A NEW GOOSEBEEEY FRUIT WOEM 



PROF. WM. LOCHHEAD, 



O. A. C, GUELPH. 



I^^HERE is evidently a new pest work- 

 ing on the green gooseberries, the 

 life-history of which I am not fa- 

 miliar with. This pest is working havoc in, 

 the plantations of Mr. Stanley Spillett, of 

 Nantyr, and has caused most of his goose- 

 berries to fall prematurely to the groimd. 

 My attention was first called to the work of 

 this insect on the return of Prof. Hutt from 

 an official visit to the Nantyr Experimental 

 Station a few weeks ago, when a small box 

 of infested gooseberries was handed to me 

 with instructions to determine the cause of 

 the falling of the fruit, and their premature 

 reddening. Beyond these particulars there 

 was nothing else that attracted attention, or 

 indicated that anything was wrong. 



Four or five days after the box was re- 

 ceived the fruit began to soften at the core, 

 and an examination showed the presence of 

 a small caterpillar in every fruit. It had 

 eaten away some of the pulpy tissue near 

 the core, and the fruit had collapsed, and 

 incipient decay had set in. 



The caterpillar at this date (July 13) is 

 between one-third and one-half an inch 'n 

 -length ; is white, with a slight tinge of 

 green ; it tapers slightly towards both ends ; 

 its head and cervical shield are dark brown ; 

 each segment of the body has several 

 (eight) little elevations, from the centre of 

 each a hair arises ; it has three pairs of true 

 legs and five pairs of pro-legs, hence it is 

 probably the larva of a moth. 



The caterpillar occasionally comes to the 

 surface, as exit holes are sometimes visible, 

 and if a caterpillar- is taken from one berry 

 and placed on another it will soon r-^ke its 

 way inside. As a rule, I think it pr 'fers to 



eat somewhat close to the skin of the fruit,, 

 rather than near the core. 



The accompanying letter from Mr. Spil- 

 lett shows how the pest is affecting his plan- 

 tation. He very naturally would like to 

 know if any other grower is suffering from 

 a similar cause. 



It is impossible to give the name of the 

 pest at this stage of its life-history. It is 

 probable that arsenical poisons will have to 

 be used early in the season, just after blos- 

 soming, to control the pest, for once within 

 the fruit it cannot be controlled. It is pro- 

 bable also that fall cultivation may be a 

 means of destroying the hibernating stage,, 

 although this cannot be definitely ascer- 

 tained until we know the full history of the 

 insect. 

 Editor Caiffldian Horticulturist: 



For four years the fruit of all the thin 

 skinned American varieties of gooseberries 

 has been dropping from the bushes just as 

 they are fully grown. This falling has 

 grown worse every year, till now almost 

 every berry is down. At first I attributed 

 this falling to drought and over loading, and 

 resorted to close pruning and mulching ta 

 prevent it, but no change in results. E. D. 

 Smith, M.P., of Winona, has had a similar 

 experience. For the last two years I have 

 had strong suspicion that this falling, which 

 has now become serious (at first enough 

 was left upon the bushes for a nice crop), is 

 caused by the presence of a maggot in the 

 berry, as every berry, after lying on the 

 ground for a few days, has a dark spot ap- 

 pear upon the surface of the skin which 

 gradually enlarges until the whole pulp be- 

 comes red, but not ripe. Again, the thick 



