BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY AND PLANT QUARANTINE 3 
In cooperation with the Yakima, Wash., Fruit Growers Association, experi- 
ments have been carried on with the sterilization of orchard boxes and other 
containers. By passing them through live steam in an insulated wooden tun- 
nel, it was found entirely feasible to kill practically all codling moth larvae 
at a cost of $0.75 to $2 per thousand for packing boxes, and at a cost of $1 to 
$2.67 per thousand for cannery lug boxes. 
The large-scale bait-trap experiment conducted at Orleans, Ind., in 1934 indi- 
cated that the traps and materials now available will reduce the infesta- 
tion by about 25 percent. Further studies of the use of baits and bait traps, 
in the hope of developing sufficiently effective materials and traps for use in 
direct control, are under way at Vincennes, Ind., and Yakima, Wash. Funda- 
mental studies of the reaction of moths to lights are under way at Geneva, 
N. Y., in cooperation with the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, and 
large-scale tests of light traps are being carried on at Orleans, Ind., in coopera- 
tion with the Indiana Agricultural Experiment Station. 
Further experiments with the control of the codling moth by the use of 
parasites are under way. The mass liberations of the egg parasite Tricho- 
gramma minutnm Riley, made in 1934 at Yakima, W r ash., and Cornelia, Ga., 
did not result in any appreciable reduction in the codling moth population. 
The egg-larval parasite Ascogaster carpocapsae Vier. has been introduced into 
a number of western and southwestern localities where it did not previously 
occur. 
At Wooster, Ohio, tests are being conducted to determine the effect of oils, 
and of insecticidal materials that may be added to them, on hibernating larvae 
of the codling moth. Certain grades of pine-tar oil used at a strength of 50 
percent appear to be effective and are more toxic than are other oils tested. 
PEACH INSECTS 
The station at Fort Valley, Ga., has continued its efforts to develop a 
satisfactory substitute for lead arsenate for the control of the plum curculio 
on peaches. Fluorine compounds tested during the early summer of 1935 
caused serious injury to the fruit. This injury, which appeared to an equal 
extent on trees sprayed with barium fluosilicate, with synthetic cryolite, and 
with natural cryolite, was sufficiently severe to rule out these materials for 
use on peach trees. 
Further studies of the effect of lime-sulphur, applied during the dormant 
period for the control of the San Jose scale, have revealed the fact that 
mortality counts made within a month or two after the spraying are very 
misleading and that, for full information on the effect of lime-sulphur, it is 
necessary to delay the examination for 4 or 5 months. 
The rearing and liberation of imported parasites of the oriental fruit moth 
have been continued. Some 216 colonies, chiefly of foreign parasites, containing 
45,000 parasites, have been released by the workers of the Moorestown, N. J., 
laboratory in various peach-producing sections in 13 Eastern and Middle 
Western States. Recovery collections have indicated that the general level 
of parasitization is increasing, although there has not yet been time for the 
general establishment of many of the foreign parasites that have been 
liberated. 
The investigations of baits and bait traps for the control of the oriental 
fruit moth have been transferred from Cornelia, Ga., to Moorestown. N. J., 
where much better facilities are available for the work. 
GRAPE INSECTS 
Numerous possible substitutes for lead arsenate have been tested against 
the grape berry moth at Sandusky, Ohio. This insect appears to be more 
readily controlled than the codling moth, and satisfactory control was obtained 
with nicotine bentonite, nicotine tannate. nicotine sulphate with mineral oil 
and mixtures of ground pyrethrum with kaolin. For the most part these 
mixtures cannot be used in a practical way. however, as they apparently 
affected the fruit unfavorably. The mixtures which included kaolin and 
bentonite left very unsightly deposits on the grapes, which, although non- 
poisonous, made the fruit practically unsalable. There is a possibility, however, 
that the use of certain of these clays may prove unobjectionable, or even 
advantageous, on grapes produced for juice. Mixtures containing oil removed 
the bloom from the berries, giving them a very unattractive appearance. 
