ORCHARD NOTES. 69 



figure 5, may very readily be seen where the foliage is off. 

 Every young orchard should be examined early in the spring 

 and, if found infested, should be thoroughly treated with caustic 

 soda or some other strong alkali. 



The eggs of this insect hatch in June, or early in July, and the 

 little lice travel rapidly over the surface of the young wood and 

 the fruit until they find a satisfactory feeding ground, when they 

 insert their beaks and begin their campaign against the life of 

 the tree. Figure 4 shows the young lice, natural size, early 

 in July. 



Spraying the trees thoroughly with kerosene emulsion when 

 the lice are in the migratory stage, as described in " How to 

 Fight Apple Enemies," has in every instance, at the Station, 

 been effective in controlling this pest. 



appLvE; scab. 



Another ever present, and very generally neglected, pest of 

 the orchard is the fungus disease, apple scab, or "black spot" as 

 it is sometimes called. This disease, figure 8, has been so 

 frequently described as to be perfectly familiar. As shown in 

 former reports of this Station,* spraying is effective in securing 

 a crop of fruit relatively free from this disease, even in those 

 seasons when the scab is most prevalent. 



For several years the conditions in most parts of Maine have 

 been such that the fruit has been relatively free from scab, and 

 as a result many growers who took up the practice of spraying 

 some years ago, have gradually ceased to spray. It should be 

 said, however, that this neglect is wholly comparable to the neg- 

 lect which permits the lapse of a fire insurance policy. It may 

 be unnecessary to spray to secure a crop of fair fruit one year, 

 or even two or three years in succession ; but when the unfavor- 

 able season does come, if spraying has been neglected, there is 

 frequently a needless loss of several hundred barrels of fruit in 

 orchards of average size. 



As a result of the studies above mentioned f the fact was 

 clearly demonstrated that, in a bad season, there was a difference 

 of 50 per cent in the amount of perfect fruit upon sprayed and 

 unsprayed trees ; the best results being obtained from the use 



* Ann. Rpt. Maine Expt. Sta. 1891, 1S92, 1893, 1894. 



t See details and summary, Rpt. Maine Expt. Sta., 1893, 125-128. 



