230 Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. 1917. 



berries were picked from bushes on July 30, in the commercial 

 garden but not a single maggot bored out of the fruit. In one 

 garden where currants were so badly infested that the crop was 

 not harvested, all fruit still adhering to the bushes and also drops 

 were gathered on July 30, but no larvae emerged. If picking 

 could be delayed until August 1, practically all fruit which 

 remains on the bushes would be free from maggots. In 1914, 

 the commercial grower picked his crop from July 14—23, and in 

 1915, from July 19-28. If late picking is adopted, the danger 

 of losing some of the sound fruit through sun scald must be 

 taken into consideration. 



Poisoned Bait Spray. 



Lovett (1911-12, pp. 135-136) attempted to control the 

 currant fruit fly with the poisoned bait spray in Oregon, using 

 a formula which Mally (1909, p. 6) employed to combat the 

 Mediterranean fruit fly in South Africa. No conclusive results 

 were obtained, but the following brief summary of the season's 

 trials is given: 



"1. The sweetened poison does attract the fly, 

 Epochra canadensis." 



2. Frequent rains during the period of experimen- 

 tation made numerous applications necessary. 



"3. Granulated sug'ar is rather expensive; it crys- 

 tallizes quickly and is not so satisfactory as a cheaper brown 

 sugar would probably be." 



"4. The crop was injured one-half in many locali- 

 ties and in a few cases the fruit, due to the maggot's attack, was 

 not worth gathering." 



"5. It is not considered that the amount of poison 

 which would incidentally fall on the fruit is sufficient to endanger 

 human life. The foliage spray is more effective for the flies." 



The effectiveness of different kinds and amounts of poisons 

 added to diluted molasses was tested on fruit flies confined in 

 cages enclosing currant or gooseberry bushes in the field. After 

 the poisoned bait had been applied to the bush with a bucket 

 pump provided with a Bordeaux nozzle, 50 or more trypetids 

 were liberated in the cage. The ground below each bush was 

 covered with cheese cloth, so that the flies which succumbed 

 to the effects of the poison could be found more easily on a 



