11 
Two Common Orchard Mites. 
trees as the latter, but in addition it has been commonly found on 
poplar, ash, and walnut, as well as a great variety of herbaceous 
plants. In many cases small fruits have been damaged severely. 
Raspberry, currant, and gooseberry bushes have probably been the 
greatest sufferers among the small fruits. The injury in this case 
is the same as to the trees. The leaves are sapped of their vitality, 
turn yellow and drop early. The fruit is small, often not maturing 
sufficiently to be salable. 
Remedies 
Last season the writer tried to kill this pest on some rose 
bushes at Delta, Colorado, by using a spray of “Black Leaf Ex¬ 
tract,’ 1 using i part of the black-leaf to 65 parts of water. A small 
compressed air spray pump was used, and as thorough an applica¬ 
tion as it was possible to make was given the bushes. At first it 
appeared as though the tobacco was thoroughly effective, but an 
examination of the bushes next day showed that while a great 
many of the mites had been killed many live ones were still crawl¬ 
ing over the leaves, and the eggs did not seem to be affected in the 
least. In about a week’s time the bush wasi sprayed again, and 
finally was sprayed a third time by the owner, and even then it 
seemed impossible to kill enough of the pests so that they would 
not damage the bushes. 
Recently the sulphur spray (sulphur 1 pound, water 3 gallons) 
recommended for the brown mite, was tried on three small peach 
trees at Palisade, and the results were highly gratifying. Trees 
were sprayed on August 12, and on August 17 an examination 
showed the leaves to be entirely free from red spider, while untreated 
trees close by, were just as badly infested as upon the day of spray¬ 
ing. 
Early in August, Mr. R. B. Cassells, who has an orchard on 
Fruit Ridge, Grand Junction, complained of a few of his plum trees 
being infested with the spiders. A sulphur spray was recommended 
and applied, and again the results were perfect. The trees not only 
recovered somewhat of their normal color, but the fruit also im¬ 
proved rapidly. 
The only objection that might arise to a spray of sulphur so 
late in the season, would be the odor it would give to the fruit of 
sprayed trees. It is not probable, however, that any trouble would 
arise from this source, except possibly in the case of peaches, where 
the fuzz would cause the sulphur to adhere. Of course, trees should 
be sprayed as soon as the injury begins, and should not be allowed 
to remain unsprayed until the end of the season, when practically 
all of the injury has been done to them. The use of a sulphur 
spray upon small fruit bushes cannot be too strongly recommended, 
as these are so often materially injured by red spiders. 
