4^ pRovmciAL Board of SoETictJLTURi!. 1897 



The Red Clover-mite (Bryobia pratensis) is more widely distributed in old orchards in the 

 lower part of the Province than is generally known, a close examination of the trees gener- 

 ally disclosing the eggs during the winter months. The amount of injury 

 Red Clover-mite, done by the insects has not been determined, nor have any complaints been 

 made as to its presence on clover plants. I find that two sprayings with the 

 No. 1 wash (lime, salt and sulphur), following the directions given, will destroy the eggs. It 

 is a near relative of the common red spider so troublesome in greenhouses, and feeds upon 

 plant tissues in the same manner. 



This enemy of the pear tree {Phytoptus pyri) is found all over the Province, and is very 

 injurious. It appears on the leaves of pear trees in spring, causing small reddish spots on 



their upper surface. As the season advances these spots become darker, 

 Blister'wiite. fi^a-Hy almost black, the tissues of the leaves being dry and dead. The pest 



itself is a very minute, eight-legged mite. The exceedingly minute oval 

 grayish eggs are laid by the females in spring within the galls they have formed, and here the 

 young are hatched. Sooner or later (just how long they remain has not been ascertained) 

 they escape through the opening in the gall and seek the healthy part of a leaf, or more often 

 crawl to the new growth and start fresh galls. In autumn they leave the galls and migrate 

 to the. winter buds at or near the ends of the twigs. Here they work their way beneath the 

 outer scales of the buds and remain during the winter. In this position they are ready for 

 business in the spring as soon as growth begins. 



The No. 1 spray (lime, salt and sulphur) is found to exterminate this pest here ; it is 

 advisable to make two applications, and be sure that the spraying is thoroughly done, and the 

 mixture warm when applied, late in the fall or early in spring. 



The Cabbage Maggot (Anthomyia brassicoe) is reported from Salmon Arm and Surrey 



The adult is a small, two-winged fly, somewhat like the common house-fly in general 

 appearance, which appears in the cabbage field soon after the plants are set out, and deposits 



Cabbaee ^*^ ^^^^ ^'^°"* ^^^ ^**'™''' ** *^^ ®°^' surface. The little whitish maggots soon 

 Maggot. hatch, and work their way downward to the roots, which they attack, feeding 



upon the outer surface and thus making grooves, or boring into the interior 

 and hollowing out cavities. They sometimes cause the roots to thicken up and become mal- 

 formed, producing an effect similar to that of the fungus, causing the disease known as " club- 

 ^vu- u jT° °'" *^''®® ^^^^^ *^® maggots become full fed, and they change to the pupa state 

 within hard brown puparia, to emerge some days after as adult flies. There are probably three 

 or tour broods each season, and the insect apparently hibernates in each of its three latter 

 stages, ihese insects infest turnips and rutabaga, as well as cabbage, and some entomologists 

 consider the radish maggot as being also of this species. 



Satisfactory remedies for this insect are few and far between. European writers recom- 

 mend that coal dust be scattered around most of the plants, leaving one occasionally without 

 the dressing to attract the flies to it for egg-deposition, and then destroying 

 Remedies. tlie unprotected plants, together with the insects about their roots Dr 

 Riley has suggested that ashes or slacked lime will probably answer the 

 purpose a. well as the coal dust. As some of the larva, or pupa appear to pass the winter 

 upon the old roots, it is advisable to pull up and burn such plants in autumn.^ Probably the 

 Vom Eeth r'"''^^ " *^:^ °^ ^'"'^^ P'^'""^ "^" plantations of cabbages some distance 

 reritl Th. flir ' ^T"" I' ^"V"' ^'^'- ^'"^ ^^' ^^^° ^"""'^ i" P'-^'^tice to give good 

 results The flies are sluggish, and apparently do not scatter far from where they reach 



about'Se iZteTS: T '' '^^'T' '\P°"""^ "" ^'"^'1 ^-"^^^^^ "^ kerLne emulsion 

 about the infested roots. In some localities the growers search regularly about the bases of 



