IDUo.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT— No. 33. HI 



KEPOET OF THE EiS"TOMOLOGISTS. 



C. 11. FERNALD, II. T. FERNALD. 



A number of difterent lines of investigation liave been 

 begun or continued during the year 1904, in addition to 

 what nia}^ be termed the routine work of the division. 



Experiments to determine tlie best treatment for tlie San 

 Jose scale, begun at this station in 1902, have been con- 

 chided, at least for the present, as they have resulted in so 

 thoroughly freeing the college orchard from this pest as to 

 leave no material for further experiment. It is true that 

 the scale is not exterminated, but it is present in such small 

 numbers that several years must elapse before the orchard 

 will become so reinfested as to be of any value for experi- 

 mental purposes. On the other hand, it is impossible under 

 present conditions to attempt experimental work elsewhere, 

 and therefore this line of research is at least temporarily 

 suspended. 



A number of private preparations claiming to be useful 

 as insecticides have been tested during the year, with vary- 

 ing results ; but none have thus far been found which appear 

 to be of great value. Whether it is worthwhile to take the 

 large amount of time necessary for these tests, when the 

 results, if they should ever by any chance prove valuable, 

 would practically only produce free advertising to those 

 manufacturing them, is certainly questionable, particularly 

 as scarcely any of these substances are made by residents of 

 this State. 



The codling moth is now treated by spraying during the 

 egg-laying period of this insect. In the west there are 

 several broods of this pest each 3^ear, but in Massachusetts 

 there seems to be much uncertainty on this point. For two 

 years observations have been conducted to determine the 



