20 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 22G. 



Tlie Apple and Thorn Skeletonizer in its first two broods proved to be 

 slightly less abundant than usual. It has been our experience, in Massachu- 

 setts, tluit the worst trouble has come from the larvae of the brood matur- 

 ing- the last of July and early in August. This season, this brood was 

 much smaller than usual, and little or no injury was noted. The generation 

 of larvae which came to maturity in early September proved, however, to 

 be unusually large, and a considerable amount of late skeletonizing re- 

 sulted all over the state. Coming so late in the season, tliis caused ver\ 

 little concern, and few, if any, of the growers deemed control measures 

 to be necessary. 



Over the state as a whole, the San Jose scale appeared to cau.se little 

 dHuiage. For the last few years, however, complaints of an increasing 

 local abundance have come in from many points in the state. In some 

 orchards it has developed into a real problem for the grower to face. The 

 rapid spread of the Red Mite and consequent increased use of oil sprays 

 in the dormant season have very often automatically solved the problem 

 of the control of this scale. When, as frequently happens, a grower finds 

 scale in any amount on his harvested fruit, he should use prompt measures 

 for control in iiis orchard. Oyster-shell Scale is very generally present in 

 practically all of our orchards, but seldom, if ever, is found in destructive 

 abundance. 



Early indications, borne out as the season developed, were that the 

 Gypsy and Brown Tail Moths, if present at all in the orchards, were in 

 such small numbers that they constituted no real problem for the growers 

 Treatment of the overwintering egg masses of the Gypsy Moth was prac- 

 tically the only real control measure required. 



This year the Plum Curculio began to appear in the orchards very 

 do.se to the time of the calyx application. This was some two weeks 

 earlier than it appeared in 1924. From the first it gave every indication of 

 even greater abundance than in 1924. While in the best cared-for orchards 

 its injury was held within moderate bounds, this insect still stands as one 

 of the most serious of our orchard pests. It occurs with such regularity, 

 year after year, that unless unusually hard hit, the grower has come to 

 take it for granted, and therefore it is difficult to estimate accurately its 

 relative abundance. It is, without any question, everywhere a serious pest; 

 causes a large annual loss to the growers; and as yet is still far beyond 

 successful control. 



The Codling Moth was more abundant than usual over the state as a 

 whole. Through the large fruit growing section in the eastern part of th^^ 

 state, it was often reported to have been the wor.st pest of the season. 

 There was a considerable amount of early "side worm" injury from late 

 hatching larvae of the first brood. In late summer, there was a very 

 general and unusual amount of damage from second brood larvae. A 

 study of the spray program followed by many of the growers showed 

 very clearly that, where the calyx spray is carefully applied, growers are 

 able to eliminate "blossom end" injury almost completely. Where on., or 

 two post-calyx applications have been made to cover fruit and foliage at 

 the time the young larvae are hatching and infestation of the fruit taking' 

 place, it has been found possible to secure a very large measure of con- 

 trol. This pa.st season an unusually large second brood developed, which 

 caused much late "side worm" trouble. This was undoubtedly due to a 



