226 MAINE STATE COLLEGE 



contented to allow their interests to be so jeopardized and make 

 no eifort to prevent it. they should without complaint bear the 

 consequences. It is a matter of State interest for the pfst in 

 almost State wide in its occurrence. As a Stale, we can much 

 better do without early foreign fruits than sutler the loss of our 

 home products- No matter what methods are adopted to check 

 this pest, they will prove more or less futile, if each year in all 

 the railroad towns of the State, maggots by the hundreds are 

 thrown upon the ground in worthless, infested, foreign fruit. 



Direct Methods. 



1. The flies are very stupid although they appear otherwise. 

 When resting on the leaves or apples they can readily be taken 

 with a small insect tube or bottle. By placing the mouth of the 

 tube cautiously over them, they are not disturbed, and soo^ crawl 

 inside. We took thirty this way from a single tree in an hour and 

 a half. Making no allowance for mishaps and supposing a flj'lays 

 three hundred eggs and one-half of the flies are females, the pro- 

 geny of a single fly the third season would be capable of laying 

 nearly seven million eggs. The killing of even a few flies would 

 materially lessen the number and help hold the pest in check, 



2. Destroy the windfalls as soon as possible after they drop. 

 This method has been recommended by every Entomologist who 

 has written on the subject, as the best way to cope with the pest. 

 It is based upon the positive knowledge that the maggots do not 

 leave the fruit until it drops, and are found abundantly in the 

 windfalls. These maggots if not destroyed enter the ground and 

 appear three hundred-fold stronger the following season for the 

 work of destruction. To destroy the windfalls makes dead mag- 

 gots of them and dead things can not reproduce. It is common to 

 not gather the fruit of infested trees, but allow it to drop and 

 decay on the gi'ound. This is a had j5?'afiice, as it is the best ivay 

 possible to muUij)ly the pest. It is a present loss of time and 

 expense to destroy worthless fruit, but it will pay well in the end. 



Two methods of destroying the windfalls suggest themselves : 

 (a) The windfalls may be collected and fed to stock in the 

 yard or pasture. If carried to stock and thi'own on the ground in 

 quantities greater than are immediately eaten, there is danger that 

 the maggots might leave them and go into the ground. This 

 might be avoided by feeding no more than are eaten clean, and 



