REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



BY JOHN B. SMITH, SC.D. 



GENERAL REVIE^W. 



The winter of 1904-05 was not a severe one, albeit the cold was 

 continuous and freezing weather extended well into the spring months. 

 There were no spells of ver}^ low temperature, however, and altogether 

 it was a good winter for hil^ernating insects. Fruit trees started at 

 New Brunswick about a week earlier than in 1904, but were held back 

 by subsequent cold until, by the beginning of June, a nonnal season 

 was at hand. Then came a period of dry weather of unusual length, 

 though not equally m.arked in all portions of the State. With tliis 

 came also a few days of excessively hot weather, which had a serious 

 effect upon some of the city shade trees, especially maples. After mid- 

 summer, when the drought was broken, there was rain in abundance 

 everywhere. In a general way it may be said that the season was favor- 

 able to insect development, and if there were no remarkable outbreaks, 

 there was at least a very uniform record of injury on many kinds of 

 plants and trees. 



THE SAN JOSE SCALE. 



This insect continues to be the most important of those affecting 

 our fruit crops, and there are now few localities where it does not occur. 

 Nevertheless, there are such localities, and in most of them the fruit- 

 growers keep a close watcli for signs of infestation. In many cases the 

 owners of small, infested orchards have given up the fight, and some 

 old orchards, especially of peach, have been abandoned. The peach 

 trees usually die promptly enough, and disappear as a source of dan- 

 ger; the apples linger for several years, dying down slowly and grad- 

 ually unless cut out. At the same time, even in localities where the 

 scale occurs, there are orchards in which good, clean fruit is secured, 



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