INSECTS i:N^JrilTOFS TO TLOVER. 181 



attacked. In the more northern States the eggs are laid 

 in the fall, and do not hatch until the next spring. 

 Further south, however, the adult mites hibernate over 

 winter. The eggs are of a reddish color, laid upon the 

 bark of trees, especially in the crotches, and in the West 

 are sometimes so thickly placed as to cover considerable 

 areas two or three layers deep. When the adult mites 

 leave the clover-fields in the fall to fiiul hibernating quar- 

 ters upon fruit-trees for the winter, they often become 

 quite a nuisance by invading dwelling-houses which are in 

 their path. This is more j)articularly the case throughout 

 the Mississij^pi Valley. 



I^einedies. — AVhen swarming into a house their progress 

 may be arrested by spraying the lower part of the building, 

 walls, etc., with 23ure kerosene as often as necessary. 

 Inside the house they may be destroyed by the use of 

 pyrethrum powder (Persian insect-powder), burning brim- 

 stone, or S23raying with benzine, care being taken not to 

 bring the latter substance near the fire. 



The only practical way of protecting clover from the 

 mite is by destroying the eggs and hibernating mites upon 

 the fruit-trees in winter. This may be done by burning 

 all the prunings and thoroughly spraying the trees with 

 kerosene emulsion diluted with five parts of water, or with 

 a mechanical mixture of twenty or twenty-five per cent 

 kerosene and water. Such a si^raying will also j^rotect the 

 fruit-trees from tlie mite, and will also destroy numerous 

 other insects, such as the j^ear-leaf blister-mite, which 

 hibernates upon the trees. Such small insects, so minute 

 as to usually escape notice, are often responsible for a poor 

 growth, and should be i)roperly checked whenever known 

 to be injurious. 



