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damage has beeu doue. It is interesting to note that prior to this 

 year tlie insect itself had never been taken by any collector in New 

 Jersey, and it is not only new as an injurious insect, but is new to the 

 New Jersey fauna, and had heretofore been considered as rather a rare 

 insect. Thus much for pear trees, which, up to a few years ago, were 

 lather free from insect attack. 



I find that in some localities growers have become tired of washes 

 and paints applied to the base of quince and apple trees to prevent the 

 entrance of the borer, and instead, use fine wire netting, enveloping not 

 less than twice and closely tied, extending below ground and upward 

 along the trunk for the distance of at least a foot or eighteen inches?. 

 This has the advantage of affording complete protection, of yielding 

 to the growth of the tree, and of allowing the bark to perform its func- 

 tions with absolute freedom. It is effective, certainly, because none of 

 the trees that were so protected showed signs of the borer, though all 

 others in that vicinity were more or less infested. 



There were no other orchard pests that made themselves especially 

 obnoxious, and in fact, in view of the extreme prevalence of the blight 

 OH both pear and apple trees, insect injury sank almost to insignificance. 



Cutworms have been particularly abundant in New Jersey during 

 the present season. All sorts of planted crops have been affected and 

 everywhere complaint was made that replanting was made necessary, 

 sometimes twice or even three times, and in a few cases crops were 

 abandoned and others put in, simply because the supply of plants was 

 not sufiQcient to obtain a stand after feeding the cutworms. Acres 

 upon acres of sweet potatoes were cut; early cabbage was ruined in 

 some sections; melons were cut off" as fast as they came above ground; 

 so was corn, and, in fact, there was a universal wail asking for a 

 remedy. The poison-bait trap was used with great success in many 

 instances; but for some reason the farmers seem to have an objection 

 to using it at the proper time. One of the sweet-potato growers near 

 Beverly, N. J., made some experiments on his own account, and among 

 other things prepared a mixture of bran and Paris green, using no defi- 

 nite proportion, but adding Paris green enough to the bran to give it 

 a greenish tinge when thoroughly mixed. This mixing was done dry, 

 and then water enough was added so that the mixture would stick 

 together and form a rather dry mush. Of this mixture about a spoon- 

 ful was applied to every hill of sweet potatoes at the base of the plants, 

 and in every instance this mixture was preferred to the plants them- 

 selves and served as an absolute protection to the crop. Mr. Oliver 

 Parry, who was the originator of this material, gave me the iiifurma 

 tion at the time, and I immediately published it in the Weather Crop 

 Bulletin. Many of the farmers tried it at once and I have responses 

 from a number who found it to be absolutely successful. There seems to 

 be a peculiar attraction in moist bran to the cutworms, and they will eat 

 it in preference to the vegetation. That it actually killed the insects 



