REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST IQI2 Ws) 
the probability of its being carried in soil with young trees, greatly 
favors the dissemination of the pest and will undoubtedly result 
shortly in its general distribution, even if it has not already become 
established in most of the more important fruit-growing regions. 
Preventive measures. An examination of conditions in the 
orchard of Mr William Albright near New Baltimore resulted in 
our learning that several years before, this pear orchard had been 
affected in a similar manner, and that the injury at that time, as 
well as that of last spring, occurred during seasons when the orchard 
had not been cultivated early in the spring. An examination of in- 
fested orchards at Coeymans Hollow, at Germantown and at Hudson 
showed that without exception the injury occurred on a heavy soil 
where early and thorough cultivation was presumably difficult or 
impossible. The pear thrips appears to be absent from orchards 
on the lighter, sandy soil of Kinderhook. It may be only a co- 
incidence, yet the fact that this delicate insect winters in the soil 
and has been in at least one instance seriously injurious to orchards 
which were not cultivated till late, suggests that in early cultivation, 
where practical, we may find a feasible method of preventing injury 
and avoid the relative costly repeated sprayings necessary where 
the insect is numerous. 
Remedial measures. The appearance of hosts of thrips in the 
early spring and their rapid work upon the developing leaves and 
fruit makes promptness an essential in the control of the pest. Ex- 
perience has shown that the thrips, when abundant, may practically 
destroy a crop in a few days and, furthermore, that most of those 
which can be reached by a spray succumb readily to the use of a 
tobacco extract such as black leaf 40 employed at the rate of % pint 
to 100 gallons of water to which was added 2 pounds of soap. Mr 
William Albright sprayed with this solution about 11.30 in the 
morning, shortly before it began to rain. It rained until about 
2 p. m., and an examination thereafter showed numerous dead 
or dying thrips. The best results will be secured when this insecti- 
cide is applied as a coarse forcible spray, the nozzles being adjusted 
so as to throw the material down into the clusters of leaves and 
blossom buds. In the case of bad infestations, namely, where Io 
to 15 thrips-may be found in a single blossom cluster, a second 
spraying may be necessary the following day and a third possibly 
after the petals drop, for the purpose of destroying the young before 
they desert the trees and enter the soil. 
