187 



suggest the treatment of tlie trees during tbe winter for this insect 

 alone. 



The pear midge lias continued its spread in our State in every direc- 

 tion. It has reached the extreme northern boundary, and along that 

 boundary extends to the Delaware Eiver. Its spread westward from 

 New Brunswick I have had no means of ascertaining during the 

 present season, and it may not have been great because there is a 

 stretch of territory in which not much fruit is grown, immediately west 

 and southwest of I^ew Brunswick, and until the Trenton region is 

 reached there is little oi)portunity for the midge to show itself in any 

 force. I fully expect, however, that next s[)ring I will hear of the 

 insect in that vicinity. Southward the insect has reached Monmouth 

 County, not far from the shore, but considerably south of the point 

 where I noticed it in 1893. In all localities the injury by the midge 

 was greater than ever before, and has resulted in the loss of almost all 

 the Lawrence pears grown in the ]^ewark district, and of a large pro- 

 portion of the Bartletts. So serious has been the attack that many 

 growers are becoming discouraged and speak of abandoning pear 

 culture. In the immediate vicinity of New Brunswick every orchard 

 known to me is infested at the present time. It will be remembered 

 that in one of the orchards near the city I carried on a series of field 

 experiments, testing the use of kainit for its killing power on this insect. 

 In the summer of 1892 a very heavy dressing had been applied, and iu 

 1893 there was a practical exemption from injury by the midge in this 

 orchard — an infested pear here and there, and in all not half a dozen, 

 being found. Immediately adjoining this place almost every pear was 

 infested, and not a Lawrence and not 10 jier cent of the Bartletts, ever 

 reached maturity. Seek el pears escai)ed in larger proportion, but even 

 they were very badly infested. Mo si)ecial api)lication of kainit or other 

 fertilizer was made in 1893 in the experiment orchard, and either from 

 the few insects that came to maturity in that year, or from some that 

 had come over across the fence, a considerable number of the Law- 

 rence were infested in 1894. The specimens were thinned out as 

 much as possible, and again a very heavy dressing of kainit was 

 applied after the larviie had matured. I expect that in 1895 this 

 orchard will again be practically exempt. It is interesting to note the 

 point that, whereas everywhere else injury has increased each year, in 

 this orchard there has been no spread. Only the Lawrence, and 

 even here only a very small percentage of the fruit, has been 

 touched. I attribute this entirely to the use of the kainit, for I can 

 see no other reason why the insect should not have spread here as well 

 as elsewhere but for the application of this material. However, to 

 test the matter in quite another locality and under diil'erent circum- 

 stances, on quite a different soil, I induced a grower near Newark to 

 apply the fertilizer at the rate of a ton to an acre, the kainit being 

 furuished by the German Kali Works for the jiurijoses of the expert- 



