INSECTS OF THE PEAR 249 



The adult insect resembles a small cicada, and is about 

 Y^tli inch in length, dark reddish brown in color with a band 

 of black across the abdomen. The psylla is a sucking insect 

 and takes its food by sucking the juices out of the plant. 

 The insects usually collect around the base of the leaf and 

 the fruit stems until these places become crowded, when 

 they can be found feeding on the under side of the leaves. 



The control of this insect is made much easier if the 

 orchard is kept clean and free from trash and rubbish. Dur- 

 ing the fall the rough bark should be scraped from the trunk 

 and larger branches to render them less attractive places 

 as winter quarters. 



Many of these insects crawl out from their hiding places 

 during warm days in the late fall and early spring and are 

 very sluggish in their movement. At such times large num- 

 bers of the insects can be killed by spraying them with Black 

 Leaf 40 at the rate of 1 pint to 100 gallons of water to which 

 3 or 4 pounds of soap is added. The insecticide should be 

 applied on days when there is no danger of the liquid freez- 

 ing. Kerosene emulsion diluted with 10 parts of water or 

 1 pound of whale oil soap dissolved in 4 to 6 gallons of 

 water is also used effectively against this insect. 



Pear Thrips. — The thrips have become very serious in 

 certain pear-growing regions. They seem to be widely 

 distributed, being found in California, in New York and 

 also in England. 



The thrips are very small insects, measuring only about 

 2-Vth inch in length. The adults are dark brown and 

 emerge from the ground about the time the fruit buds are 

 bursting. 



The injury done by these insects is very similar to that 

 done by the psylla. They are found attacking the same 

 parts of the plant and feeding in the same manner. This 

 insect is also found on the peach, apricot and plum, but the 

 pear suffers the greatest injury. 



The pear thrips may be satisfactorily controlled by proper 

 methods of cultivation and spraying. The ground should 

 be plowed to a depth of 8 to 10 inches during the fall and in 

 some cases harrowed and again cross-plowed. Two sprayings 



