84 ANNUAL REPORT 



been set in a single county, forty thousand cuttings to the acre, 

 of such varieties as Concord, Worden, Moore's Early and Niagara. 

 The statement is made that fruit prices were fifty per cent better 

 in places than in 1888, and yet grapes were marketed at three 

 cents a pound. Strawberries were also largely grown and in some 

 cases special trains are used to transport the crop. 



According to the San Francisco Bulletin, during the months of 

 September and October, 1888, over eight million pounds of the 

 new crop of California raisins were shipped overland from that 

 state. The same authority gives the shipments of fruit from that 

 state in 1887 as follows: Canned goods, 45,120,900 lbs.; dried 

 fruit, 13,577,000 lbs.; ripe fruit, 49,729,800 lbs.; raisins, 5,759,200 

 lbs. Other statistics at hand show the fruit industry in California 

 to be rapidly developing, although the profits are correspondingly 

 decreasing. Insects are said to be destructive and constant vigil- 

 ance is required to overcome them. 



INSECTICIDES. 



There has been much progress made within a recent period to- 

 wards the subjugation of insects that prey upon our fruit trees, and 

 although the various agents employed elsewhere for this purpose 

 have not, to any great extent, been tried in Minnesota, it is high 

 time we took decisive steps to gain the necessary information as to 

 the proper means and methods to be used. 



Dr. Lintner, state entomologist of New York, asserts that there 

 is now little doubt that by the use of arsenical poisons injurious 

 insects can readily be conquered and subdued. 



Prof. L. H. Bailey, of Cornell University, says that the spraying 

 of fruit trees, with arsenical poisons, for the destruction of curcu- 

 lio and codling moth has been a notable success. 



Prof. A. J. Cook, of Michigan Agricultural College, recommends 

 one pound of London purple in two hundred gallons of water, to 

 destroy codling moth, curculio, leaf -rollers, tent-caterpillar, and 

 canker worms. He says use kerosene and soap to destroy aphides 

 or plant lice. Pyrethrum is used for the cabbage caterpillar, pear 

 slug, etc., while hellebore kills the currant slug. 



Prof. C. M. Weed, of the Ohio experiment station, has made ex- 

 tensive experiments in the use of insecticides and with very marked 

 results. He has also successfully applied fungicides in combat- 

 ting the dreadful blight and potato rot. He is is of the opinion, 

 judging from his experiments, that probably three-fourths of the 

 plums, pears and cherries, liable to injury by the plum curculio, 

 may be saved by spraying with London purple, applied two or 

 three times, soon after the blossoms fall. 



IMPORTANCE OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



Prof. F. H. Snow, of the Kansas State University, says: "1 

 would suggest that if our people were more generally familiar with 

 the subject of entomology, and were able to distinguish between 

 the beneficial and injurious species of insects, our universal 

 enemies would be more intelligently and effectually resisted." He 



