1096 THE FKUIT INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK STATE 



Methods of Control. Curculios in greater or less numbers are 

 always present in fruit orchards. It is a question whether prevent- 

 ive measures would be economical with the slight infestation com- 

 mon in New York orchards. During yearly inspection of peach 

 orchards it is apparent that the largest infestations take place 

 where the orchard parallels a plum block. In such a case it would 

 seem wise to control the curculio in the plum block. This can be 

 done by applying a poisoned spray as soon as the first curculio 

 mark shows on the plum, using the following formula: lime-sul- 

 phur, 1 gallon ; arsenate of lead, 3 pounds ; water, 60 gallons. 



Plant Bugs 



Both the plant bugs (Lygus pra- 

 tensis L. and Lygus invitus Say) 

 cause more or less injury to the 

 fruit. The former species in par- 

 ticular causes severe damage to peach 

 trees in the nursery row. It is a 

 sucking insect, and both nymphs and 

 FIG. 347. WORK OF A PLANT adults are exceedingly active bugs. 

 BuG This characteristic makes treatment 



of the pest very unsatisfactory. 



The second species is apparently the cause of most of the trou- 

 ble in the orchard, regarding which growers are puzzled when 

 gum forms on the surface of the fruit. Several things may cause 

 this. The writer has often observed injuries on the peach through 

 which the exudation of sap was taking place, and has commonly 

 found peaches along a woodland to be thus affected, while very 

 little injury appeared elsewhere in the orchard. In such cases ex- 

 amination has shown that the injury was not that of curculio. 

 Since Professor Parrot and Mr. Hodgkiss* discovered that L. 

 invitus,, the false tarnished plant bug, causes such gumming on the 

 fruit in confinement, it is reasonable to suspect that the same 

 insect is the cause of the trouble in orchards near woodlands or 

 fence rows. The insect that causes most of the trouble is a suck- 

 ing insect. If this pest is the false tarnished plant bug, it closely 

 resembles the former species. 



Bui. 368, N. Y. Exp. Sta. The False Tarnished Plant Bug as a Pear Pest. 



