THE STRAWBERRY JULY 1907 



was much greater. The navel was first 

 in. reduced from Brazil in 1872, and three 

 years later a California woman obtained 

 two of the slips from the government and 

 planted them at Riverside. In 1879 the 

 buds were selling as high as .$5 apiece, 

 and in one year .$1,500 worth of buds 

 were sold from these two trees. Now 

 cney are found over a wide area of Cali- 

 fornia and the fruit is one of the state's 



most valuable articles of export, being 

 shipped in millions of boxes and bringing 

 in vast sums to thousands of growers. 

 The navel orange rules in the markets of 

 the world and has been a prime factor in 

 developing California. The demand for 

 first-class strawberries is quite as steady 

 and as strong. Quality's the thing; the 

 people will pay a high price, and gladly, 

 for all the really choice fruit offered them. 



Insects in the Strawberry Field 



And How to Deal With Them 



By R. L. Adams 



I 'HIS is the concluding instalment of 

 I Mr. Adams' valuable contribution 

 on one of the subjects of first im- 

 portance to the strawberry grower. To 

 those who read it with intelligent care this 

 article will prove of large benefit when 

 insect pests suddenly appear. 



The insects first to be considered in 

 this number are those that appear 



On the Blossoms 



1. The rose beetle or rose chafer (J/a- 

 crodactylus subspi)iostis), familiar to every- 

 one and similar in history to the June-bug, 

 will cause great damage to the blossoms. 

 Coming in enormous numbers, spraying 

 has little effect on them, every one killed 

 being replaced by a horde of new-comers. 



As the beetles are attracted to the straw- 

 berry only secondarily in regions where 

 they abound, the best — and then not 

 wholly satisfactory — method is prevention. 

 Do not choose a situation near rose-bushes, 

 magnolias, raspberries, or other favorite 

 hosts of this insect. 



On small beds hand picking in early 

 morning or evening is productive, as the 

 insects are sluggish at that time of day. 



2. The second insect which attacks 

 the blossoms is Thrips tritici which at- 

 tacks the pistils, thus partly or entirely 

 preventing fertilization, consequently they 

 lessen or eliminate the crop. Ihe insect 

 is especially harmful in the South. 



The adult is about one-sixteenth inch 

 lo'igi yel'ow in color with an orange tint, 

 and has feathery-like wings which fold up 

 horizontally down the back like a fan. It 

 is very lively and difficult to catch. 



Remedies — Spraying with kerosene 

 emulsion or whale-oil soap is the only 

 available method. Burning will destroy 

 large numbers. 



On the Fruit 



1. Ants, myripods, and many beetles 

 eat the fruit, but the worst pest is the 

 strawberry weevil (Anthononnis signatiia) 

 which is a small, blackish snout beetle, 

 one-tenth inch long covered with a gray 

 pu'uescens The female is often found 

 puncturing the stems and buds of staminate 

 varieties. 



The eggs are laid in the buds while 



they are developing. The stem is then 

 partly severed which arrests further growth 

 and causes it to droop over. 



The egg hatches into a small grub 

 which feeds and develops inside the bud 

 until mid-summer, when it pupates, com- 

 pleting the life-history in about four weeks 

 from the time the egg is laid. There ap- 

 pears to be but one generation. 



They winter over as adults, coming out 

 in April. 



The greatest injury is done to staminate 

 varieties especially Sharpless. 



Remedies — Insecticides are of little use. 

 Clean culture, removal of old vines and 

 any blackberry bushes in the vicinity all 

 help. 



The most satisfactory method is to grow 

 a few rows of early flowering kinds of 

 strawberries from which the adults can be 

 caught or the plants dug up and burned 

 after the eggs are laid. Or the staminate 

 varieties may be grown in rows and pro- 

 tected with cheap coverings until the buds 

 are ready to open. 



2. Insects commonly found eating the 

 fruit are the common stalk borer (Hy- 

 draecia nit el a) and 



3. Harpalus peniisylvaiiicus, or the 

 common ground beetle, one inch long and 

 jet black in color. 



• Remedies — If numerous, poison baits, 

 hand picking, or a contact spray will clean 

 out both of these. 



4. The last insect to be taken up is 

 the tarnished plant bug iLygus pralensis), 

 common nearly everywhere in the U. S. 

 living on a wide range of plants. It is very 

 fond of the fruit and leaves of the straw- 

 berry, causing the irregular, lumpy appear- 

 ance known as "buttoning" by sucking 

 the sap. 



The adult is a variable mottled brown- 

 ish or yellowish bug, one-fourth inch long, 

 which hibernates unier rubbish coming 

 out in early spring to eat any tender vege- 

 tation. Here the eggs are laid which 

 hatch in April or May into young which 

 resemble the adults. There are two or 

 more broods a year, but there is no distinct 

 line, all stages often being found together. 



Remedies — A contact poison will kill 

 them. Kerosene emulsion is excellent, 



Page 156 



but cannot be used after the berries attain 

 any size, as it is liable to taint the fruit. 

 Pyrethrum powder may then be used. 

 Keep the fields clean and do noi per- 

 mit a lot of old rubbish to remain on the 

 bed over winter as a shelter for hibernating 

 bugs. 



Conclusion 



In the fight against insects a few pre- 

 cautions are often invaluable. 



Do not set a new bed with stock from 

 an old infested field unless it is properly 

 fumigated, a process it is well to put any 

 lot of plants through before they are set 

 out. 



Plant the new bed on land that has 

 been under cultivation for at least two 

 years and at considerable distance from 

 the old spot. 



Rotate with other crops every two years 

 or when the beds are past their prime. 



Plow under old plantations or pull 

 and burn. 



Burning over the field consists in mow- 

 ing the leaves after the crop is gathered, 

 drying for a few days and then burning 

 over. If the bare spots are covered with 

 a little straw a more uniform clean-up 

 will result. This will kill many insects 

 and won't hurt the crown unless a long 

 drought immediately follows. One must 

 take the chances of this. 



On the whole the strawberry is fairly 

 free from insect attack. One point that 

 it is well to bear in mind is that one kind 

 of treatment is advised for many insects. 

 For instance, spraying with arsenate of 

 lead will take care of all leaf-eating insects. 



In spraying the following amounts are 

 recommended: 



Disparene or arsenate of lead, 2 tea- 

 spoonsful to a pail, 5 lbs. to a barrel of 

 water or Bordeaux mixture. 



Paris green, 1 teaspoonful to a pail, one- 

 fourth lb. to a barrel. 



Hellebore, 1 ounce to a pail or three 

 lbs. to a barrel. 



Paris green or arsenate of lead can be 

 used safely until the fruit is set, after that, 

 if more sprayings are necessary it is better 

 to put on hellebore until after the crop is 

 harvested, when a return to the others may 

 be made. 



If this article falls into the hands of a 

 man about to set out a strawberry bed I 

 trust he will not lose his courage and give 

 it up as a bad job at the outset. Many 

 of the insects enumerated are peculiar to 

 one locality. Others appear only at stated 

 intervals. Parasites aid materially in 

 the warfare against most of them. It 

 is only in times especially favorable that 

 one kind will gain headway enough to be- 

 come very destructive. It is to have a 

 guide to go by at these times that this 

 paper has been prepared, to help the aver- 

 age man when he finds himself over- 

 whelmed at, apparently, a moment's notice 

 with some unknown and unwelcome guest. 



