PART NINE: FRUIT PROTECTION 



CHAPTER XLIL 



4 



CALIFORNIA METHODS WITH INJURIOUS INSECTS 



The California climate, which so favors tree and vine by a long, 

 mild, growing season, also enables some insects to multiply much 

 more rapidly than they do in wintry climes; some having several 

 distinct broods, others carrying on the work of reproduction and 

 destruction of plants nearly the year round. 



Undoubtedly parasitic and predacious insects preying upon the 

 injurious species found in the fruit plantations are of assistance, in 

 greater or lesser measure, in reducing the pests, and this service is 

 being promoted by the introduction of beneficial insects from other 

 parts of the world. There are many of our native species of insects 

 that are valuable in this regard. Other factors, also, such as 

 untoward weather-conditions at the time of hatching, bacterial and 

 fungous diseases of insects, etc., assist the horticulturist in his war- 

 fare against injurious insects, and yet it must be the undertaking of 

 every fruit grower to know as many pests as he can and the best 

 way to fight them. 



While the literature upon the subject of insect pests in California 

 is quite extensive, much of it must be sought in libraries. Neverthe- 

 less there are a number of publications which should be secured by 

 every fruit grower. These are the bulletins and reports of the 

 Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of California, at 

 Berkeley* ; of the State Department of Agriculture, at Sacramento ; 

 and of the bureau of Entomology of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture, at Washington. Furthermore as the study of the 

 pests and the invention of means for their destruction are contin- 

 ually progressing one can only keep himself up to date and enable 

 himself to profit by improvements, by diligent reading of Califor- 

 nia's periodicals devoted to practical horticulture. 



CLASSES OF INSECTS 



In order to arrange injurious insects in classes in a popular way, 

 the grouping here will be based upon the character of the work they 

 do. This arrangement has been followed by other writers and 

 is perhaps better than attempting to group the insects which prey 

 upon any single tree or .plant, because injurious insects seldom 

 restrict themselves to a single food plant. Therefore the grouping 

 will be as follows : 



r 1 .,* Cir . cul i r 227 "Plant Disease and Pest Control" by W. T. Home and E. O. Essig, 

 California Experiment Station, Berkeley, June, 1921, is the latest and best treatise on 

 plant protection. 



