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Recent reports by the Foder»l Government state that "DDT has shown 

 promise for the control of such important fruit-insect pests as the codling 

 moth, apple leaf hoppers. Oriental fruit moth, grape berry moth, grape leaf- 

 hoppers, rose chafer, Japanese beetle, little fire ant on citrus in Florida, 

 sucking bugs that cause distortion of peaches, and, in preliminary small- 

 scale tests, some others," 



DDT, however, is by no means a "cure all." It has not proved very 

 effective against plum curculio, European red mite, or pear psylla, and re- 

 sults against apple maggot have not been very favorable. 



DDT - although a high-powered insecticide which some think will revo- 

 lutionize insect control - has a tricky habit of sometimes killing the wrong 

 insect. Consequently, its use in solving certain problems may bring on others. 



The fact is DDT will not kill all species of our insect pests, while 

 it does kill some of those which destroy obnoxious insects and are therefore 

 in themselves beneficial to us. -— — — 



The fear has sometimes arisen that indiscriminate use of DDT might 

 release consequences more harmful than the original threat. For example, DDT 

 is ineffective against European red mite while at the same time destroying 

 the natural enemies. Definite experiments have shown that some of the. species 

 of ladybeetles were killed when they came in contact with surfaces sprayed 

 with DDT. Yet it is the general experience that DDT is ineffective against 

 about the one species of this family which is a pest of the garden (Mexican 

 bean beetle), jiphids in laboratory tests were unaffected by DDT while lady- 

 beetles and syi^hid flies promptly died. 



In brief, like any promising material, DDT should be used intelligent- 

 ly, in proper formulation, and only against the particular pests for the con- 

 trol of which it has shown promise. Furthermore,' until more definite informa- 

 tion is available, DDT should not be applied to fruits within a month or six 

 weeks of harvest. 



Below are listed some of our more common fruit pests and their reaction 

 toward DDT. 



Not as yet particularly 

 Promising for control of ; successful against; 



Codling moth " Plmn curculio 



Gypsy moth European red mite and other mites 



Japanese beetle (beetles and grubs) Pear psylla 

 Rose chafer Apple maggot 



Leafhoppers Many scale insects 



Oriental' fruit moth Many species of aphids 



Plant bugs (cause "o&t facing" 

 of peaches) 



— A- I. Bourne 



FARM AND HOME VffiEK FRUIT MEETING - Tuesday, July 23. 



