DESTRUCTION OF THE EARLIER BROODS. 49 
Smyrna to be packed. Out of 100 worm-infested figs, the larve: in 
possibly 5 to 10 per cent of them might be traced to the tree, while 
the other 90 to 95 per cent of larvee develop from eggs laid either 
while the figs are on the “serghi” or in the fig “depots” of the 
villages. The number of larve originating from eggs laid while the 
figs are in freight cars en route to Smyrna, in the packing “ khans” 
of Smyrna, or in the holds of steamers en route to America, is in- 
considerable. . 
METHODS OF CONTROL. 
The real source of infestation determined, the question arises as 
to the best means of avoiding it. Spraying with insecticides or fumi- 
gating the trees by using tents is too expensive for the average 
peasant and would be, furthermore, of little use where so small a 
percentage of infestation occurs on the tree, unless these methods 
could be employed at a time when they would kill the first genera-, 
tion of the insect, which is confined exclusively to the orchard. 
Efforts must be directed to some means of destroying the adults that 
cause the infestation, or of reducing their numbers by a systematic 
attack upon the larve or pupe from which they mature—i. e., by 
reduction of the early stages of the earlier broods of the moth in 
the orchard. 
DESTRUCTION OF THE EARLIER BROODS OF THE MOTH. 
Upon questioning a number of Turkish peasants at Tchifte Kaive 
it was learned that there is an earlier crop of figs produced by the 
majority of trees in the latter part of May and largely throughout 
June. These figs are rather larger than the drying figs that later 
appear on the same trees, but are insipid and much more watery, 
and, therefore, useless for drying purposes. Being of little export 
value, few, if any, of them ever reach Smyrna, so that such as are 
not used by the peasant for his own consumption are allowed to re- 
main in the orchard and spoil on the ground. These figs are reported 
to be very “wormy;” in fact the Turkish word applied to the early 
crop, which to the merchants is known as the June crop, is a term 
meaning “wormy figs.” There can be little doubt that the June 
crop of figs furnishes sustenance for the early broods of the fig moth, 
and is responsible for the myriads of moths which later appear to 
infest the valuable export crop ripening in August and September. 
How many generations of the moth breed in the June crop of figs it 
is impossible to say, but probably at least two. 
It is of great importance that rigid regulations be enforced upon 
the peasants for the quick disposal or destruction of the June figs as 
they drop from the trees in order to diminish so far as possible 
6794°—Bull. 104—11——4 
