400 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ENTOMOLOCtY. 



KEPORT OF COMMITTEE OK ENTOMOLOGY. 



J. S. HARRIS, LA CRESCEJJT. 



Mr. President—My observation of insects in 1892 has been confined to 

 southeastern Minnesota, and I have not much that is new or very inter- 

 esting to offer. I am glad to report that, so far as my observations go, no 

 new destructive insect has made its appearance during the year, and that 

 the old species that have been long with us have not been so numerous as 

 to create increased alarm, or nearly as plentiful as in some former years; 

 neither have the beneficial insects, or birds that feed upon insects, been 

 as common as usual. 



In point of fact, the insect or bug crop, with two or three exceptions, 

 was a partial failure, much more of a failure than in 1891. These things, 

 however, should not make us too sanguine that we are about to get rid of 

 them or to keep them sufficiently in check to prevent serious damages in 

 some coming years. The fact must always be borne in mind that the 

 females of most species are extremely fertile, or oviparous, and of many 

 there are two or more broods in a year, therefore, whenever the season is 

 favorable and suitable food at hand, they multiply so rapidly that the 

 progeny from a single pair would overrun the whole state in five years if 

 they could be protected from their natural enemies. The horticulturist 

 cannot rest in security until the last one has been annihilated. 



The spring of 1892 was backward and extremely wet, with more 

 dull cloudy days than we are accustomed to note in this region 

 famous for its bright suns and clear skies. At the time when our fruit 

 trees and plants were in bloom, there were many days so unpleasant that 

 no insects, not even the busy bee, were seen working in the flowers, and it 

 seemed doubtful if enough flowers would become pollenized to ensure a crop 

 of fruit. Very few of the young apples were the receptacles of the eggs 

 of the codlin moth, and, no doubt, a persistent effort to prevent the second 

 crop would have resulted in a marked decrease of this serious pest for 

 several years to come. Spraying the young fruit as soon as formed, and 

 the petals of the flowers have fallen, with a solution of Paris green, 

 one ounce of the green to twelve or fifteen gallons of water, and repeated 

 two or three times afterwards at intervals of a week between, has 

 been found to reduce the numbers of wormy fruits very materially; and 

 if it was universally practiced every spring, and followed by trapping and 

 destroying the mature insects when they leave the fruit to undergo the 

 last transformation from worm to moth, under artificial bands of cloth 

 or paper placed about the trunks of the trees, the pest would very soon 

 be eradicated. The bands should be placed around the trunks of the 

 trees about two feet above the ground, towards the last of June, and 

 examined once a week, and the larvas found under them all destroyed, un- 

 til the entire fruit crop has been gathered on or about the first of October. 



