99 



spraying as outlined above. This treatment should ordin- 

 arily prevent serious injury by early leaf feeders, such as 

 the apple tent caterpillar, canker worms, bud moth and case- 

 bearers, and if tobacco has been added at the rate of % of 

 a pint of 40 per cent., nicotine to 100 gals., it will destroy 

 many plantlice and possibly obviate the need of later appli- 

 cations for these pests. A fungicide, either Bordeaux or 

 lime-sulfur wash (not a soda sulfur wash) should also he 

 added to the spray because of the protection thus afforded 

 against fungous diseases. 



A word as to plantlice may be timely. It is exceedingly 

 difficult to forecast probabilities with these insects, thougn 

 as a rule, a cool, backward spring is favorable to their de- 

 velopment. Precautions are justified under such conditions 

 which could hardly be advised if the skies were bright and 

 the temperature rising, because the latter conditions are 

 favorable to the rapid development of efficient natural ene- 

 mies, such as the black spiny grubs of the ladybeetles, the 

 varicolored maggots of the flower flies and the small four- 

 winged parasites which live within the bodies of the plant- 

 lice. 



The pear grower has special problems. He may find it 

 very desirable to delay the lime-sulfur treatment for San 

 Jose scale until the buds begin to start and the pear Psylla 

 has deposited its yellowish eggs. Spraying at that time 

 takes care of both the scale and the Psylla if the work is 

 thorough. It is advisable to supplement this by keeping 

 the trunks of the older trees smooth and thus diminish the 

 shelters and eliminate, in some measure, the number of flies 

 which survive. In cases of unusually serious infestation it 

 may be advisable to spray during warm days in late fall or 

 early winter for the purpose of destroying the Psyllas as 

 they emerge temporarily from their winter retreats. 



Blasted pear blossoms, the mysterious blossom blight, 

 has resolved itself in the Hudson valley into injury by pear 

 thrips. The slender, dark brown insects are about 1-20 of 

 an inch long and have very delicate, narrow, fringed wings. 

 They appear on the trees as the buds start and quickly 

 shelter themselves among the expanding flower buds and 

 later between unrolling leaves. The bloom is literally 

 blasted, presenting a brown, seared appearance, there is an 



