FRUIT FLIES 43 



districts, where, owing to a congenial climate, the pest 

 would surely spread with great rapidity, and the absolute 

 ruin of many of our fine orchards would speedily follow. 



The fruit flies, as far as we are aware, have not become 

 permanently established in Victoria, but it would be well 

 to see what others, who have been less fortunate in this 

 respect, have done towards the well-nigh hopeless task 

 of eradication. I am again indebted to Messrs Froggatt 

 and Try on, and others, for the results of their experiences 

 in this direction. The remedies referred to by Mr. 

 Tryon I am inclined to agree with, and amongst other 

 methods mentioned in the preventive stage, that is, to 

 protect uninjured fruit from attack, I may quote the 

 following : 



In Western Australia, the plan of placing kerosene 

 boxes, in which kerosene has been placed, in the trees, 

 has, so I am informed, produced the best results, no 

 fewer than some thousands of the flies having been 

 captured by these simple and inexpensive traps. Another 

 method as supplied to me is as follows: "Place three 

 or four small tins (sardine tins being the best) in each 

 tree, and pour a little kerosene in them. Let the tins 

 be on an incline so that a portion of the bottom of the 

 tin is bare, or free from kerosene. A good plan is to 

 nail the tins by the lids left on the one side to the trunks 

 and branches. The kerosene seems to attract the flies. ' ' 



All fallen fruit should be destroyed by burning or 

 boiling, in order to prevent the larvae from going into 

 the ground to change into the perfect insect ; if this is 

 not done immense numbers of flies will be bred from the 

 infected fruit. Fine netting may also be used to cover 

 a few trees, but this in large orchards would, of course, 

 be too expensive. 



The flies can no doubt be kept away also by offensive 

 odours of different kinds, as preparations of tar, carbolic 

 acid, &c., but this latter could only be done some weeks 

 before the fruit ripened. Mr. Tryon also recommends 

 that wood-tar smeared on pieces of rag or tan and hung 



