8 Eighteenth Report State F:ntomoi.ogi.st ok iMinnesota— 1920 



the fruit. Jn tlie earlier part of the season the infested apples 

 drop, while later apples may he put in storage and the damage not seen 

 until they are brought out for use several months later. The tunnels 

 made by the tiny maggots through the pulp make the apple unfit for use. 

 There are practically only two ways of combating this insect. One 

 is by picking up the dropped fruits twice a week or oftener during the 

 summer and destroying them, and the other is by spraying. 



Sheep, allowed to run in the orchard during certain periods of the 

 season, pick up many of the infested fruits and prevent the further 

 development of the insects in the apples eaten. Poultry, if in suffi- 

 cient numbers and confined to the orchard, would unquestionably pick 

 up many of the insects as they escape from the fallen fruit to enter 

 the soil. 



In spraying to control the pest, the habit of the adult of rasping 

 the surface of the fruit and leaf is taken advantage of. It is found 

 that if there is a layer of poison, as arsenate of lead, on its food the 

 little fiy does not notice the difference. The thing necessary to do, 

 therefore, is to spray the food at the time that most of the flies are 

 around. This is in July. 



In our regular spraying program we have always recommended 

 three sprayings, (1) when the center bud of the flower cluster begins 

 to show pink, (2) just after the blossoms fall, and (3) from two to 

 three weeks after the second. In ordinary years the second spray is 

 given about June 15. This would bring the third spraying about the 

 first part of July, which would be just right for the first spraying for 

 the apple maggot. Another spraying, the fourth in all, should be 

 given for this pest about the middle of July. The combination spray of 

 arsenate of lead and lime-sulphur should be used in each application. 

 As this insect has become so abundant and as it is a native Ameri- 

 can insect "gone bad" and as it is not at all likely that it will lessen its 

 w^ork of destruction, it simply means that the Minnesota orchardist 

 must fight for his crops harder than ever. 



Asparagus beetle. — The asparagus beetle. Crioceris asparagi Linn., 

 was found for the first time in Minnesota in 1919. The insects were 

 found in one corner of a large asparagus plot in a nursery. Not much 

 damage was noticed in 1919, but in 1920 the asparagus bed was very 

 badly damaged, but the Ijeetle was not found outside a radius of seven 

 miles from the nursery. It looks as if this pest would very soon be 

 added to the number of those with w^hich the home gardener as well 

 as the market gardener will have to contend. 



Grasshoppers. — (Grasshoppers started last spring in earnest. The 



