224 MAINE STATE COLLEGE 



work of this inseet in great measure is to raise little early fruit." 

 We have no confidence in this method. It is not a remedy. 

 What fruit growers want is a way to check the pest and save 

 them the invaluable luxury of early fruits. Would it not be 

 much better to save the trees and for two years carefully destroy 

 the windfalls and with them the pest? Those who first suggested 

 this method believed the pest confined its ravages to the early 

 fruits. To cut down the early fruit trees would not destroy Try- 

 peta. Experience of Maine fruit growers, and our own observa- 

 tions, show conclusive!}^, that the insect works badly in late and 

 winter fruit, and is known to infest most of the varieties grown 

 in the State. If deprived of the early varieties, a want of food 

 supply would make it worse in the later fruits. We believe that 

 cutting down our fruit trees would "defeat the ends of this 

 insect," but what the profit if in our revenge upon it we at the 

 same time sacrifice our fruit. There is no lazy w^ay to check 

 Trypeta. It will have to be done by a direct, squarely fought 

 battle. We firmly believe we have in the careful destruction of 

 the windfalls the means of destroying the pest. 



The Trypeta is not like la grippe, spreading over a State in a 

 day, but it goes slowly from tree to tree, variety to variety, 

 orchard to orchaid. The checking of the pest then is largely an 

 individual matter, to be worked out independently in each orchard. 

 We sincerely hope the fruit growers of Maine will give the 

 destruction of the windfalls and the disposal of refuse from 

 apple barrels and bins a fair trial, before passing these methods 

 idly by as "impracticable to any extent." 



8. The destruction of our early fruit trees, excepting a few to 

 be left as traps, has been suggested. This method is based upon 

 the erroneous belief that Tr3'peta works only in early fruits. 

 If we raised no early fruit the early flies would do no harm. The 

 destruction of the larvfe from these trap trees would not lessen 

 the ravages of the later appearing races of flies upon late fruits. 

 Destro) ing the early fruit would force many of the early appear- 

 ing flies to find a nidus for their eggs in the later fruit ; thus 

 increasing the number of later flies. 



Preventive Measures. 



1. Keep the orchards in grass and in the fall or spring burn 

 under the trees to destroy the pupae that are about the grass roots. 

 The experience of fruit growers so far as we know, is to the 



