REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I917 47 



examined in particular. These observations were fully borne out by 

 the condition of the fruit at picking time, it being much freer from 

 infestation than was the case in 1916. ,...,. 



Pear thrips (T a e n i o t h r i p s p y r i Daniel) . '1 his msuhous 

 and perplexing pest continues abundant and locally nijunous m the 

 Germantown fruit section and also m the pear-growmg region about 

 and especially west and south of Poughkeepsie. Reports rom 

 other parts of the State indicate comparatively little damage from 



The practical difficulties of controlling pear thrips are uidicated 

 by the following: An examination April 23, iQi? of the orclwd of 

 C H Deuell & Son, BangaU, showed that many of the blossom buds 

 had expanded to a length of one-half of an inch or so and had been 

 or were being invaded by many thrips. This was true not only of a 

 small orchard back of the barn where the infestation of earlier 

 years was most serious and the spraying of the preceding season 

 iess satisfactory, but also of the orchard just beyond the creek 

 where the treatment the preceding spring with a thick lime sulphur 

 wash was as nearly perfect as could be expected under i^ractica 

 conditions and where there were hopes that the numbers of the pest 

 would be considerably decreased as a result of the treatment par- 

 ticularly as observations in May and early June of last year showed 

 that a considerable portion of the crop escaped injury and the 

 presence of a relatively small number of thrips. 



It was found last April that individual buds m the_ orchard 

 beyond the creek had been invaded by two, three, five or six and m 

 a few cases fifteen or twenty of the insects. Those attacked by the 

 larger numbers were in a sticky condition and showed considerable 

 dead tissue, especially in spots here and there. Such blossoms wm 

 probably develop no frmt. The spraying with a thick ime sulphur 

 wash was then in progress and while a few insects were killed on the 

 outside of infested blossoms, a considerable proportion three- 

 fourths to seven-eighths approximately, escaped injury and would 

 presumably be unaffected. There were some trees m the orchard 

 near the barn which had been sprayed on the afternoon of April 

 20th and these blossom buds showed much less injury; the few 

 thrips found in them had evidently entered withm the last day or 

 two These conditions indicated a much greater degree of pro- 

 tection from the spraying given on the aoth ^h--^^^^-^-^ 7°^ ^ 

 be secured from an apphcation on the 23d. Mr Deuell stated that 

 veryfew insects were seen on the earlier date and that stormy 



