69 



INSECTS OF THE YEAR 1904 IN GEORGIA. 



By WiLMON Newell and R. I. Smitii, AtUnita, Git. 



Continued exi:)eriments with tlie San Jose scale have demonstrated 

 that a linie-sulphiir wash of 21 pounds of lime and 18 pounds of sul- 

 [)hur in 50 gallons of water is fully as etfectual as washes containing 

 larger amounts of lime and sulphur, and also that the addition of 

 salt to this wash is unnecessary, so far as the scale is concerned. By 

 first mixing the sulphur with boiling water and then adding the 

 unslalvcd lime the l^oiling can be completed in from thirty to fifty 

 minutes in an iron kettle over a fire and in from twenty to thirty 

 minutes where a full head of steam is available for boiling. Washes 

 prej^ared in this way have given fully as good results as the stronger 

 washes, boiled for a much longer time, which were formerly recom- 

 mended. The lime-sulphur-caustic-soda v>ash has also given good 

 results when properly prepared. For successful preparation of this 

 wash we have found that it is necessary to first mix the sulphur with 

 boiling-hot water and then to add slowly the caustic soda until all 

 ihe sulphur is dissolved and a perfectly clear liquid obtained. J^y 

 adding the stone lime to this clear liquid and allowing it to slake, a 

 l)reparation is secured which is in no way distinguishable from the 

 regular lime-sulphur wash. The effects of this wash upon the scale 

 have not thus far been quite as satisfactory as those of the regular 

 boiled wash. Experiments with caustic soda solution alone, which 

 substance was highly indorsed by many agricultural pajjers during 

 last winter, have demonstrated its utter worthlessness as a remedy for 

 this pest. 



The Asiatic ladybird {Ch'doeorus shniJis Eossi), which in 190?> 

 gave promise of becoming aljundant, has j^roved something of a dis- 

 appointment. In the majority of the orchards where this species 

 was colonized but few individuals could l^e found during the past 

 season. In the case of an orchard at JNIarshallville, where literally 

 thousands of the beetles occurred in the summer and fall of 1903. no 

 specimens were found during 1904. In a near-by plum orchard, 

 however, a few individuals survived the winter, and during early 

 summer and midsummer they fed readily upon Pulrinaria (imyg- 

 dali Ckll., which species was fairly abundant in the orchard in ques- 

 tion. Their beneficial work in keeping the latter species in check is 

 nnich more marked than in the case of the San Jose scale, owing to 

 the slower rate of breeding of the Pulvinaria. 



The plum curculio {Conotrachelus nemiphar Ilbst.) has proven 

 very injurious in the peach orchards in southern and middle Georgia, 

 in some cases from 15 to 20 per cent of the crop being rendered un- 

 marketable. 



