GENERAL REPORT 



UPON 



INSECTS AND FUNGI INJURIOUS TO 

 CROPS IN 1892. 



INSECTS. 



During 1892 there was not any very serious attack of a 

 particular insect like that, for instance, of the Diamond-back 

 Moth upon the turnip crop in 1891, and of the Winter moth 

 upon apple trees and other fruit trees in 1889 and 1890. Still 

 there has been considerable harm done to certain crops in 

 some localities ; such as in parts of Cambridgeshire to mustard by 

 the mustard beetle, Phcedon betulce, whose ravages are most 

 difficult to check. The raspberry moth, Lampronia rubiella, 

 which formed the subject of a leaflet issued in May last, again 

 caused much mischief to raspberry canes in Kent, Surrey, 

 Gloucestershire, and Worcestershire, as well as the currant moth, 

 Incurvai*ia capitella, to red currant bushes in several places. 

 The red spider, Tetranychus telarius, was most troublesome to 

 gooseberry bushes in the spring in plantations and gardens 

 throughout the country. In some cases the leaves dropped off 

 the bushes, in others they turned yellow, and the fruit was 

 small in consequence. Later on these pests materially injured 

 damson, plum, and peach trees. In the last few years red 

 spiders have increased enormously and have attacked various 

 crops. Their work of destruction is frequently attributed to 

 influences of weather, or of soil, or to natural decay, as they are 

 so small that they can hardly be distinguished without a pocket 

 lens ; but when the leaves of trees and plants become rusty in the 

 summer they should be closely inspected for red spiders, and 

 treated in the manner prescribed in this report. 



Apple producers complained much of the quantities of Apple 

 blossom weevils, Anthonomus pomorum, on the apple trees in 

 the early spring. It was therefore thought desirable by the 

 Board of Agriculture to publish a leaflet giving particulars of 

 successful methods of combating this insect adopted in France, 

 which has been reproduced in this report. The Codlin Moth, 

 (Garpocapsa pomonana) was unusually plentiful in some district?, 

 as is evidenced by the state of many stored apples. 



