THE MELON PLY. 
13 
ment that this type of injury causes is readily apparent. Such prun- 
ing back of the vines, repeated over and again, may prevent the 
formation of sufficient growth 
for the development of fruits. 
INJURY TO THE BLOOM. 
Although injury to the seedling 
plant and to the growing stem is 
greatest in watermelon and can- 
taloupe and is of little importance 
among squashes, cucumbers, and 
pumpkins, the injury to the 
bloom is very serious among all 
these crops except that of the cu- 
cumber. Among pumpkins and 
squashes both the male and fe- 
male blooms are affected; but 
among the watermelons, canta- 
loupes, chayotes, and Chinese 
marrows the male or staminate 
bloom escapes attack. It is not 
uncommon to examine luxuri- 
antly growing fields of squashes 
and pumpkins during the warm 
months and not find a single un- 
affected bloom. Uninformed 
growers often question why their 
vines set no fruits. The condi- 
tion of the blooms illustrated in 
figures 11 to 14 is the answer. 
The unfertilized ovaries of all 
cucurbit blooms are especialty 
attractive to female melon flies. 
The flies lay eggs in the undevel- 
oped and unfertilized ovaries of 
the bloom before the blossom un- 
folds, and the larvae, on hatch- 
ing, often so ruin the ovaries, 
as indicated by their burrows 
*shown in figure 12, that the 
flower never unfolds. In those 
varieties having long, narrow 
fruits the ovaries are many times 
so eaten out and decayed that the weight of the upper part of the bud 
causes the ovary to break (see fig, 13) , So complete is the destruction 
Fig. 12. — Work of melon-fly larvae in bring- 
ing about destruction of ovaries of 
pumpkin bloom even before the corolla 
has entirely withered. 
