"J^ NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



FRUIT TREE INSECTS 



Apple maggot (Rhagoletis pomonella Walsh). This 

 species is becoming locally abundant in some sections of the State, 

 especially in certain Hudson river localities, and as a consequence 

 there is a keen interest in m.ethods of control. The work of the pest 

 is easily recognized by the irregular, brown, sometimes rotting 

 channels in the flesh or pulp of the fruit. The insect displays a 

 m.arked preference for the late simimer and early fall varieties, 

 though it also attacks winter apples. The evidence at hand indicates 

 it to be a somewhat local form and while there may be some dis- 

 agreement as to the best methods of controlling it, there is little 

 question but that material benefit may be secured by the collection 

 and destruction, through feeding or otherwise, of the late summer 

 and early fall varieties twice a week and of the fall and winter 

 varieties once a week. The object of this procedure is to destroy 

 the maggots before they have had an opportunity of escaping from 

 the fruit and entering the soil where they pass the winter within a 

 few inches of the surface. Thorough cultivation is doubtless of value, 

 since it produces conditions m.ore or less unfavorable to hibernation. 



The collecting of the fruit is obviously necessary only in the case 

 of unusual infestations. It should be stated in this connection that 

 there is some evidence to show that spraying with arsenical poisons 

 for the destruction of leaf -feeding insects, especially the applications 

 made about midsimimer, appear to be somewhat effective in checking 

 this insect. 



Red bugs. The red bug (Heterocordylus malinus 

 Reut.) and the lined red bug (Lygidea metidax Reut.) are 

 both widely distributed in the Hudson valley and where unchecked 

 have frequently inflicted serious injury upon the apple crop. The 

 lined red bug appears to be the m.ost num.erous in this section, 

 though the other species is also found in num.bers. 



Young red bugs were abundant in the orchard of Mr W. H. Hart 

 of Arlington April 27th, some days before the Baldwin and greening 

 blossoms opened. On April 30th investigations showed large 

 numbers of the pests, four or five being found on individual blossom 

 clusters, though this was distinctly above the average. The true 

 red bug was at this time far more abundant, though some young 

 lined red bugs were to be seen. The latter had evidently just 

 hatched and were approxim.ately one-tenth as numerous as the 

 other species. Some of the true red bugs were even then approach- 

 ing the second stage and evidently had been abroad some days. 

 The young true red bug may be recognized in the first stage by its 



