CRANBERRY PESTS 
Remedial Measures 
Flowing the Bog 
The application of insecticides on large 
bog areas where the plants cover the 
ground as densely as do the cranberry 
vines is a task no grower likes to con- 
template; and provided he has control of 
a satisfactory amount of water there is 
no necessity for it. As against the “yel- 
lowhead” (Teras), it will suffice if the 
water be held on the bogs until the middle 
of May, or perhaps a little later in cold 
seasons. This will compel the moths to 
seek other plants upon which to lay their 
eggs. 
As against the blackhead late holding 
will not of itself suffice, because the eggs 
are already on the plants and will, under 
ordinary circumstances, hatch only under 
the same conditions that favor the start 
of vines themselves. But there is a little 
leeway in favor of the plants and the eggs 
do hatch under water at a temperature 
not quite sufficient to start the vines. 
Carefully carried out, this measure is 
often very effective; the warmth favors 
the development of the embryo within the 
egz, and when the worm hatches it 
drowns. 
Reflowing 
When the supply of water is abundant 
above the bog area, so that a pond or 
reservoir may be formed, both the yellow 
and blackheads may be completely con- 
trolled by drawing the water early, wait- 
ing until all the eggs have hatched and 
some of the worms are nearly half 
grown, and then re-covering the bog with 
water for 48 hours. This method is so 
simple and so absolutely effective that the 
larger growers are adopting it almost uni- 
versally, and few new bogs are laid out 
anywhere without considering the matter 
of reflowage and providing for as good a 
control of the water as possible. Cover- 
ing the bogs should begin in the late after- 
noon and should be completed before next 
morning, if possible. On a rainy day it 
may begin at any time, the object being 
merely to prevent the sun from boiling 
the young shoots. So drawing off the 
water should also begin in the early aft- 
ernoon, and the bog should be practically 
847 
dry the morning after. Incidentally, this 
reflowing will rid the bog of numerous 
other pests and may make a material im- 
pression on the girdle worm where that 
is abundant. 
Insecticides 
Sometimes it happens that bogs can be 
neither winter flowed nor reflowed, and 
the application of insecticides becomes an 
absolute necessity. Only arsenites are to 
be relied upon for good results. It fol- 
lows from what has been said concerning 
the habits of the worms that when once 
they have spun up the tips and are feed- 
ing in their cases they are practically 
beyond the reach of our common insecti- 
cides; and that is particularly true of the 
first brood. If there is reason to believe 
from past experience, or because eggs 
have been found on the plants, that the 
early brood will be numerous, spraying 
must be done just as soon as the vines 
make a start or not later than the date 
when the first spun-up tip is seen. 
All things considered, the best insecti- 
cide for use on cranberry bogs is arsenate 
of lead. 
Fire WorM. 
Worm. 
See Blackhead Cranberry 
Cranberry Fruit Worm 
Mineola vaccinit Riley 
Bogs that cannot be reflowed and high 
and sandy bogs suffer most from this in- 
sect. 
The adult moth appears on bogs in 
ordinary seasons about the middle of 
July, when the berries are setting or have 
already set. . 
The moth, with wings expanded, meas- 
ures about three-fourths of an inch and is 
of a glistening ash-gray, mottled with 
white and blackish. It is a shy species, 
not easily started during the day, and 
flies with a darting motion for quite long 
distances. It is not generally recognized, 
therefore, even by growers who annually 
lose heavily by it. When at rest the 
wings are folded close to the body, and 
on a cranberry stem, where it usually 
rests head down, it is not readily seen 
even by an experienced eye. 
The eggs are laid on the young berry, 
preferably in the calyx, just beneath one 
