£92 
a way as to dislodge the feeding larve. They dropped quite readily, 
and as I followed him along the rows I found that a very small per- 
centage only of the larve remained upon the plants. Those that 
were knocked off on the burning hot sand died in a very few minutes, 
and none of them ever found their way back upon the plants. This is 
not surprising, because in the middle of a warm day the sand becomes 
so hot as to be almost unbearable to the touch, and these soft insects 
when thrown upon it died within a very short time. This process 
would have to be repeated only a very few times in the course of the 
season to keep the plants entirely free. This method is useful, of 
course, only in young beds ; but in the older beds which are cut regu- 
larly the insects can be kept down without any trouble, either by 
close cutting or by means of trap shoots. We are able thus to control 
this species, which only a tew years ago seemed to threaten the aspar- 
agus industry in some parts of New Jersey. 
The Pear Midge has been spreading in the State; but very slowly, 
I found it this year in Monmouth County, further south than it had 
been in previous seasons, and present only in very small numbers, in 
the Lawrence pears. Near New Brunswick, in the orchard in which I 
first discovered the insect, the Lawrence had made an excessively 
heavy set of fruit, and in the entire orchard there was not a single 
pear of this variety which was not infested by these midges. Some 
other orchards near by, which last year had not been attacked, were 
also seriously injured this season. On the other hand, in an orchard 
in which last year there were a considerable number on this variety 
there were fewer than there were in 1892. This is to be accounted for 
by the fact that on my recommendation the owner of the orchard plowed 
the ground under his trees in fall, and applied kainit at the rate of 
1,000 pounds to the acre. The result is that this year he is practically 
free from the pest, even though his orchard adjoins the one previously 
mentioned, in which every solitary pear was full of midge larve. I suc- 
ceeded in inducing the owner of this infested orchard to permit the 
trees to be entirely stripped of fruit, and I hope that in this way some 
protection against the spread of the insects will be afforded. I am_ 
unable to say positively, of course, that it was the kainit which pre- 
vented the appearance of the midges where jt was applied; but I have 
now under way a series of experiments which will, I hope, give some 
definite information on this subject. 
Altogether the season has not been an unfavorable one in our State 
so far as insect injury is concerned. I am extremely pleased to be able 
to say that in most localities the better class of farmers, those that_ 
make money by farming, are ready to adopt any reasonable methods 
suggested by the station for the control of insects and other pests, and 
I believe that there are few States where the farmers have learned to 
trust the station officials as thoroughly as they have in New Jersey. 
There is perhaps no other State in which the station workers are so 
generally acquainted with the farmers of all sections. 
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