28 THE COXNECTICUr POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Report of Committee on Injurious Insects. 



Prof. \\\ E. Britton, Chairman : The chief fact which 

 this committee has to report is the appearance within the state 

 of the dreaded gypsy moth, Purtlictria dispar Linn. A small 

 area of about one square mile in the town of Stonington is 

 infested. We were unaware of the infestation until j\larch 

 6th. but began work immediately, and destroyed a number of 

 egg-masses before hatching, and cut and burned considerable 

 brush. But some egg-masses were o\'erlooked, and hatched 

 out about ]May 1st. Over 10,000 caterpillars were destroyed 

 during June and July. A few egg-masses and adults were 

 later destroyed, but at the present time egg-masses are scarce, 

 and it is believed that comparatively few caterpillars survived 

 to transform. Up to this time there has been expended in 

 the work about $2,000.00, $800.00 being furnished by the 

 Board of Agriculture and the remainder being squeezed from 

 the state appropriation made to the Experiment Station for 

 insect work. A small force of men has been kept at work in 

 Stonington since Noveml)er lOth scouting for egg-masses, 

 cutting and l)urning 1)rusli, pruning and scraping trees, and 

 improving the conditions for carr}'ing on the campaign next 

 year. With money for the work, we believe that the pest can 

 be exterminated from this locality, and it will be economy for 

 the state to exi)eii(l a few thousands now rather than hundreds 

 of thousands later, as lias l)een the case in Massachusetts. So 

 far, the pest has attacked apple trees chiefly at Stonington, but 

 where abundant, it devours all kinds of vegetation. This pest 

 mav, of course, appear at any time in any other part of the 

 state. 



The San Jose scale, like the poor, is always with us. The 

 winter being exceedingly mild, few scales winter-killed, and 

 consequently the species has multiplied rather faster than usual 

 during the summer and fall, ^lore spraying is being done 

 than ever before. In the large orchards the lime-sulphur mix- 

 ture is still used, and is un(loul)tedly the best treatment f(^r pear 

 and i)eacli orchards in Connecticut. The so-called "soluble 

 oils" liave 1)een given a trial in our experiments in different 

 parts of tlie state, with fairly satisfactory results. The fact 

 that these preparations do not discolor trees, buildings or fences 



