2/137. 1,600. 10.18. B.&F.,Ltd. Gp.11/3. * 



