CHESHIRE INSTITUTE 57 



The young caterpillar hardly ever enters the fruit at the point where 

 the egg had been laid — and nearly 75 per cent of them do enter at 

 the blossom end, either in or near the calyx. 



I have mentioned this to show that we have still many things to 

 learn about our common species of insects. There is great need of 

 more observations carefully made. No one has so good a chance to 

 make observations regarding fruit insects as the fruit grower. 



Last season injured peach twigs were submitted to me by one of our 

 members, Mr. Rogers, of New Britain. The new growth had been 

 punctured in longitudinal rows by a small dark brown beetle, specimens 

 of which were still at work. It was the well-known apple curculio. Mr. 

 Rogers states that about a dozen young peach trees were injured to such an 

 extent that they died from the effects. In a letter Mr. Howard, of Washing- 

 ton, D. C, informed me that this is the first instance on record of this spe- 

 cies having attacked the peach. Such observations are sure to be of value. 



There is an opportunity for this Society to do an immense amount of 

 work along this line. The state of Connecticut is well supplied with a 

 large number of insect species. Some of them are liable to become 

 injurious where they are not so at present. Injurious species are apt to 

 change their feeding habits. The Society has an In.sect Committee, and 

 if each member of the Society will report observations on insects to the 

 committee, we will try and see that all notes of value are embodied in 

 the annual report of the committee for publication in its annual reports. 



M. B. Waite, of the United States Department of Agriculture, con- 

 ducted some experiments a few years ago, which show that a large 

 number of our common varieties of pears and apples are sterile unless 

 the flowers are fertilized by pollen from different varieties. The Ver- 

 mont Experiment Station has recently demonstrated that the Japan 

 plums are also self-sterile. 



The whole philosophy of spraying against insect attacks is based 

 upon insect anatomy. The mouth parts of the insect must be examined; 

 if he has jaws he is recorded at once as an eating insect, and Paris green is 

 prescribed and sometimes applied. But in case we find the bug furnished 

 with a sharp tube-like proboscis through which he sucks the plant juices 

 as food, then we must look for a different remedy. It is of no use to give 

 him Paris green, for he cannot eat it. Fortunately nearly all the sucking 

 insects have soft and delicate bodies, so that we can kill them by bringing 

 some caustic substance in direct contact with them. Strong soap-suds is a 

 good insecticide of this sort, and if made from the whale-oil or fish-oil soap, 

 so much the better. Kerosene emulsion is also a standard remedy. 



There is another class of insecticides, however, that will kill any 

 insect — no matter to which order it belongs. All insects require air ; 

 they breathe, as we do. The treatment therefore is to enclose the insects 

 or the infested plants in a tight box, and generate some poisonous gas 

 that will kill them by suffocation. 



Since the arrival of the Colorado potato beetle probably no insect 

 has been the subject of so much discussion and attention as the San 

 Jose or pernicious scale. We have been accused of creating a useless 



