REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATION 211 



until 1890 dealt chiefly with the food habits, distribution and destructiveness 

 of this pest. Rileyo (1890) summarized the then known facts regarding the 

 species in an important paper. Smiths (1891) made extensive studies on the 

 life habits and methods of control which show that the rose chafer is a 

 difficult pest to control. Spraying with arsenical poisons generally with 

 bordeaux mixture was the chief method used by investigators for nearly 

 twenty years after the work of Smith and, as this usually proved a failure, 

 hand picking was the remedy usually recommended. 



A new method of attack was used by Taft? in 1909 and this has proven 

 to be very useful in killing the beetles. He used molasses as a bait for the 

 insects and mixing arsenate of lead with this secured decided results. The 

 author,8 in 1910, not knowing of Taft's results found that confectioners' glu- 

 cose (25 Ibs.) and arsenate of lead (10 Ibs.) in water (100 gals.) to be an 

 effective remedy. Since that time we have found that cheap molasses (1 

 gal.) gave just as good results as the glucose (25 Ibs.) and this has reduced 

 the cost considerably. The amount of arsenate of lead has been reduced to 

 6 Ibs. which, with more care of application, has proven as effective as the 

 larger amount. 



Food Plants. 



The rose chafer as adult feeds upon a large number of plants but shows 

 a decided preference for certain species. It also prefers the flowers to 

 either the leaves or the fruit of the plant attacked. The kinds chosen first 

 after emergence are grape, rose, apple, peach, plum and cherry, of which 

 grapes are always chosen if at hand. After feeding upon the flowers of the 

 grape for a week to ten days they show a tendency to disperse and we find 

 them flying to and feeding upon the blossoms of the stag horn, sumac, elder 

 (Sambucus canadensis) and red osier (Cornus stolonifera). Raspberry and 

 blackberry foliage is also fed upon rather extensively. During this period, 

 the beetles are found on a long list of species, in fact, they seem to feed 

 upon mcst common plants except evergreens and conifers. We are inclined to 

 believe, judging from observations of several years and where many of these 

 so-called food plants grew near the infested vineyard, that a number of the 

 food plants listed are fed upon only accidentally. However, the fact that 

 these insects can subsist on such a number of species of plants makes it 

 obvious that we cannot hope to control them by destroying their food plants. 



Food plants of the larvae. The grubs of the rose chafer feed chiefly 

 (perhaps entirely) on the roots of various grasses of which the timothy, 

 foxtail (Setaria glauca) and the several species of bluegrass appear to be 

 preferred. They have never been found feeding on the roots of the grape 

 although the larvae have been found in the soil of vineyards in which the 

 several grasses named were growing. 



5 Riley, Dr. C. V., Insect Life. 2.295-302. 1890. 



6 Smith, Dr. J. B., N. J. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 82. 1891. 



7 Taft, L. R., 48 Ann. Rep. St. Bd. of Agr. of Mich., p. 157. 1909. 



8 Hartzell, F. Z., N. Y. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 331, pp. 543-549. 1910. 



