BUFFALO TREE HOPPERS. 



Never before has there been so much complaint of this common 

 Alinnesota pest as in 1908. Were it not for the fact that many of our 

 orchardists and nurserymen have mistaken the work of the pest for the 

 effect of hail, which it somewhat resembles, the complaints would 

 have been more numerous than they have been. If one notices on trees 

 in his young apple orchard an insect or "bug" a little over a half inch 

 long, with a formidable looking head furnished with two horn-like 

 projections, one on each side, he may be reasonably sure it is a Buffalo 

 Tree Hopper of either one or the other variety. Or should he ob- 

 serve upon branches or trunk of his trees pit-like depressions, look- 

 ing like hail marks, or small slits in line, he may well ascribe them 

 to the work of these insects. These punctures are made by the female 

 in laying her eggs, and apart from the fact that these insects suck the 

 sap from the tree and thus impoverish it, it is these punctures that 

 are particularly injurious, since they not only weaken a branch so 

 that it is easily broken by the wind, but they also open the way for 

 the attacks of other insects, borers, for example, and for disease. 



Ceresa bubalus Fab., is green with whitish and yellowish markings. 

 It is found upon our apple trees during the entire summer. A single 

 female may deposit, in the punctures above referred to, over a hundred 

 eggs, and egg laying takes place during the late summer and early 

 fall. These eggs hatch in the spring, the young not looking like the 

 adult, but having a body which is more or less spiny. The other close- 

 ly allied tree hopper whose work we have noted in this state, is Ceresa 

 taurina Fitch, with habits practically like the preceding. 



Remedies : Pruning zvhere possible in the late fall or very early 

 spring before hatching of eggs, and the destruction of tzvigs shoiving 

 punctures. The application of a repcllant and killing ivash to trunk 

 and large branches at intervals during the summer. Clean cultivation 

 of the orchard, doing azcay with, other grozvths than fruit trees, zchich 

 niiglit serve as food for the pest. 



A repellant and killing wash might be well made by using a strong 

 tobacco decoction in kerosene emulsion, white wash to which tobacco 

 or powdered sulphur or both has been added, etc. 



