CRANBERRY INSECT PROBLEMS. 



33 



but sanding, which preferably is done in hite fall, but may be done on 

 the ice or in early spring. On many of the misanded bogs where the 

 trash is heavy little benefit will result unless a 2-inch coat of sand is 

 applied. The sand benefits the bog by covering the injured runners, 

 giving them an opportunity to throw out new roots, and by making 

 conditions unsuitable for the development of another generation of 

 the girdlers. If the coat of sand is sufficiently thick it will prevent 

 the emergence of the girdler moths from their cocoons. No method 

 of control by spraying or by the use of repellents has been developed. 



CRANBERRY TOADBUG.' 



One of the newer pests to be brought to the attention of cranberry 

 growers is the cranberry toadbug, which first made itself of prime 

 importance on some of the Long Island bogs and at about the same 

 time appeared in New Jersey. The Massachusetts and Wisconsin 

 bogs appear not to have been troubled, at least not to a serious extent, 

 by this insect. The bugs rarely are found on any other plants in the 

 neighborhood of the bogs and cranberry seems to be the only host 

 Avhich is injured in a large way. 



Character of Injury. 



The insect gets its food by sucking the juices of the plant through 

 a long beak, and on cranberry the beak is inserted in the woody stems 

 and apparently never in the foliage. Feeding on the old wood causes 

 a dwarfing of the fruit on the branches beyond, and when a bug takes 

 sap from the new wood the fruit will 

 shrivel and death of the branch will re: 

 suit. The first signs of injury usually are 

 noted in July, when the foliage assumes a 

 reddish tinge, later becoming brown, and, 

 as the injury progresses, many dead up- 

 rights bearing brown leaves Avill be found 

 throughout the area. 



Description and Seasonal History. 



The adult bug, which is about three- 

 sixteenths of an inch in length, is found in 

 several forms, some of which are black, 

 with short wings (fig. 28) ; some brown, 

 with short wings: and some usually black ^ig. 29. - Cranberry toa<ibug: 



» ' ^ ^ . Long-wuigcd form <>t ndult. 



but occasionally brown, with long WmgS Much enlarged. 



' Phylloscelis atra Oi-riiiar. 



