REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 199 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



attention to this matter also at the last annual meeting of the Entomological Society of 

 Ontario. Bees wintered poorly and many colonies were weak in spring. Prof Hutt 

 attributes the small set of fruit in some localities in Ontario in 1907, chiefly to the lack 

 of domestic and wild bees, and noticed many instances where men who kept bees had 

 better crops of fruit. In British Columbia the fruit crop was excellent and as good 

 m quality as m quantity. In western Ontario the crop of grapes was large except in 

 those districts where the Rose Chafer destroyed the blossoms. wing to the late 

 cold season many kinds of grapes were not ripe when the frosts came. Small fruits 

 produced poor crops owing largely to the drought. The crops of vegetables of all 

 kinds were also much affected by the drought, and in the eastern portions of the 

 province of Ontario and in parts of Quebec the potato crop was exceptionally poor. 

 In some places the seed tuber remained in the ground without decaying until the end 

 of the season. 



Codling Moth, Carpocapsa pomonella, L.— Of the insect enemies of fruit crops 

 some of the old enemies and well kno-vvn pests were more than usually destructive. 

 The Codling Moth in western Ontario was so destructive in some places that several 

 fruit growers discussed seriously the advisability of cutting down their apple trees 

 and planting grapes or peaches. This part of the province is within the area where 

 there are two regular broods of the Codling Moth in the season, the latter of whicli 

 is by far the m.ore destructive. It therefore becomes necessary for fruit growers not 

 only to spray their trees in spring but also to apply bands regularly as shelters for 

 the larva3 to spin up in. This causes a great deal of work, and in this district grapes 

 and peaches are considered the best paying crops. This fact I believe accounts to a 

 large measure for the increase of the Codling Moth in the Niagara peninsula. The 

 apple orchards are not given the same care as in other parts of the province and con- 

 sequently some of the regular pests increase unduly. In this district three sprayings 

 with poisoned Bordeaux mixture in spring and the banding of all trees in July and 

 August are the means by which the apple, pear and quince crops should be protected 

 from injuly by the Codling Moth. Some care is necessary in attending to the band- 

 ages, or putting them on may do more harm than good. These bandages may be made 

 of any soft material such as burlap, hessian, old sacking, &c., and can be quickly and 

 easily attached to the trees by placing a piece of string or wire around the middle 

 and then turning down the upper half. These bands should be put on the trees by tht5 

 beginning of July and should be examined at least once a week for the rest of the 

 season. During August a great many cocoons and larvas will be found and these must 

 be destroyed, for which purpose it will be necessary to remove the bandages. Later in 

 the season the caterpillars will be fewer and the easiest way of killing them is with 

 the point of a knife without removing the bandages. The caterpillars have the habit 

 of boring some distance into the bark of the tree and spinning in the dust on the 

 outside of their cocoons. This renders them extremely difficult to detect and I have 

 found a convenient implement for cleaning the bark beneath the bandages is a wire 

 brush such as is used for cleaning out furnaces. This tears the cocoons from the 

 bark and destroys the contained larvos. 



A fact which is always apparent in orchards which are regularly sprayed year 

 after year with poisoned Bordeaux mixture is that the effects are cumulative. Regu- 

 larly sprayed orchards gi-adually become year by year freer from insects and fungous 

 enemies, notwithstanding the fact that many insects are able to fly long distances 

 and the spores of parasitic fungi may be borne easily almost to any distance. 



The Oyster-shell Scale, Lepidosaphes ulmi, L. — Owing possibly to the inclement 

 season the increase of the Oyster-shell Scale in the summer of 1907 was particularly 

 noticeable and undoubtedly much injury resulted from its attacks upon fruit and 

 other trees. The young of this insect hatch beneath the parent scale about the end 

 of May or the beginning of June and are active for a few days only. They are then 



