282 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



December, 1914. 



fested orchard in June and early July, 

 and as they arc comparatively tame, per- 

 mitting a person to approach close to 

 them, they can easily be examined on the 

 tree or caught and looked at more close- 

 ly. They are about two-thirds the size 

 of a house fly. The black-bodied one 

 is a little larger than the other. Females 

 are larger than males, as a rule, and 

 often their sharp, sting-like ovipositor 

 may be seen, especially at the time of 

 egg-laying. Males have the end of the 

 abdomen more rounded than the females. 

 The general color of both species is 

 black. The white-banded species has 

 the following markings : Four white 

 bands across the abdomen of females 

 and three across the males, a whitish or 

 yellowish dot about the centre of the 

 back, a yellowish line along each side 

 from the head to the base of the wings, 

 beautiful golden-green eyes, yellow head 

 and yellowish legs. The black-bodied 

 species has almost the same markings 

 except that, as said previously, there are 

 no white cross bands on the abdomen. 

 The wings of both species are conspicu- 

 ous and characterized by dark markings, 

 which are differently arranged in the 

 one species compared with the other. 



DISTRIBUTION OF THE FLIES 



We have not had time to examine 

 every district, but have found that both 

 species of fly occurred in almost every 

 locality in the Niagara district and at 

 Burlington. We know that one or pos- 

 sibly both species also occur at Oakville 

 and Cobourg. It is very likely that fur- 

 ther observations will show they are pre- 

 sent to some extent in other localities 

 also. There are, however, many or- 

 chards quite free from them. The white- 

 banded species is the more common one 

 on the whole, though not in every or- 

 chard . 



DIFFEKENCE BETWEEN THE LAEV^ 



The larvae or maggots of the Cherry 

 Fruit Flies are, as previously stated, leg- 

 less, headless, tapering towards one end, 

 blunt at the other, nearly straight, and 

 not more than a quarter of an inch in 

 length. The larvae of the Plum Cur- 

 ■ culio are, when full grown, much larger, 

 being about two-fifths of an inch in 

 length, stout, somewhat curved, a dirty 

 white or yellowish color, and have a 

 distinct brown head. Moreover, the 

 crescent-shaped scar shows where the 

 egg has been laid by the adult, and in- 

 fested cherries regularly show a sunken 

 darkened area on the side on which the 

 larva is working, so that it is easy to 

 suspect the presence. of the grub within. 

 Both species pass the winter as pupae 

 in the ground, the pupae being enclosed 

 in little brown straw-colored, oval cases, 

 looking like grains of wheat. The adults 

 emerge from these in June and early 

 July; those of the black-bodied species 



begin to appear the first week in June, 

 the other species about the end of the 

 second week, so that this one is a week 

 or more later. The majority of the 

 adults of the first species are out by 

 June 14th, and of the white-banded 

 species by about June 22nd. The earliest 

 flies of the black-banded species, there- 

 fore, begin to appear nearly a week be- 

 fore Early Richmonds have begun to 

 color, and of the other species just about 

 the time they have got the first tint of 

 red. 



The flies feed for about ten to fourteen 

 days before they begin to lay eggs. It 

 is very important to know this and also 

 how they feed. The mouth parts are 

 very like those of the house fly and may 

 be said to consist of a long sucking tube 

 with broad lips at the tip. The flies can 

 be seen moving about from place to place 

 chiefly on the leaves with their mouth 

 parts extended and the lips feeling for 

 any little particles of food. If a fly finds 

 any solid, for instance a little piece of 

 granulated sugar placed on the leaf, it 

 holds this with the lips until it is dis- 

 solved by saliva and then sucks it in. 

 When the cherries get ripe and are in- 

 jured in any way they feed on the juice 

 of them. 



When the fly is old enough to lay eggs 

 she selects for the purpose unripe cher- 

 ries or those just beginning to color, and 

 running restlessly around over the fruit 



for a while, then at last curves her abdo- 

 men and forces the sharp, sting-like ovi- 

 positor into the fruit. In about twenty 

 seconds the egg is laid. The exact ncm- 

 ber of eggs that a single fly can lay is 

 very diflRcult to determine, but is pro- 

 bably two hundred or more. 



The eggs hatch in about five days, and 

 the tiny larvae or maggots at once work 

 iheir way direct to the pit, where they 

 live upon the juice, rasping the pulp 

 with their hooks to free the juice. In 

 two weeks or a little less on an average, 

 the maggots are full grown. When a 

 maggot has reached its full size it works 

 its way out of the fruit, soon drops to 

 the ground, and at once begins to work 

 its way into the ground. If the surface 

 is soft, it quickly enters; if not, it has 

 to search for cracks to get down. Often 

 ants capture and destroy them before they 

 can do so. Sometimes, too, they are kill- 

 ed by the hot sunshine. 



Soon after the ground has been enter- 

 ed the maggots change into pupae. The 

 depth of the pupae is usually about one 

 or one and a half inches below the sur- 

 face. The insects remain in the pupal 

 stage until the next June-, when they 

 change, as already stated, into flies. 

 There is only one brood a year. It is 

 very probable that a few of the insects 

 pass two winters in the pupal stage be- 

 fore emerging as flies. 



(To be continued) 



Yields of Apple Trees at Different Ages 



W. T. Macoun, Dominion Horticulturist, Ottawa, Ont. 



EACH year there is a large number 

 of new fruit growers in the pro- 

 vince of Ontario, men who believe 

 that they can make a success of the 

 industry and who are determined to try. 

 These men, before making their decision, 

 estimate present and future expenses; 

 they also endeavour to estimate probable 

 crops and profits, but when they come 

 to look for figures showing the yields 

 of different varieties of apples they are 

 disappointed. It is a remarkable fact 

 that there has been very little reliable 

 information published in America on the 

 actual crops obtained from trees of diff- 

 erent ages of the varieties of apples 

 which are usually planted for commercial 

 purposes. There is the general state- 

 ment that Wealthy and Wagener are 

 early bearers, that Northern Spy does 

 not bear anything to speak of until it 

 is iwelve years of age, and that King 

 is a very shy bearer, and that Mcintosh 

 is a rather light cropper in some places, 

 and so on, but few actual figures are 

 available. Ini fact, until a table of such 

 yields was published in the Annual Re- 

 port of the Experimental Farms for 1902 

 we do not think that any records of 



•Extract from an address delivered at the last 

 annual conTention of the Ontario Fruit Growers' 

 Assooiation. 



yields had been published when trees 

 came into bearing and afterwards. Other 

 records have been published in the re- 

 ports for 1903, 1905, 1905-6, 1909, and 

 1911. 



Since the year 1898, or for sixteen 

 consecutive years, records have been 

 kept of over three thousand apple trees 

 in the orchards at the Central Experi- 

 mental Farm. Unfortunately, among 

 these trees the winter varieties of most 

 commercial value in western Ontario are 

 not to be found, such varieties, for in- 

 stance, as King, Greening, Baldwin and 

 Spy, as they have not proved hardy at 

 Ottawa, but other known sorts, such as 

 Yellow Transparent, Duchess, Wealthy, 

 Fameuse, and Mcintosh, have been re- 

 corded with many others. The number 

 of trees of each variety grown at Ot- 

 tawa, however, is very limited, as so 

 many sorts are under test. In the table 

 which has been prepared only the heavi- 

 est yields are given, as it is believed 

 that where only a few trees of each var- 

 iety are grown the highest yielding tree 

 would be fairly near the average of an 

 orchard of several acres. These figures 

 are not given for the main purjxjse of 

 basing future profits in orcharding, but 

 rather to give some idea of about the 



