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SAVE THE MUMS 



FROM THE IS^ipGE 



Precautionary measures and constant care will save fjrawersjof chrysan- 

 themums from the tremendous losses they have suffered from /the midge in 

 the last two seasons. Further suggestions in this article will and growers 

 in applying the remedy already used by some of them with marked success. 



■:~~- =t]INCE the article ou the 



. ^y chrysanthemum midge ap- 

 -^ VL peared in the January 1 

 I ^ 3 issue of The Keview, 

 *. many thousands of Tuunis 



I V^f^ have been freed of the 

 L-^ jiest in a sliort time by 



C d) W*^ those who read the article 

 -"—^ — < and followed the instruc- 

 tions given in it. Now 

 tli.it growers are prej>aring to j)lant 

 tli'ir mums, some additional informa- 

 ti'iti will be welcome, especially 

 .•i> 111 urns are the next main 

 nop to be put on the market. 

 •)mIv a few years ago growers 

 ii' 'arnations thought these flow- 

 -Ts were doomed by the rust, but 

 r'"l.iy we understand how to 

 tiiilii the rust and we grow bet- 

 t'l ruinations than ever before. 

 llic ;,rreatest danger in the mum 

 iiinii;," lies in the fact that ?t 

 i- iM.f understood. But if those 

 'vliH rr.id this article will follow 

 'ii~tructions, they will find that 

 thr midge is, by persistent of- 

 i"rt. easy to eradicate. 



Origin. 



I here are five species of 



"I'lge prevalent in central Eu- 



""!»', hut so far as can be ascer- 



';niM'd. there are only three 



l^iii'ls in America; namely, the 



"Hill! midge, the rose midge and 



'■ other, which thrives on 



"1^ in gardens ami fields. 



i'hi' midge this article is con- 



'■"•iied with has definitelv been 



"''•'i'ihed as Diarthronmva Ily- 



1" -■•» (F. Liiw). It will not 



'I" >>■ on any other plants than 



■' " of the chrysanthemum 



J ■ ilv. So we will' just call it 



"iiim midge (or something 



' if nobody hears you). 



^ nearly as investigation re- 



J . this midge came into the 



•d States on a new variety 



, ' 'I'ysanthemum in 191;? or 



-and today is doing a great 



■. ■ of damage because it wa.s 



'' ; '''uted all over the country 



^ ;"Ut the shippers of this stock 



-""ig the great danger of the pest. 



" ihe following jiage is a renuirkably 



• ''lustration of the adult female 



■-■'•. greatly enlarged. Its natural 



'■•< less thA^i one-twelfth of an inch 



'igth over all. In the earliest stage 



■^ life, the color of the midge is the 



■^s that of the leaf. In middle age 



«"mewhat yellow. When at work 



'out the time it leaves its nest it is 



'"» in color and has two fleerv 



on 

 v.. 



wings, which apparently are not of sutU- 

 cient strength to be used in flying. It 

 seems that these wings arc only useful 

 in helping the insect to keep its bal- 

 ance. The length of its life is from a 

 few hours in the case of the male to 

 two or three days in the case of the 

 female. 



The illustration on this pttge gives a 

 clear vii'w of the damage the midge 

 does to mums. All of the spots, marks 

 and specks on this mum brtmch are egg- 



lived and is exceedingly hard to see. 

 Some growers imagine they see the 

 midge, when really they see a harmless 

 manure fly that is similar in appearance, 

 but larger. 



This point 13 of great interest, as 

 many growers are under the impression 

 that the midge will fly from plant to 

 plant. One-half of this point may be 

 conceded, for the male does fly to some 

 extent, but I have seen plants with four 

 generations of insects ou them when 

 there was not one on any near- 

 liy jtlants. The midge emi^rges 

 Iroiii Us harbor and imme(li;itely 

 gets busy ou that one ])lant, or 

 any adjoining plant that it can 

 crawl, climb or fall to. Suuir- 

 tiiiies individual plants are at' 

 fected with midge all season 

 and jilants a few inches away 

 are absolutely free from them. 

 The re.al danger of the midge 

 IS th;it it cripples the growth. 

 It disfigures and dwttrfs the 

 I'lant, and hinders tin; buds 

 t'rom oiiening. or even niav de- 

 stroy the bud. 



Losses, 



harbors .and these egg-harbors — not the 

 insect— do the damage to the plant. 



To be sure whether you have the 

 midge, get out a sharp knife and care- 

 fully cut open any warty growth you 

 may find on your mums. If you find 

 an insect, you may feel sure it 's the 

 midge. 



One point should be emphasized: Do 

 not expect to find the midge like aphis. 

 It is the egg-harbor that does the dam- 

 age, not the insect. The insect is short- 



Growers give figures, such 

 as twenty per cent, fifty jier 

 cent and sixty per cent depre- 

 ciation in value of mums be- 

 cause they were so badly dis- 

 figured. One grower estiinated 

 his loss at $o,U(JU, as the market 

 value of his mums would have 

 been .<!S,()()0 if all the stock had 

 been free of midge, whereas he 

 received only $3,000. 



It has been definitely ascer- 

 t .'lined that the female insect of 

 the midge starts plugging the 

 eggs into the tenderest growth 

 of mums when it is about six 

 hours old and lays from eightv 

 to LjO eggs, dying a natural 

 death before it is forty-eight 

 liours old. 



Like nearly all other insects, 

 the midges multiply most rap- 

 i<lly during the hot weather. In 

 the winter I have found that 

 they will stay dormant for a period of 

 from three to five months. This indi- 

 cates that the weather and atmosphere 

 are big factors. One grower who had 

 two lots of mums last winter had midge 

 on both. The midge on the ])lants in 

 the cooler house did not hatch till the 

 w.arm days of sj)ring. while those on the 

 plants in his other house, in a w.armer 

 temperature, were hatching all winter. 

 I examined five different lots of mum 

 stock plants this sjiriug in widely se[)a- 



