56 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



siderable importance in connection with the enforcement of the 

 apple grading and packing law. He has also, through the coopera- 

 tion of several local observers, secured detailed records of evening 

 temperatures and other meteorological data under actual orchard 

 conditions. Unfortunately the egg laying of the moth was so dis- 

 tributed the past season that it was impossible to demonstrate a 

 well-marked relation between variations in evening temperatures 

 and the deposition of eggs, though it is very probable that such 

 exists. The meteorological data recorded constitute a substantial 

 basis for subsequent investigations. Spraying for the control of 

 the codling moth was followed by serious and somewhat general 

 injury to Baldwin foliage, in* particular, due probably to the appli- 

 cation of a rather strong fungicide immediately after a series of 

 rains which produced an unusually tender growth. 



Continued injuries by the apple maggot resulted in beginning an 

 investigation of the pest, with especial reference to practical con- 

 trol measures. This was started through the cooperation of Mr 

 Edward Van Alstyne of Kinderhook, and Mr George T. Powell of 

 Ghent. The results of a series of tests with sweetened poisons 

 for the destruction of the flies were so equivocal that this office 

 is unable to recommend this spray and for the present is content 

 with advising the early destruction of infested fruit, supplemented 

 by good orchard practice. The investigations of the past season 

 demonstrated such variations in the habits of the flies in nearby 

 orchards that a continuance of the study is planned for another 

 year. 



Incidental to work with the codling moth noticed above, investi- 

 gations showed that the leaf roller, a serious pest of the fruit 

 grower in the western part of the State, was much less abundant 

 than was the case in 191 5. This condition is probably due to one 

 of the natural and frequently unexplainable oscillations in insect 

 hfe. 



Studies of red bugs the past year indicate that the two species 

 generally grouped under this common name, are becoming well 

 established in the fruit-growing sections of the State and here and 

 there are causing serious injury. The practical work of the past 

 two years has demonstrated nothing to be more effective than the 

 use of a tobacco extract, 40 per cent nicotine, just before the 

 blossoms open. This may be applied in water to which any cheap 

 soap has been added to aid in spreading the insecticide, or incor- 

 porated in the delayed dormant spray. In the case of bad infesta- 



