26 MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 408 



pupae collected June 20 in soil along the turnip rows. Attack on 

 nearby cabbage plants was noticeable, but not severe. 



Damage from this maggot is most severe in cool, moist seasons. 

 Adult flies appear in May and lay eggs in soil crevices on or near 

 the roots of cabbages, radishes, and turnips. The larvae are de- 

 structive by riddling or disfiguring the plants below the soil sur- 

 face. Young plants may be protected by soaking the soil around 

 the roots with calomel (mercurous chloride) % ounces and 1 ounce 

 of gum arabic to 10 gallons of water. The material may be applied 

 to the soil along the row by sprinkling can, coarse sprayer, or a 

 cup. Ten gallons of the liquid will treat about 400-500 plants. 



wheat stem sawfly.— This broad-waisted wasp (Cephas 

 cinctus Nort.j is a native Great Plains insect. Originally it lived 

 on native grasses, and when large acreages of this vegetative cover 

 were plowed up and replaced with cultivated small grains it trans- 

 ferred to these crops. In Montana it is most abundant and in- 

 jurious in the eastern plains area north of the Missouri River, and 

 during the last few years it has destroyed a great deal of wheat 

 in this region. 



The larva of the wheat stem sawfly weakens the wheat straw 

 an inch or two above the ground level, and as the stems dry and 

 the grain matures they break over and lodge. At the beginning 

 the injury is of a marginal nature, being the worst around the 

 edges of the field. Because of this, strip cropping, in infested areas, 

 is likely to suffer greater injury than large, solidly blocked fields. 



The life history and control of this insect can be obtained from 

 Montana Extension Bulletin 176, or from Montana Extension Cir- 

 cular Series A-37. 



earwigs. — The European earwig (Forficula auricularia h.) was 

 first reported from the State in the last State Entomologist's Report. 

 During the past two years two new infestations have been located. 

 Besides previous records we now know of their occurrence in Mis- 

 soula and at Bozeman Hot Springs, just west of Bozeman. The 

 third specimen of the little earwig Labia minor L. to be collected 

 in Montana was obtained in August, two miles south of Bozeman. 

 Both of these species seem to be well established in the State at 

 the present time. 



BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE MONTANA STATE 

 APIARIST, 1942 



J. F. Reinhardt, State Apiarist 



THE BEEKEEPING INDUSTRY IN MONTANA 



Approximately 36,000 colonies of bees are operated in Montana. 

 They produced about 4,600,000 pounds of honey and 150,000 pounds 

 of beeswax for a gross income in 1942 of slightly over one-half 



