SPECIAL THINGS NEEDED BY FRUITS 



at these spots, and drop early. Fire Blight (known as Pear Blight 

 or Twig Blight) is caused by bacteria. It begins at the end 

 buds on new wood, and literally walks down over the limbs. 

 Leaves die and hang on all summer. Sooty Blotch appears 

 as a smoky black deposit on nearly ripe fruit. 



The Aphides, or Plant Lice, are small, green, soft-bodied 

 insects that live on young twigs and on the under sides of 

 leaves. They are sucking insects, and by boring into the stems 

 cause the leaves to die. Leaf Hoppers are handsome little 

 yellow and red bugs that suck the juice out of leaves; aphides 

 treatment kills them. Oyster Shell Scale is so called because 

 the covering over the eggs of these sucking insects resembles 

 that shell in shape and color; there are two broods a season. 

 Badly infected trees look rough and sickly. 



San Jose Scale is a sucking insect. You can see it in winter 

 as a round, dark gray or black spot, the size of a fly speck, with 

 a spot or nipple at the center. When trees are infected badly, 

 a rough, scaly crust comes off when diseased twigs and bark 

 are rubbed. On fruit the spots are surrounded by a reddish 

 ring. The young, which begin to appear about the first of June, 

 are lemon-yellow at first, but soon cover themselves with white 

 scales and look like wood-ashes. 



Woolly Aphis are sucking insects which infest the whole 

 tree, roots and all; they are covered with a mass of bluish-gray 

 fibers, like bunches of cotton. Bud Moths, when young, are 

 small, brown caterpillars with black heads, that chew the young 

 leaves and buds, which they bind together in their webs. 

 Canker Worms, or Measuring Worms, hatch from eggs about 

 the time the buds burst, and fed on the foliage for about four 

 weeks; they stay in the ground over winter and lay eggs on 

 twigs in the spring. 



Curculios, as adult insects, appear in early spring and feed 

 on young foliage. They feign death when disturbed. The 

 eggs are laid in half-round cuts on the side of fruits. The young 

 bugs tunnel around within apples, pears, quinces, etc. These 

 are not the real apple worms, however, as those are the larvae of 

 the Codlln Moth. That insect hatches two broods a season. 

 The first eggs are laid on leaves or young fruit, then the worms 

 enter fruit at the blossom end; the second brood appears about 

 midsummer and enters the apple through the side. Control 

 the first crop and the second will give little trouble. This is 

 about the most destructive insect that attacks apples, but is 

 controlled easily. 



After apple trees are cleaned up from accumulated damage 

 resulting from neglect, two sprayings a season ordinarily will 

 be enough to protect them. A third spraying, however, will 

 almost invariably pay several times its cost, and sometimes is 

 required for protection. 



PEAR 



Light or sandy soils are not so good for pears as heavy 

 loams or clay. Pears stand more water than peaches or apples, 

 too, but still should not have wet feet a requirement that 



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